Old School: Politicians complain about the "filter" of the news media, a gripe usually leveled when they had something good about themselves or nasty about the opposition that they couldn't convince anyone to run.

New School: Politicians complain about the "silly polls" and "petty little stuff" that gets on the Internet through blogs, the changing mainstream media, and other Internet sites. Now the complaint is that the media — that's the old guys and the new guys — aren't responsible and don't separate verifiable information from gossip from disinformation.

There's plenty to commend both arguments. For better and worse, though, this is the See For Yourself age of news and information and most of the polls are getting ink.

Actual mileage varies, but recent polls all illustrate the same story.

• Gov. Rick Perry is trying to see whether it's possible to win reelection with most of the voters against you.

• Comptroller Carole Keeton Strayhorn, who left the Democratic Party to become a Republican and the Republican Party to run as an independent, will see whether you can defy the base votes in both parties and win with a well-financed media campaign

• Libertarian James Werner will be the winner of the None of the Above vote, along with the small percentage that usually goes to candidates in his party.

• Democrat Chris Bell is running, so far, as a sort of anonymous Democrat: There's a base vote, but not much money to make his name and positions known to the electorate. Various pollsters have found that a third or more of voters have never heard of him.

• And there's Kinky Friedman. Remember the photos of Iraqi voters who dipped a finger in purple ink to show they'd voted? Friedman's trying to find out how many Texans will dip their middle fingers into the ink jar to send Austin a message.

It's a Texas Standoff. To this point, none of the three major challengers — Bell, Friedman, and Strayhorn — has broken out of the second-place race with enough velocity to overtake Perry. A suppressed Republican vote — if scandals and bad news has that effect here — would weigh against Perry. A big turnout of new voters might be good news for Friedman. Bell's hope is that Democrats vote, and come home to him. Strayhorn's is that a constant and heavy TV presence will make her the "top of mind" alternative to Perry come Election Day.

With about four weeks left (early voting starts on October 23), nobody's making fast moves to the front of the second place pack. That's good for the incumbent. We've mentioned this before, but it's a key number: To beat Perry, a contestant will have to smoke the other challengers, winning 70 percent of the anti-incumbent vote to push their overall numbers up to around 40 percent overall. Recent polls show nobody's more than halfway there.

• The latest of those polls was done by New York-based Blum & Weprin Associates for The Dallas Morning News. They've got Perry at 38 percent, Strayhorn at 18 percent, Bell at 15 percent, Friedman at 14 percent, and undecided at 14 percent. (They surveyed voters from September 26-October 3; the margin of error is +/- 3.5 percent.)

• Just before that one was published, an Opinion Analysts survey done for the Texans for Insurance Reform PAC had Perry at 33 percent, Strayhorn at 20 percent, Bell and Friedman at 14 percent each, and undecided at 19 percent. That PAC is affiliated with the Texas Trial Lawyers Association. Some of TTLA's members are backing Strayhorn, some are backing Bell, and a lot — including the trade group itself — are staying out.

Their poll had some other interesting tidbits. More than a third — 36 percent — say they haven't heard of Bell. About the same number of people see Perry and Strayhorn favorably (or very favorably), but Perry has higher unfavorable ratings. Friedman was the only candidate in the bunch who was underwater in that section of the poll: He's viewed favorably by 24 percent of those polled, and unfavorably by 40 percent. (The poll was done between September 28 and October 2 and has a margin of error of +/- 4 percent. The results are available online, complete with questions, cross-tabs and previous poll results.)

• The Wall Street Journal/Zogby Battleground Poll has Perry at 33 percent, Bell at 22 percent, Friedman at 19 percent, Strayhorn at 16 percent, and Libertarian James Werner at 1.5 percent. That leaves a big bunch of votes unaccounted for; Undecided would come in second in this field. The polling was done September 19-25. The margin of error is +/- 2.6 percentage points. Zogby's methodology has come under some attack; you can read their explanation (and defense) and decide for yourself.

Attacking the Tax Cut

Carole Keeton Strayhorn's newest TV ad suggests Gov. Rick Perry was stretching the truth when he said average Texans would get $2,000 property tax cuts because of the new business tax.

Strayhorn's ad starts with a shot of a TV set playing an ad run by Perry earlier this year. When she starts talking, the camera moves to Strayhorn, wearing a business suit in front of a white background.

Perry: "We kept our promises to you. The average homeowner will receive a $2,000 tax cut."

Strayhorn: "Have you gotten your $2,000 property tax cut yet? Don't go running to your mailbox. Turns out most seniors get nothing. And the rest of us? Just about $52 — about enough each week to buy a can of soda. We need a government that talks straight with Texans, and gives us real property tax relief. And real honesty. This grandma wants to shake Austin up."

Perry's campaign was apparently waiting for this one — our inbox had eight press releases from the incumbent's campaign within three hours of the ad's release to the media. They forwarded supportive words from several groups that endorsed the tax swap last spring: the Texas Association of Business, the Texas Association of Realtors, the Texas Association of Manufacturers, the Texas Restaurant Association, the Texas Apartment Association, the Texas Oil & Gas Association, the Texas Motor Transport Association, Texans for Taxpayer Relief, and the Texas Association of Builders.

Each group praised the tax bill in some form or another, but not one of them defended or even mentioned the $2,000 figure Strayhorn is attacking.

The numbers in the ad come from Perry's estimate of what you'd save over three years if you bought a house at current average sales prices, a number his gang got from the Real Estate Center at Texas A&M University. The argument is over the starting point; the average home sold last year is worth more than the average home owned last year; not everybody bought at the top of the market. Perry's ad originally ran in late May and early June. We reverse-engineered the facts in Torturing the Numbers. And his ad is available in our Files section.

Powder Puff

Carole Keeton Strayhorn added a warm and fuzzy spot to her TV mix — a quick family album that barely mentions politics. Wanna speculate?

It's the sort of spot designed to humanize a candidate and make an attacking political opponent look like a heel. Nobody's attacking and it might be that nobody does, but this lays the groundwork for a defense. And it softens Strayhorn, who's attacking Perry in the ad that started earlier in the week.

The new spot is voiced by Strayhorn joined toward the end by her husband, Ed Strayhorn. A spokesman for the campaign says her attack on Gov. Rick Perry's school tax cuts is still running and that the new spots are an addition to the mix rather than a substitution. The script:

Strayhorn: "My greatest accomplishment: My four grown sons. My greatest joy: Six, smart, beautiful granddaughters. A few years ago, I was blessed to marry my high-school sweetheart. Eddie Joe Strayhorn first asked me to marry him when I was eighteen. My parents said we weren’t old enough. Well, now we are. Ed still had the ring. He saved it 45 years."

Words on the screen: "One Tough Grandma. One Happy Newlywed For Texas."

Ed Strayhorn: "Ah, she was worth the wait." (laughter from a group of people off camera.)

Headline? Or Footnote?

The one-hour gubernatorial debate scheduled for Friday night in Dallas (live in some markets; tape-delayed version on CSPAN) comes almost pre-buried.

It's on a Friday night in football season. It's in Dallas on the eve of the Texas-Oklahoma game. It's a one-company deal, with the Belo Corporation in charge of what has in the past been a cooperative effort between non-profit and for-profit media. It's only one-hour long, which means that, with four candidates, the contestants only have to have full control of themselves for 12 to 15 minutes each, while they're actually talking.

