Latest / The People's News / 2025 in Review: Republican Greed, Corruption, Cruelty vs. We The People - TPN 12/28/25

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2025 in Review: Republican Greed, Corruption, Cruelty vs. We The People - TPN 12/28/25 · The People's News

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Speaker 1: It's the week of December twenty eighth, twenty twenty five,
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Speaker 1: and this is a special twenty twenty five year in
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Speaker 1: review edition of The People's News. Trump and Texas GOP
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Speaker 1: send troops to the border. Trump's many civil rights violations
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Speaker 1: are protested in Houston. A summary of the Texas Legislative session,
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Speaker 1: the twenty twenty five elections with a complete victory for
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Speaker 1: Democrats and democracy. All that and more on The People's News.
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Speaker 1: I'm Steve Gallington. This is the People's News, and The
0:41
Speaker 1: People's News starts now.
0:52
Speaker 2: Hi.
0:52
Speaker 1: This is Steve Gallington, producer and host of the People's News.
0:57
Speaker 1: If you have a story that needs to be told,
0:59
Speaker 1: come to us. We accept fully produced audio, written material,
1:03
Speaker 1: or just give us the idea and we will run
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Speaker 1: with it. Shiny new one hour episodes of The People's
1:09
Speaker 1: News drop each Sunday on The People's News podcast hosted
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Speaker 1: by Speaker dot com and linked to my website Gallington
1:19
Speaker 1: dot com. The criminal, cruel, corrupt, and incompetent Trump administration
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Speaker 1: has continued their attacks on the immigrant community. In recent weeks.
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Speaker 1: They have sent the US military to the border to
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Speaker 1: stop the flow of illegal immigration. They are tasked to
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Speaker 1: go down to the border and replace Texas National Guard
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Speaker 1: troops that were there, but those who live in and
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Speaker 1: around Eagle Pass have always stated that the guards have
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Speaker 1: nothing to do and they have left Shelby Park in
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Speaker 1: a mess. The facilities there have no migrants to detain,
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Speaker 1: and the park that the troops were using was left
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Speaker 1: in a shambles and the razor wire is still there.
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Speaker 1: Troops that have replaced the Texas National Guard troops have
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Speaker 1: seen little to no border crossings since the Biden administration.
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Speaker 1: Republican Governor Abbott has spent billions of Texas taxpayer dollars
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Speaker 1: on the border for a problem that does not exist.
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Speaker 1: We talked to America Garcia Garwal, a member of the
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Speaker 1: Fronta Foundation, about the damage as she was talking to
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Speaker 1: us from one of the many border checkpoints between Eagle Pass,
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Speaker 1: Texas and San Antonio.
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Speaker 3: Okay, so I'm an in bust, leaving Le Pass and
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Speaker 3: heading to San Antonio and we are pulling up to
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Speaker 3: the US Customs and Border Patrol checkpoint.
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Speaker 4: Now it's about fifteen miles outside of town.
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Speaker 3: And they actually have these checkpoints set up outside of Laredo,
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Speaker 3: outside of Do Rio, outside of the past a passo everywhere.
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Speaker 3: If you want to go from the border area into
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Speaker 3: the center part of Texas the rest United States.
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Speaker 4: You have to go to this checkpoint.
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Speaker 3: And uh, these checkpoints have been around Golf as long
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Speaker 3: as I know. Got two men in the uniform that's
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Speaker 3: coming out US citizens m and uh they just opened
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Speaker 3: up the vehicle and did a quick visual infections here
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Speaker 3: and they're checking the idea of everybody in the vehicle
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Speaker 3: right now to see that we you know, can travel
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Speaker 3: past this point. And I think I mentioned they did
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Speaker 3: a quick visual infection of the vehicle. There's actually just
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Speaker 3: me and two other passengers here, so uh it was
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Speaker 3: pretty easy to see that, you know, it's empty. There's
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Speaker 3: nothing on the floor that nobody you know in the van.
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Speaker 3: And now we're pulling back onto the road and we've
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Speaker 3: got you know, one hundred and fifty miles to go
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Speaker 3: between here and San Antonio, I mean point and this
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Speaker 3: is one of us right.
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Speaker 5: How many checkpoints is it from from uh from the
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Speaker 5: border to San Antonio? Uh?
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Speaker 3: So we have the one between Agle Pass and Howiete
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Speaker 3: seven and uh oh look so we also have a
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Speaker 3: Department of Public Safety.
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Speaker 4: Ahead, so.
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Speaker 3: We just have so much law enforcement after I don't
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Speaker 3: know how many checkpoints exist. I also they sometimes have
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Speaker 3: pop up checkpoints. So, but that's actually a really good question.
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Speaker 3: I'll try and find the answer to it. I don't
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Speaker 3: know how many checkpoints exist in Texas specifically, but I've
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Speaker 3: personally been through a check point at the Rado checkpoint
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Speaker 3: going into Karata Springs in the legal past, the checkpoint
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Speaker 3: between the Eagle Paths and Reprior Slash Uvalde. And there's
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Speaker 3: a checkpoint outside of Del Rio going to Valde, and
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Speaker 3: there's also a checkpoint in that area for Sidio del Rio. Uh,
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Speaker 3: and then again Larded.
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Speaker 4: Sorry, I'll pass it. So those are ones that.
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Speaker 3: I personally love, but there may be additional ones at
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Speaker 3: other parts. And then of course other checkpoints are sometimes
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Speaker 3: established it on an ad hoc basis.
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Speaker 5: How How has your how's your town been affected by
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Speaker 5: all this? I heard the I heard the National Guards
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Speaker 5: are leaving, but US soldiers are now coming in to
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Speaker 5: replace them.
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Speaker 4: Yeah. Yeah.
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Speaker 3: One of the things that's really interesting about the soldiers
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Speaker 3: coming in is that they were sent without orders. And
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Speaker 3: I don't know if you're having a military experience, but
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Speaker 3: are our soldiers they they are supposed to have like
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Speaker 3: a mission statement and these the goals, and this is
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Speaker 3: the metrics on which we show that we have achieved
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Speaker 3: these goals, you know, things of that sort, and yet
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Speaker 3: there's none of that. They they were sent down.
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Speaker 4: To the border.
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Speaker 3: I believe we have one hundred and first airborne in
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Speaker 3: del Rio and Ego pat and the del Rio sector
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Speaker 3: of secimalis of Border Patrol breaks the state up and
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Speaker 3: they showed up.
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Speaker 4: Not knowing what they were do.
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Speaker 6: Uh.
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Speaker 3: These folks were transported down here and don't have vehicles.
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Speaker 3: They were also told you know, quote it's dangerous, it's
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Speaker 3: not it's actually very safe, and they couldn't go anywhere alone.
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Speaker 3: So you see two part of me white boys with
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Speaker 3: short haircuts walking along the side of the road, and
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Speaker 3: you're like, oh, they're soldiers and they're trying to get
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Speaker 3: to you know, grocery store bars, resturance things like that,
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Speaker 3: because they're basically just dropped off at a hotel kind
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Speaker 3: of on their own. Now, in Maverick County, I'm saying
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Speaker 3: specifically to wo In Marlbock County, we have Camp Eagle
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Speaker 3: that was announced in February of twenty twenty four and
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Speaker 3: it began housing soldiers in May of twenty twenty four
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Speaker 3: and has over two thousand soldiers that are housed there.
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Speaker 4: Don't quote me on that number, I mean not being reported.
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Speaker 3: But for the official number of people housed by Camp Eagle,
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Speaker 3: you should check with the with the federal government. I'm
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Speaker 3: sorry with the Texas government because I don't know the
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Speaker 3: official members. There's no information that's given to the city
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Speaker 3: of Eagle Pass about what's happening out at Camp Eagle.
