John Cook, Democratic nominee for land commissioner, and his uphill climb against a dynasty
John Cook, the Texas Democratic candidate for land commissioner is blunt, sarcastic and one hell of a funny guy.
The former mayor of El Paso faces a Republican opponent with a familiar name: George P. Bush of Fort Worth. Despite the state’s Republican dominance and his limited name recognition, Cook still thinks he has the edge. In two and a half months, he said in the interview, he has already put 16,000 miles on his truck.
He recently spoke with Dallas Voice.
Dallas Voice: What is the land commissioner’s role? John Cook: The commissioner is the trustee of $29 billion worth of state land assets that funds the Permanent School Fund. He collects the royalties from oil and gas companies and lease payments from landowners. He sits on the Texas Veterans’ Land Boards and he oversees three veterans’ programs that offer land loans, manage cemeteries and retirement homes. He also manages Texas’ coasts.
It’s a pretty important job and requires someone who has experience managing a large institution. He manages about 1,000 employees. When I was mayor of El Paso, I managed 6,200 employees.
In 2011, you and two of your council members faced a recall election lead by a group of conservative Christian pastors. They were angry that you overrode a November 2010 referendum revoking the city’s recognition of domestic partnerships for city benefits, which benefit to the LGBT community. Talk about what happened. After they submitted the recall petition, we went to court. Their lawyers dragged it out because they thought I would drop the case. The thing is, I didn’t. I wracked up $675,000 in legal fees and I still haven’t seen my day in court.
Their group is the same group of ministers who would come to council meetings and quote the book of Leviticus, saying it calls for the stoning of gays and lesbians. I would say, “This is the same book that said stone adulterers.”
Then they thought they set me where I was supposed to talk about the “spiritual state of the city.” I explained in about eight or nine bullet points why I believed God looked favorably on El Paso. At the end of it, a pastor’s wife said, “You call yourself a Christian? You’re a hypocrite.” I then asked her to show me then where in the New Testament that Jesus talked about homosexuality. And I said, he didn’t!
Then I looked at one of the pastors in the room — a guy who left his wife and three kids for another woman — and said, “You know Christ mentioned adultery. He said a man who leaves his wife for another commits adultery. So I need to take you out and stone you. If you want a mayor to start judging sins, then let me ask: Is there anyone in this room who hasn’t sinned?” Not one of them raised their hand. They didn’t know what to say. I turned around and left.
Say you are the only Democrat who wins among all of the statewide nominees. Your colleagues would be, in most cases, Tea Party types. How would you relate to them? I can work with the GOP, but I’m not going to sacrifice my value system for them. I’ve taken on bigger people than them. I’m not afraid to express my opinion. I’m persistent; I’m a real civil rights advocate. I marched with MLK as a senior in high school. I always thought all people should be judged the same. I’m not afraid to take them on. Remember what Confucius said: “Compromise is the art of making no one happy.”
Your Republican opponent, George P. Bush, has highlighted wedge issues irrelevant to the commissioner’s role. What’s your take on that? You know, he’s running his campaign and I’m running mine. He doesn’t want to hurt his base. Honestly, people want to know where you stand on the issues even if it has nothing to do with the Land Office. Voters want to support someone who shares their values.
Then what issues do you find important in distinguishing yourself from your opponent? One of the biggest issues is all about energy. Right now, Texas is reeling from drought. You go to somewhere like Wise County and see that all of the lakes are dry. We’re letting the drillers take water out of lakes. And you want to know what they do with that water? They use it for fracking. They use 10 gallons of water for every gallon of fuel. Then they can’t ever use it again.
These are issues that deserve debate. I’ve challenged my opponent to debates and he hasn’t even responded. Why is he afraid to debate me?
You said you’re not running against George P. Bush …. Correct. He’s running against me. I think I’m the frontrunner.
But at the same time, do you feel you’re running as a Democrat? Or are you running on your own? You know, I’m just me. I’m running on my own platform. I don’t believe in everything in the Democratic Party platform. For instance my wife and I are pro-life. And we’re honest about it. I sarcastically say, “You know, when I get pregnant I’m carrying the baby to term.”
If you asked me to put both parties’ beliefs next to one another, you could say I’m a Democrat. I like the Democrats’ belief in civil rights, equality, democracy. I disagree with a lot of things in the GOP platform. They begin it with “life, liberty and pursuit of happiness,” but they only believe that for a few. I mean they don’t want gay people to enjoy them. They want to repair them. C’mon, give me a break.
If elected, what would be three things you’d do? I would do three audits. We need to audit the companies who owe us royalties and leases. We need to audit the companies investing in it. We need to look at which are contributing to the political campaigns. Finally we need to see how the money is used.
You’re emphasizing efficiency, but where do you differ with your opponent? My opponent and I agree we want to maximize the revenue for the Permanent Education Fund. But we differ in our approach. I think we need to slow down fracking and examine it closer. I don’t want to do that by ruining Texas. I don’t want to ruin the environment while doing it. I don’t want my grandchildren to say, “What the hell was grandpa thinking? He did all of this just for money?”
This article appeared in the Dallas Voice print edition August 22, 2014.