Showing posts with label Bill White. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Bill White. Show all posts
Tuesday, October 19, 2010
Monday, October 18, 2010
What did you say? THE Dallas Morning News Endorses Bill White for Texas Governor...what about Gov. Good Hair?
Texas' longest-serving governor is so certain his tenure should be extended that Perry has glided through this re-election bid with an impervious air, shrugging off tough questions and offering few specifics. Trust me, Perry tells voters, I know what I'm doing.
But in fact, Perry, 60, has done relatively little during a decade at the helm of state government. He can lay claim to few signature achievements. He lacks allies in the Legislature, and whether the issue is school finance, transportation or juvenile justice, he has not managed to see needed reforms through to conclusion.
The Republican governor is counting on the state's relatively strong economy to secure his third full term in office. But Texas' business-friendly environment predates Perry and will extend beyond his time in office. And now, with a deficit of up to $21 billion looming, more than budget bravado and a "taxes bad" mantra will be required to keep Texas on solid financial footing.
The state needs a solutions-oriented leader who is focused on bolstering Texas – not on doing battle with Washington.
Record of pragmatism
Democrat Bill White is better-suited to steer this ship of state through the challenges ahead.
The former mayor of Houston is a fiscal conservative with a progressive bent. He's more pragmatic than partisan. He's proven himself competent in business and in public office. Indeed, he's a bit of a throwback – in the best Texas tradition of the businessman governor.
We don't make this recommendation lightly. This newspaper has a long history of recommending Rick Perry for office against Democrats from agriculture commissioner to the governor's office. But Texas requires a different kind of leadership at this important juncture.
Bill White is an entrepreneur and an energy expert who succeeded in the private sector before branching out into public service. White, 56, has no use for Perry's swashbuckling, coyote-shooting style. The Democratic candidate is meticulous and analytical, hesitant to overpromise but determined to solve Texas' most pressing problems.
As Houston's mayor, White proved himself to be adept at balancing budgets, managing to cut property tax rates repeatedly. He drew national acclaim for his leadership in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.
And White laid waste to the idea that environmentally friendly policies inevitably were bad for business – a myth that Perry perpetuates as he fights to maintain Texas' right to pollute with impunity. In Houston, White struck a careful balance, proving that a city could go green and still be open for business.
As governor, White would be well-positioned to deliver in areas where Perry has fallen short.
For example, Texas' transportation infrastructure needs are daunting and urgent. Yet Perry seems to be stumped when it comes to offering workable funding options for building roads. The governor's go-to move is to blame Washington – and he does, for not sending more money. That's a fine lament, but it won't pay for any new lane miles.
White recognizes the need for new revenue sources and supports allowing counties to call elections to raise funds for transportation projects. This local-option approach has the support of North Texas transportation leaders but would stand a better chance in the Legislature with the backing of the governor.
The blurring of lines
During Perry's decades in elected office and two-plus terms as governor, ethical lines have slowly blurred as more and more high-dollar campaign donors have received appointments or state funds. Perry surrounds himself with a sea of people echoing his views. And he wields his power forcefully, making clear that those who dare to disagree with him can be replaced. When a Texas Tech regent endorsed Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison in the GOP gubernatorial primary, he said he was pressured to resign by a Perry emissary delivering a definitive message: The governor expects loyalty.
Even more troubling is the governor's apparent loyalty to campaign donors. Perry has played a pivotal role in awarding millions of taxpayer dollars from the Texas Emerging Technology Fund to companies with investors or officers who also happen to be the governor's campaign donors – an uncomfortable and unacceptable arrangement that cries out for an overhaul.
Fortunately, White has outlined a number of ethics reforms that would change the way the governor's office operates. His common-sense proposals include limiting contributions from appointees, extending the waiting period before governor's staff members can work as lobbyists and requiring gubernatorial staffers to file personal financial statements.
While White is better-equipped to navigate the state's budget woes and handle a number of other difficult tasks, his ideas about education have disappointed thus far. He has complained about the emphasis on high-stakes testing but failed to offer a specific alternative that would hold schools accountable. White's views may yet evolve in the realm of education, and this one point of disagreement does not outweigh the Democrat's many other good ideas.
Perry's strident, tea party tone and strong-arm style won't serve Texas well for another four years. While White's focus has been on finding solutions in Austin, Perry has done little more than rail against Washington's problems. The governor's gaze seems to have drifted from the tasks at hand, as he openly discusses his aspirations of elevating his national profile.
White is right when he says that leadership has little to do with delivering a speech and much more to do with having a sense of mission. White is a man with a mission, a leader who will bring a purposeful determination to the governor's office.
Libertarian Kathie Glass, 57, a lawyer, and Green Party candidate Deb Shafto, 71, a retired teacher and business owner, also are on the ballot. But White's broad base of expertise and modern managerial style make him the best choice for governor and earn him our recommendation.
Thursday, October 14, 2010
Gov. Rick Perry told the Newspapers of Texas: "You have out lived your usefulness ... I don't need your endorsements or your reporting..."
http://lubbockonline.com/texas/2010-10-06/texas-gov-rick-perry-regards-newspaper-endorsements-waste-time
Candidates for high political office usually grovel for newspaper endorsements. Not Texas Gov. Rick Perry. Breaking from a decades-old tradition, the governor isn’t even bothering to meet with editorial writers, much less ask for their blessing.
The way Perry sees it, newspapers are old news and have lost much of their influence. In a rapidly changing media climate, Perry said he decided before the March primaries that seeking their endorsements was a waste of time. After winning by 20 percentage points, the governor said he sees no reason to switch strategies in his race against Democrat Bill White.
