In the just released Texas First health plan, Lt. Governor candidate Leticia Van de Putte made it official, calling for a ‘Texas solution’ to expand Medicaid in the Lone Star State. Here’s more from the campaign via press release…
San Antonio, TX —Senator Leticia Van de Putte, a pharmacist of over 30 years, was joined by colleagues as she released her Texas First Health Care plan. Leticia’s Texas First plans focus on building a smart economy, strong communities, and secure families.
At Davila Pharmacy in San Antonio, where she works when not on the Senate floor in the Texas Capitol, Leticia called for a Texas solution to our health care challenges. Leticia’s plan increases access to care for Texas women, closes the coverage gap, protects Texas businesses from tax penalties, and promotes economic growth by drawing down billions in federal funds, putting Texas taxpayers dollars back to work for Texans.
Senator Leticia Van de Putte released the following statement:
“All hardworking Texans deserve health care, not just those that can afford it. For over thirty years, I have been listening to Texans across the prescription counter. I know the successes and the tragic shortcomings of the health care system in our state.
“As Lieutenant Governor, I’ll forge a Texas solution to draw down federal funds back to Texas taxpayers, protect Texas businesses, and expand access to affordable health care in our state. One out of every four Texans lacks health insurance, that system is unsustainable, bad for business, and bad for Texas families.”
Texans are losing big time by refusing to take the ACA Medicaid expansion money. Not only are we forcing hospitals to shoulder the burden of seeing millions of people who don’t have insurance through the Emergency Room, but simultaneously we are paying for better healthcare in other states. With her release today, Senator Van de Putte ends any and all speculation of where her campaign stands on healthcare issues. If elected, she is sure to support healthcare expansion during the next legislative session.
Contrast this plan with that of her Republican opponent Dan Patrick, who remains staunchly opposed to any form of increased access to healthcare in the state.
The choice in this election is sure to affect the lives of millions of Texans. Reading this, you may know someone (or be someone) living in fear of getting sick because you can’t afford to go to the doctor. But this fall, Texans can choose not to be trapped in a constant cycle of fear from their health. Gone are the days when Republicans could just demonize the Affordable Care Act and coast to reelection. The law may be imperfect, but no one can deny that it has made a positive impact on the national healthcare system, especially in those states that haven’t fought ACA implementation to the core. This November, it’s time to bring some new leadership to Texas and put the state’s people first.
If you want to know the true meaning of sacrifice, ask a Texas teacher. Even now as schools across the state barrel into a new academic year, teachers are pouring long hours into their craft, and feverishly preparing to devote their time, energy and talents to a new crop of young minds. You probably remember a teacher that really made a difference in your life… one that spent extra time with you after class to make sure you got a concept, or one that helped you to grow up by showing clear distinctions between right and wrong. It’s nearly impossible to compensate a good educator for the precious gifts of knowledge, comprehension, development and understanding that they impart.
Unfortunately in 2011, none of those gifts mattered to Texas Republicans. Set on actualizing their small-government and increasingly Tea Party-laden fetish, GOP legislators put forth one of the most draconian budgets ever seen in modern times. The only person standing in their way was a lone Democrat. Here’s the story from the Texas Tribune at the time..
A Democrat’s last stand may have just pushed the legislative session, set to end today, into overtime — which could start as soon as tomorrow.
In a make-or-break day for the state budget, with the finish line in sight, things broke down Sunday night when Sen.Wendy Davis, D-Fort Worth, filibustered for a little more than an hour, likely killing a school finance and revenue bill, the last remaining piece of the budget puzzle.
Davis, starting at 10:45 p.m. and looking to push debate on the bill past a midnight deadline, ran out the clock by reading aloud letters from constituents and the list of funding cuts to Texas’ 1,200 school districts.
