A Fall From Grace
Politics brings out the very worst in all of us. That could be no more true than what we have witnessed from Mattress Mack over the last several months. It started when Mack broke a cardinal rule of business when he openly endorsed Alex Mealer for Harris County Judge.
Lina Hidalgo won re-election in a very close race. In her celebration speech she referred to the forces against her and referenced a “furniture salesman”. Maybe she should have left well enough alone. Maybe she could have mentioned him but in an effort to reach across the aisle to repair broken relationships. She certainly was respectful when she referenced Mealer herself. You are almost always better served when you can be magnanimous.
Mack forgot that lesson. He responded with a full page ad in the Houston Chronicle. This is a failure on so many levels. It is a failure on Mack and those around him. Someone should have gotten to him much sooner and told him not to openly endorse Mealer and do so publicly. He can support whoever he wants and he can certainly contribute to any campaign he wants to, but his reputation deserves more than that. Those that have been in business for any length of time will tell you how foolhardy it is to openly support either side.
Someone should have gotten to him before he sent this letter into the Chronicle. They should have told him to hang back and let the water flow underneath the bridge. The Chronicle itself probably should have either declined to accept it or should have urgently swayed him against wanting it published. It made him look small. It threatens his legacy and he has built quite a legacy in the Houston area.
I was introduced to Mack (not personally but in terms of consciousness) when I was in junior high. That was approximately 35 years ago. He spoke to our junior high. I saw his business grow out of literal tents into a furniture empire with multiple branches. We saw him stand up during hurricanes, tsunamis, and other crises in town and around the world.
He became Houston’s biggest fan. Whether it was the Astros, Texans, Rockets, or University of Houston, he was there cheering the loudest. Did it help his business? Sure. Being a good guy got him a ton of free advertising. Yet, there was also little doubt that it came from a genuine place. He also circulated in Catholic circles as well. All of that pointed to his likely conservatism, but he didn’t broadcast it. He stayed above the fray. That is until this year.
Maybe there is still time for him to fix this. Maybe someone around him will convince to reach out to Judge Hidalgo. Maybe she will reach out to him and extend an olive branch. It would probably be the best move from both involved. I suspect he will realize that he made a big mistake and we hope he does before it is too late.
I felt he was going around the bend a few years ago when he constantly talked about his betting.
1I grew up when most of us had no idea what anyone’s politics were. It was actually rude to talk about it and religion. Business owners seemed like nice godless non-voters. You only found out their political proclivities in their obits. I miss those days.
2Newspapers never dissuade people from making fools of themselves. Our local paper published a truly bizarre letter from a beloved local person whom we all knew was dying of a brain tumor. After a lifetime of local service, the last thing anyone read nearly destroyed his legacy.
3He should have bought the valuable stain protection treatment for his thin skinned reputation. He probably made a fortune off policies that effectively did the same thing on the mattresses.
4Anybody with his nickname should stay clear of aspersion-chunking. He’s only one letter away from “Mattress Back”, and guys his age definitely know what that refers to. [Which is why I’ll never go into politics; I would have used that sobriquet instead of “furniture salesman” if I were Hidalgo.]
In any case, I’ve only seen/heard good things about her, and hope Houston keeps her in office. When dinosaurs like Abbott and fungal life-forms like Rafael Cruz shuffle off the stage, we need people like her to replace them.
5“ Politics brings out the very worst in all of us”
6Nope, it appears to bring out the worst in Mack.
That Chronicle whiney letter was an appropriate bookend to the pro-Mealer TV ad that MMac ran.
That ad also had the retired-after-50-years-as-news anchor at ABC-13 TV station Dave Ward, looking somewhat confused and sitting nearby, spouting fear about “crime” and “rising homicide rate in Harris County.’ No mention that Hidalgo’s term in office had record levels of law enforcement funding and she proposed hiring more sheriffs and that that office is more nuts and bolts running the criminal justice system than real judicial operations.
Perhaps that pro-Mealer MMac TV ad may have encouraged more Ds to get out and vote for Hidalgo. Coupled with the other bookend to make a number of D people commit to never shop at his furniture stores.
7I have a far more interesting electoral question for Harris County.
Where the hell did Herschel Walker vote this year? Has anyone examined the poll books? If he voted in Georgia, where did he switch his residence to?
I’d give a purty if it turned out that the only person convicted of vote fraud in Georgia this year were Walker.
This retired newspaperman wants to know — where are the freakin’ reporters?
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