“The most prized resource that you have is the candidate’s time, and what is the best return on your investment that you can get with a candidate’s time,” Perry told The Associated Press. “It was a calculated decision, but you know the world is really changing, I mean, the way people get their information, who they listen to, etc. Put it all on the balance beam and the balance was toward not doing the editorial boards.”
Newspaper editorialists have responded to Perry’s snub with fury, accusing him of doing a disservice to voters by refusing to submit to unscripted questioning.
The staunchly conservative Tyler Morning Telegraph, which Perry once called his “favorite” paper, slapped the longest-serving Texas governor with a blistering front-page editorial on Sunday.
“Your position to not visit with the editorial boards of Texas newspapers may be astute politically, but it demonstrates a disregard for newspaper readers and voters across the state, who deserve to hear substance rather than silence,” the editorial said.
White — the former Houston mayor who has been endorsed by The Houston Chronicle and the Austin American-Statesman, two of the state’s largest dailies in Democratic-leaning cities — said Tuesday that Perry’s “handlers are afraid of what he’ll say unscripted.”
Perry also drew an unusual rebuke from the National Conference of Editorial Writers, which called him “disingenuous” for saying he didn’t have time to take questions from its members when he spoke to their annual conference last month in Dallas.
“If the governor can’t take questions from the editorial board, from the press, on behalf of the public, it makes you wonder if they’re fit for office,” said Tom Waseleski of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, former president of the conference. “To out and out refuse to meet with editorial boards is cowardly and reprehensible.”
GOP voters are more inclined to view the media as hostile while general election swing voters may be more influenced by newspaper endorsements, said Peter Brown, assistant director of the Quinnipiac University Polling Institute in Hamden, Conn.
At least one other candidate, Florida GOP gubernatorial nominee Rick Scott, shunned editorial boards in the primary and has yet to schedule any meetings as he faces Democrat Alex Sink.
Brown said that candidates have previously avoided editorial boards during the primaries, but ignoring them entirely throughout an election could represent a new trend in the world of 24-hour news channels and Internet dominance.
“Before the Internet, newspapers in general were a bigger deal and their endorsements mattered more,” he said.
Seeking endorsements from the newspaper boards, made up of opinion writers, columnists and senior editors, is a traditional campaign ritual. It generally is done in a meeting that lasts an hour or more, and it’s not always a walk in the park. Republican political consultant Mark Sanders called it the “second most stressful thing a campaign has to go through,” behind debate preparation.
“You’re meeting with a lot of very smart, opinionated people who are just not going to take any guff off of the candidate,” Sanders said. “You’ve got to be very, very well prepared to go into an editorial board meeting.”
The intentional snub of the newspapers fits squarely with Perry’s damn-the-torpedoes style. He also has refused to debate White, and he hasn’t hesitated to break from other traditional campaign strategies. For example, Perry doesn’t send out direct mail and he will sell — but not give away — yard signs to supporters.
An independent group funded by an emerging Democratic money man has released a second full-page newspaper ad, capitalizing on Perry’s refusal to debate. The ad demands that Perry “FACE US.” The words appear over a dark, shadowy silhouette of Perry with his head down.
Wednesday, March 17, 2010
You know it is an election year, when Jefferson Davis gets to replace Thomas Jefferson in the Texas History Books....
Dear Freddallas,
Tell Rick Perry it's time to stop playing political games with our kids' future.
Last week the Texas State Board of Education (SBOE), led by Rick Perry's appointee, voted to remove Thomas Jefferson from social studies textbook standards. That's right. Thomas Jefferson -- Founding Father, author of the Declaration of Independence, and a world-renowned scholar who advocated democratic, limited government -- was deleted from a list of historical figures who inspired political change.
Why?
Because Governor Rick Perry provided no leadership or voice for mainstream Texans against people who decided to substitute their political agenda for the judgment of professional historians.
If we want Texas to be a state of opportunity, we cannot let it become an object of ridicule.
Help me stop this. Please email Rick Perry today. Tell him our kids' education is not a political game to be influenced by ideologues and partisan politics.
This is a pattern for Rick Perry.
Perry's previous appointed chair of the SBOE openly bragged about allowing his extreme views to skew history textbooks. His antics as chair were so extreme that the Texas Senate refused to confirm him a second time, and he was recently defeated by Republican primary voters. Governor Perry's current appointee as chair wanted Supreme Court Justice and civil rights pioneer Thurgood Marshall removed from a section on citizenship because he is "not particularly known for [his] citizenship."
And under Perry's appointed chair's leadership, last week the board passed more than 100 amendments to Texas' social studies textbook standards, without a single classroom teacher or historian in the discussions.
Tell Rick Perry you've had enough. It's time to stop playing political games with our kids' future.
I respect the sincerity of Texans who hold different views of what our students should and should not be taught. But we should have a governor who finds common ground and moves our state forward, rather than appeasing people intent on pursuing partisan agendas in public offices.
Thank you for helping me work for you, replacing a governor who works for his own political future with one who works for the future of all Texans.
Sincerely,
Bill White
P.S. Please forward this message to your friends, family, colleagues, and anyone you know with children in Texas' public schools who will be affected by the SBOE's new textbook standards.
Friday, March 5, 2010
You can tell that the Campaign Season is in Full Swing in Texas...
WHICH SENDS YOU TO THIS URL FOR BILL WHITE:https://secure.billwhitefortexas.com/page/contribute/EmailContribute?source=mar4&subsource=nonote
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