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Speaker 4: CAGCUE is one of my rights.
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Speaker 5: Yes, uh, you know I heard that they you know,
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Speaker 5: they pretty much left the park and gets the ray.
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Speaker 7: You know they didn't try.
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Speaker 3: To Oh yeah, it's a mess. Yes, yes, So if
7:14
Speaker 3: you've got any ground lands of experience, you know that
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Speaker 3: you don't drive onto the field. You know that would
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Speaker 3: you know, pack it down. You know that there's irrigation
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Speaker 3: pipes in the in the field that crack and get
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Speaker 3: beat up and everything. And there is a whole bunch
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Speaker 3: of don't they don't do with turf and the Texas
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Speaker 3: National Guard pretty much did all of it and then some.
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Speaker 3: The other thing is is that they're still in the park.
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Speaker 4: I really want to emphasize this. All they did was
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Speaker 4: leave the gates. They're still in the park.
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Speaker 3: They moved their their material, they moved all their equipment,
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Speaker 3: their vehicles onto the grounds of the park and built
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Speaker 3: a fence enclosure that everything is in, and and so
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Speaker 3: the atmosphere and access to the park, the full park
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Speaker 3: ground is pretty much unchanged. They created a fencing compound
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Speaker 3: inside the park and you don't have access in that area.
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Speaker 3: The containers are still fronting the river. The contestina wire is.
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Speaker 4: Still there on the river.
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Speaker 3: The boat ramp itself actually has two sets of gates,
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Speaker 3: one at the parking lot levels and one at the
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Speaker 3: river level has got.
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Speaker 4: A constattina wire across the top and bottom, and you
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Speaker 4: can't you can't get to the river.
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Speaker 3: So we don't have fishing access. We don't have this
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Speaker 3: pretty view, you know, sit on the edge and look
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Speaker 3: out at the water. And we definitely don't have any
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Speaker 3: fishing access at the renewing access anything of that.
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Speaker 4: So all we have access to are the gates to
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Speaker 4: the park.
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Speaker 3: And we have to the parking for downtown, which you know,
9:04
Speaker 3: yes it is.
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Speaker 4: A park, but I want to do more than parks
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Speaker 4: in my park.
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Speaker 2: It's supposed to be that they are down.
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Speaker 5: There to stop the cartills and stop illegal migrants from
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Speaker 5: coming into the country.
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Speaker 2: How is that.
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Speaker 5: Is that going gone? Or you know, how is that going?
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Speaker 3: That's been done for over a year, and that's been
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Speaker 3: done thanks to the efforts of the former Secretary of
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Speaker 3: State Lincoln and the former GHS Secretary of New Yorkas
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Speaker 3: who went down to Mexico City in late December of
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Speaker 3: twenty twenty three and beginning in January of twenty twenty four,
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Speaker 3: we saw the numbers just disappear, just absolutely disappear. And
9:51
Speaker 3: then that coupled with the CBT one app expansion of
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Speaker 3: the GEO fens, people were able to stay further south
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Speaker 3: and get at their appointment. People were not traveling up
10:02
Speaker 3: to the border that they simply.
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Speaker 4: Weren't coming here.
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Speaker 3: They were down in Mexico City and they were waiting
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Speaker 3: the six to seven months that it took together in
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Speaker 3: the silent appointment, you know, we're talking about folks that
10:13
Speaker 3: don't want to be in cartels.
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Speaker 4: We're talking about folks that don't.
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Speaker 3: Want to be involved with, you know, cultivation of marijuana
10:21
Speaker 3: or anything that is illegal. They want to live legal lives,
10:25
Speaker 3: and so they flee their homes because of drug violence
10:29
Speaker 3: they flee their homes because they're being pressured to do
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Speaker 3: things very illegal. So you're looking at a group that
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Speaker 3: very very much wants to stay on the green side
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Speaker 3: of the law, the good side of the law, and they.
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Speaker 4: Just don't have any other choices.
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Speaker 3: Their lives are in danger, and they're fleeing certain death
10:45
Speaker 3: at home for a chance at life in the United States.
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Speaker 3: They're very, very aware of the risks in the United States,
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Speaker 3: and right now Mexico is monitoring bus route, monitoring the roads.
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Speaker 3: They have Mexican National Guard patrolling the banks of the
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Speaker 3: Rio Grande in Mexico, and so that's what's stopping people.
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Speaker 3: If you go into border communities, there are very few
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Speaker 3: people there who are trying to cross into the United States,
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Speaker 3: and not the way it was before. But that's because
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Speaker 3: of the actions of Mexico throughout the entire country, not
11:21
Speaker 3: the actions of the United States.
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Speaker 6: So how long is it?
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Speaker 5: You don't know how long this is going to go on,
11:28
Speaker 5: as far.
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Speaker 7: As I have no idea.
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Speaker 5: How maybe they pointed out that they were going to
11:33
Speaker 5: bring in big.
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Speaker 6: Tanks and.
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Speaker 3: They already have them in al Paso. Yeah, they have
11:40
Speaker 3: striker tanks out in or striker vehicles out in al Paso.
11:45
Speaker 3: So yeah, I mean it's it's already happening that they're
11:49
Speaker 3: using all those things. And you know, from a national
11:53
Speaker 3: security background, we are just blinding ourselves and hobbling ourselves.
11:59
Speaker 3: So we're at seeing in such an irresponsible manner that
12:02
Speaker 3: our former allies are not giving us any kind of
12:05
Speaker 3: intelligence about what kind of threats what's going on in
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Speaker 3: the world around us. We have dismantled the groups that
12:12
Speaker 3: we're monitoring things like Russian communications and Chinese communications with us,
12:17
Speaker 3: and we're sending these folks to look at the non
12:20
Speaker 3: existent quote immigrants invasions, and we're taking our soldiers and
12:26
Speaker 3: we're putting into work bringing up constantina wire for a
12:30
Speaker 3: non existent invasion instead of keeping them combat ready deployed
12:34
Speaker 3: around the country. So we are blinding ourselves and we
12:37
Speaker 3: are hobbling ourselves, and this can come back and really
12:42
Speaker 3: really hurt us.
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Speaker 5: What do you think, So what are you saying that
12:48
Speaker 5: they we talk about things that needs to be done.
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Speaker 5: What are organizations like yourself? Are they being threatened because
12:59
Speaker 5: I've heard at organizations now being corrected with funding being
13:03
Speaker 5: graduate or risk if they don't stop helping the migrants.
13:09
Speaker 3: Well, again, I really want to emphasize that we do
13:12
Speaker 3: not have people coming into the country right now, and
13:14
Speaker 3: so groups like Mission Border Hope you're.
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Speaker 4: A legal path. There are no migrants for them to serve.
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Speaker 3: So it's a non issue because there's nobody here.
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Speaker 7: So I got a.
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Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah, So the h I think I read to
13:35
Speaker 3: me about the average the United States has been there
13:38
Speaker 3: for more than ten years, and they've paid taxes.
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Speaker 4: For every one of those years.
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Speaker 3: Taxes for which they are not eligible to receive any benefits.
13:47
Speaker 3: And yeah, this is absolutely totally a hoax. And you know,
13:52
Speaker 3: it's amazing how many spaces you'll go where they have
13:55
Speaker 3: signs that say help needed, help needed, help needed. And
13:58
Speaker 3: you know, here I'm on the border where people aren't
14:00
Speaker 3: quite literally dying to work, and yet we're not making
14:05
Speaker 3: out a possibility.
14:08
Speaker 4: Not.
