Tag Archives: Leticia Van De Putte

Politics, Texas Politics

Leticia Van de Putte Calls for ‘Texas Solution’ To Expand Medicaid

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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.

Texas Politics

Turning Texas Blue is About Texas, Not Expats

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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.

Texas Politics

Debate Grate: Is Dan Patrick Afraid of Leticia Van de Putte??

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In this year’s race for Texas Lieutenant Governor, one candidate is ready to rumble, while the other is scared to even get in the ring.  Do you know which is which?  If not, Here’s the story from the Houston Chronicle…

Democratic lieutenant governor nominee Leticia Van de Putte said Thursday that her Republican opponent, Dan Patrick, has yet to respond to a series of debates she has proposed ahead of the Nov. 4 election.

Van de Putte and Patrick spoke separately at the Texas Association of Broadcasters annual convention, in what amounted to a rare opportunity to see the two candidates address the same audience back to back.

A state senator from San Antonio, Van de Putte used the speaking opportunity in front of TV and radio industry folk to reiterate her call for a robust schedule of debates.

She has challenged Patrick to five in all — part of an aggressive plan to pit the candidates head-to-head in the state’s four largest markets and in the Rio Grande Valley — and has left the door open to three more.

But since she laid out the proposal more than a week ago, Van de Putte said Patrick, a senator from Houston who is a tea party favorite, and his team have yet to get back with a solid answer — or any answer, for that matter.

“He’s not responded to our request for debates,” Van de Putte said, adding that she’s not sure if Patrick is dodging the debate issue or just can’t make up his mind. “This is a race where there’s a big difference in candidates … and the people of the state need to hear the candidates.”

Actually, the reason for Dan Patrick’s reluctance seems simple enough… he’s scared.  As the presumed front-runner in the Lieutenant Governor’s race, Patrick knows very well that to share the stage with Leticia Van de Putte puts him at risk to get OWNED by Leticia Van de Putte.  Time after time in public forum, the Democrat has proven herself an incredibly effective communicator for her ideas.  He also knows that giving voters the chance to hear their views side-by-side puts him at risk of sounding like a far-right extremist.  Of course he sounds like an extremist because he IS an extremist, but that is beside the point.

On debates, Patrick is playing from an old playbook.  Texas Governor Rick Perry won re-election without a single debate against then-Democratic challenger Bill White in 2010, choosing instead to demand White’s tax returns in exchange for meeting him mano a mano.  The “no debates” strategy is now a time-tested method for the Texas GOP… keep Texans in the dark about Government by not allowing them to hear opposing viewpoints.

But 2013, and its massive jump in national exposure for Texas Democrats, brought new hope that more Republicans will have to cave in to pressure to face their electoral adversaries.  GOP Gubernatorial candidate Greg Abbott has already promised to face Wendy Davis in at least two meetings, and Democratic Comptroller candidate Mike Collier seems intent to not give up on a head-to-head with his GOP rival Glenn Hegar.

As Senator Van de Putte made clear last week, Dan Patrick can run but he can’t hide.  Texas has learned from the past, and will demand a campaign for Lieutenant Governor worthy of the great state that eventual office-holder hopes to represent.

Texas Politics

Texoblogosphere: week of July 21st

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The Texas Progressive Alliance mourns the tragedy of MH17 as it brings you this week’s roundup.

Off the Kuff looks at Travis County’s design for a new kind of voting machine, one that will add security, ease of use, and an honest to goodness paper receipt.

From WCNews at Eye on Williamson, Democrats running for office in Texas should make every Republican answer about Abbott’s chemical issue, Abbott Hemmed In By The GOP’s Ideology.

As the federal trial over Texas redistricting began, a series of GOP e-mails outlining their anti-Latino mapping strategy was revealed. PDiddie at Brains and Eggs observes that the outcome won’t be known for months, and the decision won’t affect the 2014 midterm elections, but the case for the Republicans looks very grim.

CouldBeTrue of South Texas Chisme wants everyone to know that the Texas Tribune exposes Dan Patrick as a liar and Leticia Van de Putte as a truth teller.

Texas (more like Rick Perry, Greg Abbott and Republicans) did not accept the Medicaid expansion, leaving millions of Texas’ poorest families without healthcare options. But this week as Texas Leftist discovered, there are over 800,000 Texans that qualify for Medicaid and CHIP under current policy, and just don’t know to sign up. Even as we fight for expansion, helping these families is something that can be done right now.

