Politex

Democratic debate will only feature White and Shami

Texas’ two leading Democratic gubernatorial candidates will square off in the televised debate next month but the five other candidates on the ballot won't be joining them.

 Former Houston Mayor Bill White and hair-care magnate Farouk Shami will face off in their first debate on Feb. 8 in Fort Worth.

The debate will be hosted by public TV station KERA/Channel 13. As with KERA's Republican gubernatorial debate earlier this month, the Star-Telegram is a co-sponsor. 

Along with White and Shami, five other candidates are running for the Democratic   nomination:  educator Felix Alvarado, doctor Alma Aguado, private investigator Bill Dear, professor Clement Glenn and home builder Star Locke.

KERA announced today that the five other candidates do not reach the station's criteria to qualify for the debates.

On his blog, Alvarado took issue with KERA's decision that first-time candidate Shami qualified for the debate but others on the ballot did not.

"Obviously, prior political experience is not a major contributing factor," Alvarado wrote. "Bringing out the vote is not a major contributing factor. Being well-qualified..well, it’s subjective. Following KERA’s own developed policy is also not a major factor in inclusion for this debate."

In December, Debra Medina and her supporters launched a campaign to get her invited to KERA's Republican debate. Though the station had told her they would decide in January whether they would invite her to appear alongside Gov. Rick Perry and Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison, Medina insisted she had already been excluded and that the station was doing so on Perry's order. KERA ultimately invited Medina to appear at the debate.

The Democratic debate will air at 7 p.m. Feb. 8 on KERA TV and FM radio, on TXA 21 and at www.texasdebates.org. Star-Telegram Austin bureau chief Dave Montgomery will be among those on the panel who will question the candidates.

More info on the debates here.

-Aman Batheja

Debate fact check: gas taxes (yes, again!)

Claim: Perry and Hutchison sparred for the second time on live television over how much gas tax money Texas gets back from the federal government.

Way back in early January, Perry said in a debate on a stage in Denton that Texas gets 70 cents back for every dollar sent to Washington. Hutchison accused Perry of lying and said the state gets back 92 cents of every dollar.

This time around, Perry repeated his complaint that Texas isn't getting it's fair share of the gas tax money.

Hutchison then said Texas actually got 100 percent of its gas tax money back in 2008, an impressive 8 percent bump from a couple of weeks ago.

True or false? True...technically.

After the first debate, we learned from Texas Department of Transportation spokesman Chris Lippincott that a federal formula requires Texas to get back 92 cents of every gas-tax dollar that goes for highway funding. But the state receives a smaller cut of gas-tax funds spent on other kinds of transportation.

All told, Texas gets back 82.5 cents of every gas-tax dollar, Lippincott said.

After tonight's debate, Hutchison's camp pointed us to this page on the Federal Highway Administration's web site. It shows Texas actually got 107 percent back in gas tax money in the 2008 fiscal year compared to how much the state contributed to the fund.

We called Lippincott very confused.

He explained that there's not much point in looking at just one year of money flowing in and out of the federal highway trust fund.

"There’s a lag between the money that you send in as the state collecting the fuel tax and the money that you get back," he said. "It's apples to oranges."

-Aman Batheja

Debate fact check: Medina on Perry's spending

Claim: Medina accused the governor of spending taxpayer money like a liberal. She pointed out that expenditures from the governor’s office’s spending have increased 13.5 percent, according to the latest comptroller’s report.

True or false? True. A newsletter for Dec./Jan. from the Comptroller’s office shows that the expenditures from the state’s executive branch rose 13.5 percent from the start of the fiscal year compared to the previous year.

-Aman Batheja

Debate fact check: Texas Enterprise Fund

Claim: During an exchange over faltering contracts with the Texas Enterprise Fund, Perry said, “Just last week, we amended those contracts.”

Background: In 2003, the legislature created the Texas Enterprise Fund, a pot of money under Perry’s discretion to attract new industry and job to the state.

