Rick Sanchez: If You Can't Beat 'Em, Then Join 'Em?

FORT WORTH, TX - NOVEMBER 06: A voter completes her ballot on November 6, 2012 in Fort Worth, Texas United States. Americans across the country participate in election day as President Barack Obama and Republican nominee former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney remain in a virtual tie in the national exit polls. (Photo by Tom Pennington/Getty Images) (2012 Getty Images)

Sometimes you got to do whatever it takes to win, whether by hook or by crook.

Just ask Dave Wilson. He’s a white guy who kept running for office in Houston and losing, until he came up with a Machiavellian (euphemism for dishonest) plan for winning.

Wilson’s struggle, like that of many conservative politicians, is a shrinking demographic of traditional white, Anglo-Saxon voters. Meanwhile, the number of minority voters continues to explode with Latino voters leading the way across the South and Southwest. The trend is not expected to slow. In fact, over the next several generations, the trickle that turned into a trend will turn into a wave with minority political bases being established even in places like Georgia, South Carolina, Louisiana, Mississippi, Tennessee and Alabama. All those states that have depended on immigrant laborers will continue to see political shifts as their sons and daughters assimilate culturally and politically.

Texas, of course – with its Latino roots stretching back hundreds of years – is a no-brainer to continue becoming less white demographically and politically.

Rather than pretending to be black, why not actually get to know the blacks, Latinos and or other minorities in your community?

— Rick Sanchez

Enter Dave Wilson. He’s got a plan. Wilson is running in a district where he would need the support of African-American voters to win. So Wilson, it appears, came up with a strategy to woo those voters. He put out campaign fliers that showed happy and seemingly convincing African-Americans with a caption that read: “Please vote for our friend and neighbor Dave Wilson.”

Wilson now admits that the people pictured on his fliers were neither his neighbors nor his friends. He volunteers that he took screen grabs from “the Internet.”

And there’s more. Wilson also announced in one of his fliers that he was “Endorsed by Ron Wilson,” which is the name of a very well-known African American former state representative.

Was it true? Was he endorsed by Ron Wilson? Absolutely, Dave Wilson has a cousin who lives in Iowa who happens to be named, appropriately enough, “Ron Wilson.” Who knew?

The ploy worked. Dave Wilson won the election and is now serving on the Houston Community College Board of Trustees.

Good for him, I guess. After all, he’s not the first politician to be a less than honest campaigner and he certainly won’t be the last.

Not sure, though, that his method is repeatable. In fact, there may be a better way. You see, rather than pretending to be black, why not actually get to know blacks, Latinos and or other minorities in your community? Who knows? You may find out you have more in common with them than you think, but you’ll never know ... if you’re too busy playing pretend.