Category: Uncategorized

Editorial
By Greg Moses

In a failed editorial on Sunday, I noted that Democratic officialdom was ignoring two things: the ongoing effort by Brenda Denson Prince to win election to Kaufman County Commissioner, and the harassment of Houston voters by Republican attorneys during the Heflin-Vo election contest.

The editorial failed, because it attempted to name the ignored topics under a general heading: “grassroots.” Since the Texas Democratic Party website makes use of the “grassroots” term, I thought the label would help to rally interest not only toward Prince and the Houston voters, but to a general will of some kind. But I was wrong about this. “Grassroots” turns out to be a pretty useless word. For some, it is no different than mainstream, for others it raises fears of loose cannons. I have learned that “grassroots” is a poor term to use when attempting to mobilize “progressive” Democrats.

So let’s forget the general terms and stick to the facts. Democratic officialdom has NOT publicly responded to the harassment of Democratic voters in Houston or to the ongoing struggle of Brenda Denson Prince in Kaufman County. These are just the facts. The official website of the party says many things, but nothing about Prince or the harassment of Houston voters.

Associate Editor Tony Gallucci sent me a note saying hey have you seen what Kuff’s saying about you?

Then I looked and got goose bumps. Kuff gets it.

The more I read of Moses’ work, the more I share his distaste with the sustained attacks that Taylor made not just on individual voters, but on the concept that voting is a right, and as such it shouldn’t be trivially denied. Mark Schmitt notes that a frequent question on the test for US citizenship is “WHAT IS THE MOST IMPORTANT RIGHT GRANTED TO U.S. CITIZENS?” The answer, of course, is “the right to vote”. Well, if that’s really so, why do we make it so hard to vote?

We’d only add that because of the immigrant rate in Vo’s district, it’s likely that more voters there passed that test than in Andy Taylor’s precinct.

Thank you Mr. Kuffner. Thanks again.

The big win

Thursday, January 20, 2005
By Tim Sullivan

As a teenager in Sài Gòn in the 1970s, Hubert Võ envisioned himself one day becoming a lawmaker in South Việt Nam’s democratic government. But the country’s fall in 1975 to communists vetoed that idea.

Fortunately, there was a place called Texas.

Full Story at Nguoi Viet Online (California)

By Greg Moses
Texas Civil Rights Review

Indymedia Austin / NorthTexas

The Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund is ready to take its school funding case to the Texas Supreme Court says attorney David Hinojosa. But MALDEF is worried that the legislature is once again failing to meet several school-funding standards already set by the courts.

On Friday the Supreme Court announced that it would take probable jurisdiction of the school funding case, setting a hundred-day calendar for pre-hearing briefs. MALDEF had resisted moving the case to the Supreme Court until an Austin trial court strengthened its ruling on funding equity, but now Hinojosa says MALDEF is not expecting to hear anything more from the lower court.

“We’re ready to go forward,” said Hinojosa when contacted by telephone at his San Antonio office. “We feel we have precedent to support our case, and if the court will apply the facts to that precedent, it will rule in our favor and in favor of the children of Texas.”

Meanwhile, Hinojosa says that the legislature is trying to answer “constitutional questions with political answers” and is therefore missing an opportunity to directly address solutions that are needed.

“MALDEF would be more than pleased to assist any of these legislators to craft a finance plan that will make it possible to never, never file another lawsuit,” says Hinojosa. But he doesn’t see such a plan in the works yet.

“It seems simple to put 100 percent of Texas students inside a single equitable system that offers equitable and adequate funding for everyone,” said Hinojosa Tuesday evening. “But the legislature is answering constitutional questions with political answers, and that’s where the problems occur.”

Hinojosa says the school funding plan now being considered by the legislature would increase the total percentage of students included in a fair system. But the smaller percentage of students left out will result in more dramatic disparities between the richest and poorest districts.

“The equity gap will grow,” says Hinojosa, “giving some students so much more of an advantage. Yet these are public schools we’re talking about.”

“The legislative plan is lacking in many elements,” says Hinojosa. “It is not addressing root problems identified by the trial court, especially when it comes to the inadequacy of state funding for students who are bilingual or economically disadvantaged.”

“And this plan doesn’t even include facilities, which are grossly inadequate and grossly inefficient,” added Hinojosa. “The plan fulfills a legacy in the legislature of failing to fulfill the educational needs of the children of Texas.”