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

Lone Star Ma is busy block-walking for Wendy.

The Texas Election Law Blog highlights a few issues with the Comptroller’s webpage on the relative level of debt financing of counties, cities, school districts, and special law districts.

The Lunch Tray reminds us that summer camp is another opportunity for kids to get loaded up with junk food.

Grits wants to know why DPS is doing a full set of fingerprints for every drivers license renewal, even though the Lege has not authorized that.

BOR reports on State Senate campaign finance reports, where Libby Willis leads her opponent in SD10 and Rita Lucido is holding her own in SD17.

And finally, the TPA congratulates Andrea Grimes on her new gig as “State of the Media” columnist for the Texas Observer.

 

(photo credit:  JSVideos on Shutterstock)

Texas Politics

Van de Putte Bests Patrick in Latest Fundraising Haul

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It’s been a good month for the Senator from San Antonio, as Alex Ura of the Texas Tribune reports…

Democratic state Sen. Leticia Van de Putte and Republican state Sen. Dan Patrick, who are facing off in a fiery race for lieutenant governor, have both raised about $1 million since the end of May — with Van de Putte slightly outraising Patrick, according to fundraising numbers released by both campaigns.

Since defeating incumbent Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst in a May 28 runoff, Patrick has raised $1 million. Van de Putte, who ran unopposed, raised about $1.2 million in the same time period. Four months ahead of the general election, the two candidates are working with similar balances in their respective war chests, with Van de Putte reporting $1.1 million cash on hand while Patrick has $946,982 in the bank.

The two campaigns released some fundraising totals ahead of the Texas Ethics Commission’s Tuesday deadline for reports covering fundraising activity and expenditures through June 30. The reports were not immediately available.

The post goes on to say that Dan Patrick is still far ahead in total campaign resources.  The Republican has $7.8 million in funds compared to a $2.3 million total for Leticia Van de Putte.

Good news here is that Van de Putte has again proven her ability to run a successful campaign for Lieutenant Governor.   Pundits no longer have to debate about whether or not she can raise money, because she is.  It’s not necessary for her to actually win the fundraising race, but she does need to have enough money to be competitive.  Texas Democrats should find much encouragement in these numbers.

Texas Politics

Van de Putte Launches First Campaign Video

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If you’re a top ticket candidate for an election, it’s pretty easy to grab the spotlight and make your voice heard on the issues.  For that year, your nomination to run for the state’s highest office gets a lot of focus from the press, and is typically accompanied a healthy dose of funding resources.

But for other party candidates, press access and funding can be much harder to come by.  It takes a skilled political team to run any good election, but especially one where your message is often deferred for coverage at the top.

So far though,  State Senator and Lieutenant Governor candidate Leticia Van de Putte is getting her message out there, in part by getting creative.  Since launching her campaign last year, she has excelled at connecting with Texans via social media, and not only has an active website blog, but very active Twitter, Facebook and Instagram accounts.  Make no mistake… Leticia and her team have been on the leading edge of maximizing new tech for her campaign.

Last weekend, Van de Putte took her fight for Lite Gov. to the next level.  Just before a rousing, fiery speech at last weekend’s Texas Democratic Party Convention, she rolled out the campaign’s first major video, meant as an introduction both for her speech in Dallas, but also to introduce Texas voters to her campaign.  Sufficient to say, it’s not your typical campaign video.  Leticia brings us into her home, and we get to meet her whole family (including a gaggle of grandkids), and join them at an old-fashioned Texas dinner table.  And then there’s this thing with chicken and ‘mama ain’t happy’ and… well, you just have to watch.

This video was a huge success at the Convention, and could very well be a huge success with voters.  The genius here?  It’s not a very political video, but meant to show how much Leticia shares in common with other Texans.  In a few minutes, she’s able to escape the political world, and show all of the hard-working women and moms of Texas that she cares about their issues, and that if elected, they will be the ones with a voice in Austin.  If she can get the word out, this video can advance her candidacy much further.

Watch now, see for yourself, and leave a comment below with your first impressions.

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GOP Continues To Ignore Changing Texas

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In last Sunday’s Houston Chronicle, Gary Scharrer’s op-ed provided an epic indictment of the Texas GOP-dominated legislature and it’s priorities. He tells it like it is…

Texas is headed for the ditch, but few people are aware of the state’s perilous path. The demographers have seen the future, though, because it’s foretold in their numbers. And they’ve been sounding the alarm.

