Monthly Archives: July 2013

Houston Politics

Immigration Reform from the GOP Side

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As returning readers know, Texas Leftist is a site that makes no issue with having a Left-leaning perspective (as though the name was not sufficient enough to decipher that). But even with that acknowledgement, there are many issues that are simply too big to confine to a singular point of view. I also believe that whatever one’s personal viewpoint, it is important to continue conversation with the other side of the political spectrum.

Given all of these things, I was very pleased to be invited to a recent special event. Last month, the Houston chapter of the Log Cabin Republicans hosted an immigration forum for their members. The forum panelists were Tony Garza from the Republican Hispanic Citizens in Action, and Marcus Pena from the Federation of Hispanic Republicans. The forum’s moderator was Christopher Busby, Vice President of Houston LCR. Finally, I had an opportunity to not substitute a left-leaning narrative for the GOP’s opinion on this issue, but hear from real members of the party themselves.

Of course some very quick background… this is the Log Cabin Republicans, one of the branches of the party that believes in full LGBT equality. And this was a small event, held in conjunction with their monthly meeting. No Rick Perry, Ted Cruz or any other “big wig” in attendance here.

Nevertheless, what the group may have lacked in size, they did make up for in substance. The panelists seemed quite knowledgeable about the issues facing the Republican Party no matter what legislation was ultimately achieved. Though there was a lot of “party-line narrative”… talking about how Democrats are doing everything wrong, and don’t believe in solving the issues, a couple of truths were able to be revealed.

The first question was regarding border security…
Given all the discussion around various methods, costs, etc. to secure the border, do you feel that such provisions are feasible and a good component of the legislation?
Pena: As for my organization, we believe that our primary objective is to secure the border. And those that are here illegally… have them pay fines and back taxes for 10 years or whatever necessary. But another issue? The federal government takes forever to process immigration paperwork. They can process our income taxes quickly and passports within a month, immigration is a 10 to 15- year process. Those here illegally must go back to the line, but there’s got to be a way to speed up the process for those who have done everything right.
Garza: it’s important that we establish a path to citizenship for people that are already here, however stringent and however long it takes. The border goals are important, but we have to get this process moving. Once they become… well, not “legal” but recognized members of our communities, we can provide a way for them to stay in the country, pay taxes and not live in constant fear of being arrested and deported.
In dealing with those undocumented persons, do you support the expansion of the guest worker program? 
Pena: Guest workers have to be accounted for, and should not be allowed to overstay their visas. I believe that we should expand the guest worker program, but be more aggressive with visa monitoring and enforcement.
Garza: the guest worker program is not working now, and would be even worse if we were to expand it. In many cases, work VISAs are used as a discriminatory tool… Why is it that some people who overstay and are discovered are simply offered extensions (typically the upperclass), while others get sent to detention camps or are deported? If we expand this system, where would it lead? Privatization of VISA enforcement? Bounty hunters? It’s a bad system overall.
If CIR passes, how will it affect GOP politics? Do you think it’s going to help the Democrats, help the GOP, or would it be a wash? 
Pena: I think it would be a huge help to the Republican Party, as long as we demand border security. It sends a message to voters that Republicans actually care about their safety. We (as the GOP) spend so much time stressing national security, and we need to recognize that immigration reform is a big part of that. The United States can’t truly be secure until we account for all of the people that are here. Once that’s done, we can better protects those illegal immigrants who are here and doing nothing wrong, and separate out those that are committing crimes. In the Harris County jail right now, there are a lot of illegal immigrants, and what does ICE do with them? They pull them out, process them, and then let them back onto the streets to commit more crimes. That system isn’t making anyone safer.
Garza: I think in the long-run it will be good for the GOP, but in the short-run I’m not so sure. It all depends on how the party is able to get the message out. If we show that Republicans have a genuine interest in making the country a better safer place to live, that will be reflected by the voters. But if we let racism, discrimination and fear dominate the party’s message, it’s not going to be good for the GOP.

I still don’t quite understand this obsession with securing the border (the SOUTHERN border… as though the United States only has one). Last time I checked, we live in the 21st Century now… if people want to get to this country illegally, it’s as easy as paying someone to make them a phony passport, take a flight, go through Customs and overstay a fake VISA. We can build a fence halfway to heaven, and put 1 million guards along the Rio Grande. It’s still not going to keep determined people from getting to this country illegally. The GOP needs to save the American people some time and MONEY by dropping this border ridiculousness.

