West
Texas Voice
Holiday
Issue 2003
_______________________________________________________________
West
Texas Coalition of Democrats Officers:
President:
Pam
Brink, 2301 Broadway Studio, Lubbock, TX 79401
TEL:
(806) 747-9200
Vice-President:
Linda McGonagill, 214 W. Avenue J, Muleshoe, TX 79347
TEL:
(806) 272-4183
Secretary:
Linda
Shoemaker, P.O. Box 62892, San Angelo, TX 76906
TEL:
(325) 224-2944
Treasurer:
Sue
Weninger, 4915 93rd Street, Lubbock, TX 79424
TEL:
(806) 798-8087
IN THIS ISSUE:
West Texas Coalition of Democrats:
Expanding
the Territory and Refining the Message
Education:
A
Holiday Potpourri Jackie Jarrett, Lubbock
2004 West Texas Democratic Campaigns
John
Miller, Texas House Seat, District 83
Dr.
Elaine King Miller, Texas Senate Seat, District 31
Agriculture
Congressional
Update Tommy Fondren, Lorenzo
January Happenings
Local
Heroes Banquet, Lubbock
Membership
Information
____________________________________________________________________
Expanding
the Territory and Refining the Message
Welcome to Texas Senate District #24.
We are delighted to have Abilene and counties farther
south interested in membership in the West Texas Coalition of
Democrats. Senate District 24 begins on the southern border of
West Texas and moves into the Hill Country.
The West Texas Coalition of Democrats represents the concerns
of Texans who live west of I-35 to New Mexico and from the
Oklahoma border to the Edwards Plateau, plus El Paso and the
other communities of far West Texas. In Texas political
terms, this vast region comprises Texas Senate Districts 19,
28, 29, 30, 31 and the northern part of 24, a strong community
of interest defined by our semiarid environment, our
rural-based economy, and our social values.
What follows is a list of the counties that comprise our
Coalition. The West Texas Coalition of Democrats is shaped by
Texas Senate Districts, because the Executive Committee of the
Texas State Democratic Party is comprised of one woman and one
man elected from each Texas Senate District. The
counties comprising current Senate Districts are not to be
confused with the 2003 Redistricting Debacle.
Senate
District 19 (State Senator: Frank Madla - D, San Antonio)
Bandera,
Bexar (part), Brewster, Crockett, Culberson, Edwards, El Paso
(part), Hudspeth, Jeff Davis, Kinney, Loving, Maverick,
Medina, Pecoa, Presidio, Real, Reeves, Sutton, Terrell,
Uvalde, Val Verde, Ward, Winkler.
Senate
District 24: (State Senator: Troy Fraser - R, Horseshoe Bay)
Bell,
Blanco, Brown, Burnet, Callahan, Coleman, Comanche, Eastland,
Erath, Gillespie, Hamilton, Kerr, Kimble, Lampasas, Llano,
McCulloch, Mason, Menard, Mills, San Saba, Taylor.
Senate
District 28 (State Senator: Robert Duncan - R, Lubbock)
Armstrong,
Borden, Briscoe, Carson, Castro, Childress, Coke,
Collingsworth, Concho, Cottle, Crosby, Dawson, Dickens,
Donley, Fisher, Floyd, Foard, Garza, Gray, Hale, Hall,
Hardeman, Haskell, Hockely, Irion, Jones, Kent, King, Knox,
Lamb, Lubbock, Lynn, Mitchell, Motley, Nolan, Reagan, Runnels,
Schleicher, Scurry, Sterling, Stonewall, Swisher, Terry, Tom
Green, Upton, Wheeler.
Senate
District 29 (State Senator: Eliot Shapleigh - D, El Paso)
El
Paso (part)
Senate
District 30 (State Senator: Craig Estes - R, Wichita Falls)
Archer,
Baylor, Clay, Collin (part), Cooke, Denton (part), Grayson,
Jack, Montague, Palo Pinto, Parker, Shackelford, Stephens,
Throckmorton, Wichita, Wilbarger, Wise, Young.
Senate
District 31 (State Senator: Teel Bivins - R, Amarillo)
Andrews,
Bailey, Cochran, Crane, Dallam, Deaf Smith, Ector, Gaines,
Classcock, Hansford, Hartley, Hemphill, Howard, Hutchinson,
Lipscomb, Martin, Midland, Moore, Ochiltree, Oldham, Parmer,
Potter, Randall, Roberts, Sherman Yoakum.
Thank you for your interest in and commitment to The West
Texas Coalition of Democrats. We are a Texas PAC eager
to build the broad regional network of human and financial
resources to elect progressive Democrats to office. As
of November, that broad regional network includes Coalition
membership in the newly formed Texas Regional Alliance
with significantly close ties to the Central Texas Grassroots
Network.
