Crunch Time for Governor's Race

Election Day is now only six days away… that’s six days until Texans decide their leader for the next 4 years!

Now while Election Day is November 2, you can still lighten your load by voting early at any Travis County early voting locations until Friday October 29. The most convenient early voting location for students is probably the first floor of the FAC. The poll is open from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. To view all early voting locations for Travis County visit- http://www.co.travis.tx.us/county_clerk/election/20101102/early_polls.pdf

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Don't know what to bring to the polls? Just bring a voter registration card, driver’s license or any official photo ID, birth certificate, United States citizenship papers or passport, a copy of a current utility bill, bank statement or other official document that shows your name and address.

I encourage you to vote early because come Election Day you will only be able to vote at a certain location determined by your precinct. Your precinct number is printed on the front of your voter registration certificate. For your Election Day poll location visit - http://www.co.travis.tx.us/county_clerk/election/20101102/eday_polls.pdf

First off, I want to thank all of you who commented on my blog. It is so helpful and encouraging to see you are interested in these elections.

Many of you commented on your confusion on the HB 130 bill. Well I don’t blame you- I didn’t know what it was either until I started this blog. The HB 130 bill was first filed on Nov. 10, 2008. It was drafted to provide an enhanced quality full-day prekindergarten program provided by public school districts in conjunction with community providers. The bill was signed by the House on June 1, 2009 and the Senate on June 3,2009. Governor Perry vetoed the bill on June 19, 2009.

I brought up this bill in my first blog while listing Bill White’s policies. According to his website, White wishes to expand pre-K programs that work by passing bills such as HB 130.

Perry is obviously opposed to this bill. He defended his veto by arguing that the $25 million attached to the bill would still be spent on prekindergarten programs-just not in the way the bill had laid out. Perry claimed that the distribution of money to school districts was uneven and unfair. For example, Spring-Branch ISD was to receive an estimated $16 million.

The debate for the HB 130 bill goes round and round. A few blogs and articles arguing for and against the bill are-

http://mo.statesman.com/blogs/content/shared-gen/blogs/austin/politics/entries/2009/06/19/prek_bill_vetoed.html

http://educationfrontblog.dallasnews.com/archives/2009/06/what-rick-perrys-education-rec.html

http://unworthybum.wordpress.com/2009/06/19/pre-k-vote-vetoed/

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Keep in mind that this election directly relates to you and your education. Did you know that it is the state governor who appoints the members of the University of Texas Board of Regents? And did you know that this Board of Regents determines your tuition rate?

I encourage all of you to look into this governor race. Simply go online and research these candidates. Don’t be an idle citizen- fight for Texas. Let’s rock this vote.

Helpful links to aid you in your voting decisions are:

http://tx.electionland.com/

http://www.vote411.org/

www.votesmart.org/voteeasy

Milk, Rally to Restore Competence, and Rick Perry: Ingredients for a Political Awakening

Election day is one week closer and my political awakening is well under way. Since my last post I have attended two guest lectures to enhance my political awareness and to prepare me for Election Day.

I attended a lecture by Dustin Lance Black, screenwriter of Milk, this past Thursday.  Black talked about his life as a gay man, the making of the movie Milk and the past, present and future of the gay rights movement. Black criticized the Democratic Party and President Obama for ignoring the movement and advised students to look at gay rights as a social issue, not a party issue. After all, members of the Republic Party such as Laura and Barbara Bush are becoming more vocal and more active in the gay rights movement than members of the Democratic Party.

I also attended Rally to Restore Competence with Bill White on Tuesday at the UT Austin Tower today. The event was put on by Students for Bill White and University Democrats. Bill White’s daughter, a college student at Rice University, introduced him as a man who is “the same person at home as he is on the campaign trail.” Bill White then gave a 10-minute speech about higher education in Texas. A few policies White highlighted were to reverse the 92 percent tuition increase, offer flexible school hours for students who have to work and provide a reduced tuition rate for college students who do community service.

“Consider what it would it be like if we had a governor who understands that higher education should be accessible to all Texans, and that teachers should teach what is necessary to prepare people for college and careers,” said Bill White.

I would like to make one interjection. As a public relations major I was distracted by the name the event. The rally name claims that Bill White will “restore competence.” This word choice alludes to the lack of ability or knowledge of current governor Rick Perry. To believe that Bill White will restore competence one must already believe that the current governor is incompetent. This might step on some toes and I am curious to see how this affects public opinion.