Still, it's got two potentially promising features. Three of the four candidates — Chris Bell, Kinky Friedman, and Carole Keeton Strayhorn — want to make news, and there's a section of this thing where the contestants are asking questions instead of relying on reporters to do it for them. Unless they found new wealth (campaign finance reports come out next week) Bell and Friedman don't have the money for big TV campaigns. Debate time, if they can leverage it into free media coverage, is valuable. Gov. Rick Perry, on the other hand, would like a fast hour with no runs, no hits, no errors and nobody left on base.

Debates don't move voters unless there's something in them that makes news and, in the repeating news cycles, embeds itself in the minds of voters. Think of past debates. Unless you were personally involved in some way, all you'll probably recall are the parts that made the highlight reel that played on the nightly news and/or made the front page. Blogs could amplify high and low points, but if this is a one-hour civics exercise, most voters will never know about it.

Minority Rule

This is the sort of thing that, if you aren't cynical, might help you understand your cynical friends better. If you'd rather look at this as a business analysis, you'll have to conclude that the industry producing these numbers is a niche business — a relatively big one, but a niche business. 

The body politic isn't as big as you think.

About 78 percent of all voting age Texans are registered to vote. Voter turnout, as a percentage of the voting age population of the state, has averaged less than 30 percent (in gubernatorial election years) from 1982 to now. In 2002, 29.3 percent of the voting age population showed up to choose Rick Perry over Tony Sanchez Jr. Four years before that, 26.5 percent of the state's adults turned out to pick George W. Bush over Garry Mauro in the top state race on the ballot. (The 1998 race was a low point; the 2002 race was in line with turnout in 1982 and 1986. The high was in 1994 — 33.6 percent of the state's adults voted. Presidential election turnouts over the last 20 years have ranged from 41 percent of all adults, in 1996, to 47.6 percent, in 1984 and 1992.)

If you were to make a wild guess about turnout next month, something in the 30 percent ballpark would make sense, based on the results from the last quarter-century.

Most of the smart people who run campaigns or watch this stuff have been saying for months that a gubernatorial candidate with 40 percent of the vote in November will be the next governor.

So, and this is where we get to the fodder for cynics, it's entirely possible the next governor of Texas will be chosen by 40 percent of the 30 percent of eligible adults in the state — elected, if you multiply that out, by 12 percent of the state's voting age adults.

That's just under one in eight adults.

Think about that when you're analyzing advertising, or the interest of regular people, or looking at the issues the candidates choose to talk about. A candidate can win an election by turning the head of just one in eight voters. On the other hand, 18 percent of the adults in the state will be voting for one of the losers. Add them to the 70 percent who don't vote, and seven of every eight people candidates see on the streets won't be deciding who's in charge next year.

Things People Worry About

If you vote a straight ticket, and you're in one of the congressional districts that's having a special election, your straight-ticket vote won't count in the special election.

That could, theoretically, be a big deal.

Five congressional districts were redrawn because the U.S. Supreme Court found legal problems with the way the Legislature drew them. The tightest race in that bunch is probably for the spot held by U.S. Rep. Henry Bonilla, R-San Antonio. He's got a number of serious opponents, and a couple of hot races overlap that one. It's possible that someone would vote for a U.S. senator, a governor, some state lawmakers and judges, and miss the congressional race altogether. It's hard to say who'd benefit, but enough dropped votes could move a close contest from one column to the other. 

There's a special election going for the rest of state Rep. Vilma Luna's term (she retired to take a lobby job), another where state Sen. Frank Madla retired, and one more to fill final weeks of U.S. Rep. Tom DeLay's term. Those matter less, since they're only "stub terms," but it's something for fretful people to fret over.

• A related issue arises in races where there are write-in candidates and no candidates in the party favored by a straight-ticket voter. The big guacamole here is in CD-22, where a voter pulling the Republican lever won't be casting a vote in the congressional race. They'll push the Vote button on their electronic voting machines and it'll send them to a screen that notes, among other things, that they didn't have a candidate in the congressional contest. They'll then choose to go back and do a write-in or vote for another party's candidate, or they can just cast a ballot without that voting in that race.

Outside Help

Rep. Chuck Hopson, D-Jacksonville, is getting help from colleagues in both parties in his reelect race against former Jacksonville Mayor Larry Durrett. Republicans Warren Chisum of Pampa, Charlie Geren of Fort Worth, and Bob Griggs of North Richland Hills all came to the district to knock on doors for Hopson. The incumbent is one of a handful of so-called WD-40s (White Democrats over 40 years of age) in East Texas. Geren, who survived a heavily financed attack in the GOP primary earlier this year, says he walked the district for Hopson two years ago, and says Hopson "walked for me in a sleet storm" before this year's primary. Chisum says Hopson called and asked for help and that's all there was to it: "Shoot me for having friends that are in the other party, I guess."

• Hold your surprise: AGFUND, the political arm of the Texas Farm Bureau, endorsed U.S. Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison for reelection. That group has endorsed her every time she's run statewide, since her bid for state treasurer in 1990. She was introduced to the group by that year's GOP candidate for agriculture commissioner — a state legislator named Rick Perry. You can see all of the group's endorsements on their political action committee's website. It's at http://www.txfbagfund.org/.

That Wall Street Journal/Zogby Battleground Poll mentioned higher up in this issue has U.S. Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison leading Democratic challenger Barbara Ann Radnofsky 53.5 percent to 30 percent. That survey's early mid-September numbers had the race narrowing, but this time, Hutchison rose while Radnofsky fell. That leaves almost one voter in six unaccounted for; 16.5 percent are in the undecided/no answer column.

• The Rev. Jesse Jackson hit the trail on Democrat Chris Bell's behalf, taking the candidate and a gaggle of political reporters through a high school and a community center in Houston.

• Ignore that rumor that former Comptroller John Sharp, a Democrat, will be helping the Rick Perry team at the gubernatorial debates in Dallas. Sharp, who hasn't endorsed anyone in the five-way race, will be hunting.

• Harlan Crow of Dallas let Gov. Rick Perry's campaign issue a statement saying why he's supporting the incumbent over his former favorite, Comptroller Carole Keeton Strayhorn. He's given more than $60,000 to Strayhorn over the last year-and-a-half. But he sent her a letter early this year telling her he wouldn't support her as an independent, or against Perry. It wouldn't have been his first shot at Perry: Crow contributed to Tony Sanchez Jr. four years ago. But he's also a generous backer of Texans for Lawsuit Reform and the Republican Party of Texas, both of which are and have been solidly behind Perry.

• Another Strayhorn backer — Dallas County Commissioner John Wiley Price, a Democrat — told The Dallas Morning News he's considering a switch to Chris Bell, the Democrat in the race.

• Democrat Sherrie Matula, who's running against Rep. John Davis, R-Houston, was endorsed by the Texas Parent PAC. That group pointed to Davis' support of a voucher program for low-income and Spanish-speaking residents of Houston. Matula, a former teacher and school board member, is opposed to vouchers.

• The National Rifle Association has opposed U.S. Rep. Chet Edwards, D-Waco, the last three times he's run. This time, the gun lobby is staying out, backing neither Edwards nor Iraq war veteran Van Taylor, the Republican who's challenging him.

• The Texas State Teachers Association's PAC endorsed Ellen Cohen, the Democrat challenging Rep. Martha Wong, R-Houston, in HD-134.

