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In the after glow of a great GOP Victory November 5th in Texas and around the country it's time to look at a few facts.
First, did you know a shift of 94,000 votes out of 75 million plus nationally and the Democrats hold the Senate and win the House? If that had occurred we would've heard from the media how President Bush was finished. The lesson here is: Don't get cocky and The Democrats are not dead!
At the same time we did win this election on leadership, issues and focus. We also won because of our turnout approaching 1994 levels due to the innovative 72 Hour Program of the RNC and Congressman Tom DeLay.
This election was not a seismic event that evidences a strong right move, instead it was an election where we made progress. This must continue in 2004. We have 15 senators up and the Democrats 19 of which 10 are in "Bush" states. An opportunity. We also have an advantage in hard money fundraising which helps us in the House and Senate and will be led by President Bush.
I'm sure the President and his top political advisers know all this - in politics incremental progress over time leads to substantial changes.
Texas Faces Economic Challenges
The November 17th Wall Street Journal contained an informative article about challenges facing our Texas economy.
Among the highlights were: (1) 92,600 jobs lost (1% of our non agricultural payrolls in the 12 months ending 9/30/02); (2) Retail sales are lagging last fall's post 9.11 depressed levels. Have you noticed that there are more pre Christmas sales, and they are earlier this year; (3) The housing industry sales are slowing this year.
This is important for you and your family and will adversely impact state and local tax revenues. There will be some who will call for raising taxes but using different words like "end loopholes", instead we need to take a hard look at our government spending now.
Will Republican Legislative Majorities
Mean a Conservative Majority?
In January, David Dewhurst and Tom Craddock take over as presiding officers of the Senate and House respectively. The question that inquiring conservatives want to know is, Will it be a conservative legislature? Here's a tip of what to look for - the Committee chairs of key committees. In the House, look for names like Talmadge Heflin, Robert Talton, Arlene Wohlgemuth among others in the Senate, Todd Staples, Jane Nelson, Florence Shapiro, John Carona. Instead if you see liberal Democrats and "get along" Republicans we don't have a conservative majority. We all hope that the "Austin insiders" don't keep control. Right? Stay tuned.
Book Corner
Suggested Reading for Committed Conservatives
Look for Invasion, by Michelle Malkin, Regency Publishing (888-219-4747 for Discount and Free Shipping). This is an eye-opening book that details the failure of our immigration system and how it contributed to 9.11 and what we should do about it. The other message is if we don't stop illegal immigration and get our act together on legal immigration, we will have more terror in our future.
Time for State-wide Property Tax Relief
Along with Spending Restraints
When are our hard-pressed taxpayers going to get a break on runaway property taxes?
Paul Bettencourt, Harris County Tax Assessor and the state-wide Tax Assessor organization have come out in support of common sense property-tax relief. Here's the plan as drafted by Paul:
Reduce the maximum rate of appraised value increase to no greater than 5% per year. It appears Kyle Janek will file a 1% cap in the Senate and Rep. Martha Wong will file a similar bill in the House. It's nice to have conservative leaders in Austin and we hope they'll have a lot of help.
Pro-Life: A Winning Issue
We know being pro-life is correct position on so many issues, but the media over the years has told us it's a political loser.
Well, guess what. If we look at 2002 and see how we did courtesy of the Susan B. Anthony List (www.sba-list.org) and Human Events (www.humaneventsonline.com) we find SBA endorsed Congressional and Senate candidates won 22 of 30 races, swamping their opponent's record of one win and twenty losses. Human Events tells us in race after race, pro-life major candidates won while talking about the issue and not hiding -specifically Senators Talent, Graham, Chambliss and Coleman. In Minnesota, of the voters who said abortion was their key issue (14%) 81% voted for Coleman.
Republicans Always Held to a Higher Standard
As we move into full control in Texas and in Washington DC it is important to remember we are held to a higher stand by the media and by the public.
Accordingly, we need to do better than the Democrats, making sure we follow our philosophy and making sure we watch out for anything that can be perceived as unethical or surrendering to special interests that are hostile to our conservative philosophy.
About
Your Editor
Gary Polland
is a long time Republican spokesman, fund-raiser and leader who
recently completed three terms as the Harris County Republican
Chair. During his time as Chairman, Gary was described as the
most successful county Chairman in America by Human Events.
For six years, Gary put out a bi-weekly newsletter which he has
continued due to requests from many Republican activists.
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