Tim Mahoney is President of the Central Texas
Grassroots Network and many of
you will remember his invaluable service to us during the
Great Democratic Exodus to Albuquerque last summer. Mahoney's
email Texas Grassroots Network Newsletter kept us apprised of
rallies, protests, caravans, boycotts, and all other human
efforts to bring some sense to the Texas Redistricting
Debacle. In impassioned style, he gave us a gratifying
perspective on how broad and deep contempt for redistricting
ran throughout the state, and we were all grateful to find out
we were not alone.
Working with Mahoney and representatives from other regional
organizations, the West Texas Coalition of Democrats is
helping the Texas Democratic Party gather information on every
level of Democratic organization in the region. It is
our goal to build a vast and accurate data base of Texas
Democrats and party activities that will include every
Democratic elected official, precinct chair, club, and who
knows what else to help us reach deep into all of the
communities of the state and reinvigorate the Texas Democratic
Party.
People, we are cooking!
Education:
A
Holiday Potpourri
by
Jackie Jarrett
Voucher Update:
- December 3, 2003: A Colorado District
Judge struck down the Colorado new school voucher law,
ruling that it stripped local school boards of educational
control as set forth in the Colorado Constitution.
- The U.S. House of Representatives approved
taxpayer-funded vouchers for DC children to attend private
and parochial schools. The program was included in
the massive spending bill that stalled in the Senate.
- People for the American Way reports that, in
the past three years, the U.S. Department of Education has
provided grants of $75 million to a small group of
pro-voucher private advocacy groups. This
administration will stop at nothing to get its agenda
through. These grants were provided while the
administration under-funded the Leave No Child Behind
initiative by $8 billion.
Poor
and Minority Students Study:
A
Study by the Educational Testing Service enumerates 14 factors
that cause the achievement gap between poor and minority
students and white and middle-class students. Some of
these factors include: low birth weight, poor nutrition,
family mobility, and too much television. Of course,
unqualified or inexperienced teachers and unsafe structures in
poor school districts are also important factors.
Science
Textbooks:
What
do you know, thinking citizens and Texas students won one!
The attempt to corrupt science textbooks was soundly
defeated, thanks to the science teachers and higher education
biology professors who testified and to all of the concerned
citizens who contacted their State Board of Education
Representatives.
May all the blessings of this holiday season by yours. Happy
New Year.
2004
West Texas Democratic Campaigns
The
election season has begun, and we are very pleased to announce
two very important candidacies in our northern area, a part of
Texas that has suffered from a dearth of Democrats in the past
few years.
John Miller is running for District 83 Texas House Seat
against Delwin Jones (R-Lubbock). District 83 includes
part of Lubbock County, Cochran, Gaines, Hockley, and Yoakum.
John is owner of WesTex Document, Inc., a business he started
in 1997 in Midland and recently relocated to Lubbock at the
Reese Technology Center. Born and raised on a farm in
southern Ohio, John enlisted in the Marine Corps his junior
year in high school and served in Viet Nam from 1967 to 1968.
He eventually retired as a Lieutenant Colonel USA
Reserve with 28 years total service. He has a BA in
Behavior Science and an MBA. Currently, he is West Texas
Campaign Coordinator for the Wesley Clark Campaign. The
Redistricting Debacle made him realize how vital it is for
West Texas to have a true representative who will work for the
good of this region, supporting public education, farming and
ranching, rural economic development, and meaningful health
care programs.
Elaine King Miller is running for the District 31 Texas
Senate Seat vacated by Teel Bivens who has been appointed
Ambassador to Sweden. The special election to fill this
seat will take place January 20, 2004. Elaine is running
as the only Democrat against a bevy of Republicans and, with
good solid work by all of us in the next three weeks, she will
be in a run-off and has a very good chance of winning the
seat.
Dr. Elaine Miller is an educator and mental health counselor,
with over 20 years of experience in higher education and
management consulting for business and the military. She
was raised in rural Michigan and received her Ph.D. at the
Uniersity of Michigan. She is currently Associate Dean
at the Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center in
Amarillo and is a board member of the Coalition of Texans with
Disabilities, Panhandle Independent Living Center, Panhandle
Chapter of the American Council of the Blind, and the American
Association of University Women, Amarillo Branch. Elaine
was also a board member of the Amarillo Chamber of Commerce
from 1999 to 2002.
Even though you may not live in John or Elaine's district, you
can still help. Send money. Come on out and help
build yard signs. Call a friend in the district and sing
the praises of our candidates. Rally around our good
West Texas Democrats and help them get elected.
2004 is Election Time, Starting January 1. Promise
yourself you will begin the year by getting involved in
politics and staying involved until we have fair-minded
Democrats representing us in Austin and Washington.
Agriculture:
Congressional Update
by
Tommy Fondren
- The Energy Bill seems dead for this session
but could return afte January 20, 2004.
- The December Called Session did not produce
an Appropriations Bill. We are operating on a
supplemental, good until January 31, 2004.
- November 18, 2003, the Committee for The
Implementation of Textile Agreements approved a safeguard
petition filed against China on three textile-
manufactured items -- a first for this administration.
