BOR: - Sylvia Garcia

Democratic Campaign Manager Terrysa Guerra Profiled in New York Times, Texas Tribune

Katherine Haenschen — Fri, 22 Mar 2013 14:15:43 GMT

A tremendous Democratic campaign manager in Texas got her due in the New York Times today, in a well-deserved profile that sums up a pretty incredible past year and a half.

It's great to see Terrysa Guerra -- who in 2012-2013 worked on Rep. Chris Turner's primary win, and managed Senator Wendy Davis's critical re-election andSenator Sylvia Garcia's special election to SD-6 -- garner this attention for all of her tremendous hard work. The human talent and capitol that goes into campaigns such as those of Turner, Davis, and Garcia is a huge part of their eventual success, and it's great to see Terrysa's amazing bad-assery getting recognized in our nation's paper of record.

Go read the profile in the Texas Tribune or the New York Times and share it with those annoying nay-sayers who think Texas Democrats don't have anything to be proud of, and then get busy like Terrysa has in working hard to turn this state around. And while politics can still be a bit of a boy's club, it's pretty awesome that here in Texas, the best man on the ground is a woman!

As the Lone Star Project said in an email this morning, "When Democrats look back in a cycle or two and consider how our party recovered and returned new responsible leadership to Texas, it's very likely Terrysa will have played a key role."

It's easy for lazy folks in the media to write off the efforts of Texas Democrats, but when you look at the 2012 cycle, and our big wins in Wendy Davis, Pete Gallego, the legislative seats we picked up, and major local races around the state, it's clear that when we have strong candidates with sufficient funding and talented staff, Democrats can and do win. Terrysa brings the "talented staff" part of the equation in a major way, and I am sure she will only continue winning major races and electing Democrats who stand firm for our progressive values.

Texas Senate Passes Budget That Fails to Restore Education Cuts

Katherine Haenschen — Wed, 20 Mar 2013 20:47:31 GMT

Moments ago, by a vote of 29-2, the Texas Senate passed a budget that fails to restore all of the $5.4 billion cut from public education in the 2011 session. Democratic Senators Wendy Davis and Sylvia Garcia were the lone votes against it.

The chart below shows how this budget will not fully restore the cuts to public education made in the 2011 session. While it does add some funds, it establishes a "new normal" in depressed per-pupil spending that still robs our school children of the funds we now know were available to be spent last session, and are available now in the Rainy Day Fund.

The Texas State Teachers Association immediately issued the following statement on the budget vote:

TSTA: Senate budget neglects Texas school children
Texas State Teachers Association President Rita Haecker said today that she hopes the House does a better job than the Senate in addressing the needs of Texas public schools, educators and students.
"Our state senators should not be congratulating themselves for neglecting the school children of Texas. The budget plan they approved doesn't come close to restoring the $1,062 that the Legislature cut from each student two years ago," Haecker said.
"Legislators must use all available funds, including the $12 billion Rainy Day Fund, to finish repairing the damage inflicted on the schools in 2011. This money belongs to the taxpayers, and most taxpayers expect lawmakers to spend part of it on their local public schools. There is enough money in the Rainy Day Fund to restore all the education cuts and meet other important state needs without raising another dime from Texas taxpayers," Haecker added.
A recent bipartisan poll commissioned by TSTA showed that two-thirds of Texas voters believe that restoring the school funding cuts should be a top priority for using the Rainy Day Fund. The support was strong among Republicans, Democrats and independents.
The Senate budget plan would restore only $1.5 billion, about one-fourth, of the $5.4 billion slashed from public school budgets two years ago.

TLR Trying to Buy Democratic Senate Seat With Carol Alvarado

Katherine Haenschen — Wed, 27 Feb 2013 22:15:18 GMT

The ethics commission financial reports for the SD-6 runoff were released earlier this week, making clear where Carol Alvarado's financial support has come from in the last month of this expensive race to replace Sen. Mario Gallegos.

Carol Alvarado raised almost half of her run-off money from Texans from Lawsuit Reform, Stand for Children PAC, a teacher's union-busting organization, payday lenders, and several Republican PACs and mega-donors.

Her campaign is being heavily funded by organizations and individuals that work every day to block our core Democratic values.

