Dan Patrick, State Senator and Republican candidate for Lieutenant Governor, is trying to pull one over on the people of Texas. But thankfully, Democratic candidate Leticia Van de Putte isn’t letting him get away with the lies any longer. Here’s an EPIC press release (with sourcing) from the Van de Putte campaign…
San Antonio, Texas – In 2011, Sen. Dan Patrick voted for the budget that slashed over $5 billion from Texas’ education system.
Then, in 2013, Patrick voted against the budget that partially restored funding to Texas’ neighborhood schools.
Today, State District Judge John Dietz ruled that Texas’ system of funding neighborhood schools is unconstitutional.
Dan Patrick responded to the decision, saying, “As chair of the Senate Education Committee, I led the charge to restore most of the education funding cuts from last session.” [Dan Patrick for Lt. Governor, 8/28/14]
However, Republicans and Democrats alike can see through Patrick’s hypocrisy when it comes to funding education for Texas children.
In 2013, Senate Finance Chair Tommy Williams, R-The Woodlands, said, “Patrick was directly responsible for these same education programs not being funded…Such revisionism cannot go unchallenged.” [Texas Tribune,06/21/13]
And if that’s not enough for you, just listen to Dan Patrick speak for himself. He’s proud of the 2011 education cuts and even considers them an important credential for his TeaPublican bonafides. Leticia’s not making this up!!
Oh, and by the way… Dan Patrick wanted to cut teacher salaries too. He says he wants school districts to be able to cut administrative jobs only, but admits that if they can’t reduce teacher salaries, then educators themselves will lose their jobs. And boy was he right on both counts. Thanks to the funding cuts Dan Patrick championed, over 25,000 Texans lost their jobs, more than 11,000 of which were teachers. Contrary to the Senator’s claims, Texas schools could not simply “get by” after the severe cuts of the 2011 legislative session. They lots so many jobs that over 600 districts are suing the state saying their funding levels are unconstitutional.
But thankfully this November, Texans have a chance to cut Dan Patrick’s job. One thing is for sure… we can’t afford to have him as Lieutenant Governor.
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
By now, most Texans probably know that Wendy Davis is running for Governor, and that she is one of the first Democrats to have a serious shot at the state’s highest office in a long time. But as more people become tuned in to the campaign, they may be trying to figure out where she stands on certain issues. Particularly when it comes to LGBT rights, Wendy’s public comments have been limited at best. There is also no section on LGBT issues or equality on the Wendy Davis website.
In a recent visit with supporters of the Houston Equal Rights Ordinance , the Senator took some time to share her viewpoint. The group was gathered to review the recent petition submitted by opponents of the ordinance. Davis came in for a brief visit and said that she is a supporter of the cause. She also spoke about the importance of promoting full equality for all Texans. Although Davis did not to single out the LGBT community directly, she did give us a reminder of why this year’s elections are so important for LGBT Texans…
“We are getting ready to face a very tough legislative session next year, with more members than ever that do not support equality. The next Governor will play an important role in determining what laws get passed, and what does not.”
This message is critical for people to understand. Even if all of the Democrats running statewide were elected, the Texas legislature is still likely to not only be heavily Republican, but heavily weighted against the LGBT community, as over 60 GOP have already stated in a recent amicus brief.If elected Governor, Wendy Davis’ most important power may be that of the veto, especially where it comes to LGBT rights and protections. Davis won’t be in a position to propose sweeping changes, at least not much that can realistically get passed through the Texas House and Senate. But she can be the last line of defense for anything that is directly malicious to the LGBT community or the cause of equality.
On the other hand, an Abbott administration could be very disturbing for LGBT Texans. The Attorney General has just recently confirmed his beliefs linking same-sex marriage to incest and pedophilia. That combined with the fact that some of his closest donors are virulent supporters of debunked “reparative” therapy, Texas has much to fear if Greg Abbott makes it to the Governor’s mansion.
For those seeking to end workplace discrimination for all protected classes, their vote should be for Wendy Davis this November. On marriage equality, Davis has made her views quite clear as well. Here’s what she told the San Antonio Express-News when seeking the paper’s endorsement…
Davis, asked if she would push to repeal the state constitutional provision on gay marriage if elected governor, said, “I would certainly open up that conversation with the Legislature.