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Speaker 3: In fact, we're we're nagging on our promises because we
14:11
Speaker 3: offered temporary protect the status to so many people, and
14:14
Speaker 3: people who thought they were in the country legally are
14:17
Speaker 3: being told that.
14:18
Speaker 4: The status they had was the vote.
14:20
Speaker 3: And so it's really panicking folks because they exhausted all
14:25
Speaker 3: of their resources to get to the United States and
14:28
Speaker 3: now they've lost everything.
14:32
Speaker 5: Yeah, they're going on with The Biden administration had held
14:38
Speaker 5: visas for people that want to stay in the United
14:40
Speaker 5: States if they fill out the paperwork, they don't know
14:43
Speaker 5: the background. But the Trump administration has recently revoked all
14:51
Speaker 5: those visas.
14:52
Speaker 7: So what are those people to do?
14:57
Speaker 4: And I don't think they know what that's going to do.
15:01
Speaker 4: I know there's a lot of fear. I know there's
15:03
Speaker 4: a lot of.
15:03
Speaker 3: Anxiety, and there's a lot of confusions because you know,
15:07
Speaker 3: the phrase I hear a bunch is like, oh, we
15:09
Speaker 3: came the right way. Well, that carpet got rolled up
15:13
Speaker 3: and run through a shredder.
15:14
Speaker 4: It doesn't exist anymore.
15:16
Speaker 3: So there's quite literally no right way to come.
15:21
Speaker 4: To the United States right now.
15:22
Speaker 3: We've taken away all of the options and I don't
15:27
Speaker 3: know what we're going to do, but I can tell
15:29
Speaker 3: you this. Our birth rate here in the United States
15:32
Speaker 3: is declining. And if we want to have people to
15:36
Speaker 3: work in our restaurants and.
15:38
Speaker 4: You know, work at our hospitals, work at our hotels,
15:42
Speaker 4: take the food that we eat, build.
15:44
Speaker 3: The houses that we live in, we need to have
15:47
Speaker 3: people in this country. And by making it so inhospitable
15:52
Speaker 3: we're going to have a situation where we don't have food,
15:54
Speaker 3: we don't have houses, and we don't have anybody to
15:57
Speaker 3: work in our hospital to take care of our elders.
15:59
Speaker 3: Were going to be in a really bad position, and
16:02
Speaker 3: we're heading there really fast.
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Speaker 5: How can people find out about your organization and how
16:07
Speaker 5: they can get involved?
16:10
Speaker 3: Yeah, well, we're online www dot Fondetta Federation dot org,
16:15
Speaker 3: and we're also on Facebook, Facebook dot com, slash Fontetta Federations, TikTok, Instagram, Frontetta,
16:23
Speaker 3: like Border Federation, and you can also see the groups
16:26
Speaker 3: that we're partnered with as well as the organizations that
16:29
Speaker 3: we're a part of. And everyone has like a slightly
16:33
Speaker 3: different way of dealing with the situation, working on the situation,
16:37
Speaker 3: helping with the situation. And I take a look at
16:40
Speaker 3: our partner organizations, you'll see some of that.
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Speaker 1: That was America Garcia Grenwall a member of the Fonteta Federation.
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Speaker 1: Their organization can be contacted at Fonteta Federation at gmail
16:53
Speaker 1: dot com. Fontera is f R O N T e
16:58
Speaker 1: R a federation all put together at gmail dot com. Civic, religious,
17:04
Speaker 1: and other groups are convening today Sunday at Downtown City
17:09
Speaker 1: Hall in Houston to protest the convicted felon's cruel, corrupt,
17:15
Speaker 1: and incompetent administrations attack on civil rights and human rights.
17:22
Speaker 1: Reverend James Dixon, president of the local NAACP, is leading
17:26
Speaker 1: the rally.
17:27
Speaker 6: Very good, Thank you very much for having me on, Richard.
17:30
Speaker 6: Always appreciate you.
17:32
Speaker 8: And we are suddenly passionate about this coming Sunday. It's
17:37
Speaker 8: Houston United for Justice, the Houston United for Justice rally
17:42
Speaker 8: taking place downtown at City Hall March the second, Sunday,
17:46
Speaker 8: March second, at three o'clock in the afternoon. And this
17:51
Speaker 8: is a diverse collaboration of leader safe leaders, civic leaders,
17:57
Speaker 8: elected officials, justice leaders, community activists, and we're leading all
18:04
Speaker 8: of our constituencies to come together with one voice, UH,
18:08
Speaker 8: standing up, speaking up and speaking UH stands up, stand up,
18:12
Speaker 8: speak up. And because now it's a time for us
18:17
Speaker 8: to unite against the unjust uh executive orders and policies
18:24
Speaker 8: that are coming from this president administration.
18:28
Speaker 9: So what he said Sunday, March second, at three pm
18:32
Speaker 9: at City Hall, and I know just your thoughts right
18:35
Speaker 9: quick on the President and the leader of Ukraine.
18:42
Speaker 7: Of Zelensky and the talk, the talk.
18:47
Speaker 2: Around the world.
18:48
Speaker 5: So to speak right now.
18:51
Speaker 8: Well, let me tell you we are in a what
18:54
Speaker 8: I believe, uh it.
18:58
Speaker 6: Could be a very serious time. Uh.
19:03
Speaker 8: You know, I can't even explain. I don't have words explained. Uh.
19:10
Speaker 8: The vitrial that's happening between global leaders like our president
19:14
Speaker 8: and the president of Ukraim, it's almost uh uh as
19:18
Speaker 8: if there is an intent to provoke uh the president
19:22
Speaker 8: of Ukraine, to insult and to uh because you know,
19:27
Speaker 8: the kind of reactions that I think are are destructive
19:31
Speaker 8: and detrimental. This is not the kind of leadership we
19:35
Speaker 8: need at a time like this, when we should be
19:38
Speaker 8: looking for how we uh work towards a peaceful world.
19:44
Speaker 8: It seems that as an intent to work towards an
19:47
Speaker 8: inequitable uh world where there is no there is no
19:54
Speaker 8: there are no.
19:54
Speaker 6: Parents for peace.
19:55
Speaker 8: I'm searching for words because uh you know this, I
20:03
Speaker 8: mean beliving this president, uh you know, be be thankful
20:08
Speaker 8: and uh be as if there has to be a
20:12
Speaker 8: bound down and uh accusing him of gambling with.
20:16
Speaker 6: The World War three.
20:18
Speaker 8: I mean, this is the kind of folking that is
20:21
Speaker 8: not healthy for diplomatic uh interactions. And I think Americans
20:28
Speaker 8: are going to have to start speaking out and speaking
20:30
Speaker 8: together about about this. It does not represent what I
20:34
Speaker 8: think is the highest speaking that you'd be coming from
20:37
Speaker 8: the over office.
20:38
Speaker 7: And also you know that's not the only thing we
20:41
Speaker 7: talked about civil rights and the person they put in
20:44
Speaker 7: charge of the civil rights as a rector of going
20:46
Speaker 7: against civil rights. And also the new.
20:49
Speaker 4: The new.
20:51
Speaker 5: Head of the FBI and his uh definitely lutor. You know,
20:57
Speaker 5: these these are people that look the way to civil
21:01
Speaker 5: rights and human rights.
21:04
Speaker 2: Uh.
21:05
Speaker 5: How does that?
21:06
Speaker 7: How does that affect us?
21:08
Speaker 6: You know when you look to.
21:09
Speaker 7: The future of things that happen, you know, pose totalities
21:12
Speaker 7: all and racism and.
21:14
Speaker 8: Real but very very very plainly, it is uh a
21:20
Speaker 8: clear message that administration intends to unravel and reverse all of.
