Here is something I found... Interesting. Don't think Texans will go for him owing to recent events...
Houston businessman Farouk Shami joins Democratic race for Texas governor
12:00 AM CST on Friday, November 20, 2009
By ROBERT T. GARRETT / The Dallas Morning News
[email protected]
AUSTIN – Palestinian-born Houston businessman Farouk Shami jumped into the Democratic race for governor Thursday.
Texans are "ready and open-minded" enough to vote for someone who's serious about fixing the economy, he said, even a political long shot who has never held public office. "The people want me to run because I know how to create jobs," said Shami, 66, who came to the U.S. in 1965 and struck it rich in the hair-product business, creating successful brands such as BioSilk and CHI hair tools.
Shami said he's also "very, very savvy about education and health care. So I am the one who is going to create the jobs, regardless of name or origin or color."
Though he's a political unknown, Shami could raise the profile of the Democratic race, said University of Texas political scientist Bruce Buchanan.
He has pledged to spend $10 million of his own money before the March 2 primary. And he hired veteran Democratic political consultants.
"He's up against long odds because of his background and his name and his lack of prior political spadework," Buchanan said. "But I guess we'll all have, given his resources, an opportunity to watch him."
Shami, who has donated to candidates of both parties in recent years, said he is a "Democrat all the way to the bone." He said he regrets not participating in politics earlier.
"I am ready to get involved and pay back to the state I love," he said by phone after speaking at a campaign kickoff in Houston.
Shami said Texans are ready for someone to lead.
He criticized Gov. Rick Perry for rejecting $556 million of federal stimulus money for unemployment benefits. Perry has said the money carried too many strings, such as liberalizing requirements for workers who quit to follow a spouse to a new location or who seek only part-time work.
Shami said the money could have flowed through the state economy, creating jobs.
"Which businessman in the world would turn down $550 million that creates tens of thousands of jobs for our people," Shami said. "He denied that for our people."
Shami said as governor he would urge other entrepreneurs to follow his lead in bringing factories back to the U.S. from overseas.
Last summer, his company closed operations in Asia and created nearly 1,300 jobs in Houston, his campaign said.Shami also said he would push for a "duty-free zone" on the Texas-Mexico border.
"Instead of a wall, let's connect each other with the bridge of an economy," he said.
Texas is a demographic mix, a "cross section of all colors, of all origins," Shami said. "We cannot limit our state to old thinking and stereotyping. We need ... new thinking."
