Monday, January 31, 2011
Hays sheriff puts inmates to work at jail to save money
SAN MARCOS — Once blanketed in mold and riddled with holes in the walls and ceilings, the Hays County Jail now smells so strongly of disinfectant, it can make a person's eyes water.
The jail's spotless floors and hospital-clean cells are thanks largely to one group of people: its inmates.
Under a new program by Sheriff Gary Cutler, certain inmates may volunteer to help spruce up the once beleaguered facility in exchange for a reduction in their sentences. Inmates now work to clean the kitchen and cells, paint walls and floors, trim trees outside, and even wash the vehicles of the sheriff's office.
The result is a cleaner facility for inmates and jail staff, and Cutler estimates that the inmates' work is saving the county $12 an hour.
County spokeswoman Laureen Chernow said that while the county doesn't have a hiring freeze, budgets for maintenance are tight, and the sheriff's program can be helpful in saving money.
"Some of this labor is semi skilled," said Chief Deputy Jamie Page . "You have plumbers, ironworkers, tradesmen in here."
Cutler has put those inmates to work on projects normally done by county staff or contractors.
"We're proud of our progress, and we did it with inmate labor to save the county money," Cutler said. "Many of them would rather work than be in their cells."
The Travis County Jail has a similar work-credit program, as do many jails in Texas, said Travis County sheriff's office spokesman Roger Wade.
Having inmates work on the 362-bed Hays County facility, once in such a poor state that the state nearly closed it in 2009, is one of many changes that Cutler has made since taking office after his election in November. About 290 inmates were in custody there last week .
Not all inmates can be used for labor, Cutler said — only those with lesser convictions, such as driving while intoxicated or owing unpaid child support, are eligible. Those headed for prison or those with lengthy sentences are excluded.
The inmates who work are always supervised, jail officials said. They are not paid wages but can earn enough work credits to reduce their sentences by up to a third. State law allows a judge or the sheriff to reduce the sentences of jail inmates.
The reduction in jail time, as well as the repairs to previously unusable parts of the jail and better population management, will allow Hays County to end its practice of sending inmates to nearby Guadalupe County because of overcrowding — a practice that cost Hays County more than $800,000 last year.
The jail failed two state inspections in 2009. Inspectors noted holes in the walls of the cells, floor tiles that were cracked and missing, mold and mildew in a walk-in freezer where food was stored, and a roof that leaked so much buckets were needed when it rained.
The jail's medical care also came under fire. One inmate, Torrey Lamar Smith , died there in 2008 of an attack of sickle-cell anemia that was largely ignored and then mistreated by jail staff, according to an internal investigation.
After the investigation, one medic was fired and another employee left the sheriff's office. A lawsuit from Smith's family cost the county $245,000 .
Last year, the county addressed the issues, saving the facility from closure by the state. But Cutler said he was determined not to have the headaches previous sheriffs had with the facility.
In addition to inmate labor, he has instituted sweeps of cells for weapons and contraband, something he says was never done in the past.
"We moved all the inmates onto buses, and shook that place from top to bottom," he said.
Cutler also tapped an employee with a master's degree in nutrition to plan better meals, replaced more than 1,000 light bulbs and moved "lights out" for inmates to 11 p.m., from 1:30 a.m., to save electricity. That will be cut back to 10 p.m. soon, he said.
Another new rule: All inmates have to be cleared by medical staff before they can be admitted.
"That's all part of keeping a humane jail," Page said.
The general public can view some of the changes outside: Inmates and county staff cleared away huge amounts of brush on the property and properly disposed of a massive pile of rusty junk that was in a nearby creek.
"This is our home, and we need to take care of it," Cutler said.
