Reprinted from the Texas Home School Coalition Political Action Committee website.
Read the complete story
By Tim Lambert
The Republican Primary in Texas yesterday was very significant to say the least. To begin with, from THSC PAC’s perspective, our top race was the race to unseat State Representative Rob Eissler, Chairman of the House Public Education Committee, because of his dishonest dealings with THSC in the killing of one of our key legislative priorities while saying he has “always supported home schooling.” Steve Toth, home school dad, defeated Eissler with over 56% of the vote. Toth said he was “setting the pace and the tone of the campaign. The conservative political action committees, they never get behind a contender unless there is blood in the water.”Several Republican House leaders were defeated by conservative challengers, and several more are in a runoff scheduled for July 31st. Overall, it was a night where conservatives seemed to have much influence, and a stalwart conservative House member and great friend to home schoolers, Bryan Hughes, announced his plans to seek the Speakership of the Texas House.
In the Texas Senate, conservatives also made great strides, and THSC PAC-endorsed Dr. Donna Campbell forced Senator Jeff Wentworth (who represents Hays County) into a runoff for the representation of Senate District 25 in the San Antonio and Austin areas. Dr. Campbell is a former home school mom, who, unlike her opponent, is strongly pro-life and pro-parental rights.
From The National Journal | Read the complete story
By Scott Bland and Josh Kraushaar
Paul Kane wrote a must-read story in today's Washington Post on the just-completed Texas primaries, concluding that Hispanic voters aren't taking advantage of their numbers to elect their own to Congress. It's something we noted in last week's magazine, and offers a warning sign for the president's re-election team too, which is reliant on high levels of Hispanic turnout in the November general election to win states like Florida, Nevada, and Colorado.
Tuesday's election results in Texas illustrated why the increase in Hispanic population isn't translating -- at least not yet -- into increased representation. Latino growth fueled the state's overall population growth, allowing the Lone Star State to gain four House seats during reapportionment - the most in the country. Two-thirds of that growth came from the Hispanic population. But while 38 percent of voters are Hispanic, it's likely that only six of the state's 36 House representatives (14 percent) will be Latino in 2013. That would be a lower rate of representation for Hispanics than in the state's current delegation, despite expectations that 2012 would be a watershed year for Hispanic candidates.
In the primary, Hispanic candidates suffered a trifecta of stinging defeats, thanks to low levels of Latino participation in the Democratic primaries. Rep. Silvestre Reyes, the influential former chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, was upset by Beto O'Rourke, an upstart, white former El Paso city councilor. Reyes' loss makes it more likely that the number of Hispanics in the state's delegation will remain at six, counteracting the gain from the newly created TX-34 Gulf Coast seat, where attorney Filemon Vela is the favorite after a strong showing in the initial primary.
9 comments:
The Republican Party is simply the modern version of the old Southern mentality that is still angry that Abraham Lincoln freed the slaves and that women got the vote.
A black man in the White House is their worst nightmare and sure enough, it is not a dream.
Face it, these kind of white men cannot stand strong, free women, free black people or Mexicans and still want to control women's sexuality and force them to have babies they do not want to have.
You do not control the world any more, boys, so you better get used to it. If you had a job, it is very likely your boss would be a woman or a black or brown person. Must suck for you.
The only good thing about most of you Republican throwbacks to the 1950's is you will be dead from old age in a few years and we will not have to listen to your hateful, sexist, racist rants anymore.
Hey new world order:
While Republicans aren't perfect, it should be noted that Lincoln was one. Further, implying that the Civil War (or as they called it around here at the time, the War of Northern Aggression) was about slavery is like saying World War 2 was about the holocaust.
I would suggest you look to Democrats like George Wallace for racist role models. As for Lincoln he only freed the slaves in the South and allowed Northern banks to continue to finance them.