True or false? False. The Governor’s Office announced on Tuesday that Enterprise Fund contracts with 11 companies were amended. The release did not specify when the projects were amended. A report from Texans for Public Justice released the next day said that the governor’s office had been amending contracts over a period of at least two years as multiple companies were not able to meet the job targets they originally promised.

-Aman Batheja

Debate fact check: toll roads

Claim: Hutchison has asserted in campaign ads that existing roads could be tolled under Perry. Perry said tonight, “We have a legislative protection against tolling those existing roads.”

True or false? Depends on your definition of “protection.”

Under state law, the Texas Department of Transportation can’t convert an existing non-tolled state highway or segment of a highway into a toll road without approval from voters in that area.

However advocates (and some lawmakers) have called for a full ban from such practices.

-Aman Batheja

Debate fact check: HPV mandate

Claim: Perry and Hutchison argued over an executive order he issued involving a vaccine for the human papillomavirus. Hutchison called the order a “mandate.” Perry said, “When you can say 'no', something’s not mandatory.”

Background: In Feb. 2007, Perry ordered state health officials to enforce a rule requiring girls entering the sixth grade to be vaccinated for HPV starting in the 2008-09 school year. The state legislature quickly passed a bill blocking Perry’s order which the governor grudgingly allowed to become law.

Who’s right? Perry, technically.

The executive order would have allowed parents who have religious or conscientious objections to opt their daughters out of the requirement. Technically, that is not a mandate.

However, during the time the order was being debated, it was frequently referred to as “a mandate."

-Aman Batheja

Shades of the debate

DALLAS -- U.S. Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison and Tea Party activist Debra Medina do share some common thoughts.

After all, they both showed up wearing red jackets to the first GOP gubernatorial debate earlier this month.

And tonight?

They both wore blue.

-- Anna M. Tinsley

And the debate starts....

DALLAS -- Now that it's 7 p.m., Gov. Rick Perry, U.S. Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison and Tea Party activist Debra Medina start their second and final Republican debate.

All in the details?

DALLAS -- Shortly before the second Republican gubernatorial debate kicks off, Tea Party activist Debra Medina -- who will share the stage with U.S. Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison and Gov. Rick Perry -- put out this release regarding the governor's performance.

"According to Governor Rick Perry, under his leadership, Texas is the strongest state in the nation, but the devil is in the details.

In a recent interview at the Blogger’s Summit, Governor Perry said that ending the property tax in Texas was a very intriguing and positive idea. However, he fell short of embracing the end of property tax or any significant change in management of the state’s current fiscal crisis, maintaining that Texas is on the right path.  “Well, I’m saying “bullshit” and here’s why,” Medina said:

Not only have we seen loss of jobs in the private sector, the most recent State Comptroller’s Fiscal Notes shows total state tax collections have fallen by over 20%, while funds from the federal government to the state government have risen nearly 34% so far this year over last year, to plug the huge hole in Governor Perry’s state budget.
 
Furthermore, while Texas families and businesses have been tightening their belts during that same year, and while Governor Perry is boasting about our solid economic footing, he has spent nearly $1.7 Billion in his own department[i], 13.5% more this year than last!
 
“A double-digit spending increase is not sound management. It feels like state theft, pure and simple. He is taking food from the mouths of Texans,” says Debra Medina. “While the Governor is living high-off-the-hog, Texas families are struggling to feed their children and pay their bills.”

-- Anna M. Tinsley

Don't forget ....

As we wait for the second Republican gubernatorial debate to kick off, it reminds us that the deadline to register to vote in Texas' March primaries is coming up Monday.

Here's a quick look at some other key election dates coming up:

Feb. 16: Early voting begins

Feb. 26: Early voting ends

March 2: Primary elections

March 15: Last day to register to vote in primary runoffs

April 13: Runoff elections, where necessary

Oct. 4: Last day to register to vote in the general election

Nov. 2: Election Day

-- Anna M. Tinsley