True Texans Care About Neighbors - by Deb Casinco

I've been asked by many voters why the Republican and Democratic primary ballots are so different this time.
Remember, this primary is a strictly partisan election. Both major political parties are asking you, the voter, to determine who their party's candidates will be in the November 2010 General Election.

This year the Republican Party added non-binding propositions. The Democratic Party did not.
These GOP propositions are non-binding, meaning not be up for Constitutional Amendments nor voted upon in any form on November's General Election ballot. These propositions are the same old wedge issues and a thinly veiled attempt to distract voters from the real problems Texans face. Look back from 2000 to now. Can you honestly say you are better off than 10 years ago?
Food for thought:

1. Texas' unemployment rates remain the highest in years. Likening unemployed people to drug addicts, Gov. Perry refused to take $555 million of Texas' taxpayer dollars that the stimulus was to send back to Texas. That money was to go to Texas' Unemployment Insurance fund to help unemployed Texas families temporarily through the harsh economic downturn wrought by eight years of Republican policies. Now, Texas has to borrow back that money - as much as $2 billion with interest - to cover that shortfall.

2. More than 1.4 million Texas children don't have health care, and one of every four Texans doesn't have health insurance. Rates continue to skyrocket. Since Rick Perry became Governor in 2000, annual health insurance premiums for Texans rose by 86 percent (from $6,638 to $12,403) while the state's median earnings rose only 15 percent. Texas homeowner insurance rates are the highest in the nation, at nearly double the average for other states.

3. While Gov. Perry rails at the federal government and threatens to secede, he forgets to tell you that he and the Republican leadership took federal stimulus money - to the tune of $16.5 billion - to help balance Texas' 2010 budget. In fact, Texas led all other states in using stimulus money for the 2010 budget, with a third used to avoid tax increases. Federal money provided 96.7 percent of funds required to close Texas' budget gaps, the highest of any of the states.

4. While Gov. Perry touts billions in surplus in his slick TV ads, the reality is that Texas legislators will face a projected $16 to 20 billion budget deficit in Jan. 2011, partially due to Perry's property tax reduction by $14 billion but a net income of $9 billion. Additionally, Gov. Perry's new business tax took in drastically less money than expected. When Perry exempted 40,000 small businesses from the tax this deficit was widened.

5. Texas has the worst air and water quality in the country. The problem's so egregious that Texas has drawn a federal lawsuit. Gov. Perry sues the federal government in return, likely draining precious and scarce taxpayer funds. Why doesn't Gov Perry stop hating the federal government and just be a leader in cleaning up our air and water instead of denying there's a problem? Who's he really protecting?

6. Texas has the highest dropout rates in the nation. For those who do graduate, the cost of college tuition has doubled at many of Texas' universities since tuition deregulation began in 2003. Texans are second to last in the number of adults with a high school diploma. Texas ranks 45th in the country in per-student expenditures and Texas schools have a higher debt than any other state. Texas teachers are paid more than $6,000 below the national average.

7. Texans' utility rates skyrocketed after deregulation between 1999 and 2007, and Houston and Dallas families pay the highest utility rates in the nation.

8. Texas has the highest of rate of child hunger in the country, with one child in every five facing food insecurity. The Texas Food Bank Network, whose members serve every Texas county, estimated serving more than 900,000 hungry Texas children last year alone.

Don't be distracted. Vote Democratic and tell the Republican leadership that being a Texan means caring about neighbors, making education and insurance available to all who want it, and bringing back ethical governance.

Deborah Cascino
Parker County Democratic Chair