AG @GregAbbott_TX stands up against lesbian Houston Mayor in briefs http://t.co/ePBYDtFmEB #txlege #marriage #txcot #onemanonewoman
— Texas Values (@txvalues) January 21, 2014
Update: Joe the Pleb at Burnt Orange Report started it.
AG @GregAbbott_TX stands up against lesbian Houston Mayor in briefs http://t.co/ePBYDtFmEB #txlege #marriage #txcot #onemanonewoman
— Texas Values (@txvalues) January 21, 2014
Will all of this have any longterm impact - positive or negative (because it appears to be energizing both supporters and detractors) - on Davis' chances of becoming governor?
A few confessions today.
I'm not a fifth-generation Texan, as I've long claimed. My paternal grandmother informed me awhile back that she believes I'm sixth-generation on her side.
I didn't correct the record because I didn't want dueling claims out there. I regret the error.
When doctors' forms ask the dates of my various surgical procedures, I sometimes just guess. I regret the error.
In a June 2009 column, I wrote that, after my father got laid off when I was a girl, we "lost our house." My mother later explained we sold the house to avoid losing it. Figuratively, the claim was still true from my perspective. One day, we had our own house with a big backyard. Next, we were squeezed into an apartment. Still, I regret the error.
Coming from me, a humble newspaper columnist, you might accept all of the above as innocent inaccuracies that have caused no harm.
Coming from a politician running for, say, governor, they'd be fodder for attack ads and angry blog posts, proof at long last that I was a lying, scheming, spineless climber who would stop at nothing to win higher office. Conflicting genealogical claims would lead some to doubt my Texan heritage altogether. False dates on medical reports would show a plot to deceive voters about my health and physical ability to carry out the job. Wrongly implying that my family had endured foreclosure would be a biographical embellishment shamefully devised to appeal to working-class Texans.
Last year the Texas school finance system was ruled unconstitutional on the grounds that it is inadequate, inequitable, and inefficient. This week, State District Judge John Dietz has reopened evidence in the case to determine if actions made by the 2013 Texas Legislature resulted in any substantial changes to the school finance system.
The primary plaintiffs in the case argued that though the Texas Legislature took a step in the right direction, with a partial restoration of funding, it was too small a step and huge funding disparities still exist between property poor and property wealthy districts. As the Equity Center’s lawyer Rick Gray, who Texas Tribune reporter Morgan Smith quotes in her story, said, “Any and all funding changes are temporary at best. There is absolutely no requirement they be in existence beyond the year 2015…It was an exceedingly small step in the right direction.”
The plaintiffs were also quick to point out that the legislature made a conscious to not study the costs of its education requirements. The House version of the 2014-15 budget contained a rider (provision) that required a re-examination of the cost-of-education index and the weights and allotments within the current school finance formulas. This rider was stripped from the budget before finale passage.
As our post-legislative session analysis of public education funding in the 2014-15 budget explains, the Legislature failed to undo the harm caused by the unprecedented 2011 cuts, which disproportionately affect economically disadvantaged public school students. These cuts, among other inequities, led Judge Dietz to originally rule Texas’ school finance system unconstitutional early last year. (Reread our statement on Judge Dietz’s original ruling here).
The State is sticking by its original argument that the school finance system is and has been constitutional.
As your senator, I’ll wake up every day fighting to restore economic fairness and reform our government by:
Withdrawing our troops from Afghanistan and redirecting the hundreds of billions we are spending there to rebuild America by investing in good jobs, good schools and protecting Social Security and Medicare.
Investing in a quality education for all Texas’ children, not just the privileged few.
Growing our economy by creating good paying jobs in Texas, raising the minimum wage, ensuring equal pay for equal work and protecting the rights of union workers;
Standing up to Wall Street corporations and millionaires by making them pay their fair share, closing unfair tax loopholes and ending offshore tax shelters.
Stopping any attempts to privatize or cut Social Security and Medicare.
Protecting Roe v. Wade from right wing extremists who want government to interfere in women’s health care decisions.
Passing comprehensive immigration reform that is humane, respectful of our laws and provides a responsible roadmap to citizenship.
Fighting for marriage equality.