“I think it’s important, and I think that people across this country are evolving on that issue and moving in a direction that demonstrates support for it, so I think it is time to re-open that conversation and ask Texans where they are on it to see if that’s something that we might change legislatively if it doesn’t happen constitutionally,” she said.
Personally, I think it is sad that LGBT rights have to even be discussed in the Texas Governor’s race, and continue to hope for a time when those rights are no longer subject to party politics. But 2014 is not that time. If you are someone that believes in full equality for the LGBT community, the choice this November should be clear in the state of Texas.
For over two weeks, Texans have been wondering if there would be a Lieutenant Gubernatorial debate this year. Now we have the answer, as Dan Patrick has agreed to at least one of five debates proposed by Democratic rival Leticia Van de Putte. Along with the article linked above from the Texas Tribune, here’s an official press release from the Texas Democratic Party…
Austin, TX – On July 28, 2014, Senator Leticia Van de Putte released her Texas First debate schedule. She challenged Dan Patrick to at least five debates, broadcasted across major regions of this great state.
After 15 days of silence, Dan Patrick’s staffer accepted one debate via Twitter.
Will Hailer, Executive Director of the Texas Democratic Party, released the following statement:
“After hiding for 15 days, Senator Patrick has finally agreed to a single debate with Senator Van de Putte through a staffer on Twitter. He dodged the press last week at the Texas Association of Broadcasters and even though he had more than 20 debates and forums during the primary season, Dan Patrick is running scared and has only agreed to a single debate when Senator Van de Putte proposed at least five. Patrick’s team knows that the more he talks publicly, the more Texans will reject his extremism. One debate, Dan Patrick is thinking small for Texas, where everything is bigger.”
UPDATE: The debate is set for Monday, September 29th.
Gubernatorial candidates Wendy Davis and Greg Abbott will have two debates this fall… September 19th in the Rio Grande Valley and September 30th in Dallas.
Like the TDP, Senator Van de Putte isn’t giving up on the fully proposed schedule. “I look forward to hearing from Dan on the rest of my proposal. One down, at least four to go. ¡Dale Gas!” Van de Putte’s camp said in a press release.
This is huge news for the state of Texas, which hasn’t seen a true general election debate in over a decade for the office of Lieutenant Governor. There also hasn’t been a general election Gubernatorial debate since 2006. Many people may downplay that a general election debate is really all that important, but it serves an important purpose in presenting both sides of the political argument, especially to low-information voters or those that don’t pay attention to the election until the last minute. For a very long time in Texas, voters have been trained to believe that there is only one main viewpoint in this state…. Republican. But now, with at least 3 of these events to look forward to, Texas Democrats have another measure of proof that the party is getting stronger.
Much of the pressure put on Dan Patrick’s camp to debate came from press releases and social media, and Van de Putte’s supporters have not let up. Could these debates change the scope of Texas Politics? No one knows just yet. But this year at least, Texas Democrats have a real fighting chance, instead being locked out of the ring altogether. Regardless of the final result in November, this is a win for the Party.
Texas is known for being a Conservative state, but recent moves against the LGBT community have seemed to defy Conservative principles, and look more like open discrimination. There may be a common connection for why GOP lawmakers are ramping up the hate rhetoric. Here’s the story from Lone Star Q…
Mere months before Jonathan Saenz became president of the anti-gay group Texas Values, his wife left him for another woman, according to Hays County district court records obtained by Lone Star Q.
The revelation could help explain Saenz’s seemingly abrupt transformation from socially conservative lobbyist to homophobic firebrand.
Saenz, a devout Catholic, has been a right-wing operative in Texas for many years — working on abortion and religious liberty cases as a staff attorney for the Plano-based Liberty Legal Institute as far back as 2005.
However, it wasn’t until recently that Saenz emerged as one of the state’s best-known — and most extreme — anti-LGBT voices.
Court records indicate that Saenz’s ex-wife […] is a member of the LGBT community who was dating another woman when she filed for divorce from Saenz in August 2011.
