The BELO Debate
Here are some links to watch a replay of the BELO Debate with the three GOP Gubernatorial Candidates. Governor Rick Perry, Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison, and former Wharton Co. GOP Chairwoman and activist Debra Medina.
PART ONE | PART TWO | PART THREE | PART FOUR
I will post a blog entry on the debate and the primary election, which is coming up in 32 short days.
WSJ: Fiscal Conservatism and the Soul of the GOP
In a recent edition of The Wall Street Journal, there was a profile on the learship of Texas Governor Rick Perry. Here it is for your enjoyment:
Fiscal Conservatism and the Soul of the GOP
The Texas governor on Arnold, Sarah, ObamaCare and the future of his party.
By EMILY ESFAHANI SMITH
Austin, TexasSix years ago, Mr. Perry’s state underwent a critical tort reform that was codified in the state constitution. The payoff is that Texas is now outpacing California economically. According to the Texas Public Policy Foundation, between 1997 and 2006 Texas’ economy grew an average of 4.3% while California’s grew at a rate of 3.7%. But as of 2002 (to 2007), with tort reform in place, Texas’ annual economic growth jumped to 5%, while California’s remained essentially the same at 3.6%.
With a tan baseball cap hanging off one knee, Mr. Perry is proud to report that “Texas created more jobs in 2008 than the rest of the states—combined.” As of July, the state, which taxes neither capital gains nor income, had an unemployment rate of 7.5%, two points below the national average, while California’s hovered at 11.5%, two points above.
No wonder over half a million people flooded into Texas between 2000 and 2007. Meanwhile, 1.2 million residents left California in the same seven-year period.
TX State Sen. Van de Putte Won’t Run for Governor, Plays the Identity Politics Card
Yesterday (Tues. 6/23), Texas State Senator Leticia Van De Putte (D – San Antonio) issued a statement taking her name out of consideration in the Democratic Gubernatorial Primary in 2010. She is most likely remembered for her position as the co-chair of the 2008 Democratic National Convention, and she has become a nationally known legislator. Leading the National Conference of State Legislatures, leading Texas Democrats on a 45-day walk out to New Mexico in 2003, among other mentionable actions (putting a kid’s BMI on their report card for instance). She issued a statment on her decision:
Senator Van de Putte authorized the release of this statement today, regarding her plans for the 2010 elections:
“Five months of speculation regarding the possibility of me running for Governor has, quite frankly, been surprising. It started with nothing more than me not immediately saying ‘no,’ unlike in past election cycles, when asked if I would consider such a run. The reactions of thousands of Texans who encouraged me to give it serious consideration has been flattering.
“I have, indeed, given it very serious thought, and while I would love to believe, tongue firmly planted in cheek, that this pent-up desire on the part of so many Texans for me to run for governor is solely because of some perceived superior leadership ability and vast intellect of mine, I have to reluctantly admit that it’s not as much about me as it is about Republican failures.
“This is about Texas’ stunning lack of current leadership. Large and growing numbers feel betrayed by the Republicans they voted into statewide office, and who can blame them? While Texas families remain concerned about genuine priority issues, Republicans led by Rick Perry continue to instead obsess about hyper-partisan issues, in order to grab more power for themselves.
“Texans still pay the highest homeowners insurance premiums in the country. Texas still has the highest percentage in the country of those without access to health care. Texas still has the second highest rate of teen pregnancy in the nation, and the highest rate of teens with a second pregnancy. And after years of Republican ‘leadership,’ not only has Rick Perry failed to address these challenges, but he and his minions have done everything they can to avoid addressing them in any meaningful way. Rick Perry, Kay Bailey Hutchison, and others in the Republican leadership have turned their backs on 25 million Texans, instead opting to curry favor with a handful of fringe Republican primary voters.
