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White candidate pretends to be black to win election

I'm impressed that anyone cared enough to get a seat on the Houston Community College Board of Trustees to lie about it. I'm curious why the opposition didn't didn't bring his race up, if that was such a huge issue. They had to have known, right?
 
Yes, it is disappointing that this has spun into a racial thing. But what is more disturbing? That this got spun into a racial thing? That Wilson never once indicated what race he was in the flier, or the possibility that people may not have elected him if they had known he was white?

And there was no actual fraud here. He cannot control what people assume.

He was dishonest though and he did intend to give the impression. My favorite part of the story is that he had on one of his fliers that we was endorsed by "Ron Wilson", Ron Wilson being some prominent African American leader (or something like that) but the Ron Wilson the white dude was was referring to was his own cousin. He clearly intended to deceive, but at the same time, if you're so clearly under informed that you vote for the wrong guy and only find out after the election, I'm not going to feel too sorry for you.
 
I'd be a little more concerned at the implications if this were a "real" election, like an actual legislative position. For something like a community college board, it's not like people are going to do much actual research on the candidates, so they're going to have all sorts of dumb reasons to vote for them. Some might have thought he was a black guy, but we're talking about an election with a 26 vote margin. Not many people participating. Also, we don't really know that this was what swings the election. As has been mentioned, the board has been criticized lately, so it could just be anti-incumbency more than anything else.

In some little local elections like this, the candidate appearing at the top of the ballot wins just because they're the first name on the list.
 
I'm impressed that anyone cared enough to get a seat on the Houston Community College Board of Trustees to lie about it. I'm curious why the opposition didn't didn't bring his race up, if that was such a huge issue. They had to have known, right?

Apparently not since they are only now making an issue of it.
 
I'm from the Houston area, and had to go downtown every day for a job. The people living in the wards are some of the most backwards, racist dumb****s alive. Every single little thing that goes wrong is due solely to those "racist cracker ass mother ****ers", even though they trashed the place, and turned what used to be a nice city into a squalid hell hole full of drugs, rape and murder.

I once applied for a dealers license in Texas with a Houston address.

When I got my registration card it was spelled Hosuton.

If they can't spell the city they live in on an official document, jeeze.

And going about getting the tax license was a huge show.
 
All this shows is people don't research the candidates. [definitely low info voters]

Which side's low info voters?

Dave Wilson is white. But to win a seat on the Houston Community College Board of Trustees in a district predominantly comprised of African-American voters, Wilson, a conservative Republican, led voters to believe he was black.

Sorry, couldn't help but poke that in people's faces. If he was a Dem, we'd never hear the end of it....
 
Maybe they judged him the the content of his character.
 
Where was the media in all this.

Don't they always have cameras on cantidates no matter what they are running for?
 
Come on, now. Who here hasn't pretended they were a member of a different race?

Heck, I pretended I was Asian when I took the S.A.Ts.
 
He was dishonest though and he did intend to give the impression. My favorite part of the story is that he had on one of his fliers that we was endorsed by "Ron Wilson", Ron Wilson being some prominent African American leader (or something like that) but the Ron Wilson the white dude was was referring to was his own cousin. He clearly intended to deceive, but at the same time, if you're so clearly under informed that you vote for the wrong guy and only find out after the election, I'm not going to feel too sorry for you.

Actually we don't really know that he intended to decieve. All the video has of him is agreeing that the people in the fliers were black and that he had just "lifted" them off the internet. In fact the video also has him saying that he was surprised that he won. That could be an indication that he actually didn't intend for such to happen. In point of fact the only ones to say that he "implied" and "not denying" that he "implied" he was black were the reporters and the person that ran against him. They never once show in the video of them asking if he meant to imply it and him saying "yes" or some variation of that question being asked and answered in such a way.
 
Come on, now. Who here hasn't pretended they were a member of a different race?

Heck, I pretended I was Asian when I took the S.A.Ts.

Doing a funny accent when ordering Asian food doesn't count.
 
Apparently race is an important factor in some elections, but not in the direction some would expect.

Vote for Me!!! Oh, and here's my wife, too:

Al-Jolson_1299042c.jpg


:rofl !!!!
 
Apparently race is an important factor in some elections, but not in the direction some would expect.

To be fair to the people of that district, the incumbent in that race was under a cloud due to mismanagement of the college. People were pretty mad at him and the other Community College Trustees. The incumbent did try to get the word out that the other guy was white. I'm sure he told everyone who would listen. But it may just be that people knowingly voted for the white guy over the black guy on the basis of the issues.

On the other hand, the idea of identity politics being subverted to skewer one of its practitioners is too delicious not to savor.

