Richards looks at nation
The Oct. 7 Daily Campus contained the first part of an interviewwith former Texas Gov. Ann Richards. In that portion of theinterview, Richards talked about her battle with osteoporosis andher successes and disappointments as governor of Texas.
Today’s portion of the interview tells how Richard’sthinks the current government and the people governing it aredoing.
DC: How do you feel about President Bush’s handling ofthings now and how he handled things as governor? Do you think thatyou might have done things differently?
Richards: Of course, the way Bush governs as opposed to the waythat I govern is night and day different. I think that there are alot of reasons why the state is in debt now. It goes back to whatBush did as governor. I think that his education program was anabysmal failure. As president, we have the highest unemployment andthe greatest debt since Herbert Hoover. I think he rushed into anill-conceived war with no real understanding of the aftermath andthe terrible reputation that he was going to give us with thecountries all over the world. Our reputation now is at an all timelow. I’m not sure how it’s going to be restored.I’m an environmentalist. I believe strongly in the federalgovernment assisting in clean air, water, earth. George Bush haseroded environmental laws in an unprecedented manner. I think thishas been the most repressive government in my lifetime forwomen’s rights. Even in foreign countries, we do not allowany funds to be spent for birth control. I think that George Bushhas totally capitulated to the right wing.
DC: What suggestions would you offer to correct some of theseproblems?
Richards: Replace George Bush with someone else. That’sthe only hope we have.
DC: About Gov. Perry, how do you feel about his time inoffice?
Richards: Gov. Perry, interestingly enough, has used his time inoffice to a far more partisan degree than I would ever haveexpected him to do. Again, women have lost a lot of the ground thatthey gained in Texas under his administration. Our education systemis a continuation of the Bush policies. This power-grab attempt tocompletely reconstruct the congressional delegation in Washingtonis going to be a serious problem for Texas. We’re going tolose a lot of influence with people who have been there a whilethat have a lot of influence in Washington, and that will be sorelymissed.
DC: Historians and other teachers are saying that there willcome a time in the future of Texas when the state cannot competeeconomically with other states because there will be such a loweducation rate among the general populace. How do you feel aboutthat?
Richards: I would hesitate to pass off our education problem asa result of increased immigration. Our education problem residesfundamentally with our leadership. The commitment to fund publiceducation is not there. To mislead the public by suggesting that ifyou put public monies in private schools, you’re going tosolve the problem of poor performing schools could not be furtherfrom the truth. Not only do I think leadership has wrong-headedpolicies on education and in their refusal to fund education, Ithink that they have mislead the public, deliberately suggestingthat there are some quick fixes to it.
WB33: You basically talked a little about the redistrictingissue. Do you think that it’s going to cause problems in thenext couple of years when it might come up again?
Richards: It has to be brought up every 10 years. It’salways difficult to redistrict because you don’t want toleave the communities so divided that they really can’trepresent the interests of the cities that they represent,preserving a balance in a delegation so that they accuratelyrepresent the people who live in the state. For many years, ofcourse, all of our delegates were white males. Because of federallaw and drawing the lines appropriately for some years, we havebeen able to balance out our delegation, that we haverepresentation from the Hispanic community. We have representationfrom the black community. The lines, I think, that have been drawnnow by the legislature are going to divide communities. I know inAustin, for example, they’re talking about cutting Austininto three separate districts. They cut Dallas up into separatedistricts, joining it up with rural areas. Dallas has no cohesivevoice in the United States Congress as it should have. And I thinkthat you’re going to see, without any question, many fewerminority members of Congress than we have now.
WB33: And your future in politics?
Richards: My future, to elective office? I have no interest inrunning for office. I enjoyed my service. I felt privileged andhonored to be able to do it. But, my job now is to help people thatI believe need to get in office, to help young people to enter thepolitical field. People like me need to be there with our checkbookand our voices to help them succeed.