In 2011, Wendy Davis fought with everything she had to save Texas schools. But after Governor Perry called a Special Session, the TEApublicans got their wish… decimating the state’s education budget with a $5.4 billion dollar cut. As a result of those actions, Texas schools lost over 11,000 teachers in 2011 and 2012. So damaging were these cuts that Texas school districts decided to sue the state over them, and Attorney General Greg Abbott has fought our schools right to their tax money every step of the way since.
After all of that, it’s almost incomprehensible to think that Abbott not only has the audacity to run for Governor, but that he’s running for Governor on his education ideas? As the Burnt Orange Report points out, it’s almost comical, especially when the GOP candidate can’t seem to remember which schools are suing him, and which are not.
But these cuts are nothing to laugh about. Texas simply could not afford to lose so many educational resources in a rapidly-growing state. All of our children have suffered at the hands of an irresponsible Republican-led legislature. Rick Perry, Greg Abbott and the Texas GOP hurt all types of districts– wealthy and poor, Red County and Blue County, north and south– these cuts affected every community in the Lone Star State.
As Texans prepare to choose the state’s next Governor, let’s hope that they remember which candidate stands for our schools, and which one is trying to burn them down.
Texas Leftist has made a map of school districts that are currently involved in one of 4 active lawsuits against Attorney General Abbott and the state of Texas. Keep in mind that this map only shows a little over half of the communities affected, but is enough to give a visual example of just how many schools across the state are standing against the GOP’s heinous 2011 budget. Thanks to Bay Area Houston for compiling the written list, which has been alphabetized by letter for greater ease of data collection and reading.
Is your school district suing Greg Abbott and the Texas GOP? Do you really want to vote for a Governor that would take money from our schools??
Abernathy ISD Abilene ISD Academy ISD Agua Dulce ISD Alamo Heights ISD Albany ISD Aldine ISD Aledo ISD Alice ISD Alief ISD Allen ISD Alpine ISD Amarillo ISD Anahuac ISD Andrews ISD Angleton ISD Anson ISD Anthony ISD Anton ISD Apple Springs ISD Aquilla ISD Aransas County ISD Aransas Pass ISD Archer City ISD Arlington ISD Athens ISD Atlanta ISD Aubrey ISD Austin ISD Avalon ISD Axtell ISD Azle ISD
Balmorhea ISD Banquete ISD Barbers Hill ISD Bartlett ISD Beaumont ISD Beckville ISD Beeville ISD Bellevue ISD Bells ISD Belton ISD Benjamin ISD Big Sandy ISD (Upshur) Blackwell Cons ISD Bland ISD Blanket ISD Blue Ridge ISD Bluff Dale ISD Blum ISD Boles ISD Bonham ISD Borden County ISD Bosqueville ISD Brackett ISD Brazosport ISD Bridge City ISD Brock ISD Brookesmith ISD Brownfield ISD Brownwood ISD Bruceville-Eddy ISD Bryan ISD Buena Vista IS DBullard ISD Buna ISDBurkburnett ISD Burkeville ISD Burleson ISD Burnet Cons ISD Bushland ISD Bynum ISD
