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Hillary Rodham Clinton endorses Davis, Van de Putte

Former Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton campaigns for Maryland Democratic gubernatorial candidate, Lt. Gov. Anthony Brown, during a rally Thursday at the University of Maryland. (AP Photo/Patrick Semansky)

Former Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton on Thursday endorsed the Democratic women running for Texas’ top two offices, gubernatorial aspirant Wendy Davis and lieutenant governor candidate Leticia Van de Putte.

Clinton, who is weighing a bid for the Democrats’ presidential nomination in 2016, applauded Davis for running a “tough, strong campaign” against Republican Greg Abbott.

“That’s no surprise, because Wendy has shown us time and time again that she never backs down, whether she’s fighting for Texas school children or working to create an economy that works for all Texans,” Clinton is quoted as saying in a Davis campaign graphic.

Clinton said Van de Putte, who is locked in a tough race with fellow state Sen. Dan Patrick, R-Houston, advocates for society’s most vulnerable.

“Leticia Van de Putte always demonstrates the courage to speak up for those who do not have a voice,” Clinton is quoted as saying in a Van de Putte campaign graphic. “She has bold ideas and initiatives that honor veterans, respect women, and value education. She leads with a sense of family and community.”

Van de Putte: Davis detractors haven’t seen “magical Wendy”

Democratic lieutenant governor hopeful Leticia Van de Putte (AP Photo/The Daily Texan, Ethan Oblak)

Lieutenant governor aspirant Leticia Van de Putte pooh-poohs assertions that gubernatorial candidate Wendy Davis has campaigned poorly, depressing the hopes of down-ballot Democrats such as herself.

“Absolutely not,” Van de Putte said in an interview aboard her campaign bus early Friday.

She said Davis, a fellow state senator, has inspired legions of Texas women to roll up their sleeves and canvass their communities.

“It’s going to benefit all of us,” she said, referring to Democrats running statewide.

The Washington Post reported that some state Democrats are complaining Davis “has become a drag” on candidates such as Van de Putte, whom it described as “a Hispanic lawmaker who is popular with the business community.”

Her GOP rival, state Sen. Dan Patrick, has said he, not Van de Putte, is the favorite of business groups. Patrick points to his anti-tax fervor, while Van de Putte says she would be better at satisfying employers’ worries about workforce readiness and infrastructure that’s stretched to the limit.

The campaign of Davis’ Republican opponent, Attorney General Greg Abbott, seized on the Post story. It issued a press release that highlights the unnamed Democrats said to be grousing about Davis as a damper on ticket-mates.
Van de Putte, though, wasn’t buying it.

“I have been in those ballrooms with 900 women, 1,000 people, where the magical Wendy Davis is at work,” she said. “She is motivating so many people. Wherever I go, there are Team Wendy T-shirts and people calling and block-walking.”

The activity wouldn’t be happening, Van de Putte said, “if not for Wendy motivating so many.”

Nonpartisan poll: Immigration, border security top state worry

Detainees wait in Brownsville, Texas, in a holding cell at a U.S. Customs and Border Protection processing facility. (June 18 photo by Eric Gay-Pool/Getty Images)

Immigration and border security have displaced education as the top issue facing the state, according to the eighth annual Texas Lyceum Poll.

In the nonpartisan poll, released Tuesday, 31 percent of adults said immigration or border security is the most important issue, compared with 11 percent who said education. Eight percent cited either jobs and unemployment or the economy.

The results ran opposite to voters’ ranking of national concerns, said the group’s pollster, University of Texas political scientist Daron Shaw. At the national level, 20 percent of adult Texans cite the economy and jobs as the top issue, compared with just 11 percent calling it immigration or border security.

“This is probably the most dramatic instance in which border security and immigration issues are dominating economic mentions — at least with respect to the state, not the nation,” Shaw told reporters.

The poll consisted of telephone interviews with 1,000 Texas adults that were conducted between Sept. 9 and Sept. 25. The margin of error was plus or minus 3.1 percent.

The survey tested attitudes on the recent influx of tens of thousands of unaccompanied children from Central America into Texas, after they made often-harrowing journeys across Mexico.

Texans clashed on whether the children should be returned to their home country as soon as possible, with 48 percent of respondents agreeing while 42 percent said they should be permitted to stay in the U.S. while awaiting an immigration hearing, even if it takes a long time.

Among the 666 likely voters who were interviewed, support for immediate return of the children jumped to 58 percent, with 37 percent saying the youngsters should be allowed to stay for a time.

