Ex-Wife Won't Get to Challenge Hubby in Texas

SAN ANTONIO – A Texas congressman will not have to face his ex-wife in the fall election after she failed to get on the ballot as an independent.

Becky Whetstone (search) said she learned from election officials Monday that she fell 47 signatures short of the 500 needed to challenge her former husband, Democrat Charlie Gonzalez (search), who represents San Antonio.

"I'm disappointed that I will not be able to offer voters of the 20th District a choice in this election," Whetstone said in a statement.

The couple went through a much-publicized divorce last year, but Whetstone said her decision to seek office was not an attempt at revenge.

Whetstone, 46, is a marriage and family therapist. She met Gonzalez, 59, in the mid-1990s, when she was a columnist at the San Antonio Express-News and he was a county judge.

The couple married in 1998, shortly before Gonzalez won the congressional seat held for nearly four decades by his father, the late Henry B. Gonzalez (search). They divorced in 2003, citing irreconcilable differences (search).

In the divorce filings, Whetstone accused Gonzalez of physical assault, emotional abuse, infidelity and squandering of their marital assets. The congressman has refused to answer questions about the allegations.

Her withdrawal leaves Gonzalez seeking a fourth term against two challengers, Republican Roger Scott (search) and independent Michael Idrogo (search).

"I will seek to earn the support of voters by conducting an aggressive campaign highlighting my record and the vision I hold for our city," Gonzalez said in a statement.