Caddo Mills ISD Calallen ISD Calhoun County ISD Callisburg ISD Campbell ISD Canton ISD Canutillo ISD Canyon ISD Carrizo Springs Cons ISD Carroll ISD Carthage ISD Castleberry ISD Celina ISD Center ISD Centerville ISD (Trinity) Central ISD Channelview ISD Chapel Hill ISD (Smith) Cherokee ISD Childress ISD Chillicothe ISD Chilton ISD Chisum ISD Christoval ISD Clarendon ISD Clear Creek ISD Cleburne ISD Cleveland ISD Clint ISD Coldspring-Oakhurst Cons ISD Coleman ISD College Station ISD Colorado ISD Columbia-Brazoria ISD Commerce ISD Community ISD Connally ISD Coolidge ISD Cooper ISD Coppell ISD Corpus Christi ISD Corrigan-Camden ISD Corsicana ISD Cotton Center ISD Cotulla ISD Coupland ISD Covington ISD Crandall ISD Crane ISD Crosby ISD Crosbyton Cons ISD Crowell ISD Crystal City ISD Cuero ISD Culberson County-Allamore ISD Cypress-Fairbanks ISD
Dallas ISD Damon ISD Danbury ISD Decatur ISD Deer Park ISD Dekalb ISD Denison ISD Denton ISD Denver City ISD Detroit ISD Devers ISD Devine ISD D’Hanis ISD Diboll ISD Dickinson ISD Dilley ISD Dodd City ISD Donna ISD Dublin ISD Dumas ISD Duncanville ISD
Eagle Mt-Saginaw ISD Eanes ISD Early ISD East Central ISD Ector County ISD Ector ISD Edgewood ISD (Bexar)Edgewood ISD (Van Zandt)Edinburg Cons ISD Edna ISD El Paso ISD Elgin ISD Ennis ISD Era ISDEtoile ISD Eula ISD Eustace ISD Evant ISD Everman ISD Excelsior ISD
Fabens ISD Falls City ISD Fannindel ISD Farmersville ISD Ferris ISD Flatonia ISD Floresville ISD Floydada ISD Forsan ISD Fort Bend ISD Fort Elliott Cons ISD Fort Worth ISD Frisco ISD Frost ISD Fruitvale ISD Ft Davis ISD Ft Hancock ISD Ft Stockton ISD
La Feria ISD La Marque ISD La Porte ISD La Pryor ISD La Vega ISD La Vernia ISD La Villa ISD Lake Dallas ISD Lake Travis ISD Lake Worth ISD Lamar Cons ISD Lampasas ISD Lasara ISD Latexo ISD Leggett ISD Leonard ISD Levelland ISD Leveretts Chapel ISD Lewisville ISD Liberty ISD Lindale ISD Little Cypress-Mauriceville Cons ISD Little Elm ISD Littlefield ISD Livingston ISD Lockney ISD Lometa ISD Longview ISD Loop ISD Lorena ISD Los Fresnos Cons ISD Louise ISD Lovejoy ISD Lubbock ISD Lueders-Avoca ISD Lufkin ISD Lyford Cons ISD Lytle ISD
Mabank ISD Madisonville Cons ISD Malakoff ISD Mansfield ISD Marfa ISD Martins Mill ISD Mathis ISD Maud ISD McAllen ISD McCamey ISD McDade ISD McKinney ISD McLeod ISD Meadow ISD Mercedes ISD Mesquite ISD Miami ISD Midland ISD Milano ISD Miles ISD Milford ISD Miller Grove ISD Millsap ISD Mineola ISD Mineral Wells ISD Monahans-Wickett Pyote ISD Morton ISD Motley County ISD Mount Pleasant ISD Muenster ISD Muleshoe ISD Mumford ISD Munday Cons ISD
Nacogdoches ISD Navarro ISD Navasota ISD Needville ISD New Boston ISD New Caney ISD New Diana ISD New Home ISD Newcastle ISD Newton ISD Nixon-Smiley Cons ISD North East ISD North Forest ISD North Lamar ISD Northside ISD (Bexar) Northside ISD (Wilbarger) Northwest ISD Novice ISD Nueces Canyon Cons ISD Nursery ISD
Palacios ISD Palestine ISD Palmer ISD Palo Pinto ISD Pampa ISD Panther Creek Cons ISD Paradise ISD Paris ISD Pasadena ISD Patton Springs ISD Pearland ISD Peaster ISD Penelope ISD Perrin-Whitt Cons ISD Petersburg ISD Petrolia ISD Pettus ISD Pflugerville ISD Pharr-San Juan-Alamo ISD Pilot Point ISD Plains ISD Plano ISD Pleasant Grove ISD Point Isabel ISD Ponder ISD Poolville ISD Port Aransas ISD Post ISD Poteet ISD Poth ISD Prairie Valley ISD Prairiland ISD Presidio ISD Priddy ISD Princeton ISD Pringle-Morse Cons ISD Prosper ISD
Quanah ISD Queen City ISD Quinlan ISD