Mainstream Multimedia

Remember when Roland Hedley, the fictional TV reporter in Doonesbury, was sent on assignment with paper, pencil, camera, tape deck, and a radar dish on his head? We're not there... yet. But multimedia is seeping into newspaper newsrooms.

The Austin American-Statesman posted video debates — taped at the paper — in two House races. Reporter Jason Embry sat town with Democrat Valinda Bolton, Libertarian Yvonne Schick, and Republican Bill Welch for a debate you can watch on the Statesman's website. And reporter Gardner Selby interviewed the candidates running in HD-50, where Rep. Mark Strama, D-Austin, is the incumbent. He's facing Republican Jeff Fleece in November (along with Libertarian Jerry Chandler, who didn't make it to the debate).

At the Houston Chronicle, Austin political reporter R.G. Ratcliffe has been lugging around a recorder, and you can hear podcast interviews with Republican Ed Gillespie, and with candidates like Democrat Chris Bell and Libertarian James Werner, on the paper's Texas Politics blog.

Political People and Their Moves

John Stobo plans to quit his job at the top of the University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston. Stobo, who's been at the center of a controversial series of layoffs there, says he'll leave before the 2007 school year starts. He's been in that post for a little more than nine years. They'll replace him after a search by the regents.

Michael Donley is the new inspector general at the Texas Education Agency. They're assigning him to work on irregular scores on tests given public school students in Texas. TEA did a computer run on the scores at schools around the state and found 700 schools with "unusual data patterns" in the 2005 school year. Donley, a lawyer and former U.S. Air Force police officer, is supposed to find out if there's anything to that.

There's a new public affairs outfit in Austin. The principals in The Patriot Group include Denis Calabrese, Kevin Brannon, Ryan Gravatt, Anthony Holm, Jill Warren, and Matt Welch. Marc Levin signed on as general counsel, and Haley Cornyn — daughter of the U.S. senator — is the operations manager.

Keith Strama (brother of state Rep. Mark Strama, D-Austin) is leaving McGinnis, Lochridge, and Kilgore, to start his own law firm with a couple of other lawyers. He's the lobbyist and administrative lawyer — Matt Beatty and Shannon Bangle are litigators. The new firm is called Beatty, Bangle, Strama.

State Rep. Carl Isett, R-Lubbock, is back in Texas after a tour of duty on the Kuwait/Iraq border. He's a commander in the U.S. Naval Reserve. His wife Cheri Isett took his place in the Legislature while he was gone, a period that included the special session on school and business taxes last spring.

Smiley Garcia, a lieutenant in the Texas Army National Guard, has been named the legislative liaison officer for the Texas Military Forces. He previously worked for Gov. Rick Perry and for House Speaker Tom Craddick.

Quotes of the Week

Rep. Martha Wong, R-Houston, telling KTRK-TV why the work "Republican" is covered with red tape on some of her campaign signs: "We use one campaign sign when we're running in the primary, and we use another sign when we're running in the general. It's that simple."

Ohio Supreme Court Justice Paul Pfeifer, talking to The New York Times about raising campaign money: "I never felt so much like a hooker down by the bus station in any race I've ever been in as I did in a judicial race. Everyone interested in contributing has some very specific interests. They mean to be buying a vote. Whether they succeed or not, it's hard to say."

State Rep. Phil King, R-Weatherford, quoted by The Dallas Morning News giving a warning to a room full of utility executives and others: "I can't walk into the grocery store that somebody doesn't yell at me about their electricity bills. Next session I think we'll see a lot of bills filed early and often that deal with the price of electricity. I think you all can kind of imagine what some of them will be."

Texas Association of Business chief Bill Hammond, talking to the San Antonio Express-News about Inc. magazine's two-star rating of Gov. Rick Perry: "I would give him five stars out of four stars. Or 20. Can you quote me as saying 20?"

WFAA-TV station manager Mike Devlin, quoted in the Fort Worth Star-Telegram about complaints of letting news anchors replace political reporters as the questioners at a political debate: "If you're going to say that TV anchors are shallow, then put in there that newspaper reporters are poor dressers."

Harris County Tax Collector-Assessor Paul Bettencourt, quoted in the Houston Chronicle on claims of cuts in school taxes: "Anyone who is running on a big tax cut is making a mistake because the numbers don't support it. Call it what it is, it's property tax relief. It's not a tax cut."

Polk County, Florida, Sheriff Grady Judd, quoted in the Orlando Sentinel after officers fired 110 shots at accused cop-killer Angilo Freeland: "That's all the bullets we had, or we would have shot him more."

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Texas Weekly: Volume 23, Issue 16, 9 October 2006. Ross Ramsey, Editor. Copyright 2006 by Printing Production Systems, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Reproduction in whole or in part without written permission from the publisher is prohibited. One-year online subscription: $250. For information about your subscription, call (512) 302-5703 or email biz@texasweekly.com. For news, email ramsey@texasweekly.com, or call (512) 288-6598.

Bell wants Friedman out of the race for governor, so he asked him.

The Dallas Morning News nailed this exclusive story about Democrat Chris Bell calling Kinky Friedman to ask him to drop out of the governor's race. You'll see in the story that Friedman said nuts to that.

But Bell's pressing, saying Kinky ought to "be a good shepherd" (that's a play on one of Friedman's commercials), and help him knock off the incumbent.

The Bell statement: "I had hoped to talk to Kinky privately, but now that it's been reported by the Dallas Morning News, I'm going to ask him publicly. Please join me in defeating Rick Perry. Kinky Friedman has done a lot in this campaign to energize voters. I am proud to count among my supporters many of his friends. Kinky and I both want what's best for the state, and Rick Perry and Carole Strayhorn are not what's best for Texas. They are the problem. Kinky and I agree on some very important issues and our supporters all have a lot in common; they want change. And now is the time for us all to unite and elect a new governor. So I'm asking for Kinky to join me, and be a good shepherd for the state of Texas."

 

* From Hunter S. Thompson: "When the going gets weird, the weird turn pro."

Vouchers are on the front burner again. One must wonder just why this issue continues to have legs. It has been beaten back on more than one occasion by the Texas Legislature, and in a January survey conducted by Public Strategies Inc., 84 percent of the parents surveyed said they were happy with their children's public schools, giving them a grade of A or B. Yet, the Texas Senate Education Committee is holding hearings seeking input on implementing a voucher program in Texas.

More recently released data goes even further to question why vouchers are such a high priority item with a few wealthy and influential individuals and a number of legislators. A report released to the public this past July — by the U.S. Department of Education no less — showed that children in our public schools performed as well or better in math and reading than their counterparts in private schools.

That study, conducted by Educational Testing Services, is also supported by an independent study conducted by University of Illinois researchers Chris and Sarah Lubienski. The Lubienskis' research showed that when comparing apples to apples, poor students, middle-class students and rich students in public schools did better than students from comparable economic classes in private schools.

An even more compelling reason to question vouchers in Texas comes from the results of the 2005 National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), commonly referred to as the Nation's Report Card because it includes scores for students from across the country. Those 2005 NAEP results have Texas' African American and Hispanic 4th and 8th graders ranked number 2 in the nation in math. White and Asian 4th graders ranked number 1, while 8th graders in both groups came in at number 3. And finally, results from this year's Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills (TAKS) showed a 50 percent increase in the number of high performing schools in the state.