Sylvia Garcia, on the other hand, is primarily funded by trial lawyers and labor organizations, the tradional donors to our Democratic candidates and causes.

Before we get into the details of who's giving to who, here's a quick run-down of the notable donors and links to each candidate's runoff report.

February 22 Runoff Reports for SD-6 Special Election Covering January 17-February 20
Carol Alvarado Runoff Report Raise: $581,969 Spend: $463,496 COH: $99,432 Report available here. Alvarado's Major Donors: $184,000 from TLR PAC $54,317 from Stand for Children PAC (in-kind) $20,000 from Barbara and John Nau $14,000 from payday lenders $10,000 from HillCo PAC $10,000 from Ryan Texas PAC	Sylvia Garcia Runoff Report Raise: $662,686 Spend: $641,435 COH: $119,227 Report available here. Garcia's Major Donors: $356,750 from the Mostyn Firm $117,000 from Texas Organizing Project (in-kind) $8500 from AFSCME's federal PAC $5000 from the Teamsters $5000 from the Plumber's union $2500 each from ILA Local 24 & 28 $2000 from SEIU's federal PAC

Below the jump, find out more about Alvarado's donors and their long history of working against Democratic ideals and -- and usually candidates, too.
Who Are Garcia's Donors?

Reading Sylvia Garcia's report, it's clear that the bulk of her support comes from the trial lawyers and labor groups, the traditional source of funding for Democratic candidates here in Texas. She also has some solid support from engineering firms. Texas Organizing Project also in-kinded an extensive field organizing campaign to boost their endorsed candidate. There isn't much that's too surprising here, and nothing that gives me serious qualms about who wants her to get elected.

Who Are Alvarado's Donors?

Not familiar with all of the players on her list? HillCo PAC has a primarily Republican donor history, is primarily funded by Republican mega-donor Bob Perry, to the tune of $2 million. Ryan Texas PAC supports primarily Republican candidates. Perry appointee John Nau is a major donor to Rick Perry, Greg Abbott, and David Dewhurst, as well as to the Beer Alliance of Texas PAC in efforts to maintain his corporate interests as one of the Big Beer distributors.

Alvarado also seems to have won the support of the vast majority of corporate donors here in Texas. She's receiving substantial money from the oil industry, namely BP Corporation, ConocoPhillips, Marathon Oil Company, Valero. She received $7,500 from Cash America International, $1500 from EZCORP, and another $5000 from Texas Consumer Lenders PAC. She's even taking money from "Big Beer" -- i.e. the wholesale distributors that have worked hard to block deregulation of Texas beer laws to enable craft and microbreweries to flourish and expand their market.

Earlier today, Texans for Public Justice reported that Alvarado's #2 cumulative contributor is Stand for Children PAC, which gave over $54,000 to Alvarado. The organization's founder boasted about spending millions to destroy teachers' collective bargaining rights in the Illinois legislature.

Then, of course, there's TLR.

Texans for Lawsuit Reform, or TLR, is dedicated to "tort reform," which has delivered none of its promised cost savings, and so far only managed to deny individuals the opportunity to seek redress in our civil court system.

TLR wakes up in the morning dedicated to serving the interests of corporations over the individuals who might have cause to pursue legal action against them. They're also dedicated to shutting down the trial lawyers themselves -- traditionally the most significant donors to Democratic candidates and causes in Texas -- preventing from making any money off jury verdicts. The direct result of their efforts is that Democrats have a harder time getting elected.

Whether barriers to justice or destruction of the Democratic party rankles you more, we can agree that TLR doesn't have Texans or Democrats' best interests at heart.

Look at TLR's 2012 General Election endorsements. This is the very group that specifically endorsed the likes of Donna Campbell for State Senate and Debbie Riddle for State Representative. They endorsed Mark Shelton over Wendy Davis. They endorsed Robert Thomas over Donna Howard. Dee Margo over Joe Moody. They didn't endorse in every race, but when they did they overwhelming endorsed Republicans over Democrats in crucial races.

Earlier this week we reported that State Senator Larry Taylor, a Republican Senator, was blockwalking for Carol Alvarado. It appears that we have the answer: Taylor, a TLR stooge, apparently wants Alvarado in the Senate as bad as their shared financial backers do.