In 2001, China had 9% of the U.S. Textile and
Apparel market. In July of 2003, China had 53% of
the market. Our trade deficit in the textile and
apparel sector for 2002 was $60.6 billion. The U.S.
manufacturing sector currently has 730,000 Americans
working in textile manufacturing fiber processing. That's
less than one-half from five years ago. Uncontrolled
free trade and monetary policies are destroying this
sector of the U.S. economy, destroying the American cotton
producer's value-added sector and its support structure.
Do we really want to rely on overseas markets for
our fiber needs? Surely oil has taught us something
about the folly of dependence. Are textiles and
apparel next?
- COOL -- Country Of Origin Labeling -- as a
mandate is opposed in a number of areas within the
USDA and is moving as a 186-page document within the
system for review. After review, it will be
published in the Federal Register and be available for
public study and commentary. Economic analysis by
the USDA indicates a $500 million to $4 billion cost the
first year and a continuing cost of between $100 million
to $600 million each year. The administration's
numbers are highly questioned. The Conference
Committee for Agriculture Appropriations, with language
from the House version, excluded meat for one year by
witholding funding and agreed to a two-year nonfunding for
implementation of meat, produce, and farm harvested fish.
Wild fish are included in the law, an unusual
designation originating in the Senate.
- Lubbock, Texas, December 8, 2003: Field
Hearings for Risk Management Protections (Insurance, USDA
Crop Coverage Available to Production Agriculture), the
safety net for the New Farm Law. The House
Agriculture Committee Subcommittee on General Farm
Commodities and Risk Management was chaired by
Representative Moran (R) Kansas with four other
Congressional members present, including Neugebauer (R -
Texas) and ranking Ag Committee Minority Leader Charlie
Stenholm (D-Texas). The Subcommittee heard testimony
from commidity organizations, bankers, and the insurance
sector. Representatives from Kansas, Oklahoma, and
Texas discussed insured crops. This insurance issue,
as well as other USDA programs, have ensured American
consumers the most economical, wholesome, safe food and
fiber in the world.
January
Happenings
Lubbock's Local Heroes Banquet
Please
join us in Lubbock on January 17 for our annual Local
Heroes Banquet. This year, we will be honoring Representative
Charles Stenholm and reminding West Texas just how
disastrous it has been for the region to toady to the power-
mongering designs of the Republican Party! We plan a
whole day of grassroots discussions and a gala celebration.
Caravan up, down, or over, bring a bus, or whatever. Just
come, and let's keep this regional rally going.
We reported on the grassroots event in Midland in September.
Since our last issue, Amarillo has held a fundraiser and
Abilene a day-long grassroots forum. Now, Lubbock joins
the rally with a day of roundtable discussions and an evening
celebrating Charlie Stenholm and his solid representation of
the region. Indeed, we expect to mention the
Redistricting Debacle more than once or twice! What
better place to make the point than in the smack-dab middle of
West Texas where a brand new Republican Representative
"might could" be running against our experience,
senior member of the Ag Committee, Charlie Stenholm. We
want West Texas Republicans to know what they will be in for,
if by some insane chance, we have to live with the
Redistricting Debacle.
January
17, 2004
Lubbock Civic Center
9:00 am - Noon
Local Strategies for Getting Out the Vote: Recruiting the New
and Revitalizing the Old.
Lunch - Civic Center
1:00 pm - 3:00 pm
West Texas Coalition of Democrats Roundtable Discussion.
We
will have a short business meeting to give a treasurer's
report then move quickly into a discussion of how to broaden
and deepen our outreach to the region. Regional spokespeople
will share their ideas and engage us in a series of strategies
for building a vigorous network to help elect candidates and
raise money. Please come help us build a strategy for
shaking up this region!!!
6:30
pm
Cocktails
7:30 pm
Local Heroes Banquet
$60/person
Program
A Tribute to Charlie Stenholm
Byrnie Bass, MC
Addresses by Charles Soechting and Garnet Coleman
Send your money to the address below, and we will save your
tickets at the door.
Membership
Information
We
aim to find every Democrat and like-minded voter in West
Texas, mobilize, and change the fabric of decision-making
in Austin and Washington. Please help us by becoming a
member of the West Texas Coalition of Democrats. We are
a Texas PAC, and our annual membership fee is
$25.00/person/year.
Currently, we are using our financial resources mainly to
recruit new members and would be grateful if you would send us
contact information for potential members. In 2002, we
were able to add over 1,000 West Texas Democrats to our
mailing list through this one-by-one method.
We are proud to be in the position to help support our current
Democratic candidates and serve as a regional force, primed
for battle in Austin and Washington.
West Texas Coalition of Democrats
2003 Membership Form
(Please print out and mail to Pam Brink, 2301 Broadway Studio,
Lubbock, TX 79401)
Membership Fee: $25.00/person/year
$_________Additional Contribution
NAME_______________________________________________________________
ADDRESS___________________________________________________________
CITY_______________________________STATE_______ZIP_________________
TEL_________________________________FAX____________________________
EMAIL_______________________________________________________________
PROFESSION________________________________________________________
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