Miguel's gives media the boot at local Democrats' Election Night party
Linda Goolsbee, the Democrat seeking election as Texas House District 71 representative, wasn't the only loser Tuesday night at Miguel's Tex Mex Cafe.
Local media were left out, too.
Goolsbee held an Election Night watch party at the southwest Abilene restaurant, which has been the host of other political events over the years. Those include an appearance in October 2016 by Gov. Greg Abbott and a primary watch party for district court judge candidate Jeff Propst in March 2020.
Even Democrat Beto O'Rourke has spoken at Miguel's, meeting would-be supporters there in 2017, when he was considering a run for U.S. Senate.
Each of those events was covered by local media.
On Tuesday, however, representatives of KTXS-TV, KACU radio station and the Reporter-News were denied access to provide Election Night coverage from the restaurant.
A Miguel's company official said Wednesday the restaurant, while willing to book events by both political parties, did not want to appear tied to them. Media coverage, the company representative said, would suggest that. The representative said the restaurant did not know media would be attending the Goolsbee event, so a decision to bar reporters had to be made that evening.
Goolsbee said about 40 people attended the event, which was not the party that hoped for by supporters. The 80-year-old Abilene resident lost her bid to unseat Republican Stan Lambert, who won a fourth term.
Miguel's seemed to be the right choice
Here is how Tuesday evening played out.
A reporter from TV station KTXS arrived about 5:30 p.m., according to Goolsbee, to set up for coverage. The event was to begin at 7.
Goolsbee was informed that no media was allowed.
Restaurant management asked the reporter to leave and not to return.
Later, two reporters for public radio station KACU were denied entry, as was Reporter-News photographer Ronald Erdrich.
Erdrich was told by Goolsbee that the restaurant was not allowing media.
Goolsbee said the search for a Election Night watch party location began about a month prior, and Miguel's was on the list of possibilities.
"The first thing is they've got to have a big TV in a private room. We are going to have a watch party. Duh," she said. "They have a wonderful room, two big TVs and lots of folks really like their food. It was terrific."
Local Democrats have been challenged to find a venue.
"When Beto last came to Abilene in October before the election, we scrambled to find a location that would host the Democratic gubernatorial candidate," said Elizabeth Smyser, local party chairperson. "We approached event venue businesses that turned us down because their owners’ politics did not align with ours or they didn’t want to incur the wrath of patrons that would snub them in turn."
There seemed to be no roadblock at Miguel's.
"We signed up and at 5:30, before we were scheduled to start at 7, KTXS came - Tyler Greene," Goolsbee said. "He set up his cameras in the room and did a little thing about this is where we'll be having the party. He was covering our party, someone else was covering Stan's."
Lambert had his watch party downtown at Cypress Street Station, where media was welcome.
The media previously had been invited by candidates to their respective locations.
Adios to local reporters
Greene, the TV reporter, didn't stay long, Goolsbee said.
"They threw him out. Then they informed our person that they never allow the news media to come in to a political event," she said.
"Like you might have mentioned that when the Democratic Party wanted to reserve the room for Election Night. Nobody mentioned that. "
Goolsbee said one of her people was told to inform KTXS that it "could not use any of the footage they had filmed on the location. I'm not sure what they were going to do to them.
"And they were not welcome to come back."
The same applied to the two KACU reporters, who previously had interviewed Goolsbee. The students were Sheridan Wood and Athena Triantopulos, according to KACU station manager Heather Claborn.
"The young women were going to come and be there for the party, interview me and the other people there," Goolsbee said.
She said the two students "were told they could not be reporters."
One, according to Goolsbee, asked, "Well, can we go in if we don't take any pictures and we don't interfere. We just enjoy the party?"
Goolsbee said the response was "Nope. You're reporters. You can't go in at all."
The news got back to Claborn.
"We were all surprised" by the restaurant's reaction, the KACU station manager said.
Goolsbee said a manager on duty was making the decision to bar the media was following the owner's wishes.
"The owner was not allowing it," Goolsbee said, adding the manager "was trying to talk his owner letting him do it. And owner said, 'No we don't. And we're going, 'But we've been to political things here before. Why is it us tonight?'
"We were floored."
Explaining the decision
Michael Burton, identified by a restaurant manager as the president of the company that operates Miguel's, said he was made aware of the situation Wednesday morning.
Central Appraisal District of Taylor County records identify Miguel's owners as Famous Ventures LP of Abilene (business personal property) and Exceptional Holdings LP/B&G Foods of Morgan City, La. (real estate).
Burton said Abbott came and his staff made the restaurant aware "weeks ahead of time that he would be there and that he would have press associated with that.
"A sitting governor ... we didn't view that as a political situation," Burton said.
"Anything political, typically - the team would've notified whoever was there - that we don't involve ourselves in any political affiliation whatsoever as a restaurant company.
"If Democrats want to hold a party there, great. If Republicans want to hold a party there, great. We knew the Taylor County Democratic Party was booking the room. We don't discriminate in any way with anyone who wants to book our room. It sounds like a story that is trying to be made here that is not a story."
Asked if they did not consider the media would attend the Democratic watch party Tuesday, Burton said, "Correct. We were not notified of that."
Not even in the parking lot, but ...
Goolsbee said she was advised she could not go outside the building to be interviewed in the parking lot.
"Nowhere on the premises were we allowed," she said.
Goolsbee paused.
"I will admit that the two young ladies from KACU did go to the parking lot and I met them outside," she said.
Taylor County Democratic Party chairperson Elizabeth Smyser joined that interview, as did another local party official, Joey Devora.
Claborn said that became the strategy - "parking lot or down the street. It was surprising that they would let a group make a reservation and then switch the rules on them at the last moment."
Bottom line, Goolsbee said, the restaurant's policy should have been presented at the start to them.
"They should've told us. We would've never considered that site, no matter how big their TVs are," she said.
Smyser in a way was not surprised by what transpired.
"In today’s climate, business owners in Abilene are wary to participate in politics of any kind, but especially the kind of politics that isn’t locally popular," she said. "And last night, after booking a private event venue for our Election Night watch party, a venue that has hosted numerous Democratic and Republican political events covered by media, it was news to us that media presence had actually always been against company policy and would not be allowed."
Goolsbee noted media intended Tuesday to give both candidates' equal coverage.
That did not happen.
Claborn stepped back and looked at the incident as a teaching moment for her students. She had paired a student with less experience with one with more. Students also were sent to the Republican gathering.
"It was a learning opportunity for our students to experience the unpredictability of Election Night," she said. "We certainly wouldn't have anticipated that.
"That's one of the things about being in a smaller city. People are a lot more conscious of how they are going to be perceived."
This article originally appeared on Abilene Reporter-News: Miguel's gives media the boot at local Democrats' Election Night party