Rains ISD Ralls ISD Ramirez CSD Rankin ISD Reagan County ISD Refugio ISD Ricardo ISD Rice ISD Richardson ISD Rio Hondo ISD Rising Star ISD River Road ISD Robert Lee ISD Robinson ISD Robstown ISD Rockdale ISD Rocksprings ISD Rockwall ISD Rogers ISD Roosevelt ISD Ropes ISD Rosebud-Lott ISD Rotan ISD Round Rock ISD Roxton ISD Royal ISD Royse City ISD Rule ISD Rusk ISD
S and S Cons IS D Sabine ISD Sam Rayburn ISD San Angelo ISD San Antonio ISD San Augustine ISD San Benito Cons ISD San Elizario ISD San Perlita ISD San Saba ISD San Vicente ISD Sanford-Fritch ISD Santa Anna ISD Santa Fe ISD Santa Rosa ISD Santo ISD Savoy ISD Schertz-Cibolo-Universal City ISD Schulenburg ISD Scurry-Rosser ISD Seguin ISD Seminole ISD Seymour IS D Shallowater ISD Shamrock ISD Sharyland ISD Sheldon ISD Sidney ISD Silsbee ISD Simms ISD Sinton ISD Skidmore-Tynan ISD Slaton ISD Smithville ISD Smyer ISD Snook ISD Socorro ISD Somerville ISD Sonora ISD South San Antonio ISD Southland ISD Southside ISD Southwest ISD Splendora ISD Spring Branch ISD Spring Hill ISD Spring ISD Springlake-Earth ISD Springtown ISD Spur ISD Spurger ISD Stafford MSD Stamford ISD Stanton ISD Star ISD Stephenville ISD Sterling City ISD Stockdale ISD Sudan ISD Sundown ISD Sunnyvale ISD Sunray ISD Sweeny ISD Sweetwater ISD
Harold Cook warns us to keep a sense of perspective on the Rick Perry indictment.
Texas Leftist keeps wondering when the national media is going figure out that Texas could be a swing state today if enough people were actually voting. Plus clarifying Wendy Davis’ stance on LGBT equality issues, and what we can expect if she’s elected.
August 18th is a truly historic day for Texas public transit advocates, as Dallas Area Rapid Transit (DART) begins light rail service to Dallas-Ft. Worth International Airport. After dreaming of such a connection for decades, Dallas has made it happen. Here’s more from the official DART press release…
Dallas Area Rapid Transit (DART) and Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport are celebrating the opening of the last Orange Line segment to the new DFW Airport Station. The Aug. 18 opening means the country’s longest light rail system links to the world’s third-busiest airport.
“Connecting DFW Airport by light rail makes Dallas a more competitive, more attractive destination for business and travelers,” said Acting Federal Transit Administrator Therese McMillan. “It’s part of a sustained partnership over decades that’s bringing billions in investment, more jobs, and a better quality of life to North Texas.
[…]
The 5-mile segment links newly renovated Terminal A and Belt Line Station, with continuing service to major regional destinations including Irving-Las Colinas, Dallas Market Center and downtown Dallas. With this opening, DFW Airport becomes the third-largest American airport with a direct rail connection to the city center.
The Orange Line extension was completed four months ahead of schedule and under budget.
Passengers can now travel from DFW airport to Downtown Dallas in approximately 50 minutes, for a cost of $2.50 per trip. Compared to cab fare between the two destinations, that’s a savings of over $40 dollars!!
For all of the negative press Texas Governor Rick Perry has gotten as of late, he’s still the Governor, and rightly deserves to be applauded for his comments in support DART’s monumental achievement. On this subject I agree wholeheartedly with Governor Perry… it’s a great day for the state of Texas.