For TLR and the special interests listed here, it's all about their bottom line, and they think their interests will be better served with Carol Alvarado in the State Senate.

This is a staunchly Democratic district. Strong districts like this are where we as partisan Democrats can elect those who will be most true to our principles and stand up for what we believe in. The finance reports make clear that Alvarado has taken substantial cash from individuals and organizations that usually devote their efforts to defeating Democrats or fighting our core progressive values. That gives me serious pause about her ability to advance our Democratic goals.

Not all of Alvarado's donors and supporters oppose our Democratic causes. I like and respect many of the Democrats lined up behind Alvarado. But I have serious qualms about the willingness of anti-Democratic causes to line up behind her and marshal such substantial resources -- resources that are usually directed at defeating Democrats.

Some people seem to think that compromise is the best we can do as Democrats. I disagree.

On the backs of which Texans do we make these compromises? Our core values and constituencies are not to be sold to the highest bidder. Especially now, with renewed interest and support for turning Texas blue, we have an obligation to build the strongest, most progressive caucus we can, and grow it every step of the way, so that when we are in the majority, we have leaders ready to fight for our core values and never back down.

This is a strong Democratic district, and it's our duty to fight like hell to elect the best Democrat that we can, one who will stand up for her constituents and against the special interests who care only about profit and not our shared public good. It's clear that the worst special interests have chosen their side.

Let's hope Democratic voters know who's more likely to be on theirs.

Why Is A Republican State Senator Blockwalking for Carol Alvarado?

Katherine Haenschen — Mon, 25 Feb 2013 20:07:32 GMT

The special election for SD-6 is this Saturday, and as the campaigns for Sylvia Garcia and Carol Alvarado reach the home stretch of this three-month sprint, Alvarado has turned to surprising quarters for help in the field.

Over the weekend, Brains and Eggs posted a link to a Facebook post in which Burt Levine, a Republican political consultant in Houston, noted that Republican State Senator Larry Taylor was blockwalking for Alvarado over the weekend. According to Levine's Facebook post, he blockwalked for Alvarado with Taylor and Wayne Faircloth, a former Republican candidate for HD-23.

Here is a screenshot of the Facebook post, shared from Levine's page:

It's a curious move. Why would Alvarado have support from the likes of Republican State Senator Larry Taylor?

After all, this is a fiercely Democratic district -- the two Republicans in the January 26th special general election failed to garner a combined 10% of the vote -- so I'm not sure if what the voters want here is someone who readily receives support from the other side of the aisle.

Today I called the Alvarado campaign office, and spoke to Marc Campos, a consultant working on her campaign. I asked if it was true that Taylor was blockwalking for Alvarado. He said that a number of Carol's current and former colleagues are volunteering for her, and that members from both sides of the aisle have come down to campaign for her. Campos said of Republicans and Independents, "they're coming out to the polls, so we have to have a discussion with them as we do with most of the voters in the district."

It's an interesting choice. On January 26, Garcia and Alvarado were separated by less than the Republican share of the vote. Is Carol Alvarado is trying to win the run-off in a Democratic district by picking up Republican support, rather than turning out or persuading Democrats?

I find it disconcerting that in the final stretches of a race to replace a stalwart champion of progressive values, one of the two candidates is trying to win by courting Republican support -- and apparently receiving it in such volumes.

The biggest challenge Democrats face in the Senate is holding our own and using the 2/3rds rule to block Republican legislation that is harmful to our state -- and often disproportionately harmful to the residents of low-income urban districts such as SD-6.

And it certainly begs the question why Taylor and other Republicans are working so hard to make sure Alvarado gets elected.

Special Election for SD-6 Set for January 26

Katherine Haenschen — Fri, 14 Dec 2012 17:38:23 GMT

One thing's for sure: the next State Senator from District 6 will be a Democratic Hispanic female. The only question remains whether that Senator will be State Representative Carol Alvarado or former Harris County Commissioner Sylvia Garcia.

The sad passing of Senator Mario Gallegos this past fall -- and his subsequent post-humous re-election on November 6th -- triggered a special election that Governor Perry has set for Saturday, January 26th. The filing deadline is set for December 27, and early voting will run January 9-22. The special election will be a "jungle style" race with all candidates -- and their party affiliation -- on the ballot. If no candidate reaches 50%, there will be a run-off.