But that point aside, I was glad to see that there is some constructive dialogue going on within parts of the GOP. And perhaps that’s the most disappointing aspect. This was the Log Cabin Republicans… as an organization, still far-removed from the most influential voices of the party. Mr. Garza and Mr. Pena’s organizations probably fare better in the mainstream, but it’s pretty clear that this type of dialogue isn’t taking place on the national stage, or with the people in Congress who are making these decisions. The point Mr. Pena made about linking immigration reform with safety within the country… helping to protect undocumented people by bringing them out of the shadows… is one that I wish was being discussed more by both sides. And Mr. Garza was absolutely right that if the GOP continues to approach reform from a standpoint of racist attitudes and fear of the Hispanic Community, they will never succeed in continuing as a viable party. I know… As a Liberal, destroying the GOP is a good thing, right? Actually, what’s most important is that both sides operate from a point of logic and reasoning so that we can actually solve real problems in this country. This forum was a surprising sign of progress, but I suspect that Democrats are still much farther down field on the issue.

My sincere thanks to LCR for hosting an important discussion.

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Texoblogosphere: 7-15

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The Texas Progressive Alliance stands with Texas women as it brings you this week’s roundup.

Off the Kuff gives some advice on what to do now that the anti-abortion bill has passed.

Horwitz at Texpatriate explains why he is a Democrat.

WCNews at Eye on Williamson says the dream that once made America great has become a nightmare for too many, We must “make morality possible again”, and bring back “The American Dream”.

CouldBeTrue of South Texas Chisme can hardly wait to see the results of the republican War on Women in 2014. Some Blue Dogs like Eddie Lucio Jr. are already feeling a pinch.

Dr. Mark Jones of Rice University tried to take down Wendy Davis’ political prospects, and PDiddie at Brains and Eggs had to take down Jones. Conservatives drinking “librul” whine still smell like vinegar.

At TexasKaoslightseeker foresees the coming crackup of the Texas Republicans. Check it out: Texas Republicans – The Coming Crackup??

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And here are some posts of interest from other Texas blogs.

Juanita eulogizes Bev Carter, Fort Bend political journalist and rabble-rouser.

Lone Star Ma deplores the gutting of the Voting Rights Act.

Jason Stanford has a personal story about why the omnibus anti-abortion bill is such a miscarriage of justice.

Equality Texas reports from the Texas GSA Network Activist Camp.

Greg Wythe shreds a recent story that claims Sen. Wendy Davis is “too liberal” to win in Texas.

Texas Vox looks at a series of new studies that focus on the destructive effects of pollution.

The Texas Green Report explains why you should care about the cost of tap water.

Concerned Citizens reminds us once again that elections have consequences.

BOR analyzes the litigation that is likely to arise from the passage of the omnibus anti-abortion bill.

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City Council debates the True Cost of 380 deals

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Last week, I had the honor of doing something that I’ve yet to do while living in Houston… I attended Houston City Council at City Hall. Sure I have watched the meetings all the time, but attending gives additional layers of perspective that just don’t, can’t come across through the HTV cameras.

Anyway, it’s more than sufficient to say that I picked a very interesting day to attend.

On the whole, the meeting was as expected, with everyone focused, collegial and moving rapidly through the city’s business. But when Council reached the last item on the agenda a 380 agreement to incentivize CostCo to build in Houston’s far-west ETJ, things became contentious.

“We just came out of a brutal budget battle, and I believe that corporations should get involved in our summer jobs programs, our after school programs, and actually help our citizens do better. The time is now to ask those corporations for help… I was told in the briefing that no matter what we say at the this council table that… the contract is final, it’s done. That part I understood. That part I resent…” Burks said.

The Mayor reminded Burks that none of those programs were part of the deal. Council Members Noriega, Pennington and Gonzalez immediately chimed in supporting the 380, citing that it’s empty land, and that Costco is “ready to develop somewhere”. If they didn’t choose the Houston ETJ, they were just as ready to take their development, and any tax revenue it could generate, to Katy.

But to Council Members Burks, and now Bradford, that answer just wasn’t good enough.