Immigrants who have been caught crossing the border illegally are housed inside the McAllen Border Patrol Station in McAllen. Detainees are mostly separated by gender and age, except for infants. (July 15 pool photo by Rick Loomis/Getty Images)

Along lines of party affiliation and racial or ethnic identity, the differences were even more stark. Among Democrats, 64 percent want the children to be allowed to stay, while 73 percent of Republicans favored returning them to their country as soon as possible. Among independents, who accounted for 22 percent of adults interviewed, sentiment was roughly equal: Forty-five percent want the children to stay; 44 percent, to leave immediately.

While blacks were fairly evenly divided among the two camps, whites and Hispanics were not. Among whites, 62 percent said the children should be returned to their home country, compared with only 28 percent who would allow them to stay. Among Hispanics, though, 58 percent supported letting them stay in the U.S. awaiting a hearing while 33 percent would send them home as soon as possible.

“Although the majority response sides with law and order, we do see that the attitudes of Texans depend on context,” Shaw said. “If immigration is framed in terms of caring for children, our willingness to compromise increases.”

The poll, a summary of which can be viewed here, also examined attitudes on abortion. Earlier this month, state Sen. Wendy Davis, the Democratic nominee for governor, revealed she had two abortions. One was after an ectopic pregnancy, which is commonly viewed as life threatening; and the other, after the fetus was found to have a severe abnormality known as Dandy-Walker syndrome.

By better than 3-to-1 margins, Texas adults said abortion should be legal if the woman’s health is seriously endangered or she became pregnant because of rape. For pregnancies resulting from incest, 68 percent supported allowing abortion as an option, while 24 percent opposed doing so. When there is “a strong chance of a serious defect in the baby,” 54 percent said a woman should be able to obtain an abortion and 31 percent said she should not.

“Most people, Republicans included, say women ought to have an abortion option under those circumstances,” Shaw said. “When you start talking about more choice-oriented, situational circumstances, support drops and you begin to see some of the partisan differences really show.”

For instance, when asked if it should be possible for a pregnant woman to obtain a legal abortion if she is unmarried and doesn’t want to marry the man, just 24 percent of Republicans agreed. Among both Democrats and independents, support was considerably higher — 44 percent — though still below a majority. Only about a third of all adults favored legal abortion if married women want no more children or the family is poor and says it can’t afford more children.

On the federal health care overhaul, the poll found 48 percent of Texas adults have an unfavorable opinion, versus 33 percent with a favorable attitude.

“Opinion is pretty static here,” Shaw said, noting the state results are comparable to national polls. “There is not a lot going on.”

On Wednesday, the Lyceum, a group of 96 people touted as “the next generation of Texas leaders,” will release horse race numbers in the statewide contests on the Nov. 4 ballot. Also divulged will be results of questions about Gov. Rick Perry and President Barack Obama, as well as about Perry’s recent indictment for coercion and misuse of his post in connection with a budget line-item veto threat last year.

Abbott ad: Guys in wheelchairs move faster than Texas traffic

Using a little charm and humor, Greg Abbott in his latest governor’s race TV ad touts a highway plan to put more money into Texas roadways.

While his solution is merely an inch of concrete in a mile of need, he does address the diversion of some funding from highway spending.

In the ad, Abbott on a bridge skirting a Texas highway, says, “A guy in a wheelchair can move faster than traffic on some roads in Texas.”

He said he has a plan that, “adds billions for new road construction without raising taxes, fees or tolls. We pay for it by ensuring that money dedicated to roads will be spent only on roads – and no more taking highway funds by the legislature to pay for their pet projects.”

His campaign points to the Legislature, which takes gas taxes and other revenue earmarked for highway maintenance and construction, and spends it on ancillary items to fill budget gaps.

Of the about $10 billion raised every two years for roadways, $1 billion is diverted. Most of that diversion ($813 million) goes to the Department of Public Safety to pay for highway patrols. Some goes to the state insurance agency to enforce that drivers are carrying liability insurance.

Another $12 million of those legislative “pet projects” goes to the agency Abbott heads, the Attorney General’s Office, to pay for legal work on right-of-way acquisition for roadways.

Led by House Speaker Joe Straus, the Legislature has been slowly curtailing the diversions and trying to use state budget dollars to pay for programs to leave more money for highways.

Even so, experts estimate that Texas still needs billions more annually just to keep up with growth and maintenance of current highways. A constitutional amendment on the November ballot asks voter permission to take $2 bilion from the $8 billion rainy day fund as a one-time bump for roadway construction. Both Abbott and Democratic opponent Wendy Davis support the proposed amendment.