Despite all this, voucher proponents are determined to get their foot in the door in Texas. Their resolve may even be getting stronger with political support from the White House, the Secretary of Education, Gov. Rick Perry and the chairs of both the Texas House and Senate Education Committees. From the private sector the charge is being led by Dr. James Leininger, a San Antonio physician, philanthropist, and businessman. Dr. Leininger poured hundreds of thousands of dollars into campaigns of Republicans attempting to unseat incumbent Republicans who were opposed to vouchers during this year's primary election. He is currently financing billboards and radio spots promoting vouchers. Although the primary force behind the voucher movement is relatively small in numbers, their pockets are deep, their influence far- reaching, and their determination inexhaustible.

Many voucher supporters like to refer to public schools as 'government schools,' bogged down by bureaucratic rules and regulations. "What is needed in America is a voucher of substantial size available to all students, and free of excessive regulations," says Milton Friedman. And in House Bill 1263, which did not get passed in 2005, it read, "The purpose of this subchapter is to allow maximum freedom to the private sector to respond to and provide for the educational needs of the children of this state without governmental control, and this subchapter shall be liberally construed to achieve that purpose."

If that is all it takes, then the legislature should simply free up the public schools from all those regulations and allow school boards, superintendents, principals, and teachers the freedom to run their schools as they see fit.

We know that is not going to happen and I see no point in rehashing the standard arguments against vouchers, though there are many and most are on point. So, if it should come to pass that a voucher program gets through the next session of the Texas Legislature and taxpayer dollars begin flowing into private schools, religious and otherwise, both supporters and opponents should demand that everyone play by the same rules.

It is only right and proper that private schools receiving public funds:

• Be subject to the Texas Open Meetings Act
• Be subject to the Texas Open Records Act
• Should provide advance notice of all board meetings, conduct all board meetings in public, and take all votes in open session
• Require board members to provide the same financial disclosure forms as public school trustees
• Make all financial records including annual budgets, administrator salaries, personnel, and vendor contracts available for public review
• Require all students to take the TAKS and publish the results
• Require that all teachers are certified and highly qualified
• Require that at least 65 percent of all funds be spent in the classroom
• Be required to abide by the other regulations imposed on the public schools.

And one last thing: Perhaps we should require that the state equalize public school funding with our very best private schools. After all, we all want nothing but the best for all Texas children. Among our many outstanding private schools in Texas, St. Marks in Dallas, St. Andrews in Austin, and Kinkaid in Houston, tuition and fees at those schools range from $12,000 to $16,000 for first grade to $20,000 for high school.

Texas legislators need to stay out of our excellent private schools' business and focus on our public schools, which nearly 90 percent of our school-age children attend.

 

Ken Zornes is a former Dallas ISD board member who now lives in Austin. You can reach him at kzornes13@hotmail.com.

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Texas Weekly's Soapbox is a venue for opinions, spins, alternate takes, and other interesting stuff sent in by readers and others. We moderate submissions to keep crazy people out, and anonymous commentary is ineligible. Readers can respond (through the moderator) to things posted here. Got something to submit? We're interested in everything from full-blown opinion pieces to short bits to observations or tidbits that have escaped us and the mass media. One rule: Your name goes on your words. Call or send an email: Ross Ramsey, Editor, Texas Weekly, 512/288-6598, ramsey@texasweekly.com.

Chris Bell, Kinky Friedman, Rick Perry, and Carole Keeton Strayhorn hit television together Friday night. It was actually sort of interesting.

The only televised debate of this year's Texas contest for governor was held Friday night in Dallas. The Dallas Morning News (the flagship of the Belo Corp., sole sponsor of the debate) includes an online video of the hour-long debate.

Nothing that happened during the single gubernatorial debate made news, beyond the perfunctory stories everybody has to run simply because they staffed an event with reporters and photographers. Remember: Where you find a gaggle of reporters, you will later find stories, whether or not news was committed.

Normal Texans who watched might be a bit more educated about the candidates, but probably didn't see much they were still talking about 24 hours later. The debate didn't jump outside of its box. After the first round of stories, nothing that happened at that forum got repeated on the news, and talk of it — even in political circles — was fairly muted (that said, the sponsors claim the ratings were pretty good for a Friday night, topping competing programs in Dallas-Fort Worth, Houston, and San Antonio). 

Mark it as a win for the incumbent, Gov. Rick Perry. He didn't make news with a mistake (nor did anyone else, though a couple of answers could have tripped a front-runner). And neither Chris Bell, Kinky Friedman, nor Carole Keeton Strayhorn buried an arrow into any meaningful target.

Bell came off best of the three challengers. Strayhorn appeared nervous and her answers to questions wandered, except in cases where she could fall into the words and rhythms she's been using in stump speeches and ads. Friedman rambled and seemed both overwhelmed and unprepared for the hour-long appearance.

Had Friedman or Strayhorn entered the debate as the frontrunner — with the expectations that attend that position — their performances would have made news and their campaigns would have taken a hit. As it stands, they both missed a chance to catch the attention of voters. Bell, on the other hand, looked serious and didn't blow it. He outdid the other challengers.

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How it played in the papers the next day:

Perry, Bell strong in debate/Challengers attack incumbent on education, toll roads and property taxes
By CHRISTY HOPPE / The Dallas Morning News, 10/7/6
Rick Perry fended off competitors who challenged his leadership on education, his push for toll roads, and his coziness with lobbyists during the only debate of the campaign for governor.

Analysis: Challengers miss big chance to define themselves
By GROMER JEFFERS Jr. / The Dallas Morning News, 10/7/6
The candidates for governor got one good shot Friday night to define themselves before Texas voters. But they did little to change the pictures already forming in voters' minds. Gov. Rick Perry and Democrat Chris Bell scored some points and avoided major damage, but none of the four major candidates sufficiently cleared up the questions facing their campaigns.

Little debate, much sniping/Jabs fly from all sides on issues ranging from foes' fitness for office to taxes, toll roads
By R.G. RATCLIFFE and CLAY ROBISON, Houston Chronicle, 10/7/6
DALLAS -- The only debate of the Texas governor's race Friday rarely pushed the four major candidates beyond their campaign rhetoric as they tried to portray each other as unfit for the state's highest office.

The Houston Chronicle/San Antonio Express-News Texas Politics blog also had coverage of the debate and the scene around it.

Belo wouldn't let Libertarian James Werner on stage, so the Austin American-Statesman gave him a slot in their blogs and promoted it on their front page. His stuff is here.

Perry on the defensive in debates/Challengers take shots on TAKS, tolls and spending; don't spare each other.
By W. Gardner Selby, Jason Embry, Ausin American-Statesman Staff, 10/7/6
DALLAS -- Knowing they have a scant month remaining to win over voters, three gubernatorial hopefuls tangled Friday night with Gov. Rick Perry over a swath of issues in the only televised debate of their race.

Different format, same stump speeches
By JOHN MORITZ, ANNA M. TINSLEY and AMAN BATHEJA, Fort Worth Star-Telegram Staff Writers, 10/7/6
DALLAS -- The four leading candidates for governor clawed for attention Friday night, with each staking out contrasting views on how to combat illegal immigration, improve Texas' public schools and change the ethical climate in Austin.

Gubernatorial candidates square off in debate
By JOHN MORITZ, ANNA M. TINSLEY and AMAN BATHEJA, Fort Worth Star-Telegram Staff Writers, 10/7/6
DALLAS -- Texas' four main gubernatorial candidates laid out their positions on immigration, property tax relief, public education -- even racial comments -- during the only gubernatorial debate this political season.