To read more about what happened at the rally go to http://www.dailytexanonline.com/content/white-pushes-education-reform-west-mall

After the rally I spoke to a young woman with Students for Bill White. I told her that I had not fairly evaluated Rick Perry’s policies yet. She said that she unsuccessfully tried to get an accurate depiction of Rick Perry’s policies as well. His website and his office did not provide detailed assessments of his policies.

Rick Perry also denied to debate with the other candidates for governor Tuesday night. The debate featured Bill White as the Democratic candidate, Kathie Glass as the Libertarian candidate, and Deb Shafto as the Green Party candidate.

Visit Rick Perry's website to view his policies. http://www.rickperry.org/issues You will see that Rick Perry generally lists accomplishments instead of his plans for the future. The public could view this move in many ways. They might view this as a sense of confidence because he has been governor for the past 10 years. Such confidence will most likely annoy voters and make them feel taken advantage of. Others might view this as a lack of plans for the future. If Rick Perry isn't sharing his plans, perhaps he doesn't have any or plans to keep current policies in place. We will not know the extent of this public relations move until November 2.

Readers, keep the questions coming! I will respond to your comments in my next blog. Thank you for your interest and don’t forget to vote November 2!

Making the Switch: Mayor Bill White for Governor

I aspire to be an interested and involved voter. When I look at myself today I can honestly say am I neither of these things. The pressure is mounting to have an opinion for the upcoming elections in November yet I know nothing.

So in my quest to become an interested and involved voter I have decided to keep track of my political awakening through this blog. I will try to present the information I am collecting in an unbiased manner as to best educate students the opinions, events, debates and current events we should be aware of come election day.

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To start off I will present a few of Mayor Bill White’s policies as he runs for Texas governor.

Bill White’s policies and attributions:

I.               For Jobs and Economy

-       Attract new jobs to Texas

-       As mayor of Houston he has helped add more new jobs than 37 states combined

-       Improve education for the workforce

-       Lower homeowner’s insurance

-       Invest in transportation and other infrastructure (such as wastewater treatment facilities) to help businesses grow and attract new businesses

-       End plans for Trans-Texas Corridor

-       Decentralize TxDOT

-       Use tax dollars for business incentives more wisely

II.             Education

-       Expand pre-K programs that work by passing bills such as HB 130

-       Improve career and technical education by working with school districts, community colleges, and employers

-       Help local school officials work with local employers to create job banks for working students with a requirement that the student stays in school

-       Make flexible hours for classes for students who must work

-       Bridge the digital divide with technology in the classroom

-       Encourage enrollment in dual credit programs

-       Allow dropouts to return to school with a flexible program to catch the student up

-       Reduce dropout rates by helping students keep up over the summer through voluntary summer enrichment programs

-       Let educators teach applicable skills instead of how to make a minimum score on an annual high-stakes multiple choice test

-       Replicate practices from charter schools

-       Make college education more affordable for more Texans through lowering textbook costs and by allowing Texas students to pay little or no tuition with a public service commitment after school

III.           Border Security

-Fund an additional 1000 local law enforcement positions and 250 state troopers using federal grants, state appropriations and additional drug forfeiture dollars

- Fund border security entirely by federal tax dollars

- Work closely with people living and working along the border to develop effective programs

- Will personally attend semi-annual meetings of federal, state and local law enforcement and local political leadership along the border to make sure all activities are coordinated and accountable

- Work to create a regional lab to assist local law enforcement with forensic technology

- Revamp Department of Public Safety by raising hiring standards

- Adopt Secure Communities- a program that ensures that criminals in the U.S. illegally are identified and turned over to federal authorities.

IV. Health Care

-       Work to increase access to affordable healthcare

-       Lower the cost for people who are currently insured

-       Expand enrollment in programs like the Childrens Health Insurance Program (CHIP) and Medicaid

-       Develop three-share programs that allow employers, employees, and public/private partnership funding to each contribute to the cost of affordable premiums for basic care

-       Push reforms to make health insurance more affordable for small businesses

-       Provide incentives for primary care providers to more closely monitor their patients

The above information was found on www.billwhitefortexas.com. Check this website for more information.

Also if you are interested in finding out more about Bill White’s policies you can attend Rally to Restore Competence with Bill White. This event will be put on by Longhorn Students for Bill White and will be at West Mall at The University of Texas at Austin this coming Tuesday Oct. 19 at 4:30 p.m. to show support and to get students to vote early.