GREETINGS FELLOW DEMOCRATS!





Office is closed Friday...

...Linda and Maggie are going to retired teacher meeting. Leave messages on phone.





We need you on Saturday...

Texas Democratic Women of the Brazos Valley Spring Meeting and Scholarship Presentation
May 3, 2008   -   11:30 am
Margarita Rocks, College Station

Men are welcome. We will have the restaurant to ourselves. We need you to come and celebrate. RSVP to bridgetbassett@suddenlink.net

Please plan to attend THIS SATURDAY if you're able. RSVP information is below. We encourage you to attend so we will have a majority present to vote to approve our new, proposed Bylaws, which are attached (copies will be available at meeting), AND ESPECIALLY to witness the 2008 TDW Scholarships that will be awarded to our two recipients from BHS & A&M Consolidated.

Non-alcoholic beverages, chips & salsa provided by TDW.
You may purchase lunch from the Margarita Rocks menu.

Please RSVP to bridgetbassett@suddenlink.net or 693-5768 if you plan to attend.

Thanks!





US Supreme Court Clears Way for Partisan Vote Suppression

Just because it’s Constitutional, doesn’t mean it’s right

The Republican leaning US Supreme Court upheld Indiana’s Voter Photo ID law in a 6 to 3 decision on Monday. ( Read the Ruling Here ) A majority approved the law despite the fact that experts from across the political spectrum have demonstrated that in-person voter impersonation is practically unheard of. In fact, the Court acknowledges that point, "The record contains no evidence of any such [in-person voter impersonation] fraud actually occurring in Indiana at any time in its history." (Source: Crawford V. Marion County Election Bd) The Court cited just two examples of in-person voter impersonation happening anywhere in the United States. In one, the Court was forced to look back to "Boss" Tweed and the 1868 New York City Elections. In the other, the Court went over 2,000 miles away to find a single example in Washington State. An excellent short summary of the case can be read here.

Essentially, in its Indiana decision, the Court ruled that a State may justify a law limiting the ability of an individual to vote simply by presuming the possibility that abuse or fraud might plausibly take place. Evidence of actual abuse or fraud is not required. At the same time, to overturn such a law, voters have the high burden of demonstrating that the law would cause widespread disruption and disenfranchisement.





Photo ID Laws Suppress Turnout

Experts have demonstrated that the Indiana photo ID law, like the proposed Texas photo ID law, suppresses the vote of the elderly, minorities and the poor. Nevertheless, partisan Republicans are pursuing photo ID laws in Texas, and throughout the country, purely for partisan gain.

In his scathing dissent, Justice David Souter writes:

Without a shred of evidence that in-person voter impersonation is a problem in the State, much less a crisis, Indiana has adopted one of the most restrictive photo identification requirements in the country. The State recognizes that tens of thousands of qualified voters lack the necessary federally issued or state-issued identification, but it insists on implementing the requirement immediately, without allowing a transition period for targeted efforts to distribute the required identification to individuals who need it. …. It is impossible to say, on this record, that the State’s interest in adopting its signally inhibiting photo identification requirement has been shown to outweigh the serious burdens it imposes on the right to vote.

...The State’s requirements here, that people without cars travel to a motor vehicle registry and that the poor who fail to do that get to their county seats within 10 days of every election, likewise translate into unjustified economic burdens uncomfortably close to the outright $1.50 fee we struck down 42 years ago. Like that fee, the onus of the Indiana law is illegitimate just because it correlates with no state interest so well as it does with the object of deterring poorer residents from exercising the franchise. (Crawford V. Marion County Election Bd. Souter, J., dissenting)





Texas Republicans May Exploit Decision

In 2007, Texas Republicans pushed an onerous photo ID bill that was ultimately blocked only because Senator Mario Gallegos literally risked his life to stay in the Senate chambers to vote against the bill. Since then, House Speaker Tom Craddick and harshly partisan Republican Leo Berman have telegraphed their intent to revive a Texas Photo ID bill in 2009. They likely will use the Indiana decision as justification for their partisan efforts.