Texas governor candidates take part in crowded debate
KELLEY SHANNON, Associated Press, 10/7/6
DALLAS -- Republican Gov. Rick Perry defended a school property tax cut passed in a recent special legislative session as substantial, but independent challenger Carole Keeton Strayhorn called it "paltry" in their televised debate Friday. The showdown came early in the gubernatorial candidates' one and only scheduled debate and during questioning by a panel of journalists.

Highlights from the Texas gubernatorial debate
Associated Press, 10/7/6
Here are key moments and exchanges from the Texas gubernatorial debate Friday night.

Candidates for governor face off in Dallas (includes video links to stories and to the entire debate)
By BRAD WATSON / WFAA-TV, 10/7/6
They talked about the issues: immigration, education and ethics in office. And they also criticized one another. The four front-running candidates for Texas governor faced off Friday night in a debate televised statewide and sponsored by Belo, the parent company of WFAA.com and Channel 8.

 

Gov. Rick Perry's new ad touts the growth in jobs in Texas over the last few years and mixes in his proposal for limits on future government spending.The governor does all the voice work in the ad. While he's talking, he's seen at a chip plant, on a construction site, and standing next to a woman in a hardhat who's holding a sign that says "Thanks. You saved our jobs." The script and the ad follow: Perry: "The Texas job climate's been ranked the best in the nation. We've created 600,000 new jobs in three years. I'm proud of Texas, because we're investing in jobs, cutting taxes, and controlling spending. And more Texans are working today than ever before. We can do more to protect taxpayers. Let's cap government growth and give voters the right to stop runaway spending. Texans deserve good jobs, fiscal responsibility, and unlimited opportunity."

The highlight of the Texas blog world was the much-anticipated, four-way governor's race debate. Bloggers, like many who watch debates, aren't looking to be swayed by what happens. They turn on the program supporting a certain candidate and when the show is over, they still support their candidate. There are no winners or losers, just opinions... something bloggers are eager to share.

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Debate Team

Players: Incumbent Republican Rick Perry; Democrat Chris Bell; independent Kinky Friedman; and independent Carole Keeton Strayhorn. Location: Dallas television studio. Format: Unique.

Evan at Rick Perry vs. the World summed it up this way: "Rick Perry looked like a governor. The others didn't."

Perry Dorrell of Brains and Eggs thought Bell "won" the debate. "It was such a strong performance in comparison to his inept three stagemates that he likely sent himself to the Governor's Mansion tonight."

James Brush, an Austin teacher whose blog is called Coyote Mercury, came away rooting for Bell, after initially signing a petition to put Strayhorn on the ballot. "I had high hopes for Strayhorn; however, she came off flat and uninspiring. I'd take her over Perry, but only since I know she really is committed to education. She sounded desperate, which is probably what happens when you're fourth in the polls."

Pink Dome live-blogged the event (gave his impressions as the debate happened) and gave his readers such memorable comments as "Best look: Rick Perry's face every time Kinky opens his mouth. If I had a screenshot I'd totally post it. He looks like someone made him stand next to a big turd and he's afraid the stink is going to linger on his suit well after he leaves the debate."

Wilco Wise found the debate painful to watch. "Overall, it made you want to stick sharp objects in your eyes and ears. Now that we think about it, maybe that's what the candidates are hoping for... deaf, dumb, and blind voters."

Kevin at PubliusTX said, "It was more underwhelming than I expected (and my expectations were really low)."

The Best Ever Death Metal Band in Denton (do we need to explain that's a pseudonym?), posting on In The Pink Texas had the most entertaining review of the debate with lines like Strayhorn "says she'll send the National Guard to the border, but she'll also send the Texas Rangers. Ha. The Texas Rangers can't catch pop flies, how can they catch Mexicans?" and "Anyone who reads a transcript of the debate would surely think Bell won hands-down. Anyone who actually heard Bell speak spent the entire time wondering if it's better to burn to death or freeze to death."

Phillip Martin of Burnt Orange Report countered with: "Are we going to punish the smart kid in the class because he's not as popular as the school jock, the class clown, or the teacher's pet? If you don't like Bell's policy, okay -- let's talk about that. I'm all for that. But are you really going to overlook his forward-thinking public policy because you don't like the sound of a man's voice?"

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Bell's Ringers

Post-debate, left-leaning blogs were excited to hear that Houston trial lawyer John O'Quinn is now throwing some big bucks Bell's way. Burnt Orange Report also breathlessly reported former President Bill Clinton might trek through Texas on Bell's behalf. "Waiting to hear details from the Bell campaign, but this is exactly the thing that dispirited Texas Dems need to keep fanning the flame," they wrote.

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But There were Other Debates...

The goobies weren't the only dogs barking at each other. John McLeod, a Democrat running for HD-64 in Denton County, recounted his experience debating incumbent Myra Crownover, R-Denton, before a group of retired teachers. He says she walked out of the room while he was talking.

In McLennan County's contest for CD-17, Republican Van Taylor and incumbent Democrat Chet Edwards had a public debate that Right of Texas thinks Taylor won.

Another conservative blog, The Right State, said of Taylor and Edwards, "Both sides took potshots at each other's party leaders, Nancy Pelosi and Dennis Hastert. In this area Van has a slight lead since most Texans do not like ultra-liberal like Pelosi. But Hastert's role in the Mark Foley affair is recent news. So, who knows?"

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They Smell Blood

Since the blogger behind Musings started asking questions about Rep. John Davis, R-Houston, and his campaign expenditure reports, a complaint has been filed with the Texas Ethics Commission, a Houston television station has produced a story, and numerous blogs have piled on.

No surprise here, but Musings strongly supports Davis' opponent, Sherrie Matula.

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The Legislature is Coming

With all the attention paid to campaigns, it's easy to forget policy issues and appropriations are about to move to center stage. Scott Henson at Grits for Breakfast, a blog that focuses on criminal justice issues, get us in the mood for serious debate by covering the Department of Criminal Justice's appearance before the Senate Finance Committee.

Can't wait? There are just 91 days — or about 2,184 hours — until the opening gavel falls.

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Robyn Hadley cherry-picks the state's political blogs each week, looking for news, info, gossip, and new jokes. Robyn, a veteran of both journalism and the state Capitol, is the owner of Capitol Crowd, a networking site for people who work in and around state government. The opinions she quotes belong to the bloggers, and we're including their links so you can hunt them down if you wish. Please send comments, suggestions, gripes or retorts to Robyn at robyn@capitolcrowd.com, or to Texas Weekly editor Ross Ramsey, at ramsey@texasweekly.com.

In the money race, it's Perry, Friedman, Bell, and Strayhorn. Unless you count cash on hand. That's Perry, Strayhorn, Friedman, and Bell.

Gov. Rick Perry's 30-day campaign finance report says he raised $3.1 million during July, August and September and that he got to theend of last month with $9.2 million in his campaign account. He got 84 contributions of $10,000 or more, 25 of $20,000 or more, and eight of $40,000 or more. Houston builder Bob Perry, no relation to the governor, gave $100,000, the biggest single contribution.

Comptroller Carole Keeton Strayhorn says she raised $1.2 million during the three months and got to the end of it with $5 million in the bank. Her biggest chunk came from Ryan & Co. and some of its top execs. The Dallas tax firm's PAC and its execs gave $425,000 during the 90-day period. Two dozen of her contributions were for $10,000 or more.