21:28
Speaker 6: The gains of the still rights era. AH. And UH
21:33
Speaker 6: there is no other way to read that.
21:35
Speaker 8: Uh, that this administration is completely adverse to beyond it insensitive,
21:42
Speaker 8: but being directly adverse to UH Voting Rights Act UH
21:48
Speaker 8: and equity and equality that directly adverse to it. And
21:55
Speaker 8: and the people that he surrounded us that with and
21:57
Speaker 8: put given these power positions have proven track records of
22:02
Speaker 8: being racist, to.
22:04
Speaker 6: Be frank, and.
22:06
Speaker 8: So when you hire racists and give them a racist power.
22:10
Speaker 8: You expect that person those individuals to produce policies and
22:17
Speaker 8: that policies execute policies that would exemplify that person's character.
22:25
Speaker 4: UH.
22:26
Speaker 8: Listen, in the social justice civil rights world, we are
22:29
Speaker 8: very keenly aware for what this means. I'm just astounded
22:35
Speaker 8: that there has not been more public outcry from the
22:40
Speaker 8: broader swap of America's leadership.
22:43
Speaker 6: UH.
22:43
Speaker 8: I'm I'm I'm flabbagastied. I'm and I'm deeply disturbed by
22:48
Speaker 8: the lack of response from faith leaders, Christian leaders, church
22:54
Speaker 8: leaders worldly I mean leaders who know the truth and
22:58
Speaker 8: who can see vividly clearly that this administration UH is
23:04
Speaker 8: bent on uh implementing the tenants of Project two in
23:09
Speaker 8: twenty five and which are clearly discriminatory and oppressive and
23:16
Speaker 8: UH indigoted. But today, UH, we have not heard from
23:23
Speaker 8: the most prominent voices in uh the faith community around
23:27
Speaker 8: this nation.
23:28
Speaker 6: That's disturbing.
23:29
Speaker 8: UH. I think that there should be faithly that's business
23:32
Speaker 8: leaders who are saying, wait just a moment, UH, these
23:36
Speaker 8: especially those UH, but Richard, who you know, some of
23:40
Speaker 8: these churches have their own m LK services and they
23:43
Speaker 8: they they logged the name doctor Martin, the King's junior.
23:47
Speaker 8: And and they profess that they not that they're not racist,
23:52
Speaker 8: that they want to see an equitable society within Now
23:56
Speaker 8: would be the time for them to be speaking up
23:58
Speaker 8: saying to this president, you're acting contrary to what UH
24:04
Speaker 8: liberty and justice for all looks like.
24:06
Speaker 6: And uh, uh.
24:09
Speaker 8: We are very concerned and UH and I'm putting it
24:11
Speaker 8: mildly because we understand that uh, these moves H with
24:17
Speaker 8: these individuals are designed to take our nation uh decades
24:22
Speaker 8: in reverse, decades in reverse, and people will suffer for it,
24:27
Speaker 8: not just African American people and not just Hispanics, but
24:30
Speaker 8: uh for a white and other and the individuals will
24:33
Speaker 8: suffer as a result of these uh, these policies.
24:38
Speaker 7: So the demonstration and protests on Sunday is the demonstration
24:43
Speaker 7: about protecting our civil rights and UH and what else.
24:49
Speaker 8: It's not protecting human rights, civil rights and citizenship rights
24:53
Speaker 8: and uh and in each of those categories there are
24:56
Speaker 8: cleftrift things.
24:58
Speaker 7: Uh.
24:58
Speaker 8: It seems like every other day there's a new uh
25:01
Speaker 8: executive order or new action on behalf of this administration.
25:05
Speaker 8: UH that evidences uh that human rights, civil rights and
25:09
Speaker 8: UH and citizenship rights mean nothing to this administration.
25:14
Speaker 6: Uh. So the demonstration certnder is about that. Uh.
25:17
Speaker 8: You know, we're dealing with how do we preserve d
25:20
Speaker 8: E I the diversity, equity and inclusion.
25:24
Speaker 6: How do we deal with that?
25:25
Speaker 8: Uh? And the fact that we've got now corporations uh
25:31
Speaker 8: that are not part of the federal construct uh deciding
25:35
Speaker 8: not to continue uh the I as a part of
25:39
Speaker 8: their their practice, their corporate practices at policies.
25:43
Speaker 6: That's a problem. UH. And the misrepresentation of the I. Uh.
25:49
Speaker 8: The truth of the matter is, you know, uh d
25:54
Speaker 8: E I as was affirmative action, was put in place
25:57
Speaker 8: to try and began to repair damage just done by
26:02
Speaker 8: the disparities that has existed for centuries in our country
26:07
Speaker 8: because even the most qualified minorities and women have not
26:12
Speaker 8: been given opportunities to have access to certain employment and education.
26:18
Speaker 6: It has not been the lack of merit.
26:22
Speaker 8: That is disinformation, misinformation and wrongfully misleading.
26:26
Speaker 6: So we're going to argue for that, and we've got proof.
26:30
Speaker 8: There's too much evidence that shows that when America is
26:35
Speaker 8: operating giving all of us an opportunities to express our gifts, talents,
26:40
Speaker 8: and skills, we all make America better together, we all
26:44
Speaker 8: make Americas more successful together. We all make America more
26:49
Speaker 8: productive together. But elimiting direct divers inclusion means that these
26:57
Speaker 8: are policies of exclusion, and this administration's intent get to
27:03
Speaker 8: exclude blacks, exclude browns, exclude, exclude women, exclude the disable.
27:09
Speaker 6: This be a.
27:10
Speaker 8: Positive exclusion, which mean that we've been excluded from the
27:14
Speaker 8: American dream, excluded from equal opportunities.
27:18
Speaker 6: And that's the methods we've gone. We'll be communicating on Sunday.
27:22
Speaker 1: The rally is today Sunday afternoon at three pm. You
27:26
Speaker 1: still have time to make it and the location is
27:29
Speaker 1: at City Hall in downtown Houston. Happy Holidays from the
27:35
Speaker 1: People's News. All of us here hope that you are
27:40
Speaker 1: enjoying a RESTful holiday with friends and family while you're
27:45
Speaker 1: considering your end of year giving. Why not go to
27:49
Speaker 1: KPFT dot org select donate now, scroll down to the
27:53
Speaker 1: bottom of the list and select the People's News. Happy Holidays.
28:01
Speaker 1: The Texas Legislative session is over and a lot got
28:06
Speaker 1: done and a lot didn't get done. To help us
28:09
Speaker 1: sort out the good from the bad, we talked to
28:12
Speaker 1: Raoul Shrevanissen, Director of Government Performance and Fiscal Policy with
28:17
Speaker 1: Texas twenty thirty six.
28:20
Speaker 10: You know, you go into every session and there's always
28:25
Speaker 10: different issues that generate consternation for both sides of the aisle.
28:30
Speaker 10: That I mean, I think if there was a takeaway
28:32
Speaker 10: on this session in terms of what got done and
28:37
Speaker 10: what was positive, I mean the legislature did. It was
28:42
Speaker 10: clear that they prioritized a lot of the fundamentals around
28:46
Speaker 10: infrastructure and trying to strengthen our workforce, and that came
28:51
Speaker 10: through with the investments they made in the state budget,
28:54
Speaker 10: specifically big moves around investing water infrastructure and the one
29:02
Speaker 10: point seven billion dollars and new dollars as well as
29:05
Speaker 10: the one billion dollars and dedicated funding that will be
29:08
Speaker 10: before voters this November. And I think, you know, we're
29:12
Speaker 10: talking about workforce and education. There's the money that was
29:16
Speaker 10: put towards HB two, the eight point five billion dollars,
29:20
Speaker 10: and how as well as you know, the money that
29:23
Speaker 10: will go towards improving TSTC Texas State Technical College and
29:28
Speaker 10: allowing them to have the capital needs to expand their
29:31
Speaker 10: career technology program, career in technical education programming.
