The Texas governor’s race has been full of name-calling and finger pointing. Instead of keeping a solid focus on the issues, the candidate’s core values have been left blurry in the eyes of many voters. With the election only a week away, voters must now look at the facts and assemble a picture of the potential governors.
Currently governor, Rick Perry was sworn into office December 21, 2000. Previously, Perry served as Lieutenant Governor and served two terms as Texas Commissioner for Agriculture. As a graduate of Texas A&M, Perry served in the United States Air Force for five years. Perry is married to his wife, Anita, and they have two children, Griffin, 18, and Sydney, 15.
Governor hopeful Tony Sanchez acts as Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer of the Sanchez Oil and Gas Company that he founded with his father 30 years ago. He continues to serve as director of International Bancshares Corporations for which he has been a major investor. For the past 20 years, Sanchez has invested successfully in entrepreneurial ventures from technology to real estate. Like many college kids, Sanchez took out student loans and worked different part-time jobs until he graduated from St. Mary’s University in San Antonio. Sanchez and wife of over 30 years, Maria, have four children: Tony III, Ana Lee, Eduardo, and Patricio.
This year many issues are weighing on Texas voters’ minds. Students on campus may feel a stronger tie to college tuition issues, but they also share concerns about healthcare, Texas’s economy, and Insurance reform.
Junior Allyson Brown said these are the same issues that matter to her.
“I usually look at issues such as taxation and education,” Brown said.
Democrat Perry says, “By making it easier for small businesses to buy health insurance, by expanding health care options in under-served areas, and by making prescription drugs more easily available to seniors, we can improve health care in Texas and save lives.”
To ensure these goals, Perry makes several proposals. In his official statement, he proposes all small employers be able to provide health insurance to their workers; ask legislature to reallocate tobacco settlement funds to establish health centers in medically-underserved areas; to require all insurers offer prescriptions benefits if they sell supplemental Medicare policies; offer reimbursement plans for children’s insurance; and find existing funds to establish a breast and cervical cancer program.
If Sanchez has his way, he intends to emphasize children’s health. By appointing a physician to the Texas Department of Insurance, Sanchez hopes to make sure “Big Insurance” gets its bills quickly and patients and physicians have more say in how they are regulated. Just as Perry hopes to do, Sanchez hopes to drive down the cost of seniors’ prescription drugs. He also feels a commitment to making sure the Children’s Health Insurance Program remains fully funded. In an open letter to physicians, Sanchez addressed them writing, “You are not being paid for your services and liability premiums have gone through the roof.” He added, “I, too am concerned about how this is jeopardizing access to care.”
With insurance companies such as Farmers, State Farm, and Allstate remaining unregulated in Texas, Perry says he intends to make insurance more affordable. He hopes to empower the Texas department of insurance to impose company-specific and across-the-board rate freezes while they make rate reviews. Perry also proposes a ban of setting rates based on credit history unless it relates to their insurance risk, in hopes of lowering discriminatory use. In improving insurance, Perry says he will work to protect companies in good faith from getting sued frivolously.
Unregulated insurance companies are also at the top of Sanchez’s agenda with proposed legislation forcing insurance agencies to provide justification for premium increases. In order to regulate increases, insurance companies will need approval as long as it fits in the set “zone of reasonableness.” Sanchez wants to keep insurance companies from using inappropriate criteria in evaluating policy applications, and hold insurance companies accountable if they don’t meet deadlines. In his plans, he intends to prevent major share carriers from writing any other insurance lines unless they offer homeowners coverage. Consumers should be able to expect knowing all exclusions of policies and exact coverage under Sanchez’s propositions.
Texas economy and small business are still strong issues in both campaigns with the financial situation today. Perry said, “As a former small businessman myself, I know that it’s important to keep small and start-up businesses in mind when it comes to state regulatory and tax policies.”
Policies emphasized include the cost of health care, fear of lawsuits, and government taxes and regulations. On the other hand, Sanchez plans to assemble a panel of Texas’s “best and brightest” to draft the state’s first business plan. He hopes to boost the economy by creating a register of skills to fill jobs in the private sector as wells as creating plans to assure unemployed Texans have the ability to acquire new, useful skills.
With access to campaign websites and newspapers, there should be no reason voters can’t pick through the mud to find out what candidates really stand for. Not only do all the candidates have web pages, many have discussion boards or question forums to clear up any issues that may still seem hazy to voters.
So, while campaigns have implied others are crooked and Ray Benson and Flanco Jimenez harmonize with “I’d Walk Across Texas for Tony,” don’t overlook what will be at the heart of the next governor’s term: the issues.