Writer-musician Kinky Friedman raised $1.6 million, spent nearly $1 million, and got to the end of the month with $827,830 in the bank.

Former U.S. Rep. Chris Bell raised $1.5 million during the three months, spent $1.7 million, and ended with $197,718 in the bank. The Houston Democrat's campaign says it raised another $40,000 in the days after the gubernatorial debate (that won't be on the report, as it occurred in October), and said that money and a promised contribution of $1 million will finance an expanded schedule for one of Bell's ads. What had been running only on cable is now running on both cable and broadcast TV.

Bell's biggest contribution before the end of September came from Harold Nix, the well-known trial lawyer from Daingerfield. That was one of 14 contributions of $10,000 or more to Bell.

John O'Quinn's promise to give $1 million or more to Bellcaught the ire of some of the trial bar's natural enemies. Citizens Against Lawsuit Abuse of Central Texas said the "eye-popping sums" should prompt voters to ask what the givers want from the candidates, and it encouraged scrutiny of other candidates, too, saying voters "should openly inquire about who fills a candidate's campaign war chest — and why." 

• Oopsie: Perry's press staff emailed reporters to say the governor had raised $4.7 million and had more than $10 million on hand. That was true... in July. They accidentally resent their mid-year report and the press release that came with it.

Carole Keeton Strayhorn booted another Trivial Pursuit question from a reporter, this time in a taping for Texas Monthly Talks.

At last week's debate, the Belo Corp. questioners did a game show round with the candidates, hitting them with fact questions and giving them 15 seconds to answer. Strayhorn didn't immediately know the name of the new president of Mexico, but didn't just say so. Viewers saw and heard her say this: "The newly-elected president of Mexico won with a very narrow margin, and there's been a lot of anxiety about that. The Strayhorn administration will work with all our friends south of the border. And I will be delighted to sit down with..." Her time expired at that point.

During her interview a couple of days later with Texas Monthly Editor Evan Smith, Strayhorn made a joke of it, dropping Felipe Calderon's name into one of her answers. Smith took the cue.

"Let me give you a chance to redeem yourself. Who is the governor of New Mexico?"

"The governor of New Mexico is Richardson. Bill Richardson," Strayhorn answered.

"Who is the governor of Louisiana?"

"The Louisiana governor is, uh, uh, it is, just a second, it is, uh. Oh. Give me two seconds. Janet, uh, Janet, uh. I'll get it for you in just one second… Henry is in Oklahoma… one minute… give me a second, I'll come up with it."

"We'll come back to it," Smith said. "I'll ask you a harder question. Who's the White House press secretary?"

One of Strayhorn's sons, Scott McClellan, was replaced at the White House by Tony Snow. She got that answer correct.

Texas Monthly and the state's PBS stations got squeezed out of the debate (they usually take part, but the Dallas-based Belo Corp. scored an exclusive this time). But they might have the last laugh. All four candidates agreed to sit down — separately — for hour-long interviews on Texas Monthly Talks, a show produced by KLRU-TV in Austin and aired all over the state. The format — each candidate talking to TM Editor Evan Smith — got a little more out of each of them than the debate did. Tapings were open to the public (though attendance was small at each) and the shows will air between now and November 2. Since it's PBS, they'll be replayed several times, we're guessing; the schedule can be found here and the main webpage for the show will also eventually have clips.

• Gov. Rick Perry defended his record and said he's running for reelection because he doesn't want the state to lose ground gained while he's been in office. He called Democrat Chris Bell his "principal opponent." Perry said he wants to focus on higher education if he's reelected, that he wants to lower the cap on annual growth in property tax appraisals. He defended the high-stakes testing in public schools and said students performance is responding to it. He said school finance is always a difficult issue: "It's your children and your money — the two things you care most about." He said his Trans Texas Corridor will eat up less private property and land than the alternatives to it. "There is not an asphalt fairy out there that comes and builds highways." He'd sign a "trigger" bill that reinstates the state laws that were in place in 1973 should the U.S. Supreme Court overrule its Roe v. Wade decision. He said he doesn't have anything personal against Carole Keeton Strayhorn, but called said, "her performance as comptroller has been really problematic." He said he's opposed to letting gay and lesbian couples adopt children, calling it "a less-than-appropriate situation." He said inviting Katrina evacuees to Texas was proper: "It could have been Houston, Texas, sending people to Louisiana. My hope is that they would have been as gracious." Asked about past and present utterances from Kinky Friedman, he said, "Words matter. It doesn't matter if you're standing on stage making money or running for governor. Words matter."

• Bell said he's running to "help move Texas in a positive direction" and because he sees a difference between what the state is and ought to be. He said Perry has brought to Austin the Washington style of politics. He criticized the decision to redo congressional districts after Republicans took control of the statehouse, a redistricting that cost Bell his post in Congress. He said the state should end its heavy reliance on the TAKS test and should give teachers a $6,000 pay raise, while also tying legislative pensions to teacher pay. He's against "militarizing" the Texas-Mexico border. He said he's opposed to same-sex marriages, but would allow gay and lesbian couples to adopt kids. Bell said Perry's transportation plans are "a misuse of the eminent domain process," a "multi-billion land grab," and said the Legislature ought to take another crack at it. He said he's against fast-tracking coal plans to make more electric energy available in the state. Bell said a "very vocal minority has seized control of the argument" over abortion and choice, and said the state needs to give kids more information so they'll avoid pregnancies in the first place. He said he favors the death penalty, but wants to review how it's administered. He called publicly funded vouchers for private schools "the greatest cop-out in American history. He's against them.

• Strayhorn started off by saying her campaign is timed to "go off like a Roman candle" right near Election Day, and said her timing is on track to overtake Perry. She repeated her criticism of his property tax cut and said it won't produce the $2,000 average savings he promised in his ads. "This governor has proposed the largest tax increase in history and left the largest hot check in history." She said the new tax "pushes into the service sector that's driving the economy" and contended that it includes a personal income tax (she added that provisions that make the tax due even when a business has no income is "a first in Texas"). She disputed Perry's claim that voters approved the Trans Texas Corridor, saying that wasn't at all clear when they voted. She reiterated her strong opposition to that project. She stumbled over a trivia question (see next item), and she said she has a "great schools plan" to raise teacher pay and improve schools. She'd get the money, in part, by allowing electronic slot machines at tracks where gambling is already legal. She'd backtrack on the new tax bill, and would use the recent increase in tobacco taxes for health care. Strayhorn, once a backer of vouchers, said she is "absolutely opposed" to them now. She said she would appoint consumers to the Public Utility Commission, but said a moment later she would merge that agency with the Texas Railroad Commission and let voters pick the commissioners. She said the state should have an independent commission to handle redistricting. She gave a very careful answer to Smith's abortion question, and she gave it twice, word for word: "As a mama and a grandmamma, I believe in the sanctity of life. But I recognize that there are difficult situations where those heart-breaking decisions have to be made." She said "marriage is between a man and a woman," but said she's opposed to discrimination and left the door open to civil unions.