Abbott’s campaign did not identify how it proposes replacing the $1 billion taken out of agency budgets biennially and sent back to highways. But they pledge to do it within existing revenues.

Davis back in front of an audience Saturday and feeling confident in her debate performance

AUSTIN—Sen. Wendy Davis, the Democratic nominee for governor, expressed pride in her debate performance and confidence in her campaign at a political forum hosted Saturday afternoon in Austin.

The night before in Edinburg the Fort Worth Democrat debated Attorney General Greg Abbott, the Republican running for governor, in the first of two scheduled debates for the governor’s race.

In an interview with the Texas Tribune’s Evan Smith, Davis reiterated her position to increase public education funding, institute universal pre-kindergarten and expand Medicaid, even if it required using executive action from the governor’s office.

She disputed criticism that has been raised in the campaign that she inappropriately used her public position to benefit herself financially.

The senator, who is trailing in the polls in the GOP-heavy state, said she was optimistic that she would win in November, citing a recent internal poll that showed her trailing by single digits.

“I trust our numbers, I trust our message, and most importantly, I trust the people of this state,” she said.

Abbott declined an invitation to the event.

“I had an opportunity to show a stark contrast between these two people who are asking to serve Texas as its next governor, and I think I was able to demonstrate…that I will be a governor who will fight for the people of this state,” she said about last night’s debate.

During the debate the candidates had a chance to ask each other one question. Abbott asked whether she regretted voting for Obama, a president who is very unpopular in the state. Davis didn’t answer the question then.

On Saturday when asked again she said, “No, I don’t regret it.”

Davis continued her call for universal pre-kindergarten in the state, a plan that she said would be enacted on a sliding scale—offered free to low-income families and at some cost for families who earn more money—and estimated the price tag to be around $700 million for the state.

On Medicaid expansion, Davis offered that if elected she would consider using executive action to accept the federal funding, given the unlikeliness of the issue being taken up by the GOP-dominated Legislature. Texas Republicans have resisted expanding Medicaid, arguing that the costs to the state would soar in future years.

Davis said Saturday that expanding Medicaid would bring hundreds of thousands of jobs to the state and that passing on the expansion meant sending Texas tax dollars to other states that have accepted the federal money.

“We have an opportunity to bring our own tax dollars back to Texas and make them work for us,” she said.

Questions have been raised throughout her campaign about potential conflicts of interests in votes she made first as Fort Worth Council Member and later as a senator. The Dallas Morning News reported that Davis voted as a council member on projects that benefited her title insurance business.

In 2006, when developers wanted to transform an aging hotel they asked for a $21.5 million incentive from the city. Davis pushed Fort Worth City Council to approve the incentive.

A deed of the sale showed that the title company Davis owned with her former husband held the title to the hotel. It’s not clear how much the title company earned from the $11 million hotel sale.

On Saturday, Davis said that in her position as head of the Fort Worth Economic Development Committee she had supported numerous incentive deals. Her “number one focus” in every deal was whether the incentive would bring money and jobs to the community, regardless of who was doing the title work, she said.

“There was never any kind of quid pro quo in the work I did,” she said.

The next debate between Davis and Abbott will be Sept. 30 in Dallas.

 

Wendy Davis has little to say about Gov. Rick Perry’s indictment

Rick Perry mug shot at his booking on charges of abuse of authority (Travis County Sheriff's office)

Wendy Davis on Wednesday had little to say about the indictment of Texas Gov. Rick Perry.
The Democratic nominee for governor gave stock answers to several questions about Perry’s legal problems.

“These are serious charges,” Davis said during a news conference in Dallas. “I trust the justice system to do its job and I won’t presuppose what the outcome will be.”

Davis, a state senator from Fort Worth and Democratic nominee for governor, even avoided answering a question about Perry’s link to the Cancer Prevention and Research Institute of Texas, an agency embroiled in scandal.

Perry is accused of threatening to withhold funding last year for an anti-corruption unit overseen by Travis County District Attorney Rosemary Lehmberg, a Democrat, when she was charged with drunken driving and became belligerent with sheriff’s deputies.

She didn’t quit, and Perry vetoed the $7.5 million for the Public Integrity Unit, which investigates state officials. Even after the veto, Perry’s office continued to try to entice her to step down, promising to restore the funding and to allow her to stay working in another job at the DA’s office, according to reporting by the San Antonio Express News.

Some Democrats have suggested that Perry’s was motivated to get rid of Lehmberg because her office was investigating CPRIT. Davis wouldn’t touch the subject.