“Just a few weeks ago, we had a discussions about summer jobs, and senior citizens’ [tax] relief, but now we can afford to give [tax breaks] to CostCo. I haven’t heard anybody articulate the real need for the incentive… I’ll read from [today’s Chronicle editorial] for just a second…’While the city looks to budgets spread thin to fix our roads, we’re giving tax cuts to corporations to build towers and open stores in Houston, without any evidence that these incentives are actually necessary. This questionable use of taxpayer dollars deserves serious contemplation from our elected officials.’ Have we really delved into this to conclude that this incentive is necessary? That’s what I’m hung up on” Bradford said.

And of course Burks came back in to close his thoughts…

“I’m getting tired, mayor and council, of hearing, ‘We don’t have any money.’… We give all these incentives for rich folk do all sorts of rich things, but poor folk are still being hurt. And they vote too. We’ve [left them out] too often and for too long.”

The Mayor immediately shot back to Burks…

“Council Member I’m afraid you’re going to be sorely disappointed. I think most of the things you have mentioned are outside of the purview of an economic development contract.”

After all the back-and-forth, the 380 deal passed 12 to 3.

But what you may not have seen away from the HTV cameras? For Burks and Bradford, this was a clearly intentioned stance… perhaps political, perhaps not… to appeal to their community. Given that protesters (in the aftermath of the Trayvon Martin verdict) ground Tuesday’s Public Session to a halt, they used this deal to voice some community-wide frustrations, and to highlight what they see as a lack of fairness and inequality. And let’s just face facts… it certainly cannot hurt Bradford or Burks to be fighting for fairness in an election season. They are well aware of where this message will resonate with the most clarity.

Perhaps there were better reasons to vote against the 380 deal than to heap social injustice onto it, but nonetheless, I think that Council Members Burks and Bradford made important points. As great and glitzy as Houston appears in magazines, there are still some gross inequalities throughout this city. Our roads and bridges are in sub-standard condition, the mass transit system is grossly under-funded, and our water and sewage infrastructure can barely keep up to meet the increasing demands of new development. Just as Burks and Bradford pointed out, the city struggled to find money for summer jobs programs and Veteran’s services in under-served neighborhoods. It makes sense that those who represent those neighborhoods should give pause to tax breaks for Billion- Dollar corporations while our poorest communities continue to do without. Given this as the reality in Houston, we should apply a high level of scrutiny to which entities receive substantial city tax breaks, and always be mindful of who have to do without.

Off the Kuff has thoughts on this as well.

Houston Politics

Movin: Houston Named Number 1 Exporter in US

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Some more welcomed economic news for a city that is already on the move… literally and figuratively. From the Houston Chronicle, Houston has surpassed New York City to become the number 1 metro for exports in the United States…

The Houston metropolitan area has become the nation’s top exporter for the first time, pushed by growing shipments of petroleum products, the Department of Commerce reports.

About $110.3 billion in merchandise shipped from the Houston-Sugar Land-Baytown area in 2012, rising nearly 6 percent from the year before. The region surpassed New York City’s $102 billion in exports to grab the title of top U.S. exporter.

Petroleum and coal products were the largest group of exports from the Houston area, totaling $36.6 billion in value. Another $31.2 billion worth of chemicals left the region, according to the department’s report this week.

Other major exports from the Houston area included non-electrical machinery at $15.2 billion, and computer and electronic products at $6.7 billion.

Our North American neighbors were the top importers of Houston-area shipments, with $17.2 billion going to Mexico and $11.4 billion to Canada. The next-biggest destinations were Brazil, which received $6.6 billion in Houston-area exports, and China, which received $5.2 billion.

Given that the Bayou City was able to garner the top spot even before the much- anticipated Panama Canal Expansion, Houston has some room to grow yet. Though China’s economy may be headed for a slow- down, Brazil and other South American countries appear to be increasing demand for American exports. It seems as though Mayor Annise Parker’s trade missions to Brazil are reaping some serious benefits in the Houston economy. Funny how that happens when government and the private sector cooperate.

The only sour note here… it’s great for our massive energy companies in Houston to be doing so well, but would it kill them to put some more of that money back into the local economy. How about joining forces with the city to help us fix our roads and sidewalks? After all, if you’re company is based here, it’s your employees that are using (and abusing) our infrastructure along with everyone else.

(Photo credit: Craig Washburn)

Related–

Obamanomics: Helping or Hurting Houston?

Houston’s Strong Economy: Why It’s More Than Just Hype

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2014: How Texas Democrats Get There

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If you’re like most Democrats in Texas right now, you’re probably disappointed that the GOP were able to win this round of the battle for Women’s Rights. I don’t intend to make light of that fact… this law will be devastating to hundreds of thousands of Texas Women. 

