Burnt Orange Report

If You Want Change, Vote for It

By Karl-Thomas Musselman

The following is a guest column by Donna Howard, candidate for the Democratic nomination in HD 48 in West Austin. This is the first in a series of posts on behalf of active candidates. -KT

I want to thank BOR for this opportunity to speak directly to you.

My name is Donna Howard, and I'm running for HD 48. I was not seeking this job, but, after being asked by a number of people in my district to consider the race, I decided not only that I wanted to run but also that I could bring a wealth of real-life experiences to this effort. We are facing many critical issues in our community, and I want to be a part of the solution.

The stakes are high. How will we save our public schools, safeguard our children's heath, protect our pocketbooks, roll back soaring college tuition rates, strengthen our neighborhoods, and build a future that reflects our mainstream values?

With a state representative who is ready to lead, that's how. The incumbent has failed over and over again to demonstrate leadership, and our district and state have suffered.

• When his political bosses instructed him to, he voted for the biggest tax hike in Texas history, including the nation's highest sales tax.

• When his political bosses instructed him to, he pocketed $35,000 in illegal corporate campaign cash from Tom DeLay and then voted to dilute his own community's influence in Congress.

• When his political bosses instructed him to, he voted to strip 170,000 eligible children of working parents of their health benefits, leading to higher costs for local taxpayers to fund emergency room care.

• When his political bosses instructed him to, he voted to siphon billions of tax dollars out of our public schools for his campaign contributors’ private-school voucher scheme.

• When his political bosses instructed him to, he voted to privatize state services with a phantom promise to save taxpayers $45 million, which now turns out to have cost hundreds of jobs and saved just $1 million.

I grew up in Austin and raised my family here in Austin-area public schools. I have taught at UT, my alma mater, and worked as a critical care nurse. I have worked in the community, served on the Eanes school board, and devoted my life to improving my neighbors' public education and public health. I don't need a party boss to tell me what to do.

Now, more than ever, we need to put our community first and partisan politics last. And that's why I'm running for the Texas House -- to give the people of HD 48 a representative at the State Capitol who will work for them, for a change.

If you agree that it's time for a change, join me in working for it. I encourage you to volunteer with my campaign for independent leadership that reflects our mainstream values. We need your energy, your best ideas, and your most generous contributions.

Please go to http://www.votedonna.com to see more about my positive agenda for HD 48. You will learn about my life experience, career, and volunteer work with the Texas Education Crisis Coalition, the Texas Freedom Network, and Common Cause. And I hope you will agree that this campaign is uniquely positioned to help guide us toward a future of progress and prosperity based on healthy children learning in safe classrooms from well-paid, qualified teachers.

And most of all, if you want change, vote for it. Because what we need is what we do not have under our current leadership -- a united effort that crosses party lines and ideologies and demands responsible support for public schools from all sectors of our community. If we get that right, everything else will follow. If we keep getting it wrong, not much else will matter.

-Donna