Former Republican Land Commissioner Jerry Patterson has endorsed Miguel Suazo, the Democratic nominee for land commissioner, over current land commissioner — and fellow Republican — George P. Bush.

The decision is the latest sign of lingering tensions between Patterson and Bush, who squared off earlier this year in the Republican primary.

Patterson told the American-Statesman Friday he had decided to endorse Suazo over Bush’s handling of the Alamo, Hurricane Harvey recovery efforts and the "constant fear that George P. Bush has to make definitive decisions."

He criticized Bush for not speaking with the media during much of his tenure or debating his political opponents during the primary campaign.

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The Suazo campaign announced Friday that Suazo had received endorsements from Patterson and another Republican who lost to Bush in the primary, Alamo historian Rick Range.

The cross-party endorsement shows that Bush "has done an extraordinarily poor job during his tenure as land commissioner and people are noticing," Suazo told the Statesman. "In this time of intense partisanship, Jerry Patterson, a traditional conservative, is seeing me as someone uniquely qualified to do the things Bush has failed to accomplish."

Bush, asked about Patterson’s endorsement decision, told the Statesman, "Honestly, I haven’t had time to focus on it. I’m focused on a tropical storm that maybe will dump a foot of precipitation in the Rio Grande Valley. The Alamo continues to be a focus — we’re finalizing a master plan. I’m focused on the job I was elected to do."

The General Land Office manages state lands and the Alamo and contributes billions of dollars to schools by selling mineral rights to private industry.

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An internal audit released in May raised warnings about how the agency uses a nonprofit — now called the Alamo Trust — to manage Alamo operations using public money but without all the checks and public scrutiny that are supposed to follow those dollars.

This week, the GOP-dominated State Board of Education criticized Bush for taking credit in funding Texas public schools while reducing the amount of money schools will receive in the next state budget.

Patterson, who carved out a reputation as a gun rights supporter as a state senator before being elected land commissioner, said Suazo is "as good a gun guy as can be and win the Democratic primary."

"He’s a pro-Second Amendment guy. He’s not as pro-Second Amendment as I’d like him to be, and he’s not pro-life the way I’d like him to be, but none of those things make a difference for running the General Land Office," he said.

Patterson said he was "putting the state and the Alamo first — it’s far more important than any knee-jerk allegiance to the Republican Party."