29:36
Speaker 11: On that same on that same end, teachers are still
29:40
Speaker 11: these teachers Union have stated that we're still behind on
29:44
Speaker 11: pay because it took so long to try to even
29:48
Speaker 11: get teachers a raise.
29:52
Speaker 10: And I mean, I understand that. I know that the
29:55
Speaker 10: budget in HB two, sorry excuse me for HB two,
29:59
Speaker 10: that the the plans to include over four billion dollars
30:03
Speaker 10: of that for pay raises. In terms of how that's allocated,
30:07
Speaker 10: I know that there was a debate on how that
30:10
Speaker 10: ends up and where that how that's allocated through the
30:13
Speaker 10: various methods that they have, things like the teacher and centemlotment.
30:17
Speaker 10: But you know, I know that, uh you know again
30:21
Speaker 10: this is these are these decisions that the legislators made
30:24
Speaker 10: in terms of trying to decide how to allocate those resources,
30:28
Speaker 10: you know, in terms of those specific kind of pots
30:32
Speaker 10: of money and different priorities within that area. One of
30:36
Speaker 10: the biggest things that came out of this legislator session
30:38
Speaker 10: was vouchers, the vouncer program, and that got passed. That
30:43
Speaker 10: was one of the that was one of the Governor's
30:45
Speaker 10: main one of his main sticking points this this session
30:50
Speaker 10: was they get vouchers passed. That's right, that's right, and
30:56
Speaker 10: and they were able to do that.
30:58
Speaker 11: But how is that gonna in fact. I mean a
31:01
Speaker 11: lot of schools, especially public schools, are scared that that's
31:04
Speaker 11: going to cut their budget as far as operating, especially
31:08
Speaker 11: Houston Independent School District here in Houston.
31:11
Speaker 6: Mm hmmm.
31:12
Speaker 10: No, I think a lot of how that is going
31:16
Speaker 10: to work out. I mean, the reality is this is
31:21
Speaker 10: this is the first time and you know they're putting
31:24
Speaker 10: in there's one billion dollars that's initially going to be
31:28
Speaker 10: going into this, and I mean, I think a lot
31:32
Speaker 10: of it will just depend on how what implementation looks like.
31:37
Speaker 10: Because like I said, it's it is a new program.
31:40
Speaker 10: But I think I mean, I hate to say it,
31:44
Speaker 10: but I mean, well it's kind of a we'll see
31:47
Speaker 10: how this will go. I mean, you know, the bill
31:50
Speaker 10: passed obviously, like the legislature was a different composition this
31:54
Speaker 10: time that was more open to passing this priority. Know,
32:00
Speaker 10: like I said, I think we're gonna have to wait
32:02
Speaker 10: and see how implementation of that of of the educational
32:06
Speaker 10: Stati's account program will go.
32:09
Speaker 11: This is an extremely conservative legislative session we passed. Also,
32:14
Speaker 11: we also passed some laws bills are dealing with religion,
32:19
Speaker 11: especially one that that Garners putting the Ten Commandments in schools,
32:26
Speaker 11: which is gonna immediately get lawsuits file as soon as
32:31
Speaker 11: they try to put that in schools, even though the
32:34
Speaker 11: way it's practiced, somebody has to donate the scriptures or
32:39
Speaker 11: whatever to put in those schools. You know what, other
32:42
Speaker 11: what other what other with the other controversial bills that
32:45
Speaker 11: would pass along that line, that or that people would
32:49
Speaker 11: be upset about. Oh, also having prayer time.
32:54
Speaker 10: I mean a lot of I mean, a lot of
32:57
Speaker 10: what we've focused on has been more towards kind of
33:00
Speaker 10: improving systems at the state level. And so I mean
33:04
Speaker 10: to the extent you know, there was a lot of
33:06
Speaker 10: legislations that generated a lot of controversy. You mentioned some
33:10
Speaker 10: of them. There were a lot of initiatives related to
33:12
Speaker 10: DEI and other social and other types of programs that
33:21
Speaker 10: are not programs but issues that had some more clearly partisan,
33:29
Speaker 10: more clearly partisan breakdowns on how people generally support it.
33:36
Speaker 10: I mean, truthfully, like I said, I think our focus
33:40
Speaker 10: is more on like trying to on working, like I said,
33:44
Speaker 10: a lot of government, how to improve government and the
33:46
Speaker 10: systems that are there. But I mean, to your point,
33:49
Speaker 10: there was a lot of stuff that was controversial and
33:54
Speaker 10: had very strong partisan, very sharp partisan divide on those
34:01
Speaker 10: given legislative issues. But I mean, I mean you mentioned
34:04
Speaker 10: some of them, and I mean, you know, without trying
34:10
Speaker 10: to be too glib, but it is a very it is.
34:14
Speaker 10: I think it's a reflection of the electoral makeup of
34:19
Speaker 10: the or the makeup of the chambers and the leadership
34:22
Speaker 10: in the state right now. And so I think that's
34:25
Speaker 10: what you see with the types of legislation that's moving forward.
34:29
Speaker 11: But immediately, like a lot of money is going to
34:32
Speaker 11: go to childcare here in Texas. That's a good thing.
34:39
Speaker 10: I really, oh for sure, for sure. Sorry, And I
34:44
Speaker 10: didn't mean to cut you off there.
34:45
Speaker 11: You can finish your question there, No, No, that was it.
34:47
Speaker 11: That was it. I mean, I'm just I'm saying that
34:49
Speaker 11: a lot of money eight point five billion dollars is
34:52
Speaker 11: going into the school for school tournament, which is you know,
34:58
Speaker 11: as a positive that came out of the session.
35:01
Speaker 10: Yeah, And there was another one hundred million dollars that
35:04
Speaker 10: was added for increased access for subsidized childcare. But legislators
35:13
Speaker 10: trying to figure out how to solve the issues of
35:16
Speaker 10: and have some more long term solutions to how to
35:19
Speaker 10: deal with our childcare issues. Excuse me across the state.
35:23
Speaker 10: And you know, we're some bills that were passed to
35:27
Speaker 10: try to dive into that, including some to form this
35:30
Speaker 10: quad agency initiative as well as others to improve the
35:34
Speaker 10: data interoperability among the relevant you know, education and helping
35:39
Speaker 10: human service, some workforce agencies that are all kind of
35:42
Speaker 10: touching this ecosystem of childcare as well. So that's something
35:46
Speaker 10: to look out for over the next few years because again,
35:50
Speaker 10: I think there's a lot of interest in trying to
35:52
Speaker 10: address that those problems as well.
35:57
Speaker 11: In higher education, how was it, I was a lot
36:00
Speaker 11: of schools, not you know, with the exception of let's
36:03
Speaker 11: say University of Texas system and the Texas and m system,
36:07
Speaker 11: A lot of schools were fighting for extra funding for
36:11
Speaker 11: their schools. And how did that go?
36:14
Speaker 10: I think the way I mean with higher education funding,
36:18
Speaker 10: I think, uh, it's it's hard to generalize in a
36:23
Speaker 10: general sense. I mean, there was there's always been a
36:25
Speaker 10: general pushback on a lot of what are deemed at
36:27
Speaker 10: special special items and so you know, higher education institutions
36:32
Speaker 10: and those are the things that they'll go with the
36:34
Speaker 10: regular formula and see structure that the legislature uh works
36:40
Speaker 10: around in terms of funding higher rage for the four
36:43
Speaker 10: year institutions and for for for four year institutions as
36:48
Speaker 10: well as excuse me, my health related institutions as well.