Perry’s team of nationally prominent lawyers has called the charges against Perry and “outrageous assault on the rule of law” and “banana republic politics.”

Before and after he was booked Tuesday, Perry vowed to fight against the charges, saying he did nothing wrong.

Davis’ rival in the race to replace Perry, Attorney General Greg Abbott, has also had few words about the indictment, but express support for the governor after the indictment was announced.

Wendy Davis wants to eliminate statute of limitations for rape, sexual battery

Democratic nominee for Texas governor Wendy Davis Wednesday said the state should eliminate the statute of limitations for prosecution of rape and sexual battery offenses.

“The majority of rapists are serial offenders,” Davis said at the Frank Crowley Criminal Courts building in Dallas. “My proposal today, and the bills I’ve already passed, are meant to bring an end to serial rape, and to prosecute and jail rapists so they cannot rape again.”

Wendy Davis, flanked by Precinct 5 Constable Beth Villarreal, made the announcement Wednesday at the Frank Crowley Criminal Courts building in Dallas.

Wendy Davis, flanked by Precinct 5 Constable Beth Villarreal, made the announcement Wednesday at the Frank Crowley Criminal Courts building in Dallas. (Ron Baselice/Staff Photographer)

Generally, the statute of limitations for rape in Texas is 10 years, but there is no statute of limitations for sexual assault against a child or in cases where DNA is tested and there is no match in the criminal system.

Davis, a state senator from Fort Worth, has been crusading for rape victims since she’s been in public office. In recent weeks, she’s toured the state touting bills she pushed in the Texas Legislature that led to rape kits being tested so victims could receive justice.

Last week in Dallas, she stood with Lavinia Masters and other rape survivors. According to Davis, Masters didn’t get justice because time ran out on officials seeking to close her case.

“Eliminating the statute of limitations for rape will help to right that wrong by making sure that survivors like Lavinia will never again will have to forgo justice just because someone stood back and let the clock run out on their case,” Davis said.

The Davis campaign pointed to several Texas rape case where the criminals got away with the crime because of the statute of limitations.

She added that her work to bring justice to rape survivors put her in contrast with Greg Abbott, the attorney general and Republican nominee for governor. Davis criticized Abbott for “choosing insiders over Texans.”

Davis has a television campaign ad that focuses on a 1998 vote Abbott made when he was on the Texas Supreme Court. Abbott sided with a company being sued by a Seguin woman who in 1993 was raped by a salesman selling its vacuums. Abbott’s campaign said the decision, which was in the minority, was based on the law.

“My opponent, Greg Abbott, has ruled against sexual assault survivors time and again,” Davis said. “He’s more than willing to choose his donors and insiders, even when it’s at the expense of hard-working Texans.”

But Amelia Chasse, a spokesman for Abbott, said the attorney general had a solid record in supporting victims of sexual assault and domestic violence.

“Victims of sexual assault in Texas have no greater advocate than Greg Abbott, who as attorney general has spearheaded the arrests of over 4,500 sex offenders and awarded over $1 billion to victims of crimes like sexual assault and domestic violence,” she said.

In February, Abbott unveiled policy proposals to provide expedited justice for sexual assault victims as part of his Securing Texans plan. He’s also worked to protect children against predators, and has proposals to curb revenge porn.

Dallas County Constable Beth Villarreal, who says she was a victim of domestic violence, joined Davis for her announcement.

“The criminal statute of limitations in cases of sexual assault all too often serves as a barrier to justice,” she said. “Davis’ proposal to end the criminal statute of limitations for rape would send a clear signal to sexual predators: ‘We will find you, and when we do, we will hold you accountable.’”

Top Wendy Davis aide discusses campaign for Texas governor on Lone Star Politics

The senior adviser to Wendy Davis insists she’s gaining ground on Republican gubernatorial frontrunner Greg Abbott. On this week’s Lone Star Politics J.D. Angle argues Davis’s message that Abbott is an insider who is only concerned with wealthy donors and corporations resonates with voters even if polls still show Abbott leading. Also Dallas County Republican Party Chairman Wade Emmert and Taylor Holden, Executive Director of the Dallas County Democratic Party debate whether John Wiley Price should step down as county commissioner until his federal court case is resolved. Watch Lone Star Politics Sunday at 8:40 a.m. on NBC 5.

Wendy Davis retools her message that under Republican Greg Abbott the “governor’s office is for sale”

In her most detailed and aggressive attack yet, Wendy Davis has retooled her critique against Republican Greg Abbott by connecting a series of career decisions benefitting “well-heeled, well-paid special interests” but hurting average Texans. She cited Abbott’s intervention on the side of a Plano hospital and doctor accused of maiming patients, his ruling keeping secret the locations of dangerous chemical stockpiles, a settlement critics call a “sweetheart deal” for Farmers Insurance and help for payday lenders. In each case, Abbott has received large campaign contributions from the parties involved.