The DART rail system isn’t done expanding either. More exciting projects are forthcoming, including an extension of the Blue Line set to open next year. Dallas Area Rapid Transit now operates the largest light rail system in the United States with over 90 miles of track and 62 stations. As Therese McMillan, Acting Administrator of the Federal Transit Administration writes, North Texas didn’t get to this milestone alone either. Here’s an excerpt from her opinion column in the Dallas Morning News…
There’s no question that communities across America can learn a great deal from North Texas about building a dynamic public transportation network. Among the most important of those lessons is that it takes vision, commitment and partnership at all levels of government.
In 1984, local voters approved a 1-cent sales tax to launch DART. Back then, it must have been difficult to foresee how that initial support would lead to the substantial economic development over the last two decades and widespread access to jobs and opportunities that followed.
Those things exist today not only because of North Texans’ vision, but also because you sought the partnership of a federal government that was willing and able to provide its support. The Federal Transit Administration was at the table in 1993, helping fund the south Oak Cliff light-rail project. And we’ve been at the table, as your partner, ever since.
We’d like to see that partnership continue. That’s why we’ll continue calling on Congress to pass a multiyear transportation bill to fund the transportation infrastructure that the economies of Texas and the nation depend on.
Texas politicians, especially Rick Perry, Dan Patrick and Greg Abbott, have forged their political careers bashing the federal government. But as North Texas is proving today, we need all levels of government at the table to truly bring progress to the Lone Star State. As the region celebrates today, let’s hope they don’t forget how they got there, and that other Texas metros follow DART’s lead.
After dropping a temporary restraining order, a State District Judge has set the all important court date for the Houston Equal Rights Ordinance. As a result, Houstonians will not be voting on HERO in 2014. Here’s the story from Mike Morris of the Houston Chronicle…
Opponents of Houston’s equal rights ordinance dropped their request for a temporary injunction Friday that could have triggered a repeal referendum this November.
Now, their lawsuit against the city is scheduled to be heard Jan. 19, 2015, a trial date ordinance opponents called “expedited” and among the reasons they agreed to withdraw the request. For the city, though, the withdrawal marks a victory in what could be a lengthy legal battle.
The injunction sought by the ordinance foes would have forced City Secretary Anna Russell to certify their petition and sent the issue to an emergency city council vote in order to get the repeal referendum on the November ballot. The group of conservative pastors and activists was also asking the city to suspend enforcement of the ordinance, though Mayor Annise Parker had already agreed to do so until a ruling is issued.
The expeditious trial date is welcome by supporters and opponents, because in the case of HERO, all parties want answers as soon as we can get them. By Parker’s order, the Houston Equal Rights Ordinance is still not in effect because of the anticipated legal drama, and the longer we wait to enact the law is the longer that Houstonians have to endure city-sanctioned discrimination.
But at least for now, both sides can plan their actions accordingly, knowing that they do not have to wage an aggressive ballot campaign for this November. However, there is still a possibility that the signatures could be ruled valid and HERO would then come up for a referendum in 2015… a scenario that many municipal candidates are not excited about.
Many have debated on which year would be best to have a HERO referendum, and depending on the circumstances it could be won or lost in either 2014 or 2015. The 2014 ballot would yield higher turnout than the municipal-only contest next year. But given that it’s solely a City of Houston measure, supporters of HERO are cautious, but confident they could win in any scenario. After all, this is the same electorate that supported Mayor Parker in three mayoral elections (nine if you count back to her Council Member days), even after enacting a similar non discrimination Executive Order in 2010. Any way you see it, Houston voters have shown that they support the principles of equality and fairness, which is unlikely to change.
There is no singer in music today quite like Johnny Mathis. Born in Texas and raised on the West Coast, his golden Baritone voice has rang across popular music for nearly six decades. With 350 million records sold across the world, Mathis is one of the most successful singers of the 21st century. Perhaps best known as a balladeer from early hits like Chances Are and It’s Not For Me To Say, this versatile artist has performed everything from Jazz and R&B to Country and Disco music.