• Friedman talked about Bell's wish that he get out of the race and said it illustrates "an arrogance in the two-party system, that they own the votes. They're not really his votes." He said Bell can't win with him in the race and that's why he wants Friedman out. He told Smith (his former editor) that if the turnout in November is small, the election will go the way the pundits think. He'll win if it's big, he said. "I think it's going to be huge." He interrupted the interview to introduce a documentary crew that's been following him around, and then he launched an attack on political correctness and stories about things he's said and written recently and in the past: "You don't apologize to people who are trying to intimidate you." He blasted Perry for criticizing him, calling the governor "a man in a $5,000 suit giving me a morality lesson" and reminded Smith of Perry's own gaffes with a TV interviewer and a state trooper he tried to stop from writing his aide a speeding ticket. Friedman got agitated, saying the old show now being used against him was similar to what comedian Chris Rock does now: "The purpose of the show was to offend everyone in the audience… it's truth-telling." He said the sound bites that were lifted weren't put in the context of the whole show they were a part of. "Everyone who's ever known me knows I'm not a racist. That's bullshit. It's B.S. Just B.S." Friedman talked about his work in the Peace Corps and in civil rights protests in Houston and said his "is not the resume of a racist… it shows that these bastards will stop at nothing." He said the state should give $100 million to law enforcement in Houston and elsewhere to combat crime, and again attributed much of that to Katrina evacuees from Louisiana. He'd undo this year's tax bill and allow casino gambling to help pay for education. He said he would decriminalize marijuana and would solve the prison crowding problem by increasing education and treatment for nonviolent criminals and getting them out of there. Asked about abortion, he said he doesn't "think a committee of men should decide what a woman does with her body." He said he could deal with legislative leaders: "I can charm the pants off those people."

A half-cent increase in the sales tax could be used on a local option basis to lower property taxes, according to the head of the governor's task force on appraisal reform.

Tom Pauken, speaking to the Texas Association of Realtors, couched the idea as his own and said he hasn't sought approval of it from the rest of his task force or from Gov. Rick Perry.

With that caveat, he said the sales tax income could replace revenue from property taxes on a dollar-for-dollar basis, apportioned to each of the local governments in a participating county. Voters faced with that swap would find two other things in the package, as Pauken envisions it: A five percent cap on appraisal increases in a given year, and an increased homestead exemption (he didn't specify the size) for homeowners.

A spokeswoman for Perry said Pauken's job is to come up with some things for the public to talk about when they're beefing about appraisal reforms, and said the Perry hasn't seen or signed off on anything. (In the past, Perry has supported lowering the annual allowed increase in taxable property values to 5 percent from 10 percent.)

Pauken said the idea is one of several his panel is considering. They're looking at mandatory sales price disclosure, a requirement in most other states but an idea that's been batted down in Texas by Realtors, brokers, developers and landowners in years past.

Randy Jeffers of Amarillo, the chairman-elect of TAR, said the trade group doesn't like that as a standalone idea, but might be able to swallow it as part of a package of reforms. The Realtors are also opposed to appraisal caps, which they say distort market prices for real estate. Jeffers didn't say whether he liked Pauken's tax proposal, but said it appears on first glance to increase the complexity of the property tax system.

Pauken also said he'd like to change the school finance formulas, which he said reward districts for manipulating property appraisals, but he said that's outside his task force's charter. He likes the idea of revenue caps on local governments and said they shouldn't hide spending increases behind property value increases, but should raise taxes when they need to so voters can see what's going on. At the same time, he said local governments have a point about the state pushing spending upon them, and said the state ought to track and fund the mandates it forces onto cities and counties.

He said Realtors and other groups would find things they don't like in any proposal. The trick is to follow the example of the tax task force that worked out the property tax—business tax swap earlier this year: A majority liked the package in spite of components they opposed. "As a standalone, much of this would fail," Pauken said.

Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Barbara Ann Radnofsky did an interview/debate on Houston TV that's being touted by her campaign as "a brilliant demonstration of Barbara Ann's charm, intellect, command of policy, and debate skills." Get a look at the half-hour program at www.radnofskyvideo.com (one of the interviewers is former Harris County GOP Chairman Gary Polland.) The only debate between Radnofsky, a Houston attorney, and U.S. Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison will be taped next week in San Antonio and aired shortly thereafter.

• Remember that old Ronald Reagan line — "I'm from Washington and I'm here to help you"? It's different during campaign season than when the government rings the phone. Republican Shelley Sekula-Gibbs — who's trying to win in CD-22 as a write-in candidate to replace Tom DeLay in Congress — got some block-walking help from U.S. Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison and U.S. Rep. Kay Granger, R-Fort Worth. They went knocking on doors in Pearland and Sugar Land to try to gin up support for Sekula-Gibbs.

• Add Diane Trautman to the Texas Parent PAC endorsement list. Trautman, a Democrat, is challenging Rep. Joe Crabb, R-Humble, in HD-127. She's a former teacher and school administrator and taught education at Stephen F. Austin State University. And the group endorsed another Democrat, Philip Shinoda, who's running against Rep. Will Hartnett, R-Dallas, in HD-114.

• Always proceed with caution when a campaign shows you its own polls. That said, U.S. Rep. Chet Edwards, D-Waco, says he's 21 points ahead of Republican Van Taylor in an October 9-10 poll done for the incumbent's campaign. The margin of error is 4.9 percent, and the survey of 400 voters was done by Bennett, Petts, and Blumenthal, a Washington, D.C., firm that does research for Democrats.

• Republican Senate nominee Dan Patrick is so worried about his election that he's block walking... for Talmadge Heflin. Heflin is trying to win back the spot he lost two years ago to Democrat Hubert Vo.

One has to wonder whether the 85 percent of parents happy with their public schools — cited in a survey commissioned by public school defenders — included anyone at all from Texas' inner-cities, where minority achievement levels are a sure indicator that yet another generation of children have been failed. Arguing against even trying a pilot program allowing school choice by parents seems a cynically calloused approach in the face of the hard truth that children are being lost in a system that gives parents few options.

If, on the other hand, parents in these cities are as happy as claimed, then the pilot program allowing these parents to use their own tax dollars to choose a better public or private school will have no takers and there really is nothing to debate. But what if parents really do want such an option, as has been proved in San Antonio over the past ten years where Dr. Jim Leininger and others have funded $50 million of scholarships to low-income, minority students? In San Antonio, nine of ten of these first-come, first-served students who largely entered the program at below grade-level performance went on to college on their families' own dime. In San Antonio and elsewhere in the nation, there are not enough spots to satisfy the demand for school choice options.

Is it morally correct to use a host of arguments, roadblocks and slanted studies to deny even the chance that a school choice program might make a dramatic difference in the lives of these children? Should Texas public policy really deny the broadest possible menu of education settings for low-income parents desperate to help their own children?

Instead of fighting so hard for the notion that a street address should be the only determination of what school a child attends, we should allow for the idea that the parent is best qualified to choose the best mix of teachers, academic settings and education emphasis because that parent knows their child like no one else in the world. It might be a particular teacher at another school, a more disciplined setting or an emphasis on music or science that makes that child come alive to the possibilities of learning. Educators should embrace, not condemn, such choices by parents because it is yet another chance for that child to grow into the enriching possibilities that the right education can provide.

To date, these choices have largely been limited in Texas to those with the money to move to a new street address, to home school their children or to pay for a private school. Those making these choices have been unconvinced that flawed and widely criticized studies predict little or no difference between public and private schools. Instead, their children have flourished because these parents had the ability to match their child's personality and needs with the best educational setting. To deny this option to low-income parents is both elitist and ignores the simple truth that we have a growing problem in our largest cities that demands we try every possible strategy to help parents help their children.

