Burnt Orange Report

40/40: Get to Know Jason Earle and Valinda Bolton

By Phillip Martin

This week's edition of the 40/40 takes us to House District 47, where at least seven different candidates are running to fill the House seat vacated by Republican Terry Keel. According to the Texas Democratic Party's website, there are four Democrats running in HD 47 - Valinda Bolton, Jason Earle, Royce LeMoine and Eric Beverly. Due to my limited amount of time and resources, I will feature Jason Earle and Valinda Bolton this week, since they are the most prominent Democratic names on the ballot. In future weeks, I hope to get more information together and report about LeMoine and Beverly. Royce LeMoine has a website you can see here, and for some background information on LeMoine and Beverly, click here.

Valinda Bolton graduated from Baylor with a BA in Psychology, and got her Masters at Texas Tech from the Department of Human Development and Family Studies. She served as the Training Director for the National Center on Domestic and Sexual Violence (NCDSV) and helped found WOMAN, Inc., a community housing development organization that works to develop transitional housing for women and their families. Bolton is a member of South Austin Democrats, Southwest Austin Democrats, Austin Women’s Political Caucus and a sustaining member of the Travis County Democratic Party. Also, as K-T reported for us, she is a direct descendant of General Sam Houston. Glen Maxey is currently consulting for her.

Jason Earle is a lifelong Austinite who got both his BA and Masters at the University of Texas at Austin. Currently working as a community relations executive for Girling Health Care, Earle describes himself as an active business leader with "both practical and theoretical experiences in the business, corporate, education, financial, government, health care, non-profit and public safety fields." Jason Earle is also the son of Travis County District Attorney Ronnie Earle, who - as I'm sure all of you know - is currently prosecuting Tom Delay for money laundering.

Both Earle and Bolton have been endorsed by the Central Labor Council, which represents hundreds of community leaders involved with education, health care, public safety, etc. The two are considered the front-runners for the March 7 Democratic Primary.

Stay tuned to the 40/40 all week long for more coverage. Check back tomorrow for a closer look at House District 47. Wednesday, I'll post separate interivews I've had with each candidate. Thursday, I'll do a side-by-side comparison of each candidate on the issues, and Friday I'll post an op-ed by each candidate.