36:52
Speaker 10: But you know some of the notable things in higher education.
36:56
Speaker 10: I mean, we the legislature last session, UH a big
37:02
Speaker 10: reform of val we fund community colleges to a system
37:05
Speaker 10: that would be based on outcomes that were more tied
37:08
Speaker 10: to regional and state workforce needs. And that legislation that
37:15
Speaker 10: passed with huge bipartisan agreement last time intact, excuse me, unanimously.
37:22
Speaker 10: And so when you're looking this session, they followed up
37:26
Speaker 10: by ensuring that system. They passed the bill to for
37:29
Speaker 10: the refined the definitions and kind of tweaked the refinements
37:33
Speaker 10: to those formulas, and they showed a commitment to that
37:36
Speaker 10: those finance reforms by fully funding it with over two
37:39
Speaker 10: point five billion dollars to fully fund that and the
37:42
Speaker 10: existing outcomes that the community colleges have already shown in
37:47
Speaker 10: the last two years since the bill became law. Also,
37:51
Speaker 10: the legislature put in money were up to one point
37:55
Speaker 10: three billion dollars more for university research in the Texas
37:59
Speaker 10: University Fund, which was a pre by voters last session
38:03
Speaker 10: or last in November twenty three, and this was to
38:07
Speaker 10: help many of our up and coming research universities that
38:13
Speaker 10: aren't you know, in the in the ut that can't
38:16
Speaker 10: access the part University Fund the way a ut R
38:18
Speaker 10: a M can. But and so this Texas University Fund,
38:23
Speaker 10: they have put in some contingency money for up to
38:28
Speaker 10: one point three billion dollars and the two for the
38:31
Speaker 10: next two universities that will be qualifying that are expected
38:34
Speaker 10: to qualify to be eligible for that research dollars. And
38:39
Speaker 10: so our current understanding is that Texas State is going
38:42
Speaker 10: to be one of those that will be newly eligible
38:44
Speaker 10: as well as Texas A and I Corpus Christie. And
38:47
Speaker 10: these are really big investments in in university research and
38:54
Speaker 10: trying to you know, strengthen our university research ecosystem in Texas.
39:01
Speaker 10: So that's that's exciting. And like I said, I mean
39:05
Speaker 10: that continued commitment to community college finance is also very promising.
39:12
Speaker 10: And trying to have a more a higher education system
39:18
Speaker 10: that's more responsive to what people need as well as
39:22
Speaker 10: the labor markets, both a regional and state level need.
39:26
Speaker 11: When will that hurt that we're adding we're for the
39:31
Speaker 11: smaller schools in general, will they will they see some
39:34
Speaker 11: of that money also.
39:37
Speaker 10: In terms of community colleges or four years vote. Well,
39:41
Speaker 10: so it's it's it's different sets of money. I mean
39:44
Speaker 10: for community colleges, it's it's this is a formula system
39:47
Speaker 10: and so it's based on projections. The old community college
39:50
Speaker 10: system was just with ninety five percent based on enrollment,
39:55
Speaker 10: and so the incentive was just to fill up the classrooms.
39:58
Speaker 10: I mean, to oversimplified a bit. Then with four your institutions,
40:03
Speaker 10: the the formulas are I mean, like the the money
40:08
Speaker 10: is more focused on on on research and that's to
40:12
Speaker 10: bring again, uh, some of the more advanced research and uh,
40:17
Speaker 10: some of the best and brightest to our university campus
40:20
Speaker 10: is not just at UT and A and M, but
40:22
Speaker 10: again to our other up and coming uh you know
40:25
Speaker 10: peer one and uh near near tier one institutions across
40:29
Speaker 10: the state. You know, like University of Houston is part
40:33
Speaker 10: of our is one of the main beneficiaries of this
40:36
Speaker 10: new Texas University Fund and uh, I mean, and so
40:41
Speaker 10: it's been a big deal to have them and having
40:43
Speaker 10: this additional money in that University fund will actually you know,
40:46
Speaker 10: when the tech when Texas State or when Texas A
40:49
Speaker 10: and M Corpus Christians you know, meets the the requisite levels,
40:53
Speaker 10: the milestones to be eligible for that funding. It won't
40:57
Speaker 10: end up being a deal where everybody there's more people
40:59
Speaker 10: fighting over that same size pie. Having that additional money
41:03
Speaker 10: in the fine will ensure the pies bigger, ensure that
41:08
Speaker 10: we're just you know, able to support more research at
41:12
Speaker 10: these institutions.
41:13
Speaker 1: That was Raoul Shri Navison, Director of Government Performance and
41:17
Speaker 1: Fiscal Policy with Texas twenty thirty six. Texas twenty thirty
41:22
Speaker 1: six is a nonprofit public policy organization committed to building
41:26
Speaker 1: long term, data driven strategies to insert Texas's prosperity up
41:31
Speaker 1: to its bi centennial and beyond. They can be reached
41:34
Speaker 1: at Texas twenty thirty six dot org. This election, which
41:38
Speaker 1: saw historic voter turnout, is a harbinger for what's going
41:43
Speaker 1: to be happening in twenty twenty six. You cannot emphasize
41:48
Speaker 1: enough how dramatic this was and how much of a
41:53
Speaker 1: blue tsunami is coming in twenty twenty six. Doctor Michael
41:58
Speaker 1: Adams is founding directly of the executive Master of Public
42:02
Speaker 1: Administration Program Barbara Jordan Public Policy and Research Center at
42:06
Speaker 1: Texas Southern University in Houston, Texas. He analyzed this election.
42:13
Speaker 12: We know that within a fifteen month period, we saw
42:17
Speaker 12: the untimely death in some instances of Congresswoman Sheila Jackson
42:24
Speaker 12: Lee and also Congressman Sylvester Turner, and that created an
42:32
Speaker 12: environment where Sheila Jackson Lee was on the ballot and
42:38
Speaker 12: therefore the precinct judges had to select a replacement, and
42:43
Speaker 12: that election, we saw Sylvester Turner being picked by the
42:49
Speaker 12: precinct judges to be on the ballot for the twenty
42:53
Speaker 12: to twenty four, twenty twenty four elections special election for
42:58
Speaker 12: that and so he won that that seat. But also
43:04
Speaker 12: the term of Silo Jackson Lee had to be completed
43:09
Speaker 12: by someone and hoard her daughter, Erica Lee Carter, was
43:13
Speaker 12: chosen by the voters to that.
43:15
Speaker 2: So if you take.
43:17
Speaker 12: Into account all of these moving pieces, as I would
43:22
Speaker 12: describe them, you get a lot of confusion within the
43:26
Speaker 12: ancient congressional district, I would surmise to say, amongst the
43:30
Speaker 12: voters and the residents of this district. And then within
43:36
Speaker 12: a fifteen month period you see the passing of two
43:40
Speaker 12: congressional members in terms of those who occupied the ancient
43:44
Speaker 12: congressional district named the Chilo Jackson Lee Into Best Attorneys
43:49
Speaker 12: and March, that seat became vacant and the governor chose
43:57
Speaker 12: to schedule a special election on November fourth of this year.
44:04
Speaker 12: And so that's how we got to this point and
44:07
Speaker 12: we see a wide field of candidates who wanting to
44:13
Speaker 12: fill in the gap for being the congress person for
44:19
Speaker 12: the ancient congressional district. Specifically, there were sixteen people.
44:23
Speaker 2: Who signed up.
