This story from the Dallas Morning News just has to be repeated in full:
HOUSTON – A slick new campaign mailer shows a smiling Republican state Rep. Glenda Dawson meeting with Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison. It reminds voters of Dawson’s many notable achievements in education, economics and politics.
What the ad doesn’t say is that Dawson has been dead since September.
The recorded message for the Dawson campaign headquarters also notes that “your message and vote are very important to us.”
Dawson’s campaign hopes their candidate will win re-election over Democratic candidate Anthony A. Dinovo of Pearland. If Dawson wins, which is likely in this heavily Republican district, Gov. Rick Perry will likely call a special election open to all in mid-December.
State Rep. Dennis Bonnen, R-Angleton, who is overseeing the Dawson campaign, said that Dawson’s daughter had mailed out a letter two weeks earlier noting her mother’s death and asking voters to continue to support the campaign.
Bonnen said the new flier was prepared as a “tribute” to Dawson, 65, and did not attempt to conceal her death, although there’s no mention of it on the mail piece.
“We don’t suggest that there’s a great thing she’s going to accomplish for the voters in the future,” he said. “We had already made it clear to voters in one piece that she had passed away. We didn’t think it was necessarily necessary to repeat it.”