Texas news outlets have been overwhelmingly against the Republican Photo ID bills and, hopefully, in light of the Indiana decision will renew their opposition and inform Texas voters of the harmful and partisan impact of the GOP efforts.





Texas Newspapers have already said "Keep this law out of Texas"

Each of the major daily papers and many smaller papers have penned an editorial against the voter suppression legislation including the:

Houston Chronicle – “With no proof of significant voter fraud in state elections, the Texas House is considering bills that would require voters to provide additional identification in order to register and cast their ballots. Not only is the legislation unjustified, if enacted it could disenfranchise large numbers of the elderly, the poor and minorities.” April 26, 2007

Dallas Morning News - “Voting is a privilege sacred to the Republic. The process needs to be secure. Violators should be prosecuted. But absent any evidence of serious security breaches at the polls, access to the voting booth needs to remain as unimpeded as it is today. ” April 25, 2007

Austin American-Statesman - “Voter fraud is not an issue because Texas is not being flooded with unregistered voters and illegal immigrants flocking to the polls. That just isn't happening.” April 26, 2007

Fort Worth Star-Telegram - “The architects of this idea, pitched as a noble effort to prevent voter fraud, cannot be allowed to succeed with what is surely one of the greatest assaults on the right to vote in this state since passage of the federal Voting Rights Act in 1965.” April 23, 2007

Waco Tribune - “When asked for evidence that the problem is rampant in this great and vast state, partisans who cry “voter fraud” are strangely silent.” April 25, 2007

Corpus Christi Caller-Times – “Putting more procedural hurdles in the way of voters is precisely what the doctor did not order. In fact, it conjures up memories of the old poll-tax days, when the system actively discouraged voting by all but the "right" groups.” April 25, 2007

(202) 547-7610 - Fax (202) 547-8258
April 30, 2008
Contact: Matt Angle
On the web at LoneStarProject.net

The Lone Star Project is an activity of the Lone Star Fund. Contributions or gifts to the Lone Star Fund are not tax deductible. All contributions are subject to the prohibitions and limitations of the Federal Election Campaign Act. Federal Law requires us to use best efforts to collect and report the name, mailing address, occupation and name of employer of individuals whose contributions exceed $200 in a calendar year.

Paid for by The Lone Star Fund, 6 E St, SE, Washington, DC 20003.
Not authorized by any candidate or candidate’s committee.





BUSH, LAWMAKERS LOOK FOR WAYS TO EASE GAS PRICES

Dallas Morning News
April 30, 2008

Rising gas and food prices are putting pressure on President Bush and the Democratic Congress to address consumers' anguish, forcing the two parties to grapple with policies that have divided them for decades. So far, the parties have trotted out proposals that are popular with their base but haven't picked up enough bipartisan support. Still, lawmakers are considering ideas they might have nixed months ago, including temporarily lifting the federal gas tax and halting deposits of oil into the Strategic Petroleum Reserve. Democrats blame purchases for that emergency stockpile for driving up oil prices by as much as 10 percent. Calling the current price environment an "extreme circumstance," Texas Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison and 15 other Republicans broke with the White House on Tuesday to urge that deposits cease.

click here for more





FEDERAL MONEY IN HEALTH CARE PLAN FROM MCCAIN

Senator John McCain detailed his plan to solve the nation’s health care crisis in a speech here Tuesday, calling for the federal government to give some money to states to help them cover people with illnesses who have been denied health insurance. Mr. McCain’s health care plan would shift the emphasis from insurance provided by employers to insurance bought by individuals, to foster competition and drive down prices. To do so he is calling for eliminating the tax breaks that currently encourage employers to provide health insurance for their workers, and replacing them with $5,000 tax credits for families to buy their own insurance.

click here for more





Brazos County Democratic Party
P.O. Box 4568
Bryan Texas 77805
979-779-5600 Fax 979-779-5601

America was not built on fear. America was built on courage, on imagination and an unbeatable determination to do the job at hand.
Harry S. Truman, Democrat, President of the United States of America