In early 2012, with their divorce still pending, Saenz would take the helm of Texas Values after the organization spun off from the Liberty Legal Institute, where he’d risen to chief lobbyist.
With Saenz as president, Texas Values has led the charge against not only same-sex marriage, but also passage of LGBT-inclusive nondiscrimination ordinances in San Antonio and Houston. In fighting the ordinances, Saenz has often repeated the debunked right-wing myth that sexual predators would use the laws to prey on women and children in bathrooms.
Saenz helped push an amendment to the 2014 Texas GOP platform endorsing the discredited practice of gay conversion therapy. In media interviews, Saenz has stated that same-sex marriagewill lead to polygamy and people marrying their stepchildren, and suggested that gay activists want to put Christians in concentration camps. Last week, Texas Values filed an amicus curiae brief calling on a federal appeals court to overturn a district judge’s decision striking down the state’s marriage bans.
The information obtained by Lone Star Q is public record, as any divorce decree would be. John Wright, the author of the article and editor of Lone Star Q, has received criticism for revealing such personal details about Saenz’s family, especially in regard to the naming of the activist’s wife, and the former couple’s children. Though I salute the work done by Wright on this story, I too believe that it is never acceptable to involve innocent family members in the matter, as they cannot and should not be held responsible for actions solely attributed to Mr. Saenz. Texas Leftist has chosen to redact names where appropriate.
But for the issue at hand, this research is proving an important piece to understand the possible motivations behind Saenz’s work, and the drastic turn he and his Texas Values organization have taken against Texans. If someone’s personal event causes such a behavioral shift that it leads them to persecute an entire community, that community then has the right to defend itself by exposing knowledge of said events. His personal vendetta, no matter how painful, cannot be used to harm people who have done nothing wrong.
And harm is what is being caused here. The very same untruths that Jonathan Saenz fights for are the ones used to justify discrimination, bullying, gay bashing, and a whole host of other atrocities. Texas is too great a state to continue to openly and proudly sanction these hate-filled beliefs. Hopefully this November, Texans will realize that they don’t have to listen to Jonathan Saenz, and instead choose to vote for politicians that stand on the side of equality.
The race for Texas Governor is about to enter the fast and furious season, with Democratic candidate Wendy Davis leading the charge. In a new TV ad, she goes after Greg Abbott for deciding against the victim in a rape case. Released just last Friday, the ad has already drawn major attention. Here’s more from the Dallas Morning News..
Wendy Davis on Tuesday defended her television campaign ad that decries a 1998 Texas Supreme Court decision when-then Greg Abbott sided against a rape victim in a liability case.
“His record demonstrates that he sided with a corporation against a victim of sexual assault,” Davis said during a news conference outside Dallas City Hall. “Texans deserve to know who is asking for the privilege of serving as their next governor.”
In 1993, a Seguin woman was raped by an independent vacuum salesman from Kirby Co., while her children were asleep in the next room. The victim sued Kirby for damages and won. And the Supreme Court eventually determined that she had that right. Abbott wrote a separate dissent, saying that an independent contractor hired the salesman and the Kirby had no duty to the victim under the circumstances of the case.
Abbott’s campaign has described the ad as “gutter politics.”
An interesting counter by the Abbott campaign, especially given his record of hanging out with child predator Ted Nugent and ardent anti-women actions as Attorney General. Given the way he ruled in this case, is it any surprise that Abbott also showed such strong support for HB2 which closed down dozens of women’s health centers across the state?
In its short airtime, the ad has been getting some real traction, some of the best coverage Davis has received yet within the state, especially from local news stations and newspapers. People are talking about Greg Abbott, and in this case, they don’t have many good things to say.
After receiving criticism even from supporters saying the campaign isn’t generating enough attention, Wendy Davis deserves kudos for launching an effective ad, and for leading the conversation on this issue. It’s also a reminder of how Davis got here in the first place, coming from Republican Senate district, beating a GOP incumbent in 2008, and then winning reelection in 2012. And all of that occurred long before ‘the people’s filibuster’. If she continues to lead the news cycle, and keeps up the historic campaign apparatus, she will win.
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.
