Posted on 04/22/2004 5:59:52 AM PDT by Arrowhead1952
Another day, another squabble as Perry-Strayhorn fight continues.
By Ken Herman and Michelle M. Martinez
AMERICAN-STATESMAN STAFF
Thursday, April 22, 2004
Comptroller Carole Keeton Strayhorn, dabbling in subject matter a tad sexier than the usual daily number crunching, said Wednesday that the state should shut down all topless bars by prohibiting them from selling alcoholic drinks.
The proposal is the latest in what have become daily Strayhorn attacks on Gov. Rick Perry's proposed school finance package. The Perry plan, aimed at drumming up more money for public schools while reducing property taxes, includes a proposed $5 admission surcharge at adult entertainment venues.
What kind of state, Strayhorn said, would depend on that kind of money to pay for schools? What kind of governor, Strayhorn asked, would propose such a thing?
"I don't want my five granddaughters growing up in a state where the governor says partnering with sexually oriented nightclubs is an acceptable way to finance their education," she said.
Strayhorn is considering challenging Perry when he seeks re-election in 2006. Both are Republicans.
Perry defended the proposed fee, noting it aligns with his goal of increasing taxes on "unhealthy" behavior. He also wants a dollar-per-pack hike in cigarette taxes.
"There are a lot of activities that are legal in the state of Texas that some individuals find to be distasteful and not appropriate," he said.
Perry noted that "the question has come up: Why don't you raise the liquor tax?
"The fact of the matter is, drinking a glass of wine is not necessarily an unhealthy activity," he said.
Perry also wants to legalize slot-machine-like devices at the state's pari-mutuel tracks. He declined to categorize gambling as an unhealthy activity.
"The state has said clearly that it is going to accept gambling as a form of entertainment to be legal in the state of Texas," he said, pointing to popular votes that legalized the state lottery and pari-mutuel gambling at horse and dog tracks.
Strayhorn was adamant in her call for legislation barring alcohol at "sexually oriented nightclubs."
"If these clubs can stay in business selling lemonade and iced tea, at least I will feel better about the safety of the dancers," she said. "Alcohol can make the meek violent, the quiet loud and the passive aggressive. People can and do get hurt in these clubs."
Strayhorn, branding Perry's proposal as a "sleaze tax," said the true goal would be to put the clubs out of business.
Perry and Strayhorn have been going at it all week, beginning Monday, when, in numbers vehemently challenged by Perry, she said his plan would produce a $10 billion deficit after five years, provide little meaningful property tax relief and do little to help schools.
Perry on Wednesday criticized Strayhorn's analysis as a "shoddy, fly-by-night" effort based on "eye-popping miscalculations."
"It is an astonishing fact that the top number cruncher in this state could be so wrong on the numbers and the facts about my plan," he said.
Said Strayhorn, "How dare this governor question the integrity of this office?"
But Perry was not alone in questioning Strayhorn's operation.
Rep. Mike Krusee, R-Round Rock and a Perry ally, admonished her staff during a meeting of the House Select Committee on Public School Finance and questioned the comptroller's estimates of how much new money each school district would receive under Perry's plan.
Krusee put Perry's plan on the table Wednesday as a starting point for the committee, which can use any part of Perry's plan -- or none of it -- as it crafts the House's school finance bill.
Strayhorn's numbers, which showed many districts would get no additional money under Perry's plan, differed substantially from a similar report issued by Perry's office.
Krusee said the report inaccurately puts the Lexington school district in his district.
"You said you had a real high degree of confidence in your numbers. You got the school districts wrong," Krusee told James LeBas, the comptroller's chief revenue estimator. "You still have a high degree of confidence in your numbers?"
LeBas stood by his numbers and defended his boss: "I'm sure the comptroller had every intention, and still does, on being helpful to the Legislature."
Strayhorn's office said it plans to release new estimates, and House Appropriations Chairman Talmadge Heflin, R-Houston, said work will be needed to reconcile any differences between the two sets of numbers.
"We don't know right now whether it's apples and oranges, pears and oranges, kumquats and bananas or whatever," Heflin said.
Grow up, Strayhorn.
Endeavoring to restore the Roman state to solvency, Vespasian imposed taxes on many commodities, among them the use of the city's public urinals. When Vespasian's son Titus objected that such a tax was undignified, Vespasian procured a handful of coins thus taken and held them up to his son's nose. "Non olet," he declared (they do not smell).
Give it a rest, unfettered mammaries are no "clear and present danger" to the world in general, or Texas specifically.
Unfettered mammaries are no "clear and present danger" to the world in general, or Texas lakes and beaches. Plenty of topless ones on the local area lakes in the summer heat.
And just because YOU say it is respectable doesn't make it so. Would you build a house next to a strip club? Would you find your wife or daughter a job stripping? If you can say yes to that I know you have neither or have no idea as to the nature of that sort of business.
I don't think you can point to any source other than your own opinion.
Thousands of years of history boils down to "just your opinion." Now that is funny. You moral relativists don't get much interaction with reality, do you? Anyone with half a brain knows that strip clubs are places for organized crime, drugs, and yes, outright prostitution.
I can see that you have no idea what you're talking about. Either that or you believe in absolutes that you have no proof of.
I do believe you should stop watching so much television. I was being charitable. Most strippers are a lot worse than that. Most are drug using prostitutes who are attractive enough to make money to support their addiction by being leered at. After a few years they have to take it to the streets to support their drug habit because no one will pay to look at them anymore.
Every stripper is not immoral just as every judge is not a paragon of virtue.
Actually, every stripper is immoral, and many judges are virtuous.
I don't see viewing the nude female body as being immoral.
So reading comprehension is a problem too? I specifically said I liked looking at the nude female body. I said that strip clubs are immoral.
So, when people get drunk they start in with the "don't worry about me, it only hurts when I stand up, sit down, or breathe, and I might be able to pay the rent this month..." etc ad nauseam?
I'm guessing Mr. Strayhorn strayed to a topless bar and Mrs. Strayhorn found out!
Not to mention the supplemental income to the 1000s of low income peace officers. Oh, and don't forget all the tuition money that is being earned in these businesses by the talented entertainers.
I'm a pro-choice drinking establishment advocate.
Well stated.
No, they aren't.
Some people would say that mowing yards or collecting trash are jobs below their dignity.
Some people are immorally proud. If you don't know the difference between dignity and pride you are ill equipped to engage in debate about morality.
What is moral ,sexually speaking, to a Sunday School Teacher is different than what is moral to a nudist.
And what is moral, pacifically speaking, to a Sunday School Teacher is different than what is moral to a serial killer. That line of thinking is stupid. It grants Hitler license to kill while it censors Gandhi from criticizing him. If you don't have a better argument than that you better do some more thinking before trying to duke it out on the internet.
I will never vote for her again, even if it means electing Fidel Castro to replace her.
Gee, I don't think Ann is ugly...
I'm for a tax on junk foods. Most kids are eating too much of it. Many of the same people who stuff their kids with junk foods are the same who send them to school for free meals.
I'm sick and tired of seeing obese people riding around in electric carts at the grocery store with baskets full of junk foods. Last week I got caught between two who were trying to decide which way to go. I felt like I was on the freeway in Houston. Couldn't move. Neither of them was over 30.
They are as big a drain on the healthcare system as smokers.
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