Gallegos' death wasn't a surprise, nor was the quick entry of Garcia and Alvarado into the race once Gallegos was re-elected. (Had Republican candidate R.W. Bray been elected, it would have been moot because he'd be the new SD-6 Senator. He lost, 71%-29%, to Gallegos. He's now running in the special to fill the seat.) So far, no other heavyweights have entered the race. Former State Representative and US Senate candidate Rick Noriega released a statement that he is not getting in the race, though he did not endorse Garcia or Alvarado.

Beyond the election, the most pressing issue is whether the empty Democratic seat will factor into any rule changes in the Senate when the session begins January 8. (It's worth noting that Rick Perry could have called this special election earlier, however it's likely that the race will go to a run-off given the three candidates announced so far, so it's not entirely clear if the seat could have realistically been filled by mid-January.)

We'll enter the session with 19 Republicans and 11 Democrats in the upper chamber, still enough for the Blue team to block bad bills using the two-thirds rule, which requires consent of 21 Senators to bring something to the floor for a vote. The big question remains whether Republicans will try to change the rules of the Senate to require a simple majority, which will render Democrats irrelevant but might seriously rankle senators in both parties who don't like dispatching with procedural tradition for the sake of expediting extreme partisan legislation. Granted, this session's Senate will be far more ideologically conservative, owing to several Republican retirements and replacements.

In any case, we've got an election set for January 26, and we'll be covering it here on BOR over the next six weeks. Statements from Alvarado and Garcia on the election date are below the jump, as well as Noriega's statement that he is not running.
Statement from Rep. Carol Alvarado:

"I am pleased Governor Perry has called a prompt election on January 26th to succeed Senator Mario Gallegos. In just a few weeks, the Texas Legislature will convene with serious issues facing our state - restoring funding to our public schools, creating good jobs and economic opportunity, making college affordable, and protecting our senior citizens. The people of Senate District 6 need and deserve representation on these and all issues, and a January 26th election will give them a Senator sooner rather than later."

Statement from Hon. Sylvia Garcia:

"Governor Perry's decision to call the special election for Senate District 6 is bittersweet. Our campaign and our supporters are thrilled that the election date has been set. We are knocking on nearly 10,000 doors per week, identifying thousands of supporters, and working hard to earn the votes of working families in this district.
But make no mistake, this session will begin with an empty seat for Senate District 6 at a time when we will see battles over our children's education, expanding Medicaid to bring quality healthcare to our families, and fighting for good jobs in the Houston area. Governor Perry's delay in his decision means our communities will have no voice in Austin for nearly 10 percent of the 2013 session.
That is why it is so important that we elect a Senator with the courage and integrity to fight for schools, fight for our health care, fight for our jobs, and to stand up to Rick Perry. That is why I am running for the Texas Senate, and it is why I believe we will win."

Excerpt of Statement from Hon. Rick Noriega:

The time is not right to take on this race, and the fundraising needed, for the Noriega family. We are dedicated to public service, and tell you this with much regret-this seat is a true opportunity for leadership, one with which great things could be accomplished.
I would encourage you, and all those interested in this race, to demand the very best Texas has to offer. There is too much at stake here, for the region and the state.

Read his full letter at Off the Kuff.

Carol Alvarado, Sylvia Garcia React to the Biden Choice

David Mauro — Sat, 23 Aug 2008 19:08:02 GMT

Former Houston City Councilwoman (and future State Representative) Carol Alvarado and Harris County Commissioner Sylvia Garcia told the Houston Chronicle what they thought of Barack Obama's choice of Joe Biden as his running mate.

Alvarado:

"Senator Biden is a tough and aggressive campaigner who we need to help us win back the White House. He is highly respected by his Senate colleagues. He is one of the country's most knowledgeable and experienced leaders on foreign affairs. He's experienced the rigors of a presidential campaign, so he knows what to expect over the next 10 weeks. He's a great Democrat. I look forward to campaigning on behalf of the ticket in my community."

Garcia:

Not surprised as Biden brings foreign policy experience to the ticket. Disappointed as it apparently seems that in the race for the White House its a man's world afterall.
At airport on way to Denver.

Alvarado and Garcia are both Clinton delegates to the Democratic National Convention.