Texas has taken some ribbing lately over comments made by Governor Perry that would have one believe Texas only elects the goofy ones.  Texas has 24 million citizens and we have good and bad in our state just like there is every other place but we really do have a lot of good, wonderful, friendly people in our state . 

Additionally, we also have the 12the largest economy in the world.  Even now, with the recession going on, our economy is still doing ok.  

I used to be involved in Texas politics and wanted to list 3 women  I have met who were/are involved in Texas politics just to show some of the good. 

Governor Ann Richards - (Gov. - Jan. 1991-Jan.1995)  This vital, amazing, funny, intelligent, beloved woman was a force in Texas politics for many years even before she became governor and continued to be a force afterwards.  Before she ran for office she helped elected many progressive politicians, most notably she helped elect Sarah Weddington, (who was 26 when she represented Jane Roe in Roe vs. Wade.) to the Texas House.

Ann Richards came to national prominence when she was State Treasurer with her keynote address at the 1988 Democratic National Convention.  Her famous line about Vice President Bush caught the national zeitgeist; “Poor George, he can’t help it.  He was born with a silver foot in his mouth”

As Governor  she accomplished many things, including; reforming the Texas prison system, tackled the school finance problem and implemented an economic revitalization plan that took Texas out of the economic slump it was in and put it on the upswing.   

A key belief for her and one thing she said over and over again is that when you bring people together at the table, specifically those who have never previously been at the table,  the conversation changes.  When people of color and women are added to the mix, the conversation becomes richer,  better and stronger for bringing different perspectives to the table.  Based on this belief, she busted the door of Texas government wide open and made appointments and hired people that had never before been included in such great numbers in Texas government. 

I had the honor and privilege of being a part of Governor Richards’ political team and boy, let me tell you it was an exciting time in Texas politics.  All our statewide office holders were mostly progressives and some were even populists!  Many, many people who worked for Governor Richards and the others at the time have continued to make positive contributions to their communities and our great state.  That is the legacy remains, because of Ann W. Richards, people who had never counted before now count and can have a voice.    

Cathy Bonner – Cathy worked for Governor Richards as the chief of the Texas Department of Commerce.   Since then Cathy has done lots of interesting things that have made a difference but there is one thing that will be her legacy for generations to come.

“Cathy Bonner's father died of cancer, and her mother successfully fought it. She had her own scare in 2003, and she watched her close friend and mentor, former Gov. Ann Richards, succumb to it, too.

The most stout of heart might have felt defeated by the disease, but in Ms. Bonner, adversity tapped her risk-taking philanthropic instincts. Against long odds, and in blazing speed, she led an effort to create the Cancer Prevention and Research Institute of Texas, then lobbied for funding, which came when Texas voters last year approved Proposition 15 to provide $3 billion for the project.” [1]

Cathy had the idea of the Cancer Institute, called 50 of the most powerful Texans to a meeting, including Lance Armstrong, got their support and then lobbied the Texas legislature to approve this effort all in  one session.  The voters then approved the funding in November 2007.  It was a spectacular effort, unprecedented in our state, any way you look at it.

Leticia Van de Putte – Leticia was a state representative for 9 years before she become a state senator from Bexar County (San Antonio) in 1999.  Senator Van de Putte has won many awards and received many accolades; a recent one is that she was the co-chair for the Democratic National Convention.   She is a mom, a wife and a pharmacist. 

Most importantly, she is a legislator, who even after 18 years, has never sold out.  She is a pragmatist who has managed to understand how to work with the Republicans and pass legislation that helps the citizens of Texas.   She has passed dozens of bills in the areas of health care, economic development, environmental protection, higher education and our state public school system and many other areas.  

“The defining moment of Van de Putte’s political career came in 2003, when, as chair of the Senate’s Democratic Caucus, she led a group of 11 Democratic senators on a 45-day, quorum-breaking exile in New Mexico, to protest a Republican redistricting effort widely seen as a brazen gerrymandering power grab”[2] 

Her name is being talked about as a possible U.S. Senate candidate or a gubernatorial candidate; we’ll see where she goes from here but she already has made a pronounced difference for the better in our state.

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There are lots more of course, women and men, who hold ideals about what government should be and can be for its citizens.  Politics is cyclical and Texas will once again elect more  of the  (soon if we look at the numbers in the big urban counties) kinds of people who hold progressive ideals.