The Rattler April 19, 2006 v. 93 #11 - St. Mary's University

News4 www.stmarytx.edu/rattler The RattlerApril 19, 2006Independents courting college studentsRegistered voters who did not vote in the March primary elections were invited to sign Friedman’s nominating petition.PHOTO BY NATALIE AVITUAPHOTO BY NATALIE AVITUAIndependent gubernatorial candidate Kinky Friedman spoke to a packed room on March 6.Continued from page 1Died in the Saddle, and Came Back as a HornyToad and Proud to be an Asshole from El Paso,freely admitted that his gubernatorial campaignbegan as a joke.“It started off [humorously] and now it’sgotten to where I’ve got school teachers withtears in their eyes [hoping for a fix to Texas’education problems],” Friedman said.Education has been a hot-button issue ofthe campaign, especially after recent speciallegislation sessions failed to pass a schoolfinance reform bill.“Education has just disappeared into ameteor crater in Texas. Guam and Samoa aremoving up on us now. The people in Mississippiare saying, ‘thank God for Texas,’”Friedman derisively joked. “These politicianshave driven the train off of the tracksinto the ditch. It’s time for someone fromthe outside to come in and fix [education].Strayhorn and Perry are not going to comein and fix the mess that they created.”Friedman proposes legalizing casinogambling to finance public education, a onepercent tax on oil and gas produced in Texasto increase the salaries of teachers, as wellas police officers and firefighters, and theeradication of the TAKS standardized test.“Get rid of teaching for the test,” Friedmansaid. “Why the hell would we keep atest when we interview these kids and theydon’t know if the Civil War took place hereor in Europe because it wasn’t on the test?”Friedman supports prayer in schools,gay marriage and a woman’s right to anabortion. He opposes Governor Perry’s proposedTrans-Texas Corridor, as it relies ontoll road construction.Friedman said he opposes the constructionof “The Wall” to control immigration,though he did send a note of support to thecontroversial border-watch group, the Minutemen.He noted, however, that it was not immigrantsor property owners who werehappy when the Minutemen cooled theircampaigns, but rather the politicians.“The politicians were the most relievedpeople...because now the border wouldn’tbe on the news every night,” he said. “That’sexactly the opposite of me. I think the bordershould be on the news every night. Ithink the more attention we can focus onthe problem will result in finding less bodiesinside trailer trucks on Texas soil.”Most Texas politicians, Friedman said,are afraid of the border control issue.“Republicans, especially now that theyhave seen these marches [protesting stricterimmigration reform], are afraid of alienatingHispanics, so they don’t have any policy,”Friedman said. “Our policy under RickPerry has been ‘bring us your tired, yourpoor, your gangs, your drugs, your bombs,your terrorists—welcome to Texas.’”Friedman criticized career politicians, includinghis fellow independent campaignerStrayhorn.“I know it sounds twisted, but get thepoliticians out of politics,” Friedman said.Strayhorn has been the Texas Comptrollerof Public Accounts since 1999 and servedas the first female mayor of Austin between1977 and 1983. Re-elected Comptroller in2002 with the highest vote total of any winningstatewide elected official in Texas, shealso garnered more votes than any femalecandidate nationwide of either party.Although she considers herself a commonsense conservative and has registeredpreviously as a Republican, known as “OneTough Grandma,” she’s running as an independentto bypass having to challenge herself-declared arch-rival, Perry.Often called a trailblazer, Strayhorn hasa résumé full of “firsts” touted on her campaignmaterials—first woman president ofthe Austin School Board, and first womanpresident of the Austin Community CollegeBoard of Trustees; first woman mayorof Austin, and the only mayor elected forthree successive terms; first woman in historyelected Texas Railroad Commissioner,re-elected in 1996 with the highest vote totalin a statewide contested race.Now she hopes to add to the list becomingthe first female independent candidatein Texas history to become governor.During her recent address to collegiatejournalists gathered in San Antonio for theannual Texas Intercollegiate Press Association(TIPA) on April 7, she touted her backgroundin education as her main sellingpoint, rooted in how she began her career asa public school teacher.Evoking her maternal presence, shejoked at times about her age, and life growingup in Texan culture, managing to slip instinging criticisms of Perry’s managementin the past six years of the education reformspecial sessions—which will reach doubledigitsthis week with a tenth session.“We need a strong leader who will putTexas above politics,” Strayhorn said duringa 20-minute fast-paced speech at a TIPAluncheon. “Because of [Perry’s] failed leadership,our state is divided. It’s time for Texansto take Texas back. Perry’s promised abrutal, bloody campaign, and I say, ‘Bring iton’; it’s one promise I’ll know he’ll keep.”Strayhorn said although the economy isdoing well, it could be better and is only ashort-term phenomenon with higher educationfunding on the legislative gurney.“Our state welfare depends on a highlyeducated workforce,” Strayhorn said.“Right now, [Texas ranks at] number 49 outof 50 on the verbal category in the SATs. Weought to be number one.”Strayhorn does not support Perry’s tollroads proposal or his tax plan. Instead shewants to see education made the fundingpriority, proposing two years of state-fundedcollege for recent high school graduatesand the elimination of taxes on textbooks—which she said takes $40 million away fromcollege students every year.“Our Texas teachers are underpaid,”Strayhorn said, receiving her strongest applausefrom the audience. “I am proposingan automatic annual pay increase for allteachers that do well on a pay-for-performancesystem.”As for the other top hot-button issuescollege students are concerned about, suchas immigration, abortion and gay marriage,Strayhorn strayed away from the topics altogetherduring her speech and didn’t takequestions from the audience.But in a recent interview with the Universityof Texas at Austin’s student newspaper,The Daily Texan, Strayhorn endorsedthe Minutemen, vaguely promised to fightagainst illegal immigration but offered nospecifics on her stance on proposals adriftin Washington, and confirmed she votedagainst gay marriage.“As a momma and a grandmomma, I believein the sanctity of life, but I recognizethat there are tough situations where heartbreakingdecisions have to be made,” Strayhorntold the Texan in an article publishedon April 4. About gay marriage, she said, “Ivoted to ban gay marriage, but I don’t believein discrimination.”As an independent, to get on the November7 ballot, both Friedman and Strayhornmust collect 45,540 signatures on a nominationpetition from registered voters who didnot vote in the Republican or Democraticprimaries in March.Both candidates have publicly stated thatthey expect to exceed the number of signaturesthey need and plan to see their namesalongside Perry and Bell on the ballot.