The Student Government Association of the Houston Community College’s main campus hosted a forum yesterday for the candidates running for the Texas Senate District 6 seat. Five of the eight candidates in the field answered questions before a packed room of HCC students. The moderator, Vladimir Davidiuk, did a great job in allowing the candidates to fully answer questions, setting a “soft” time limit of three minutes per answer. This format was much better than the last forum I attended and the audience got a real feel for the candidate’s positions.
I thought it was interesting that the Vice President of the Student Government Association, Thomas Williams, read complete bios for the candidates, including those that were not in attendance. Hey, if you don’t bother to show up, I wouldn’t bother to mention your name. But that’s just me. Mr. Davidiuk announced that he received an email earlier that morning from the Garcia camp letting him know that she couldn’t make it. Too bad, this would have been a great opportunity to speak to young, urban voters of all races.
Because the candidates were given time to provide in-depth answers, there were only four questions asked, plus a closing statement from each candidate. But, the questions were very good and forced each candidate to put some thought into their answers. I know that “politicians” get joked about and aren’t held in high esteem these days, but I have to say that listening to the passion from the five candidates made me feel pretty good about the future of the state, even if three of the five were Democrats and one was from the Green Party.
The five that showed up were, from left to right: Rodolfo “Rudy” Reyes, RW Bray, Joaquin Martinez, Rep. Carol Alvarado, and Maria Selva.
Once again, I was impressed with Joaquin Martinez and I think that we’ll hear from him again in the future. Ms. Selva did a good job putting Green Party issues on the table: police abuse, tar sands oil, environment. Mr. Reyes did much better in this forum than the last and will get a few votes.
I want to focus on Rep. Alvarado and RW Bray. This was my first time to see Rep. Alvarado in person and I came away more impressed than I thought that I would, although she certainly carried the Democratic Party leftist message. I guess her experience in the Texas House of Representatives has shown her that she must work with Republicans because, while she talked about budget cuts and the need to “restore” them, she didn’t use the type of rhetoric that I heard from Sylvia Garcia, the type that will make R’s tune you out and be ineffective. She acknowledged that to get things done, you have to build consensus and work across party lines – remember, Garcia says that she is going to “fight” the Republicans. I’m guessing that if Garcia wins, and takes that attitude to Austin, SD6 will be a do-nothing district again.
Rep. Alvarado had briefing notes that she used but one of the questions caught her offguard – number three, about human trafficking. The easiest way to tell she wasn’t prepared for that one was the brevity of her answer, just under a minute. Take a listen. But her preparedness and passion shined on the fourth question, when she talked about the bills she’s already introduced and about her perception that women’s health had, in her words, “taken a beating” in the last session and she would work to reverse that. Impressive answer.
As for RW Bray, he was once again the conservative that I remember. No loving on METRO, no dissing Republicans for budget cuts, just good old fashioned conservative Republican speak. I had to laugh when the first words out of his mouth were, “I like to give it to you straight, no chaser” – that is Apostle Claver of Raging Elephants’ line, so I guess Bray has been spending some time with the Apostle. He was very passionate on the question on sex trafficking, telling the audience that it was time to put “piousness and Godliness” back into society. He also isn’t afraid to bring race into the conversation, stating that New Orleans had 18 children killed and no one cared, but when it happened at a school in Connecticut, the media went ballistic. Overall a good forum for him from a conservative point of view.
Here are the questions and Alvarado and Bray’s answers:
1. Three people were injured in a shooting yesterday at the North Harris Campus of Lone Star College. What is your view of the Texas School District Security Act, a bipartisan proposal which gives districts more options to increase law enforcement and other security measures in school?
Carol Alvarado First Question Answer
[audio:http://www.bigjollypolitics.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/hcc-sd6-forum-carol-alvarado-first-question_DS300091.mp3] [audio:http://www.bigjollypolitics.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/hcc-sd6-forum-rw-bray-first-question_DS300091.mp3]
2. Texas has become one of the few states that have been held up as a budget success. what policies and proposals will you put forward to insure that the budget gains are not lost while insuring that priorities like funding for education are met?
Carol Alvarado Second Question Answer
[audio:http://www.bigjollypolitics.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/hcc-sd6-forum-second-question-carol-alvarado_DS300091.mp3]RW Bray Second Question Answer
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3. Houston has gained a reputation as a major hub for human trafficking. What action will you take or what legislation will you propose that can address this crisis?
Carol Alvarado Third Question Answer
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4. One of you, or one of the candidates not present today, will become the next State Senator from District 6. Which bills do you intend to propose after taking office and how do they reflect your legislative priorities?
Carol Alvarado Fourth Question Answer
[audio:http://www.bigjollypolitics.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/hcc-sd6-forum-fourth-question-carol-alvarado_DS300091.mp3]RW Bray Fourth Question Answer
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Many thanks to Vladimir Davidiuk and the HCC Student Government Association for putting this forum on. I hope that they have an opportunity to do the same for the runoff – with this format, we could get a real feel for the candidates.
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UPDATE: Vladimir Davidiuk contacted me to let me know that I erred in my original post about the host of this event. The event was actually hosted by the Omega Sigma chapter of Phi Theta Kappa in conjunction with the Student Government Association. I apologize for any confusion.