| Governor Rick Perry gave his State of the State address today, baffling most reality-based listeners with his refusal to admit that our state is totally broke, secession still isn't an important problem when you're $27B in the hole, and voter ID is actually less important than keeping our schools open. (Full text here.)
Right out of the Governor's own mouth, emphasis mine:
Throughout my life and service to this state, my optimism about Texas and its people has never wavered, and, by any meaningful measure, the state of our state is strong.
I guess school funding, access to health care, graduation rates, teen pregnancies, and college affordability aren't meaningful measures. Good to know.
But while Perry is living in a fantasy land, the rest of us are living in Texas, where the day-to-day economic and educational realities for most people don't look too rosy. In any case, here's a round-up of reactions by various elected officials and organizations to Perry's address. Emphases are mine.
State Senator Wendy Davis, SD-10, Fort Worth, from her Democratic State of the State Response:
"Governor Perry has been waking up in a very different reality than most citizens of Texas.
Their reality is becoming starker by the day. In the reality of Texas families, schools are closing, teachers are losing their jobs and state support for public education, already among the lowest in the entire nation, is facing dramatic cuts. In the reality of Texas' elderly, nursing homes face closure, making some of our State's most vulnerable fear the worst. In the reality of Veterans returning to Texas from Iraq and Afghanistan, one in five cannot find jobs.
While everyday Texans face these realities, those in control - who spent months spinning tall tales on campaign trails, assuring us that all was well in Texas - remain out of touch with the uncertainties, financial struggles and hardships facing so many Texas families."
::
State Senator Kirk Watson, SD-14, Austin:
"This crisis demands more than the non-solutions and reheated sound bites we heard today that could have been a greatest hits collection from his 10 years of political speeches. And it's regrettable that the Governor offered so little for - and seems so out of touch with - the concerns gripping our taxpayers, students, parents, teachers, seniors, commuters and those worried about adequately funding public safety and security."
::
State Rep. Garnet Coleman, HD-147, Houston, from his Democratic State of the State Response:
"Over the last ten years, Governor Perry and his budget practices have shut the doors of opportunity for millions of young Texans. They won't have the education they need to get good jobs and compete in the global economy.
Almost one hundred public schools in Texas could be closing in the coming months due to a severe lack of state support. Parents and children will be uprooted from their neighborhood schools - a very real consequence of a multi-billion dollar budget shortfall that is the direct result of the Governor's budget policy.
From Pre-K through college, Texas students are being left behind."
::
State Rep. Mike Villareal, HD-123, San Antonio:
"Why is Governor Perry willing to put devastating education cuts on the table but unwilling to put on the table closing corporate tax loopholes or controversial slush funds for new businesses?
"We're still waiting for Governor Perry to offer a plan for funding education and basic services for kids, seniors and the disabled. We're still waiting for him to show some leadership and take responsibility."
::
State Rep. Armando Walle, HD-140, Houston:
"Gov. Perry continues to claim that we don't have a budget crisis, but the fact is that Texas is facing a $28 billion budget deficit created by failed Republican policies. The proposed state budgets aim to gut funding for public education, higher education and our most vital state services. These budgets will force school districts to fire thousands of teachers and result in the closure of countless schools and nursing homes."
::
Rita Haecker, President, Texas State Teachers Association:
"The governor may live in a political fantasy world, but the people he was elected to represent are facing the hard realities of closed schools, educator pink slips and a future work force that will be less prepared to fuel Texas' economy. ... Not once did he propose a realistic solution to one of the worst threats ever to loom over our state's future. Texans expect leadership from their governor, not merely political rhetoric."
::
F. Scott McCown, Executive Director, Center for Public Policy Priorities:
"...we are $27 billion short of being able to fund these very same priorities at the same lean level over the next two years. With a revenue shortfall this large, the Governor needs to be realistic and the Legislature needs to take a balanced approach that includes using all the Rainy Day Fund and adding new revenue."
[Full Text Here]
::
Mary Aldridge Dean, Executive Director, Texas Faculty Association:
Dean said the governor's proposal for a $10,000 bachelor's degree was "straight out of fantasyland. With increased student populations and cuts in funding, the numbers simply do not add up to quality education for Texas students."
::
More releases below the jump, and more to come as they are received. |
State Senator Rodney Ellis, SD-13, Houston:
"This budget solution is an all out assault on working Texas families struggling to make ends meet. It protects tax loopholes and tax breaks that cost our state yet produce minimal results, it will eliminate over 100,000 jobs, and leave millions of Texans without essential, basic services. It's a cold, impersonal and sterile approach to governing, but budgets aren't merely numbers-they have real world, sometimes life and death, implications for hundreds of thousands of Texans."
::
State Rep. Carol Alvarado, HD-145, Harris County:
"The Governor's misplaced priorities are full of misdirection that fail to secure the quality of life for Texas families. His emphasis on emergency bills do little or nothing to improve our budgetary needs, and his personal funding priorities do nothing to save the jobs of the nearly 10,000 state employees that the state budget will eliminate."
::
State Senator Jose Rodriguez, SD-29, El Paso:
"With the state in dire financial straits, the Governor is focused on the wrong priorities -- or 'emergencies', as he has called them. Passing a voter ID bill to address a seemingly non-existent problem and straining local law enforcement by giving officers authority over federal immigration matters, instead of finding ways to keep teachers in our classrooms, is misguided and will not benefit the long-term future of our state."
::
Back to Basics PAC:
"But in today's State of the State address, Gov. Perry glossed over Texas' budget crisis to rail against the federal government instead. His speech couldn't have been more hypocritical; he claims to oppose unfunded mandates, but tells universities to freeze tuition while cutting their funding. He spews anti-"big government" rhetoric, but calls for expensive regulations on business. He says he'd never raise taxes, but over 200,000 Texas businesses got tax hikes just yesterday because of his decisions. You can't have it both ways, Mr. Governor."
::
Texas Forward, a broad coalition of groups from across Texas urging a balanced approach to the state's revenue crisis:
"The Governor appears to be in denial about the severity of our fiscal crisis-a revenue shortfall even bigger than California's as a percentage of the budget. There is no issue facing Texas that is a greater emergency than the imminent danger that Texas grandparents will be turned out of their nursing home beds, that higher education will be out of reach for millions of college-ready Texans, and that the 2011-12 school year will have fewer schools, fewer teachers, and more children jammed into crowded classrooms across the state."
:: |
