Barbara Ann Radnofsky wraps up a widely successful five-city announcement tour today culminating in a final appearance tonight at the Mid-Cities Democrats Birthday Bash in Euless. Radnofsky, and her supporters, should be quite pleased with the large amount of earned media garnered from an entire week of hard campaigning.
You may have read this week that Barbara Radnofsky made news by declaring the 22-word clause (Subsection B) within the 2005 constitutional amendment defining marriage as between one man and one woman-essentially banning unions between same-sex couples, may in fact null all marriages in Texas due to sloppy language.
Subsection B reads:
"This state or a political subdivision of this state may not create or recognize any legal status identical or similar to marriage."
The language is certainly murky at best, and could be widely interpreted as to anull any form of marriage in Texas, but it was a constitutional amendment widely supported by the Texas legislature and overwhelmingly approved by Texas voters.
However, that doesn't dismiss the fact that Republicans who authored the amendment, in their fit to curry political points by treating the LGBT community as their personal political piñata, may in fact have screwed up something that realistically should have been a political slam dunk.
For her work this week in raising awareness of this error that might require yet another constitutional amendment to fix, Radnofsky made Keith Olbermann's "World's Best Persons List" on MSNBC's Countdown. You can view the video here.
Barbara Radnofsky, the only declared Democratic candidate for Attorney General, launched a new and interactive website this week that is sure to take her campaign to unseat Republican Greg Abbott to a whole new level. As part of her new launch, BAR has also injected a humorous, yet incredibly factual video about the litany of issues facing Texas voters in the upcoming election cycle:
A former candidate for U.S. Senate, Barbara Ann brings to the table name identification, statewide campaign experience, an impeccable resume with extensive law experience, tremendous energy and passion--and a base of support to boot. For Texas Democrats short so far on statewide candidates in 2010, Radnofsky is a refreshing re-addition to statewide campaigning that perhaps Democrats are taking for granted.
For a statewide Party rightfully focused on taking back the Texas House in 2010, the importance of winning the Attorney General's position should not be overlooked. One of the many important roles of the Texas AG, who is one of the most powerful elected officials in the Lone Star State, is to sit on the Legislative Redistricting Board. If we are to undo the Tom Delay-Greg Abbott gerrymandered redistricting mess we need an Attorney General who will look out for everyday Texans--particularly a growing majority minority community.
Among the many issues Radnofsky continues to tackle, and demonstrate her wealth of knowledge and experience on, are the escalating and crippling costs of utility rates that have many Texans falling deeper and deeper into debt:
"On average, residential electricity rates have increased by greater percentages in deregulated states than they have in regulated states. And, among deregulated states, nowhere has it increased by a greater percentage than it has in Texas. A review of federal data shows that since 1999, electricity prices for residential users have increased by more than 64% in Texas."
Barbara Ann is a familiar yet refreshing presence on the statewide campaign trail. Those of you who came to know her in 2006 found a thoughtful, intelligent, caring, and incredibly hardworking advocate for mainstream Texans. Democrats pawing for excitement in our statewide races should be very excited that Barbara Radnofsky has stepped forward once more to represent our Party on the ballot.