44:23
Speaker 12: There were more than that that some of them chose
44:26
Speaker 12: not to run. So we had sixteen candidates on the
44:30
Speaker 12: ballots on Tuesday of this week, and out of those
44:35
Speaker 12: two candidates, we knew that with such a wide feel,
44:39
Speaker 12: it would it guaranteed a runoff. And the polling I
44:44
Speaker 12: think was very clear, and kudos to my friends over
44:48
Speaker 12: at the Hobby School, I think they were spot on
44:51
Speaker 12: and within the margin of era.
44:53
Speaker 2: They predicted that Christian Minefie, who is.
44:58
Speaker 12: The current attorney county attorney, and Amanda Edwards were were
45:03
Speaker 12: the front runners. And that's what we saw on election
45:08
Speaker 12: night when the results were finally tabulated. Right, and I
45:12
Speaker 12: don't know, I hadn't checked the county site this morning
45:15
Speaker 12: whether they are official, but it looks as though Christian
45:19
Speaker 12: Menifee gonnered twenty nine percent of the vote, Amanda Edward
45:23
Speaker 12: twenty five six percent of the.
45:25
Speaker 2: Vote, and.
45:29
Speaker 12: Jill Unda Jones, who is currently serving in the Texas
45:32
Speaker 12: State Legislature, she came in and captured nineteen.
45:37
Speaker 2: Percentage points of the vote. So that's that's what we
45:40
Speaker 2: are now.
45:41
Speaker 12: If you want to pivot and talk about what the
45:44
Speaker 12: issues were in this campaign, it seems as though the candidates,
45:49
Speaker 12: all of them if you look at their ads and
45:52
Speaker 12: those that had television ads, namely Christian Menafie and Amanda Edwards,
45:58
Speaker 12: because they raised more more than one point five million dollars,
46:02
Speaker 12: and I think Jelunda Jones did fairly well with a
46:06
Speaker 12: budget and campaign finance report revealing that she had about
46:10
Speaker 12: three hundred thousand dollars. All right, So they all talked
46:14
Speaker 12: about fighting or using Donald.
46:17
Speaker 2: Trump as a fall so to speak.
46:20
Speaker 12: Because the Hibby survey, I'll go back to that when
46:23
Speaker 12: they talked about the issues that were important to the
46:27
Speaker 12: residents of the district.
46:30
Speaker 2: To me, it was kind of striking that.
46:31
Speaker 12: Civil liberties and civil rights was at the top of
46:33
Speaker 12: the list, not affordability, not kitchen table issues. Such as
46:39
Speaker 12: jobs and access to capital and these kinds of things
46:44
Speaker 12: civil rights and civiliverties. And what that allowed me to
46:48
Speaker 12: conclude was that the residents of the eighty Congressional District
46:54
Speaker 12: clearly believed that the current presidential administration, namely Donald Trump,
46:59
Speaker 12: is an existential threat to their well being.
47:03
Speaker 2: In their future and our Paul to see if you
47:06
Speaker 2: have a follow up.
47:08
Speaker 5: Yeah, it seemed like the money people with Menifee and Edwards,
47:15
Speaker 5: they were able to get the downtown money which as
47:18
Speaker 5: Julanda wasn't wasn't able to and Julanda was speaking to
47:21
Speaker 5: issues dealing with the community more than Menifee and Edwards.
47:28
Speaker 5: Am I looking at that right, Well, you.
47:30
Speaker 12: Can, and I think you would have to just aggregate
47:33
Speaker 12: that and break that down. I would say that because
47:36
Speaker 12: Jelanda Jones and some local media sources have suggested that
47:41
Speaker 12: even in the last election, there was a campaign in
47:43
Speaker 12: terms of criminal justice reform in terms of the judges,
47:46
Speaker 12: that she had taken money from that and been a
47:48
Speaker 12: member of the Texas State Legislature. I wouldn't necessarily say
47:54
Speaker 12: that all of her funds came from small donations and
47:58
Speaker 12: these kinds of things, Just like we saw one candidate
48:01
Speaker 12: is Isaiah Martin, and I did them digging on that
48:06
Speaker 12: as well, and it seemed as though that was kind
48:09
Speaker 12: of misleading because it said that he had a million dollars.
48:11
Speaker 2: However, if you look at.
48:16
Speaker 12: What was happening there with his fundraising, is like he
48:19
Speaker 12: was buying funds. It's where you can use a company
48:23
Speaker 12: where you pay a certain amount of money and then
48:26
Speaker 12: they will do digital blasts for you and.
48:28
Speaker 2: Then the money will will come in.
48:30
Speaker 12: And so I think that was a somewhat I don't
48:32
Speaker 12: want to say disingenuous, but it's notwithstanding. So so no,
48:36
Speaker 12: I wouldn't clearly say that hers was community based and
48:41
Speaker 12: what have you. Now, I think Jelunda Jones is going
48:44
Speaker 12: to talk about it. She's she's she's benefit her. She's
48:47
Speaker 12: been out there and in many quarters, she could be
48:51
Speaker 12: described as being a kind of polarizing figure.
48:54
Speaker 2: And I think.
48:56
Speaker 12: It's my belief that Menifee Uh certainly sided to the
49:01
Speaker 12: county and some of the things he was better positioned
49:05
Speaker 12: and the people who endorsed him. Now he won the
49:09
Speaker 12: endorsement right, so I think all.
49:11
Speaker 2: Of that helped bring more money into him.
49:13
Speaker 12: Now he was endorsed by Jasmine Crockett and whether you
49:15
Speaker 12: like Jasmine Crockett or not, but Weekly Poland suggests that
49:20
Speaker 12: she's a very popular figure, uh, in particular in Texas,
49:23
Speaker 12: and I would surmise in the major urban areas and
49:27
Speaker 12: also amongst black people in particular.
49:32
Speaker 5: What do you what about these propositions that were as
49:36
Speaker 5: a matter of fact, actually before we talk about the props, uh,
49:40
Speaker 5: talk about the at large positions that were that were
49:44
Speaker 5: that were on on on the table.
49:46
Speaker 12: Yeah, yeah, they're at large position for the Houston City Council.
49:50
Speaker 2: We know that Letitia Plumber uh is leaving city council.
49:55
Speaker 12: She's opting to run for county judge and uh, that
49:59
Speaker 12: seat is open.
50:00
Speaker 2: And what we saw was Alexandra Hallundion.
50:06
Speaker 12: I can't think of her nagative excuse me now for that,
50:09
Speaker 12: but she is a lawyer with a major law firm.
50:14
Speaker 12: I think she came in first a percentage point ahead
50:17
Speaker 12: of Dwight Borkins, who is a long time politico in
50:22
Speaker 12: someone who is well known in the community, the black community.
50:26
Speaker 12: And I also believe that Borkins benefited from the fact
50:32
Speaker 12: of the special election because he lives in the ancient
50:37
Speaker 12: congressional district and some of the things that he touted
50:41
Speaker 12: in terms of food deserts and bringing in the ATB
50:44
Speaker 12: that we see right there on the two eighty eight
50:46
Speaker 12: quarter in the McGregor area that he touted himself as that.
50:51
Speaker 12: And we know that Dwight has one run from mayor
50:53
Speaker 12: before and he's a well known figure in buy so
50:56
Speaker 12: I think that helped him in that particular rate. So
50:59
Speaker 12: that's going into iron and so it's.
51:01
Speaker 2: Going to be interesting to see first.
51:04
Speaker 12: Of all and all of these when we talk about
51:05
Speaker 12: a runoff, you have to talk about getting your supporters
51:10
Speaker 12: back to the polls on runoff day.
51:13
Speaker 2: Now for the city Council to looks like that runoff.