“If I believed for a second that it would result in a healthy debate of the issues of most importance to Texas families, I would today be announcing my candidacy for Governor of Texas. But we have all watched over the years as Perry, Hutchison, and other Republican politicians have launched their scorched earth ‘say anything to win’ vicious attacks against political opponents. To mask their utter lack of leadership, they’ll do so again, and I decline to put my family through it. That I am a Latina would only serve to amplify their attacks.
“I will gladly work hard to ensure that a Democrat prevails in the election for Governor, so that Texas families can have a better shot at having a state government focused on the needs of Texans, instead of state Republican leadership obsessed with their own political futures, at Texans’ expense.
“Prominent Democrats must put personal ambitions aside and very pragmatically nominate the person best equipped to win in November. Just because one can win the Democratic nomination for Governor doesn’t mean one should, unless he or she is best positioned to defeat the Republican nominee in the fall.
“That’s why I think Senator Kirk Watson should raise his sights and run for Governor. I’ve watched as Senator Watson has emerged as a leader in the state Senate on the issues of most importance to Texans. While staying true to Democratic values, he is a bipartisan pragmatic leader solidly focused on addressing the priorities of all Texans. I intend to lobby Senator Watson to run for governor, and I’ll wholeheartedly support him if he does. But if he declines, Democrats should recruit and support someone who, like Watson, is energetic, pragmatic, focused, and smart; and who can fully energize Democratic supporters while also attracting a broad range of independent voters in every region of the state.
“The Republicans have had their day, and Texans have realized that the Republicans can’t lead. I will be working hard to elect a Democrat to the Governor’s office.”
I take issue with at least two things in Van De Putte’s statment. Is it Republican failures that have led to Texas being named the BEST STATE TO DO BUSINESS for almost four straight years? Is it Republican failures that helped Texas be the state where over HALF of ALL jobs were created in the United States? Is it Republican failures the have made Texas the state that is best positioned to be the first that comes out of the recession? We are a state that has an unemployment rate below that of the rest of the nation. It is Republican leadership that gave a tax cut to 40,000 small businesses, which are the backbone of the American economy. This is no accident at all … it is Republican leadership that has made Texas a leader in the economy. Republican leadership has left $9 Million in the rainy day fund. Republican leadership has implemented Windstorm Insurance Reforms. Yes there is still work to do, but Republicans will do that work with fiscal responsiblity in mind. If we did what Democrats in other state legislatures have done, we would end up with a situtation much like that which California faces now. Thats not whats best for Texas.
Secondly, this quote from Van De Putte: “That I am a Latina would only serve to amplify their (GOP) attacks (on me).” This is the most frustrating, identity politics example I have seen since SCOTUS nominee Sonia Sotomayor. Let me just tell Sen. Van De Putte that I AM A HISPANIC REPUBLICAN AND I FEEL NOTHING BUT WELCOME IN THE PARTY. The Governor (Rick Perry) treats me and my other Hispanic Republican friends no different than my white friends. You want us to feel bad for you because you think you get attacked on things because your hispanic. YOU DON’T. You get confronted on ISSUES by Republicans because we don’t always agree with you on the issues. I have campaigned against you, chanted “Give the boot to Van De Putte”, and voted against you. Not because your hispanic (again I am hispanic), but because I DISAGREE WITH YOUR OUTLOOK ON WHAT STATE GOVERNMENT SHOULD DO! Do NOT try to bring identity politics into this race, if you do I will expose it to anyone and everyone that I can. You are utterly ridiculous to think even for one second that any Republican candidate would attack you because of your race. Republicans don’t subscribe to the bull crap theories of identity politics, only Democrats do because they want to play the victim rather than stand on the issues.
San Antonio Named #1 Metro Economy in America
Good news today for those of us who call the Alamo City home, we live in the best economy in America. This even dispite the overall economic downturn being experienced by the country as a whole. This according to a new study released today by the Washington DC based Brookings Institution. This report shows that the city has outperformed 99 of the 100 metropolitan areas in the US.
This from the San Antonio Express-News (www.mysa.com):
Being a top-ranked economy is nothing new for San Antonio. Just a little more than a year ago, the city finished second to Oklahoma City in a Forbes.com study identifying the most recession-proof metro areas.