But from a purely political aspect, I also hope that Democrats are a little proud to finally have some battle scars to show for the fight. Sufficient to say, it’s been a long time since the Texas Democratic Party has showed up in full force like they have over the last month. 

So here’s the burning question… How do Dems take what happened in June and July of 2013, and run it right through November of 2014? As we know, the only way to truly win the war is to win statewide, and take back the legislature. 

Here are my thoughts on how to get it done. 

The GOP have become masters of misinformation. They perfect the rhetoric of “conviction” and “moral values” while painting Democrats as scum for trying to be realists. They spend a lot of time and money to craft a compelling narrative, while Democrats try to do this little thing called GOVERNING after the election is over. 

But what Democrats need to do is raise some hell… steal the GOP’s thunder a bit. And unlike years past, Texas Democrats have a plethora of issues to bludgeon them with right now. 

If I were Wendy Davis, Kirk Watson, Marc Veasey or anyone else trying to run statewide, I’d milk this bus tour stuff for all it’s worth. The next place you go? Schools. Go back and interview school teachers about what they’ve had to endure under Perrystan’s (Abbottstan’s?) budget cuts, and then convince voters that even with SOME restoration, it’s just not enough to keep up with the MASSIVE growth of the state’s educational needs. This is perfect for August or September.

After that? You launch ANOTHER bus tour in later 2013… maybe Flu season? Go across the state to ERs and talk to hospitals overloaded with uninsured patients. Rail against the Texas GOP for turning down the money that could go to help these folks get insurance through MediCaid expansion. Doctors and hospitals are already upset, so it would be pretty easy to get them to express that frustration on camera and for future Democratic ads. I’d call it the “CrisisCaid Bus Tour.” 

By the time those two things are done, you’ve managed to keep the base ginned up, registering voters, and have plenty of funding built up between Battleground Texas and the State Party organizations… taking Democrats into the “home stretch”– the actual 2014 campaign season. It’s a play right out of the GOP’s play book, and that’s why I know it would work. 

Lastly, Texas Democrats need to spend a little time on YouTube, and look up this guy they used to know… Someone by the name of William Jefferson CLINTON. Nowadays, it just seems that the Democratic Party is ashamed of the South, and really has no idea how to communicate with Southern voters. Even in Texas, we all look up to Ann Richards as our guiding light back to statewide office. So why are we following her in the dark? Listen to her SPEECHES. Notice that neither she nor Bill ever back down from a fight with the GOP, no matter how ridiculous it may seem to be. LISTEN to how she and Clinton talk… how they are able to argue the case not for “big government” but for effective government. It’s a message that has been lost to the Democratic Party, but it’s one that can win in Texas if properly revived. 

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Zimmerman Verdict: NOT Guilty

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Just a few moments ago, the 6-member jury in Sanford, Florida found George Zimmerman Not Guilty in the murder of Trayvon Martin. So yeah, he did shoot and kill him, but he’s “not guilty” of doing it. 

Yet Zimmerman is sitting in the courtroom, and Martin is six feet underground. 


Ok, I wasn’t in Sanford. I’ve never met George Zimmerman, and will never have the privilege of possibility to meet Trayvon Martin. But for all of my 3 decades, I have been a Black male. And I know what it feels like to be a repeat victim of racial profiling. I know what it feels like for people to always assume the worst about you, just because of what you look like. Sure I do my best to mitigate this through careful, respectful speech, trying to avoid wearing exclusively dark colors, and avoiding areas where I could be mistaken for doing something wrong. But that’s still NO EXCUSE for the Pre-judgement already prevalent in society. I didn’t ask for it… I was just born with it. Even if I never spent a day of my life near Trayvon Martin, I know that we shared this victimization experience in common. And sadly, it seems he has paid the ultimate price. 

Let’s get one thing clear… by our legal system, justice was served tonight. George Zimmerman was put to trial by a jury of his peers, and they rendered a verdict. Whether or not one agrees with the outcome, we must respect the process. 
But we can also acknowledge that perhaps this process was Far from perfect. I am most upset that there were no African- American males on the Zimmerman Trial jury. With all due respect, you just don’t know what it’s like until you’ve actually viewed the world through that lens. I will pray for the family and communities in this case, on both sides. It’s been very hard for them.