Wendy Davis poses with supporter at campaign headquarters in Austin (Wayne slater)

“Time and time again, Greg Abbott proves that he would be a governor whose advocacy for his insider friends actually harms Texans who are just trying to do right by themselves and their families,” Davis told supporters at her Austin campaign headquarters Tuesday. “It’s not acceptable that the governor’s office is for sale.”

The message, which she is taking on the road in a string of campaign stops across the state, comes with three months left in the campaign for governor. Abbott leads in money and the polls. And some Democrats have urged that she sharpen her message if she hopes to win in November. Davis’ political team believes voters will respond if convinced Abbott has sided against them and for moneyed interests in cases where hospital patients have been injured or parents denied access to information about whether their children were playing near dangerous chemicals. The Dallas Morning News first reported that Abbott intervened on the side of a Plano hospital in three malpractice cases after receiving $350,000 from the board chairman and ruled that chemical records are secret and got $75,000 from Koch Industries, including the head of the company’s fertilizer division.

An Abbott spokeswoman said the real political insider in the race is Davis, who has gotten money from trial lawyers, movie stars and organized labor. Spokeswoman Amelia Chasse accused  Davis of constructing “a fantasy script” to smear Abbott “that even her Hollywood supporters would throw in the trash.”

“Undermining Sen. Davis’ fanciful narrative is the inexpedient fact that she’s selling an agenda manufactured by the trial lawyers bankrolling her campaign – all the while using her position to profit at the taxpayers’ expense and refusing to release her latest tax return,” Chasse said.

Davis, who got an extension to file her income taxes, said Tuesday she will release her tax returns “in the next few weeks.” As for Abbott, Davis said Texas voters will have a clear choice in November. “We will either have a governor who is standing and fighting for hardworking Texans who can’t be in that Capitol every day, or we will get what we’ve seen in the past with Greg Abbott – someone who puts his donors above and against the hardworking Texan interests in this state,” she said.

Abbott hits Washington for fundraiser, draws small protest

Protesters gather outside the fundraising luncheon for Attorney General Greg Abbott today near the U.S. Capitol. (Kimberly Railey/Staff)

WASHINGTON – Attorney General Greg Abbott raised campaign funds over lunch today in Washington, but don’t expect many of the attendees to admit it.

At a building just a block from the U.S. Capitol, donors who gave at least $500 dined with Abbott. Co-hosts were asked to raise or donate at least $10,000, according to an invitation obtained by The Dallas Morning News.

Several members of Texas’ congressional delegation walked inside the building but would not say where they were headed. All either declined to comment or were advised by an aide not to respond.

The invitation’s guest list included the 24 Texas Republican in the U.S. House, plus Sens. John Cornyn and Ted Cruz, both of whom were spotted arriving and leaving. Abbott met with the Texas delegation to discuss the border crisis, campaign spokesman Avdiel Huerta said.

Outside of the building, Rep. Sam Johnson of Plano, said “I don’t know” when asked if he was attending the Abbott lunch. When Rep. Louie Gohmert, R-Tyler, left the building, he denied it was a fundraiser to a protester who asked whether he enjoyed the event.

Cornyn, the GOP whip and himself a former Texas attorney general, did readily acknowledge he was there to support Abbott.

“He’s from Texas. I’m from Texas,” he said.

Cruz ignored a reporter’s question about why he was going inside.

Protesters from the Lone Star Project, a Democratic group highly critical of Abbott and aligned with Democratic nominee for governor Wendy Davis, held signs outside the building. One said ”Insiders are buying … Abbott is selling you out.”

Another poster said, ”Abbott has a Koch problem,” referencing the Koch brothers, two GOP mega donors.

Sen. John Cornyn exits Abbott fundraiser earlier today. (Staff/Kimberly Railey)

Abbott’s Washington trip drew scrutiny because the attorney general has made his hatred for Washington a key plank of his campaign. The GOP gubernatorial hopeful has criticized Davis for donations she’s racked up outside Texas, suggesting a lack of support in her home state.

Sponsors of the lunch include political action committees affiliated with tobacco company Altria, aircraft maker Boeing and defense contractor Raytheon.

Abbott is in Washington for two fundraisers and several private meetings, campaign spokeswoman Amelia Chasse told The News on Tuesday.