Posted on 01/28/2020 5:34:23 PM PST by The Houston Courant
“Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free….”
Those words that grace our Statue of Liberty refer to people like my parents. My father, an oil rig worker from Colombia, and my mother, a bank teller from Honduras, came to the U.S.A. and found a place where freedom is treasured and hard work is rewarded.
Our family would soon also find that even the greatest nation on earth has hardship, and that politicians often let that hardship go unaddressed, taking urban areas like North Houston for granted.
We deserve better.
That’s why I’m running for state representative in tomorrow’s special election, and why I’m asking fellow residents of House District 148 to vote for me.
I was born in this city and was raised in Northline. I saw firsthand the suffering inflicted on our communities by violence, poverty and drugs. When a young member of my own extended family lost his life to gang violence in our neighborhood, my parents were forced to move us to the nearby suburbs.
My mother and father taught me the values I’ve resolved to keep as long as I live. Though I would soon mourn his loss to cancer, my father instilled in me the importance of perseverance, strength and initiative. Thanks to my mother, who read the Bible to my sister and me every night before bed, I will always have strong sense of faith and compassion.
All the while, Houston never left me. After graduating from college, serving in the U.S. Navy in the Persian Gulf, starting a real-estate investment business and traveling heavily for work, I returned to Space City to be closer to my family. This is the town that I love, where I grew up and where my wife Christina and I hope to raise children of our own. But it's also a city that needs improvement in many areas.
Some of these areas concern government encroachments on our freedoms, including our right to the fruits of our labor: Local taxes have risen without corresponding improvement in services; the state-level business margins tax hammers many entrepreneurs with a hefty liability and compliance costs; and that tax hasn’t mitigated the colossal 233-percent total property-tax increase that happened gradually from 1996 to 2016. I will make limiting the overall tax burden a priority when I’m elected.
Because our taxpayers deserve better.
And taxes are only one excessive strain placed on the small businesses that are a bedrock of our community. Tempted by the possibility of capturing more property tax dollars via redevelopment, the city has noticeably been enforcing cumbersome, outdated regulations in the hope that the threat of fines and compliance costs will force local, independent shops to close or go elsewhere. As a legislator, I will support reducing the regulatory burden at the state level and support new regulation only when safety clearly demands it.
My support of free enterprise, and my firsthand grasp of it a business owner, is why the Houston Realty Business Coalition and the C Club have endorsed me.
Because our business community deserves better.
Another priority of mine is criminal justice reform, including a moratorium on the death penalty, greater leniency for nonviolent drug offenders and shifting our focus on ending human-trafficking and the senseless prosecution of its underage victims sold as prostitutes. I believe we can only defeat the scourge of crime in cities like Houston when all of our communities see public officials and law enforcement as caring partners and not heavy-handed adversaries.
I am therefore proud to have the endorsement of the Houston Police Organization of Spanish Speaking Officers, who play an important role in a district that includes many recent immigrants. As a Spanish speaker myself, I have thoroughly enjoyed the chance to talk about important issues with many of them without any language barrier and look forward to doing so as a legislator.
Because our diverse citizenry deserves better.
And there is no greater example of the need for improved governance than on education. Just consider:
Fewer than one-third of Houston Independent School District students earn a college degree or other postsecondary credential within six years of high school. Only 13 percent of Harris County’s low-income students do so.
Only 40 percent of Harris County third-graders can read on grade level.
So greatly have HISD trustees failed to ensure the education of Houston students that the Texas Education Agency is preparing a takeover of the districts’ schools.
My opponent for state representative, Anna Eastman, has mentioned these facts in her campaign as well. Ordinarily I’d find it reassuring that she acknowledges the problems we must remedy to educate our children—except she was on the HISD Board of Trustees herself for eight years. In 2013, she became board president!
Mrs. Eastman frequently discusses her role in HISD, but not in a positive light. In 2019, a year after she retired from HISD, she wrote in the Houston Chronicle, “Our school system is in bad shape. People have known it for some time….” Later that year she said guaranteeing all students have excellent teachers is “a really lofty and difficult goal” and added, “We kinda got off track at some point and didn’t stay committed to that work.”
Our students absolutely deserve better.
I want to represent the 148th District for the same reason that drove me to serve my country in a combat zone or wherever I was needed. The same principle applied then as it does now for me: preserving a free society takes the courage to think, to speak and to act when it’s easier to do nothing. What we value as citizens should never be taken for granted.
Yet another collectivist looking for ways to spend other people’s hard earned money.
I was just looking for good place to express how important it is to raise the minimum age to be elected POTUS to 50. After all, if 60 is the new 40 then 35 must be the new 15.
Read the whole thing. He seems strong on reducing taxes and regs. He just wants effective govt.
This person’s heartfelt lament is strong evidence that the US needs a twenty year moratorium on ALL immigration. From everywhere.
Possibly longer if communities like hers continue to fail at assimilation.
“Yet another collectivist looking for ways to spend other people’s hard earned money.”
Cite examples, please.
Sometimes new citizens are better than natural born citizens, when they have escaped the yoke of communism, and they see NBC's who haven't a clue what they are asking for.
I’m impressed.......good luck Mr. LaRotta. I was raised in some of the parts of town you mentioned and understand where you’re coming from......we live in another county but I hope you succeed.......;)
I wish him well
So sick of people who think that stupid poem is US law.
Did you miss the moratorium on the death penalty? And the release of non-violent offenders? That always works so well. Not! Taking the death penalty off the table only encourages certain types to kill. They know they might get life but someone will lobby to have them released early or some idiot politician will decide the jails are too full and the criminal will get out due to overcrowding. Look how wonderful that no bail scheme is working in New York. We would have less criminals if these people knew their rears were not going to get away with crime, and they will be severely punished for any crimes they do commit.
The election was Tuesday. Luis La Rotta lost 65-35% in a very low turnout. Performed slightly better than the Republican in 2018 (who got 32%).
Anna Eastman on Twitter: "I always feel at home at @HGLBTCaucus...
I missed that, and I agree with you completely.
Thanks for the heads up.
You have the best screen name I’ve ever seen. ;-d
My youngest child gave me it. He would call me and say “Oh evil dictator, may I ...?” He is 31 now and still a member of the living. lol
Yes, metoo.. good Luck to him.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.