There hasn’t been much of a public-policy response, so far.

Texas could be the pacesetter: It has a young and rapidly growing population. Educate that workforce and Texas becomes a vibrant, thriving state for decades. Unfortunately, that young population is overwhelmingly minority and under-educated, and there appears to be little political interest in addressing the needs of that demographic group.

Increasingly, Texas stands to become poorer and less competitive, according to demographers who study the numbers for a living. Neither state leaders nor the media is paying adequate attention. Few Texans are aware of the state’s rapidly changing population. Hispanics will surpass whites as the largest population group some time before 2020.

By the numbers, here’s what’s been taking place: The state lost 184,486 white children between 2000 and 2010 while gaining 931,012 Hispanic children over that decade, according to the U.S. Census. Stated another way, in 2000, Texas white kids outnumbered Hispanic children by 120,382; Flash forward to 2010 and Hispanic children outnumbered white kids by 995,116.

Here’s the most important figure: All of our K-12 enrollment growth over the past decade comes from low-income children – that is, children whose family income qualifies them for free and reduced-cost school lunches. Those low-income students now make up a little more than 60 percent of our public school enrollment.

Many are way behind when they arrive in the first grade. Too many drop out years later. A whopping 47 percent of low-income high school students from the Class of 2015 were off track to graduate, according to testimony in last year’s public school finance trial.

Why does this matter? Murdock, who served as director of the U.S Census Bureau in the administration of President George W. Bush, projects that three out of 10 Texas workers will not have a high school diploma by 2040. Also, in 25 years, the average Texas household income will be some $6,500 less than it was in the year 2000. The figure is not inflation-adjusted, so it will be worse than it sounds. Basically, today’s children, collectively, stand to be worse off than preceding generations.

How can we address the trend line? The first step is to increase access to high-quality pre-K, Murdock says.

And here is where it gets complicated. Republican lawmakers cut $200 million from pre-K resources in 2011 as part of the Texas Legislature’s $5.4 billion reduction in public education funding. Conventional wisdom holds that lawmakers aligned with the tea party will be in greater numbers than ever before when the Legislature convenes next year. You won’t hear that group campaigning for more pre-K funding.

An influential Republican lawmaker told me a few years ago that the leadership doesn’t care about what happens to Texas in 25 years. The next election is more important. Another influential Republican leader bluntly told me that talking about the challenges of low-income students will hurt you in the GOP primary.

[…] It will be interesting to watch candidates for the state’s top political leadership spots this fall. How much attention will they (and the media) focus on what soon could turn into the state’s No. 1 problem?

The growth in minority population has created a “generational rift” along racial and ethnic lines, which is documented in a new book, “Changing Texas: Implications of Addressing or Ignoring the Texas Challenge.” Murdock is the lead author.

[…] “Lower-income populations are less likely to purchase housing units, to create substantial increases in private sector revenues, and to increase state taxes and other revenues at the rate of persons with higher incomes,” the authors point out. “Although closing the socioeconomic gaps for Texas minority populations will be difficult, it is clear that the state is better off if they become better off.”

To sum up, it’s time for Texas to !!!WAKE UP!!!

Ok Spike Lee references aside, this is so important that for everyone in Texas to understand. We have to stop viewing education as a burden and start viewing it as our most precious investment. The banter back and forth about Pre-K isn’t just political wrangling. The money that we choose to invest in these young minds will have a direct correlation on the future of the Lone Star State. Thanks to insidious actions of the legislature, Texas schools are falling behind other states. This is simple fact.

But the one thing Scharrer doesn’t discuss in this op-ed?? People are starting to wake up. Thanks to candidates like Wendy Davis, Leticia Van de Putte and other Texas Democrats, we have opened the conversation again about making the right investments in education. The Davis campaign has continues to hammer Abbott’s Pre-K plan because they know how important this is for Texas families, and for all of us. We can ensure a better future for this state starting in November if we elect the right people to lead us. And at this point, they can’t be found in the GOP. Make no mistake… Democrats are the only party in this state that are willing to address these issues. If you care about having a good education for all Texas children, if you want better investment in our schools and colleges, then you have to get out and vote for it this November. Don’t let the Republicans drive this state into oblivion.

Off the Kuff has more.