VALLEY VOTERS CAUGHT BETWEEN A ROCK AND A HARD PLACE: RABID REPUBLICAN OR YELLOW DOG DEMOCRATS?

(Author's Note: In today's Herald there is a letter from a regular contributor named Italo Zarate who examines the term and usage of "yellow dogs." This letter I wrote prior to this explains, I think, what a "yellow dog" is. The Herald has so far ignored this story of a true, telling, event.)

By Bill Young

Brownsville Herald

Letter to the Editor:

Joe Salas's "My Turn" in The Herald of August 9 invokes a vivid memory of an encounter I had with the Texas Democratic Party chairman in the early 1980s.

(He said, in part that: "I recall a time when people would rather vote for a yellow dog than for a Republican. One definition of a yellow dog is: “a person who is motivated to support any candidate affiliated with the Democratic Party, regardless of the candidate’s personal qualities or political qualifications.”)

I was working for The Herald and I was assigned to cover a caucus of Cameron County Democrtic precinct chairs at the now-demolished Fort Brown Hotel. The featured guest was to be newly-elected party chair Bob Slagle. The Fortress Room was filled to capacity as Slagle spoke.

He focused on party unity and one thing in particular sticks in my mind today, nearly 50 years later.

"There are some Democrats," said Slagle, "that I wouldn't invite into my home. Hell, there are some Democrats I wouldn't even let in my back yard but on election day, by God, I'm going to vote for them."

This made it into my story which was printed in The Herald. It didn't take long for Slagle and his people to call and demand a retraction, promising he never said that. Fortunately for me two colleagues--a
Corpus Christi Caller Times reporter and a KGBT-TV4 reporter--were in the audience and they, too, heard Slagle's remarks.

Slagle went on to jump on the Clinton bandwagon as a designated super party delegate.