As a teenager, he studied opera and classical voice, which is easy to tell given his long, prosperous career and consistently healthy vocal technique. In an era where so many young artists wear out their voice and are forced to endure costly and risky voice surgery, Johnny Mathis is a great example how proper training can last a lifetime. He maintains a robust tour schedule even today!!
Here is the original of Johnny singing his hit song Misty, recorded in 1958…
And here he is singing the same song live, in 2014…
Indeed, Johnny Mathis is a true original. Make sure to see this great artist if he comes to your area.
A new piece in the New York Times takes a look at recent migration patterns to Southern states, and suggests that the reason for Virginia and Florida’s quick path to swing status is based more on their migratory patterns than anything else. Here’s the post from Nate Cohn…
There are four times as many Northeastern expats in Florida as there are in Texas; there are more Northeastern expats in Virginia and North Carolina than in Texas; and there are nearly as many Northeastern expats in Georgia, at 816,729, as there are in Texas, at 929,692.
But in Texas, population growth is propelled by high in-state birthrates, a growing foreign-born population and domestic migration from just about everywhere in the country except the heavily Democratic Northeast, including elsewhere in the South. That makes Texas much more like Alabama or Tennessee than Florida, Virginia and North Carolina, which are the only three Southern states where there’s more migration from the Northeast and West Coast than from elsewhere in Dixie.
The proportion of native-born residents from the South versus the Northeast and California roughly parallels President Obama’s share of the white vote in 2012, which was lowest in states like Mississippi and Louisiana and as high as the mid-30s in Virginia and Florida. Those tallies are good enough for victory in states where nonwhite voters make an above-average contribution to Democratic tallies, as is the case across most of the South.
Democrats were able to become competitive so quickly in states like Virginia and North Carolina because they combined a growing nonwhite share of the electorate with gains among white voters, particularly in postindustrial metropolitan areas full of Northern expats. Without additional gains among white voters, Democrats will be forced to wait a long time for the children of foreign-born residents to carry them to competitiveness in Texas, a state that Mr. Obama lost by 17 points in 2012, and where there isn’t a flood of Democratic-leaning voters from New York to bail them out.
Though the research on state migration is appreciated, Mr. Cohn’s other assertions are wholly incorrect.Texas hasn’t become a blue state or a swing state yet for one reason and one reason only… turnout. As the Lone Star State’s voter participation increases, the state will become more reflective of the citizens that actually live here. In the article, Mr. Cohn completely neglects to mention that Texas’ voter turnout, pales in comparison to Florida or Virginia. In the 2012 elections, only 49.7 percent of Texans showed up to the polls, while 63.5 percent of Floridians and 66.4 percent of Virginians cared to vote. What should we expect Texas politics to look like if only a minority of the voting age population takes the time to make the state’s major decisions? To be perfectly honest, we have no way to accurately measure the state’s political views until a majority of the state shows up at the polls.
And if one is waiting around for the Lone Star State to all of a sudden become like New York or Boston, please stop holding your breath. On the whole, people are more Conservative in Texas… at least the way they understand Conservatism. Liberal vs. Conservative is not the same as Democrat vs. Republican. No one should expect for Texas to elect a decidedly Liberal Democrat Governor like Deval Patrick. But a Conservative Democrat like Wendy Davis is certainly electable here, especially with higher voter turnout and a clear understanding of where she and her opponent stand on the issues.
Finally, above demographics, Texas needs good candidates and a functioning Democratic apparatus to show the state’s true political propensity. Cohn is writing about a state that hasn’t hosted a General Election debate in nearly a decade. People in this state are indoctrinated with only one side of the political scale. However in 2014 with Wendy Davis and Leticia Van de Putte, the mold has been broken, and Texas Democrats are back in the saddle.
No one denies that demographic changes will be an important factor in the future of America, and in the state of Texas. But can we please stop assuming that it’s the only thing that matters in politics? No disrespect to Mr. Cohn, but before you decide the fate of Texas politics, take a spin in some of our boots first.
