Monthly Archives: June 2009

Barbara Ann Radnofsky will be making a run for Texas Attorney General in 2010.  BAR is the first out of the chute and begins with more resources than most possible contenders.

“I have a statewide organization, thousands of donors, and an experienced team of campaign professionals working with me. Texans are fed up with their interests taking a back seat to partisanship and next year it’ll show at the polls,” she concluded.

Of course, Radnofsky built this organization from the ground-up without being a current officeholder.  Most of the names  being tossed around are elected folks, but hardly have much of a base on which to begin a statewide run. And Radnofsky continued building her base even after 2006.  Now, she can really start campaigning on the issues, while building upon her warchest.

“Our statewide leaders aren’t fighting for us; they’re fighting for themselves and their own personal agendas. We’ve seen how the Attorney General can harm our everyday lives: our electric bills, the insurance and taxes we pay, the safety of our children. We need an Attorney General who will use her skills to make sure all Texans get the protection they deserve,” Radnofsky said.

Of course, anything can happen between now and December.  Perhaps some rich guy will announce. Perhaps some current regional officeholder will jump in.  Who knows?  For now, anyone else that announces will have to play some catch-up.

Tom Schieffer has made it official, announcing he’ll be carrying the Democratic flag in his run for Texas Governor. And he starts out on the right note:

“Right now, we have dropout rates in Hispanic, African American and low income white neighborhoods that exceed 40, 50 and 60 percent. If you believe we can do better than that, then join our cause,” he told a rally at Luella Merrett Elementary School in Fort Worth, where he attended school, according to his campaign.

But something didn’t sound right either.

Schieffer did say that property taxes “have pretty well been exhausted’ and that he doesn’t like an income tax.

“I think sales taxes work better than anything else at the state level, but I think you have to sit down and you have to talk about things and you have tot do it in a serious way,” he said.

No, it will take something much bolder than the sales tax, Mr. Schieffer.  Besides, the burden would fall on the poor if we only relied on the sales tax.  Best keep things progressive and people-oriented:

“That’s great political rhetoric in a Republican primary, but it’s not good public policy, because what happens is that kids still get asthma. They still get sick. And when they’re not covered by health insurance, and they don’t have a doctor who is providing an inhaler to ‘em or that they’re seeing on a regular basis, they wind up in the emergency room in the county hospital,” Schieffer said.

“The kid is out of school. The parents are out of work to take care of the kid. It is the most inefficient, most unproductive way to deliver that health care to those kids – and by the way, it’s not the right thing to do, either,” Schieffer said.