I personally don't have a problem with a black man in the white house, I would prefer one that didn't put out fake birth certificates. Obama has set back black candidates a decade and continues Bush's draconian foreign policy and Gitmo is still going strong. He have violated every campaign promise.
I don't see how you get to racism as an issue in the story on Texas Hispanics. Read Paul Kane's article in the Washington Post. If anything it points to the historically low turnout of Hispanics, also giving them more of a voice to elect whomever they want. Please read and understand before shooting from the hip with racist claims.
I was not implying that the Civil War was about slavery. I was stating quite plainly that I think that there are many white people today who would love it if black people and brown people did not have equal rights in this country.
After Lyndon Johnson passed the Civil Rights Act, the racists in the Democratic Party bolted to form the core of the new Republican Party we see in evidence today.
This is what the Republican Party has become: white, racist, corporatist and sexist. They exemplify a desire to return to a time when women were under the control of men and people of color (ANY color!)and non-Christians were considered second class citizens. They worship wealth and the wealthy and in their hearts they yearn for a time when their prejudices can be practiced again in the open, rather than just behind closed doors with their fellow Republicans.
Sorry, boys, but we are not going back to the kitchen, nor to the plantation, nor to your Baptist Church. Your time has come and gone. Get used to it.
Wow. I should not be surprised at the low level of attacks and prejudiced opinions expressed whether attacking people's intellect or their policies. For all the claims of intellectual superiority, I did not see comments discussing the merits of the articles or what it means for Hays County. Instead of intellectual discussions, there are the constant hate diatribes.
Instead of the diatribes and name calling, we need 'honest intellectual debates' on the issues impacting Hays County and how to better where we live, such as how will these results impact our quality of life and the education of our children rather than allegations about intelligence or who cant stand who.
Prediction: Wentworth won't have enough time to secure another taxpayer paid position in the higher ed system before he is ousted from office.
Jones' supporters would rather have won but their objective was putting Wentworth out of office. JWentworth's frivolous lawsuit against Jones is going to backfire. Those Jones supporters won't hesitate to vote for Campbell.
Wentworth lawsuit
Wentworth is defamation-proof
Joe Tex: All things considered, I'd say the comments are what they are and I don't see anyone claiming superiority. As for the homeschooler pac article, it only confirms that extreme conservatism is still in its ascendance in Texas and it happens to be the most passionate and organized political movement. That is why they are winning. It will not last forever. By and large, the average Texan is not quite so extreme. The Law of Nature requires balance. Life goes on, meanwhile.
Okay, in terms of policy, I would say let's stop building roads and start investing more into public education, higher education, healthy lifestyles, affordable healthcare and reducing poverty...thereby reducing crime and hopefully making a happier populace.
Let's stop lining the pockets of road builders and people who make money build fancy houses and start putting our money into diverse ways to make our community better.
Better schools with adequately-paid teachers and staff, libraries, cultural events, water and air quality, local farming, local businesses of all kinds, retrofitting our homes for rainwater collection and small-scale solar. This would be a start.
Wanna talk specifics? I can talk specifics. Wanna brand my ideas as socialism or a conspiracy by the UN to take over your life, well, that isn't very useful.
@ Davis Delacroix...
You have some ideas with merit, but are you implying its the proper role of government to promote healthier lifestyles and provide affordable health care? Some of us strongly disagree.
We've proven that simply putting more money into education is not the answer. More attention needs to be focused on how that money is spent before we commit to spending more.
I'm for local farming and local business, and we can make decisions to support them directly through our purchase decisions. We can also lobby our governments to reduce the tax and regulatory burdens on them. We can support rainwater and small scale solar, too.
We can support a LOT more of the things we care about if we take back that decision making from those that just love to pave over the countryside, and who provide the taxpayer-subsidized infrastructure that winds up as some out-of-county firm's corporate profits.
We're in the 2013 budget cycle for the county and various municipalities. Now is a good time to ask your elected officials to hold the line on spending, leaving more money in your pocket to make your own decisions with.
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