Bio:
Disclaimer--I am working as an unpaid volunteer for the David Van Os campaign--I am part of his Steering Committee, and the Grassroots Coordinator for Taylor County. I am also the Technology Coordinator for the Taylor County Democratic Party.
Let me introduce myself as the third new guest writer for BOR. My name is Mike Cable. I was raised and live in Abilene (Taylor County). I do feel a connection with the BOR Austin crew, since I spent most of 1982 to 1996 in Austin. I received my BA from UT in 1991, with dual majors in English and American Studies. I now teach middle school in Anson (Jones County).
Philip Martin asked me to write my first journal, covering the GOP primary for HD 71 between Susan King and Kevin Christian. I'd communicated with Karl-Thomas about writing for BOR, and met him and received an informal invitation at the convention. Since then I've covered the state convention from the viewpoint of a SD 24 volunteer for Maxey, and the TX 19 race between Robert Ricketts and Randy "Naugahyde" Neugebaur. I plan to primarily cover local issues from this area, but as an educator, I couldn't let this story pass by.
The San Antonio Express news ran a story on Saturday headlined:
One would think from that headline that the story is primarily about Walmart's pitiful health insurance benefits. And if you need to know more about how Walmart shortchanges its employees on benefits, just look here
or here.
But that's not what drew my attention to the story. Read the first few grafs of the story:
One of the richest companies in the world also has more employees enrolled in the Children's Health Insurance Program than any other Texas employer.
That means taxpayers are subsidizing Wal-Mart, said state Rep Joaquin Castro, D-San Antonio.
"The numbers don't lie. It's a problem," he said.
The numbers also show most of the top 10 employers whose workers enrolled their kids in the CHIP program last year are school districts, led by Houston's.
The University of Texas System was in third place, according to the statistics, the most recent available from the Texas Health and Human Services Commission.
And Wal-Mart had a lower percentage of employees using CHIP than most school districts on the list.
Robert Ricketts will be holding a rally in Abilene on Tuesday, June 20th. LubbockDem promises something great is going to happen at the rally. Everyone who is in the area needs to come out and hear Robert, our next congressman from the 19th district.
When: Tuesday, June 20th 5:30 to 7:00 pm
Where: T&P Depot 1101 North First - Abilene
Robert Ricketts, who is running for congressman in the 19th District of Texas, is the real thing. When elected he will serve as a citizen legislator, with only the interests of his district and its citizens in mind. Ricketts is on the right side of the issues--our side, and not on the side of Karl Rove and corrupt corporate lobbyists.
(SD24 is my home district where I was elected as a national convention delegate in 2004. Mike Cable actually expressed interest in writing for BOR months ago and he may be coming on board for the summer. Never though we'd have some Abilene area coverage now did ya? - promoted by Karl-Thomas Musselman)
This was our first convention as well. Both Camille and I became delegates specifically to work for Glen Maxey, so we definitely experienced some disappointment, but we also came back fired up to win in 06 and 08.
In the early afternoon on Thursday, I was on the road from the Anson Summer School Program back to Abilene, eager to head out for Fort Worth. I already was proudly wearing my Maxey lapel sticker. My niece Jenny was with me, and she immediately asked about the sticker. I tried to explain, as best I could to a seven-year-old, why we were going and how we wanted Glen to win. Jenny got a very serious look on her, and asked “What are you going to do if he loses?” I told her that her Aunt Camille and I would be sad for a little while, but we’d get over it. She still looked serious, and said "Uncle Mike, you know people do lose sometimes, right?"
Yes, Jenny, I know. We were sad for a while, but now we’re over it. I’ve already sent out important emails, worked on our county party website and blog, and started planning grassroots outreach for our Democratic Party 4th of July picnic. And I finally got around to writing this brief piece on our convention experience.
(I asked one of our commenters from West Texas to write up a summary on the Republican Primary's HD 71 race - where Susan King, a Parent PAC candidate, upset both the Social Right and Business Right to win election to the Texas House. After a little technical cleaning, I wanted to promote this. It's great work, and gives us a glimpse at a part of Texas we don't normally hear from on BOR. - promoted by Phillip Martin)
I commented on the results of the HD 71 race the day before the primary, and was interested that Susan King won the run-off against Kevin Christian.
Phillip Martin noticed the race almost immediately, and soon after pointed out the importance of this and other Republican run-offs:
The biggest story from today's run-off: candidates backed by Speaker Craddick only won 1 out of 6 contested House races…"
Susan King was the Parent PAC candidate, and Kevin Christian received Leininger money. Note who won.
Phillip noticed my earlier commentary, and asked me to write further on the results of this race, so here is my first BOR journal.
First of all - the results of the race surprised a number of people:
