"Stop picking on my mommy you meanies"
Posted on 08/16/2005 6:29:30 PM PDT by The_Victor
Immigrants, legal or otherwise, come to Texas to "put a roof over their heads" and Texas has a responsibility to provide them education and health care once they are here, Republican gubernatorial candidate Carole Keeton Strayhorn told a conservative GOP group today.
In a week when the governors of Arizona and New Mexico declared states of emergency for counties along their border with Mexico, citing the "ravages and terror" caused by illegal immigration, Strayhorn took a conciliatory tone on the same issue. But she also said the state needs help from the federal government.
"I sympathize with those coming over who want to put a roof over their heads," Strayhorn told the Greater Houston Pachyderm Club. "We can't turn them away from the hospital steps."
Strayhorn, the state comptroller who is challenging incumbent Gov. Rick Perry in the March 2006 primary, made her remarks in response to questions from club members who wanted to know if she would be willing to take similar steps as those taken by New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson and Arizona Gov. Janet Napolitano.
"We have to protect our borders from terrorists," Strayhorn said, noting that federal law requires states to provide education and health care to immigrants.
A spokesman for Perry agreed.
"The governor has and will continue to remind the federal government that border security is a federal issue, not a state issue," spokesman Robert Black said. "The state will do what it can and help in any way, but this is a federal issue."
Strayhorn, in taking a welcoming tone to immigrants from Mexico, is trying to find voters outside the traditional Republican primary-voting base, which is made up of conservative voters, said Bob Stein, political scientist at Rice University.
"There's a reasonable policy position on (illegal immigration), but it doesn't overlap with the passion" of GOP primary voters, Stein said.
Stein also theorized that Strayhorn, in search for campaign dollars, is unwilling to take a close-the-border stance and alienate large homebuilders and highway construction companies who use immigrant labor and contribute heavily in Republican politics.
The GOP challenger, whose prepared remarks excoriated Perry again for what she called a lack of leadership for the Legislature's failure to pass a school funding bill, pledged to make education the focus of her administration.
But Black noted that Strayhorn said she would issue a school finance plan last year.
"It's time for her to unveil her secret plan," he said.
Asked if she would "at least" do away with bilingual education, Strayhorn, a former school teacher and school board member, said that while total immersion in English is effective, "these kids go home to parents who speak Spanish."
"I can't make a blanket statement that bilingual education is bad," she said, adding that she favors school-based community programs that teach the whole
I thought Texas had cattle, not RINO'S.
Hillary says abortion should be rare. That makes her a centrist.
But she votes like a liberal. She voted for partial birth abortion, she is against parental notification, she is for using taxpayer money to fund abortions overseas overturning the mexican policy.
When it comes to the media it doesn't matter that Hillary's policy is still radical left wing it is that she triangulates her words to make her appear centrist.
If you check out ACU ratings they have all the major votes from the last year, there is not one vote where hillary defected from the ted kennedy and kerry liberal bloc.
Liberals love to call themselves centrists. Same people that call Hillary a centrist call David Souter a centrist.
At least I appreciate the honesty...She knows no sane conservative would vote for her...
Carole Keeton Strayhorn must be insane!
That's right, you heard it here first: we owe illegal aliens a living.
Welcome to Aztlan. Go back to Europe, gringo.
"Stop picking on my mommy you meanies"
Not just NO, but #ell NO!!
Another RINO in Texas??? That is not what we need.....
A Republican, in Texas, addressing Conservatives, said this?!??
This is taking southern hospitality too far!
Her son... mama mia!!
We should reward illegal behavior by putting a roof over their heads, not to mention all the perks and benefits they are demanding?
The only roof we should put over their head is the roof top of a bus on their trip back to Mexico.
Enough is enough!
OH! That explains much!
Carole Keeton Strayhorn is the Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts -- the first woman in history elected to that office.
In 2002, she received more votes than any other female candidate for any office nationwide, and more votes than any other winning Republican candidate.
Strayhorn began her career as a public school teacher, and was later elected to the Austin School Board. Strayhorn has also served as a member of the Texas Railroad Commission, mayor of Austin, president of the Austin School Board, and president of the Austin Community College Board of Trustees -- and was the first woman to hold each of those offices.
Strayhorn is a government honors graduate from the University of Texas at Austin. She is a lifetime honorary member of the Austin Police Association and in 1999 became the first recipient of the Friends of Texas Taxpayers Award from the Citizens for a Sound Economy.
"This is a Republican??????"
No this is a grandstanding former Dummy crap loon
Her history is pathetic.
Perry is not perfect, but Strayhorn is a complete RINO
Treat them well on their way out of our country.
How depressing this is.
A Texas Republican, yes.
Comptroller Strayhorn is the daughter of the late Page Keeton, the revered long-time Dean of the University of Texas Law School. He instilled in her at a very early age the importance of public service. She not only learned that lesson from her dad, she passed it on to her children. Her eldest son, Dr. Mark McClellan, is the Administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. He previously served as Commissioner of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. Her twin sons, Brad McClellan and Dudley McClellan are both attorneys. Brad is a former Assistant Attorney General for Texas and is now his mom’s campaign manager. Dudley is Assistant General Counsel for the State Bar of Texas. Her youngest son, Scott McClellan, is Press Secretary to the President of the United States.
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