Alan Berube, a co-author of the report who also is research director for the institution’s Metropolitan Policy Program, said it wasn’t one overriding factor that pushed San Antonio to the top.
Instead, solid scores on a variety of measures were responsible for the city’s ranking.
“San Antonio’s numbers look strong precisely because of what your economy is based on,” Berube said.
The local economy is driven by sectors such as health care and insurance that didn’t fall as badly as other sectors, was shielded from the downturn by military expansions and, like other cities in Texas, didn’t participate in “the ridiculous run-up in housing prices” early on that triggered meltdowns in many areas, Berube said.
“San Antonio didn’t lose as much in the first place, so it could be ready to turn around sooner,” he said.
Brookings’ MetroMonitor report, which is being released today, provides what the institution calls “the first ‘beneath the hood’ look at the impact of the recession on metropolitan America.”
It measures changes in employment totals, unemployment rates, housing prices, the value of goods and services produced by cities and other factors through the first three months of the year to identify which cities are performing well and which are not.
Texas is well-represented in the top-performing metro areas.
Austin, Houston, Dallas and McAllen finished third, fourth, fifth and sixth, respectively, after Oklahoma City at No. 2. El Paso also scored well at 11th. At the very bottom of the list was Detroit.
San Antonio’s standing drew applause from city and county leaders, who said it can be helpful in attracting more jobs and prosperity to San Antonio.
“The stability of the economy, the predictability of costs — those are hard things to beat,” said Mario Hernandez, president of the San Antonio Economic Development Foundation.
“It speaks volumes about San Antonio’s business-friendly climate and our willingness to embrace new opportunities,” said Mayor Julián Castro.“I’m not surprised. I am pleased by it.”
Keith Phillips, senior economist with the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas in San Antonio, said that while the ranking is good for San Antonio, it reaffirms what past studies already have shown about how steady the local economy is and how well it measures against other cities when times get tough.
He also cautioned against reading too much into the study because it gave such high rankings to cities that depend on energy markets, which could have further to fall as the recession continues.
San Antonio isn’t an energy-dependant city, and Phillips does not believe it will fall out of the top 20 metro areas in performance.
The Brookings’ report said San Antonio’s employment totals dropped by 0.4 percent from its peak in the third quarter of 2008 and its gross metropolitan product, or productive output, slipped by 0.5 percent. In those categories, the city is in fourth and sixth places, respectively, among the large cities.
The increase in San Antonio’s housing prices was the ninth best in the study and its unemployment rate, while higher than a year earlier, experienced the sixth lowest increase.
The weakest metro areas featured double digit drops in employment totals and housing prices over the study period.
Housing prices plummeted by more than 30 percent for the year ending in March in Stockton, Calif., for instance.
Only about a third of the 100 top metro areas avoided a decline in home prices over the year, the report said.
Good news for San Antonio and for Texas with 6 of the top 11 economies in the country. There is one reason for that … Texas has created a positive climate for business to relocate and prosper in the state. Thats why there are so many Fortune 500 companies here. Republican leadership in Austin these past years has helped the Texas economy grow with common sense business sense and tax cuts for small businesses that promote reinvestment and job creation.
Texas … Like a Whole Other Country
Like a Whole Other Country!
Well there has been talk recently of Governor Rick Perry and his comments on “secession,” which weren’t really all that controversial unless you took them out of context (the media doesn’t do that right). Yet, with all this talk about how “crazy” it is to talk about secession … Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is already thinking ahead, trying to beat Perry to the punch. In a recently released (and since edited) list of foriegn countries visited by the Secretary, Texas was listed between Turkey and Switzerland among the 16 countries that the Secretary has visited. Clinton was in the “state” to accept an award from Planned Parenthood in Houston and to appear at Dallas’ Women’s Museum — and not to work on diplomatic relations.
The Huffington Post (not generally a regular read for me) has a screen cap of the list still: CLICK HERE
Perry 2010
