Burnt Orange Report

I understand that Andy Brown is telling supporters to write his name in on the ballot. Is this even possible? I plan to do that if I can. He came to my door and I liked him. The other two Demos running seem to be two peas in a pod. No passion or elan. WRITE IN ANDY BROWN!!

"Bentzin is positioning himself as one of those moderates – who also happens to favor state-funded private school vouchers under certain circumstances, such as providing new opportunities for special-needs kids in low-performing schools." Chronicle

It seems wise to me to keep all options on the table that could be part of a broad plan to improve schools. What if some limited use of vouchers was part of a political trade for more local control, or higher teacher salaries or a broad gross receipts tax?
It will still be a Republican controlled legislature. Do we want the perfect to be the enemy of the good?

We're not letting "perfect be the enemy of the good" -- we're trying to protect the good from being screwed over by the enemy.

And for the record, Republicans aren't automatically the enemy. There's plenty of good, moderate Republicans in the state of Texas. But Bentzin ain't one of them. He's funded by Perry and Craddick's cash cows, and he's going to -- to use the "parlence of our times" -- shake what his mommies gave him.

Bentzin is not going to vote for an across-the-board salary increase, but for merit pay incentives, so that only some teachers get more money (re: the teachers who don't worry about a broad-based education and only teach for the test, and the teachers that already have a population of high-performing students). He's going to make the state, and not the school districts decide the school start date and the date of local school board elections, and he's going to vote for school districts to be forced to spend 65% of their money on "classroom spending" so that football coaches have guaranteed salaries while librarians, cafeteria workers, custodial staff, and teacher aides get laid off.

He's going to vote lock-step with the Republican leadership that have failed to compromise -- in any way -- with the majority of lawmakers in the House and Senate that tried to pass improvements for public schools during this summer's special sessions.

I'm sorry, but I fail to see any good in that.

This is about drawing a line in the sand dude, across this line you do not...

(thought I'd keep the Lebowski quoting going for a sec)

I like Cathy Rider a lot and I would support her in a flash, but I think that Donna Howard is the best candidate with the best chance of winning in this race. She is a good person with a great deal of experience on the two issues that will ALWAYS be the top issues in state government because they are far and away the two most expensive budget items: education and health care. She is a strong Democrat who has been elected on more than one occasion by the voters in the toughest part of this district for a Democrat to win. I wholeheartedly second K-T's endorsement.

I think Phillip is right about Bentzin. Not that a guy who apparently is worth $37m needs extra cash, but an examination of Bentzin's contributors will reveal some of the usual suspects who supported Baxter and currently support the GOP leadership. These would be folks like Bob Perry and Leininger(via Texans for Lawsuit Reform).

Also, the inside info I've heard from people who have dealt personally with Benztin indicates that we can expect a Craddick puppet.