And the white guy didn't actually pretend to be black. He just didn't tell them that he wasn't black.

In any case, the Community College's troubles have to do with, guess what, overspending.:roll: They are further in debt than any college their size, $617 million or so. They could use some input from a conservative.
 
Him and Elizabeth Warren would make great friends.

Really though, what sickens me more is that the guy's race may have been the deciding factor in his victory. People that vote based on race, or have race as a factor in their decision do our nation a disservice with their vote. It seems like much of the issue is that he didn't reveal himself as white and mailed out cards with smiling black people on them. You shouldn't have to reveal your race, the accusations seem fairly stupid.
 
Which side's low info voters?



Sorry, couldn't help but poke that in people's faces. If he was a Dem, we'd never hear the end of it....
No...if he was a dem we'd never HEAR of it. It wouldnt be worthy of news and dems and libs would be tripping over themselves to excuse and justify his position. Hell...dems can be reelected after being caught with hookers and crack. They can be reelected with 100k of bribe money stashed in their freezer. Theres always a reason. Theres always an excuse.
 
Him and Elizabeth Warren would make great friends.

Really though, what sickens me more is that the guy's race may have been the deciding factor in his victory. People that vote based on race, or have race as a factor in their decision do our nation a disservice with their vote.
At the end of the day, THATS what it is all about.
 
Apparently race is an important factor in some elections, but not in the direction some would expect.

What do you mean by "not in the direction some would expect"? I find the whole thing hilarious, and he didn't even lie to do it.

It should always be expected that blacks will vote for blacks regardless of party when running against another race. It has been so historically for a longtime now.
 
Well...now...be fair. Its just the opposing candidate that is making the claim that black people are so stupid they would vote for a guy based solely on his skin color. In...THIS instance at least. Now...lets see if the population at large gets upset and demands a recall and new election.
I find it interesting that it's only AFTER he lost the election that he came up with this unbelievably racist boner of an excuse.

Given that, and the utter stupidity of anyone who voted for the winner merely because they thought he was black, having never even seen the dude - it's actually a little unfair [to them] their moron didn't win instead of the white guy. I mean, I just think morons deserve morons to represent them against the more intelligent in society - much like those whom Shiela Jackson Leigh represents. Having said that, the winner will probably do them a far greater service than the moron would; only problem with that is that in their abject ignorance, they'll probably never realize the good he'll do for them.
Major kudos to Dave Wilson, and his cousin Ron Wilson (no relation to the popular black state rep) who endorsed him for figuring out how to effectively reach low information voters. :applaud
 
No...if he was a dem we'd never HEAR of it. It wouldnt be worthy of news and dems and libs would be tripping over themselves to excuse and justify his position. Hell...dems can be reelected after being caught with hookers and crack. They can be reelected with 100k of bribe money stashed in their freezer. Theres always a reason. Theres always an excuse.

So no Repub has ever been re-elected after being caught with hookers? David Vitter ring a bell?

We'd never hear the end of it from the right, demanding an explanation for ALL Dems if he was one. I can think of a few posters here who would love it.
 
Yes, it is disappointing that this has spun into a racial thing. But what is more disturbing? That this got spun into a racial thing? That Wilson never once indicated what race he was in the flier, or the possibility that people may not have elected him if they had known he was white?
Different aspects of the same problem I'd suggest.

And there was no actual fraud here. He cannot control what people assume.
He can - that's exactly what election flyers are designed to do (very carefully designed, even at this level).

Publishing a stock photo with a statement suggesting the people in it support the candidate is questionable, though sadly not uncommon in general. Stating that "Ron Wilson" supports the candidate without making clear that's some random family member rather than a comparatively well known political figure with the same name is grossly dishonest at best and probably only skirting the edge of electoral law with small-print and luck.

He may not have done anything criminal and it may well significantly factor in the ignorance of the electorate but winning an election on the basis of dishonest information is, morally at least, fraudulent. Just because they all do it to some extend doesn't make this any less so.
 
Bob Evans endorsed me. Well, okay, he goes by Rob and he's not actually famous for anything...

All I need now is someone named Jimmy Dean, and someones got to have an Aunt Jemimah....I'll corner the breakfast vote.
 
...
Really though, what sickens me more is that the guy's race may have been the deciding factor in his victory. People that vote based on race, or have race as a factor in their decision do our nation a disservice with their vote.
...

This was his opponent.

 
Stating that "Ron Wilson" supports the candidate without making clear that's some random family member

It said that they were cousins right below where it said that Ron Wilson endorses him, though.

The whole thing is ridiculous. The whole thing implies that they wouldn't have voted for him if they knew he was white.
 
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