Lone Star Democracy Builders Association

The candidates:

District 47:
* Eric Beverly
* Valinda Bolton
* Jason Earle (son of Ronnie)
* Royce LeMoine

District 48:
* Andy Brown
* Donna Howard
* Kathy Rider

Democratic Primary is March 7, 2006.

The questions posed were mainly about education -- funding and improving the quality -- and transportation. All thought that teachers salaries should be brought up to at least the national average, and many supported mentoring programs. All thought the way to finance our schools was through a broad-based business tax. Unsurprisingly, everyone also said that they were against toll roads (at least for existing roads).

Since the special election's going on in district 48 now, I'll start there.

Andy Brown: Can't run in the special election since he hasn't lived in the district long enough. Is totally being a dude and supporting the other candidates for the special, but is still running in the primary. He was very well spoken, and even brought along two new members to the DFT. His answers were concise and well within the time limits, even when being the only candidate to thank the DFT folks during his wrap-up. He's travelled his district, and speaks well about it ("it's a wealthy district, but supports public schools"). For rolling back prop 2.

Donna Howard: A nurse and former Eanes school board member. Also well spoken, but not quite so glib as Andy. Has submitted information to Sharp's committee about school funding. Wants "meaningful accountability" in schools, and spoke about closing the gap between ethnic groups (not a problem in her district, but nice to see she's interested about it). When asked about roads, she brought up the fact that the general problem is infrastructure, not just roads. Proud to be a "levelheaded liberal."

Kathy Rider: A social worker, family mediator, and former president of the Austin school board. Made special mention of a teacher mentoring program, and improving reading skills by the third-grade. Was brave enough to mention light rail by name when talking about transportation. With her background, I wished I'd have liked her better. While I trust that she'd be able to use her family mediation skills in the leg, she came across a little too much like a school principal for me to be comfortable about her.

District 48 handicapping: If I lived there, I'd pick Donna against Kathy for the special election. While both seem to be very qualified candidates, I think Donna has a better chance of firing people up. But I might switch to Andy for the primary.

And for District 47:

Eric Beverly: A former legislative aid and current government relations specialist. One of his specialties is rural policy. Besides the usual list, he also mentioned supporting job creation, and having good education support that. He supports "teaching how to think". And he mentioned "enhanced rail." He says that he has friends on both sides of the aisle, which would help deal with the current political realities of power distribution. Overall, he seems to know his stuff. But his speaking wasn't firing me up. He seems a much more capable policy person than a candidate.

Valinda Bolton: Has worked for Ann Richards and Kelly White, and has worked to support affordable housing and to prevent child abuse. Is against vouchers and charter schools. Thinks the people are more afraid of bad education than more taxes, and that the legislature has it backwards and needs to be awakened. Mentioned letting teachers teach, and supporting nutritional programs in schools to help fix our declining life expectancies. Also mentioned light rail by name, and is for a smart balance between density and sprawl. For rolling back Prop 2, supporting the environment, and fixing CHIP. Mentioned that being a female candidate is a positive in the district.

Jason Earle: Is against the "culture of corruption" and for health care and public safety. Gets kudos for asking for support from the crowd. Is against the TX transportation corridor. Took Strama's suggestion to repeat their names for each question to heart. Overall, seemed to be running his father's campaign against corruption instead of focusing on the schools. He didn't seem to be as on top of the issues as the other candidates.

Royce LeMoine: A former computer programmer and current lawyer -- the good kind working on family law and employment cases for workers. His wife is a teacher. Against artificial home appraisals for working around tax caps. Wants to get parents more involved in education. As for transportation, is for planning and carrying out plans (like the 20+ year old plan to widen 290 at the 'Y'). Would work to roll back Prop 2, bring back the Clean Air Act, and support parks and health insurance.

District 47 handicapping: Valinda comes out being the best at both policy and getting people fired up. Although I think Eric and Royce would also be good legislators, I'm not sure they've got the charisma to get elected. And Jason was a bit of a disappointment.

That said, I was very happy to see two groups of very good candidates. It would be fantastic if the Dems could find 3-4 candidates of the same caliber to run in each state district. And it was nice to see them all supporting each other and being positive.

And while it's on my mind: the question I forgot to ask was what were their plans for reining heath care costs, especially for small businesses. Yes, I'm quite biased. Seems to me that a broad-based biz tax to support education wouldn't be as much of a bite if it was offset by lower health-care costs.