SEPT. 22, 2006 I $2.25 I OPENING THE EYES OF TEXAS FOR FIFTY ONE YEARS Juan Garcia has the perfect resume, but can he win his first race? BY TIM EATON SEPTEMBER 22, 2006 Dialogue TheTexas Observer POWER UP Thank you for the thorough and 2.The basic rate currently charged by informative article "Overrated" in the each provider and on what basis it FEATURES June 30 issue. It certainly sets out the might change in the future. political and corporate shenanigans 3. Deposits required and on what THE CONTENDER 6 involved in "deregulation". There is basis. Juan Garcia has the perfect political obviously much that should be done 4. Termination charges, if any, and on resume. But can he win his first race? to make the system competitive and what basis. by Tim Eaton fair. 5. Information on all "contract" ser- However, there is also much more vices offered (most of which evidently DEPARTMENTS The Texas Observer and daily news- are set up to defraud the customer). papers could be doing to inform the 6. Some frank commentary and cau- DIALOGUE 2 retail users of electricity of the choices tions on the schemes being sold; the in their area. There is very little infor- sort of thing Consumer Reports does EDITORIAL 3 mation readily available. for products. A government agency Our So - Called Surplus People should be given a govern- clearly could not do that, newspapers, POLITICAL INTELLIGENCE 4 ment agency phone number they can which take electric company ads might call if there is any question about fair hesitate, but I bet The Texas Observer DATELINE 10 and equal treatment. There is much could provide a good service. In West Texas misunderstanding of the distribution 7. Information as to what effect com- You Take Care of Your Own process, which clearly impedes free pany promises that they furnish wind by Sterry Butcher market competition. power, solar power, or any other side There needs to be readily available benefit has on anything. MOLLY IVINS 14 information on the choices available Information such as that listed in Back to the Known Unknowns in each area. The Texas Observer, local the above sections won't cure the mess papers, and some government agency but could, at least, give the consumer JIM HIGHTOWER 15 (hold your breath) should periodically some needed information to make the The Cut-And-Run Bushites publish: system more competitive. 1. Names, phone numbers, and Merritt C. Farren BOOKS & CULTURE addresses of all providers in all areas. Benbrook WHY AM I SO BLUE? 20 by Jesse Herrera James deAnda 1925 POETRY 21 The Hon. James deAnda, a pioneer civil rights lawyer and one of the by Trinidad Sanchez Jr. founders of the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund, died on Sept. 7. Judge deAnda was one of four Mexican American civil SMALL VICTORIES: 22 rights lawyers who argued the 1954 case, Hernandez v. Texas, the first REAL JOURNALISM case brought by Mexican American lawyers before the U.S. Supreme by Clay Smith Court. The case overturned the all-white jury murder conviction of THE REAL FACTS OF LIFE 24 Pete Hernandez in Edna and held that discrimination against Mexican by Emily Rapp Americans in Texas was so pervasive that the conviction had not been DeAnda was also among the founders deterrnined by a jury of his peers. 1 WAS ARMED WITH 26 of Texas Rural Legal Assistance, now Texas RioGrande Legal Aid. In 1979 MY DIGNITY INTACT' he was appointed to a new judicial seat in the Southern District of Texas. by Alan Eladio Gomez In 1992, he retired from the bench to return to private practice. AFTERWORD 29 For Texas and Chile, an Axis of Anti-Poetry by Dave Oliphant Ann Richards 1933 — 2006 As the Observer went to press, we learned the sad news of Ann Richards' our next issue, we will feature a remembrance of the former Cover photo by Alan Pogue passing. In governor by Molly Ivins. 2 THE TEXAS OBSERVER SEPTEMBER 22, 2006 EDITORIAL Our So-Called Surplus inky Friedman rolled cies were preparing to slice 10 percent cies have been asked to trim their bud- out his first major from their budgets, as mandated by get requests by 10 percent. policy proposal of the state leaders. People who win the Lotto Finding suitable areas to cut from gubernatorial cam- don't usually sign up for food stamps, the state's already extra-lean budget paign recently. This and governments with surpluses don't is a nearly impossible proposition. As being Kinky, it was a cut budgets. usual, lawmakers will end up taking grab bag that included adding 1,000 So where has the money gone? Much money away from essential govern- moreIK cops to the streets of Houston, of the surplus went to the property tax ment programs. That will come on top putting 10,000 National Guard troops cut the Legislature passed during last of the many unrestored cuts from the and a few Mexican generals on the bor- spring's special session. Of course, the 2003 session that knocked hundreds of der, and killing the recently enacted tax cut was much needed, not to men- thousands of kids and poor families state business tax. To pay for all the tion court-ordered. But Perry and the off Medicaid and the Children's Health goodies, Kinky plans to use the state's Lege didn't provide enough revenue Insurance Program. (CHIP enrollment budget surplus, which the Kinkster to pay for the estimated $15 billion remains at half of its 2002 high of tagged, varyingly, at $11 billion to $13 in property tax cuts over three years. 520,000.) This time around, those pro- billion. (The comptroller's latest esti- They paid for some of the cuts with grams—and others for the mentally ill, mate was about $8 billion.) Historically, an expanded business tax and a good the mentally retarded, and the indi- high prices for oil and natural gas are chunk of the estimated surplus. Even gent—stand to see their budgets fur- responsible for this supposed overflow with that, the plan still doesn't balance. ther reduced. Among other proposed in the state's coffers. While energy As we observed last spring ["Pyrrhic cuts is $14 million from the already prices are starting to drop, they're still Victory," June 2, 2006], the tax cuts on-life-support state park system. in the stratosphere, historically speak- will cost roughly $5 billion a year more We sit at a critical juncture in Texas. ing. So Kinky, like most Texans, can than the state brings in—the five-year Our growing population is increas- be forgiven for thinking a surplus still deficit totals $25 billion, according ingly urban, Latino, and poor. If the exists. to the state's own Legislative Budget state government continues to deny Truth is, Gov. Rick Perry and Co. Board. The Lege must balance its bud- these communities access to education already raided the vault. It's difficult to get. So the tax plan's deficit means and health care, Texas' future looks figure how much surplus is left—we're looming budget cuts or a sales tax bleak. Yet how continued budget cuts dealing with budget projections here, increase, or both. To briefly recap: Not will clash with demographic change after all—but the safe bet is on the bot- only is most of the surplus gone, but has yet to surface as an issue in the tom side of "not much." Even as Kinky the Lege will face a significant budget governor's race. As for the surplus, well, was formulating how to spend the gap starting in the 2007 session. Given as Kinky might say, that cash cow has supposedly healthy surplus, state agen- this outlook, it's no wonder state agen- left the barn. ■ THE TEXAS OBSERVER I VOLUME 98, NO. 18 I A Journal of Free Voices Since 1954 Founding Editor Ronnie Dugger Steven G. Kellman, Lucius Lomax, D'Ann Johnson, Jim Marston, Gilberto USPS 541300), entire contents copy- rates on request. Microfilm available Executive Editor Jake Bernstein James McWilliams, Char Miller, righted ©2006, is published biweekly from University Microfilms Intl., 300 N. Editor Barbara Belejack Debbie Nathan, Karen Olsson, except during January and August Zeeb Road, Ann Arbor, MI 48106. 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