Jun.07, 2010, 11:05 AM

Commentary-- So far, the governor’s race is pretty typical. Governor Rick Perry’s campaign is trying to brand former Houston Mayor Bill White as a liberal trial lawyer. White is trying to brand Mr. Perry as an amoral career politician who will bend any truth to get re-elected.

Out of sight is an equally intense battle over who will control redistricting next year.

And so begins yet another story of secret money in Texas politics.

First, a little background: The only constitutionally mandated election takes place on the first Tuesday in November. But redistricting is intended to make that election irrelevant. Map makers try to draw legislative and Congressional districts that are so Republican or so Democratic that the March primary is the only election that counts.

Tom DeLay and several Republican operatives still face criminal charges for allegedly laundering secret corporate money into the 2002 elections, which helped the GOP gain a majority in the Texas House. The prize the following year was the DeLay inspired congressional redistricting that favored Republicans.

But the far more intriguing secret money game played on voters that year is still shrouded in mystery.

Then Supreme Court Justice Greg Abbott was facing former Austin Mayor Kirk Watson in a race for attorney general. Mr. DeLay and the Republicans needed to control that office because the Attorney General represents the state in all redistricting matters. A Democratic attorney general would be a serious problem.

Right before the election, a mysterious Virginia group called the Law Enforcement Association of America dumped a million dollars into television ads claiming Democrat Watson was soft on crime. Republican Abbott won the election.

To this day, we have no idea who really paid for the ads on Abbott’s behalf.

The first mystery money in the 2010 election surfaced just this week. According to Wayne Slater at the Dallas Morning News, a secret out-of-state benefactor has coughed up an estimated $200,000 to pay for a petition drive to get the Green Party on the November ballot. The secret money was laundered through an Arizona Republican political consultant who won’t identify the actual source.

A Green Party slate will siphon off a few votes from Bill White and other Democratic candidates. A handful of votes can be significant. Republicans retained control of the Texas House last year when they won a single legislative race by seventeen votes.

Here we go again. Mysterious out-of-state money from secret sources poisoning Texas elections.