Such recognition is not based on the red herring argument — or fear — that school choice advocates are bent on destroying the public school system, but on the passionate desire by advocates to help parents and children and to create an environment of competition where innovation and far more dramatic change helps both the public and private school systems improve. 

Instead, we are trapped in the long-running argument that if only more money was appropriated to public schools everything would be fine. Recent special sessions have shown very clearly that squeezing more money for education out of any source is difficult, at best, and politically dangerous, at worst. While this tension may eventually be resolved in the meantime generations of children are being lost in schools that don't work for them. We cannot not wait for the eventual resolution of this struggle between government and taxpayers. The growing demographic changes that will put even greater pressure on the public school system in Texas make even more urgent the need to give school choice and these children a fair chance now. 

Such a pilot program would only operate in Texas' largest cities, would be available to low-income parents, would be capped at no more than five percent of the eligible student population a year, would allow transfers to either private or public schools where space exists and would require some sort of nationally accepted achievement testing. In addition, such a proposal would move only part of the education money devoted to each student to the private school, resulting, despite warnings by opponents to the contrary, in higher per student funding at public schools.

It is a modest and reasonable proposal that, for the children's sake, deserves a chance to work. In other parts of the nation that have tried school choice, as in San Antonio over past years, the very notion of competing for students and parent loyalty has resulted in improvements and new thinking in the public school system.

We can thank the core idea of competition — America's political and economic system is founded upon it — for new directions like magnet schools and vanguard programs and public school transfer rights that we have seen in recent years in public school systems. These are steps in the right direction but are far too limited to answer our growing crisis.

School choice — opening up a wide variety of different educational settings to those who are not wealthy — makes perfect sense to desperate parents, those recognizing that we can do much better and to those whose first priority is the fate of children now failing in tragic numbers. One can only wish that those attacking school choice would realize that "eventual improvements" are cold comfort to parents who know too well that a child either learns today or, in most cases, stays a step behind forever.

 

Ken Hoagland is a communications and public policy consultant and the communications director for Texans for School Choice.

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Texas Weekly's Soapbox is a venue for opinions, spins, alternate takes, and other interesting stuff sent in by readers and others. We moderate submissions to keep crazy people out, and anonymous commentary is ineligible. Readers can respond (through the moderator) to things posted here. Got something to submit? We're interested in everything from full-blown opinion pieces to short bits to observations or tidbits that have escaped us and the mass media. One rule: Your name goes on your words. Call or send an email: Ross Ramsey, Editor, Texas Weekly, 512/288-6598, ramsey@texasweekly.com.

Gov. Rick Perry launched the first head-on attack of the gubernatorial race with an ad targeting Democrat Chris Bell as a liberal financed by trial lawyers. The ad starts with a shark swimming in the water and is followed by pictures from Bell and Perry ads. The Bell ad they used is one that ran in mid-summer, a Paul Bunyan routine that had a giant Bell standing in downtown Houston, in the Palo Duro Canyon near Amarillo, and sitting on the Capitol building in Austin. Perry uses that last shot at the end of the ad, shrinking Bell's image to punctuate the announcer's words. And those words are:

"Just when you thought it was safe, the sharks are back in the water. A scandal-plagued personal injury trial lawyer is funneling millions of dollars to Democrat Chris Bell. Chris Bell — one giant Washington liberal. Bell wants to raise your taxes. Rick Perry continues the fight for lower taxes. Chris Bell voted against securing our border from terrorists and drug gangs. Gov. Perry is securing our border. Chris Bell: Wrong on taxes, weak on security. Too liberal for Texas."

 

Bell said the vote Perry is citing on homeland security was one he cast with the Defense Department — he was voting the way the Bush Administration hoped he would.

The ad carries a certain risk for the incumbent. Perry's trying to throw some red meat to his own base, to get them riled up about liberals and trial lawyers and all that. And those are the kinds of words that, in past elections, have turned independent voters away from Democrats.

But Bell's not really after swing voters or Republicans, and it doesn't particularly hurt him to tell Democrats he's a liberal (Bell's own ads say prominently that he's a Democrat; other Democrats in statehouse races, for instance, largely avoid the label and call themselves independent or voices for change or somesuch). Perry might get mileage out of the spot, but Bell might be able to use it to rally his own base voters, to get his name out to voters who haven't heard of him (that was still over 30 percent in late September), and to help him raise money to keep advertising until the end of the race. It could turn out to be an accidental in-kind contribution, if there's still time for Bell to take advantage of it. The election is three-and-a-half weeks away, and absentee voting starts in ten days.

Perry might soon have to change targets. Carole Keeton Strayhorn is starting an ad blasting the governor for toll road deals and the Trans Texas Corridor (we don't have copy yet, but we'll post it when we do), and those two might come to blows on the air. It'll be interesting to see whether Perry runs ads attacking Strayhorn, and whether he'll do that at the same time he's attacking Bell.

It's the time of the political cycle to wish you owned a TV station.

Susan Combs might come in third on the spending on ads list, if there is such a thing. She's going on TV next week with what we're told is a $3 million buy that'll run through Election Day. According to one rumor, the ads are critical of Carole Keeton Strayhorn, the current comptroller. That'd be clever — helping Gov. Rick Perry in his race against Strayhorn and others, and positioning Combs as a reformer. But it's also wrong: Her camp says there's nothing there to make the current comptroller fret. Fred Head, the Democrat in the comptroller's race, doesn't have the money for a TV run.

Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst went up this week, bolstering his reelection campaign against nearly invisible opposition from a Democrat and a Libertarian with an ad touting laws protecting children. One Republican poll had that Libertarian — Judy Baker of Houston — at 9 percent. If that's so, it's a huge number for a candidate from that party. The Democrat in the race is Maria Luisa Alvarado.

In this lackluster political cycle (in most state races), most candidates are still dark. U.S. Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison has plenty of dough, but isn't running the expansive TV campaign she ran six years ago when she sought her second term in that office. She's apparently gonna be on the airwaves next week. Attorney General Greg Abbott and Railroad Commissioner Elizabeth Ames Jones haven't stirred on the ad front, either (his campaign's got the money to do whatever it wants, ad-wise; her most recent cash balance wouldn't buy a week of statewide television). Agriculture Commissioner candidate Todd Staples will go up later, and Land Commissioner Jerry Patterson will run radio and TV spots in five counties: Jefferson, Cameron, Hidalgo, Nueces, and El Paso. He's also sending mail pieces to everyone on the Kinky Friedman petition list and to the AFL-CIO's list (their statewide political arm endorsed him).

An attack on Gov. Rick Perry's statewide transportation plan will replace everything Carole Keeton Strayhorn has been running on television during the week leading up to early voting. The new ad will replace two ads running now: Strayhorn's attack on the size of Perry's property tax cuts, and a spot featuring the story of her and her husband and how they got together. Strayhorn herself is the announcer on the new commercial, and the ad's look will be familiar to anyone who's seen any of her spots this year. She's standing in front of a white background as she says:

"Tolls across Texas? Gov. Perry's plan is beyond anything we've ever known. It's the largest land grab in Texas history. A deal to seize more than a half-million acres of private property and hand it over to a foreign company — so they can charge us tolls. I believe Texas property belongs to Texans, not foreign companies. And I believe we ought to protect our property rights and stop this land grab. Austin doesn't. It's time to shake Austin up."

The graphics that pop up during the ad say, "Tolls Across Texas; largest land grab; 584,000 acres; foreign company."