51:15
Speaker 12: Will occur December thirteenth, and for the special election for
51:19
Speaker 12: the eighteenth Congressional district, that could be pushed back to
51:23
Speaker 12: January or even early February because there's a law that
51:27
Speaker 12: most people are not familiar with. It's called the MOVE Act,
51:31
Speaker 12: and it's a law enacted by Congress that stands for
51:33
Speaker 12: the Military Overseas Voter Empowerment Act and Act. That law
51:38
Speaker 12: mandates a forty five day canvas in period, and what
51:43
Speaker 12: I mean by canvas in period is counting the votes
51:45
Speaker 12: and certifying the ballot, and so that's up to the
51:49
Speaker 12: governor to schedule that election, the runoff for the city
51:53
Speaker 12: council position.
51:54
Speaker 2: The mayor will.
51:56
Speaker 12: Schedule that, and I'm suggesting that he will call that
52:00
Speaker 12: on December the thirteenth.
52:01
Speaker 2: So that's what we are. So he's not the mayor.
52:05
Speaker 5: I can understand the marriag getting it out of the
52:06
Speaker 5: way that the governor I don't know where, but no,
52:11
Speaker 5: wh Yeah, and.
52:13
Speaker 12: That's going to lead to a lot of confusion if
52:15
Speaker 12: the maps, the mid decade redistricting maps are upheld to
52:18
Speaker 12: be constitutional out in l Passo by the federal court,
52:22
Speaker 12: and we know that we will get an immediate appeal
52:25
Speaker 12: from from either side, the winn inside.
52:28
Speaker 2: Or the losing side. In terms of the losing side
52:31
Speaker 2: in particular, will will appeal directly to the US Supreme Court.
52:35
Speaker 12: And that's they don't have to go through the Thirteenth
52:38
Speaker 12: Circuit Court of Appeal in New Orleans because of this
52:42
Speaker 12: is the voting rights case.
52:43
Speaker 2: It can go directly to the US Supreme Court.
52:47
Speaker 5: Well, yeah, and we had one of the lowest turnouts
52:50
Speaker 5: for voting in the years. It seemed like he was
52:55
Speaker 5: getting lower and lower.
52:58
Speaker 12: Not necessarily in terms of of an off cycle kind
53:01
Speaker 12: of election or there's a special election, so you're gonna
53:04
Speaker 12: get a lower, lower voter voter turnout all right, Now,
53:08
Speaker 12: do we have a problem with turnout?
53:09
Speaker 2: Yes? How do we energize voters? What do we do? One,
53:12
Speaker 2: you can stay at.
53:13
Speaker 12: The top of the list, better politicians, better candidates, right,
53:16
Speaker 12: but there are a lot of things driving turnout.
53:18
Speaker 7: Wait wait, wait, hold hold on, man, old man.
53:21
Speaker 5: Not better candidates, more exciting candidates, because you you you
53:25
Speaker 5: can you can be it. You can be a better candidate.
53:28
Speaker 5: But if you if you're not exciting the electors, uh,
53:31
Speaker 5: they're not gonna come out. You know, you can be
53:34
Speaker 5: you know, the smartest dude in the house and running
53:38
Speaker 5: for office. But if you can't get the people excited
53:41
Speaker 5: to come and vote with you, then you're not you're
53:43
Speaker 5: spinning your wheels.
53:45
Speaker 2: Yeah, but better candidates, then you allow me. Now you
53:47
Speaker 2: sound like Barbara Walt Walter used to after the question.
53:51
Speaker 12: Answer it to right now, what I mean about candidates
53:54
Speaker 12: in terms of the messaging what we saw in New
53:56
Speaker 12: York for example, Uh, the biggest issue that we've had
53:59
Speaker 12: and I have a project, a civic engagement project that
54:03
Speaker 12: is designed is designed, excuse me, to increase a voter turnout.
54:09
Speaker 12: And the biggest challenge that we have as young people
54:11
Speaker 12: or gen Z people in terms of what do we motivate,
54:15
Speaker 12: how do we get them there better messaging?
54:17
Speaker 2: As if we look at.
54:18
Speaker 12: New York in terms of a progressive campaign, how do
54:21
Speaker 12: you resonate, how do you hone in on issues Bernie
54:25
Speaker 12: Sanders when he ran for president in terms of free,
54:29
Speaker 12: free college and these kinds of things, how do you motivate.
54:31
Speaker 2: When you talk about that?
54:33
Speaker 12: And if you look at even the Aight And Congressional
54:36
Speaker 12: district election, I was kind of surprised and I made
54:38
Speaker 12: this comment, why do these people just keep talking about
54:41
Speaker 12: fighting Donald Trump?
54:42
Speaker 2: And what else is on the table?
54:43
Speaker 12: Driving around the district and I know the district, well,
54:45
Speaker 12: I live in the district. You go down in the
54:47
Speaker 12: bottom and going back. And I told some chap when
54:51
Speaker 12: Barack Obama was elected, I said, well, look, we're.
54:53
Speaker 2: Gonna come back.
54:54
Speaker 12: You can take two thousand and eight, you come back
54:58
Speaker 12: at the end of two terms. If you he's successful,
55:02
Speaker 12: the bottom is gonna look the same basically, and it
55:04
Speaker 12: has been looking the same safe for gentrification. And so
55:09
Speaker 12: if you don't talk about these kinds of issues where
55:12
Speaker 12: you're impacting human life and the people who live there,
55:16
Speaker 12: and there's a lot of suffering. You can say that
55:18
Speaker 12: there's a social element there. If you don't talk about
55:22
Speaker 12: social equity, then you don't have the messaging. And I
55:26
Speaker 12: think the Democratic Party has been in search of that.
55:29
Speaker 12: And this is why we saw in New York and
55:32
Speaker 12: where they didn't say it was about the economy stupid,
55:35
Speaker 12: but man Johnny was able to javanize people around the
55:39
Speaker 12: affordability issue.
55:41
Speaker 2: And anybody who knows New York, you knows New.
55:43
Speaker 12: York is not a cheap place to live in. And
55:47
Speaker 12: you can talk about rent control, you can.
55:49
Speaker 2: Talk about free transportation.
55:51
Speaker 12: If you have a job, how do you get to work,
55:53
Speaker 12: and these kinds of things because and we know that
55:56
Speaker 12: there's a problem that most of the people, I want
55:58
Speaker 12: to say most of the people are centers of the
56:00
Speaker 12: folks that Eleen paid a transity, jumped, jumped the real.
56:05
Speaker 2: Interest points and what have you. So having seen all
56:09
Speaker 2: of that, he was able to tap.
56:10
Speaker 12: Into something and whether or not this was a bill,
56:14
Speaker 12: whether of what can happen in the midterm elections coming
56:17
Speaker 12: up for the Democrats and how they will position themselves
56:23
Speaker 12: and what have you.
56:24
Speaker 2: I don't know, but clearly it was something.
56:27
Speaker 12: I think it was a glaring indictment on the Trump
56:30
Speaker 12: administration and what we've seen in terms of with the
56:34
Speaker 12: shutdown of the American government. Said, I think it was
56:38
Speaker 12: a confluence of these kinds of things, and so you're
56:41
Speaker 12: going to have to talk about that if you're going
56:42
Speaker 12: to try to increase or grow.
56:45
Speaker 2: Voter voter turnout.
56:47
Speaker 1: That was doctor Michael Adams, founding director of the Executive
56:51
Speaker 1: Master of Public Administration Program Barbara Jordan Public Policy and
56:55
Speaker 1: Research Center at Texas Southern University in Houston, Texas. The
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57:55
Speaker 6: Thank you