ARTICLE LINK
Furloughs, pay cuts for teachers urged as option Under law, layoffs are now the only way to deal with funding shortfalls
AUSTIN — School districts should be allowed to give teachers unpaid furloughs and cut their salaries to help deal with a funding shortfall that one estimate says could cost 100,000 jobs, a leading state senator says. State Senate Education Committee Chairman Florence Shapiro, R-Plano, said the layoff projection could be whittled if school districts could take less drastic steps, an area she said loosening state restrictions could help temper the effects of a budget shortfall. Under starting-point state budget proposals filed by legislative leaders, school districts would get $9.3 billion to $9.8 billion less through the next two years than under current funding formulas to cover enrollment increases and a projected drop in local revenue due to lower property values. One expert has estimated the higher figure could cost up to 100,000 school district jobs in Texas through the next two years. “One of those burdens that we have placed on our school districts is that they cannot decrease your salary. They can’t have furlough days. It’s not allowed in the law. The only option is to fire,” said Shapiro. “We need to give them the ability to lower teacher salaries.” Shapiro said she hopes to have a committee meeting “the very first thing out of the box” on so-called unfunded mandates, such as the salary issue. “The last thing we want to do is put people on the unemployment rolls,” she said. “So we’ve got to make sure that that particular part of the law is erased.” One teacher group said the idea is another example of the state looking to go backward to close the funding gap.
ARTICLE LINK
180 instruction days
Under current law, the standard teacher contract is a minimum of 187 days, including 180 days of instruction and the rest for purposes such as professional development. A school district can reduce pay for noncontract workers — janitors and cafeteria workers, for example — and it can reduce teacher salaries from one year to the next if notice is given at least 45 days before the first day of instruction, Texas Education Agency spokeswoman Debbie Ratcliffe said. However, under a provision meant to safeguard a state salary increase, teachers and several other classes of employees who work for a school district in the 2010-2011 school year cannot get a salary cut if they stay with the same school district.Furlough flexibility
Superintendents are pushing for flexibility that would allow them to furlough employees, if necessary, on non-instructional days. “It’s something that superintendents are looking for flexibility on,” said Jenny Caputo, spokeswoman for the Texas Association of School Administrators. “Certainly nobody wants to furlough employees,” Caputo said, calling furloughs a lesser evil than layoffs or eliminating positions. “With the Legislature looking at cutting HISD’s annual budget by as much as $348 million, we’d appreciate any flexibility they could give us in achieving those significant cuts,” said Houston Independent School District spokesman Jason Spencer. “These would be the most drastic cuts to Texas education since World War II.” John Folks, past president of the Texas Association of School Administrators and superintendent of Northside Independent School District in San Antonio, said if his district furloughed administrators and other employees — as it can under current law — that would save $700,000 a day. Adding teachers, counselors, librarians and nurses to the mix would bring the savings to $2.5 million a day. “Furloughs would be one of the last things I would want to do,” he said. With furloughs, however, “Everybody shares in the pain, and we’re preserving jobs.”‘The wrong direction’
Richard Kouri, a Texas State Teachers Association spokesman, said his group is split on the issue of furloughs and salary decreases. It does not want to limit options to deal with the funding crisis but believes the state should be increasing professional development days and “getting our salaries out of the bottom third in the country” to recruit and retain the best, he said. “If we’re going to look at a long list of things that are bad options that are going to take public education in Texas the wrong direction instead of the right direction,” he said, “they might as well be on the list of things that are going to take us in the wrong direction.”ARTICLE LINK
Sunday, January 30, 2011
Hughes and Reyes: Lawmakers must 'Make Education a Priority' in Texas
Posted: 01/30/2011 12:00:00 AM MST
Faced with a $27 billion budget shortfall, our state legislators are challenged with difficult decisions this session. As they consider legislation, it is critical that they make education a priority.
On Jan. 5, the Far West Texas School Boards Association launched their "Unite to Make Education a Priority" campaign with board members and superintendents across the region signing a proclamation to educate the community and legislators on how cuts in state fund ing could negatively impact our students, teachers, and community.
On Jan. 11, we united in Austin with other legislators, superintendents and board members from along the Texas border. We voiced our concerns that reductions in funding impact our communities even more than the rest of Texas because of our demographics and location.
School boards and superintendents from more than half of the school districts across Texas have united with the same message, "Make Education a Priority," to emphasize that the public-school system represents an essential economic driver in developing the quality of the work force and influencing the future of Texas.
On Monday, these resolutions will be delivered to the State Capitol to show Texas school boards' unity.
The main cause of the current school-finance crisis is 2006 legislation that has fallen short of properly funding Texas public schools. The state mandated a cap on school property taxes, cutting taxes by one-third, without establishing a new stream of revenue
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In the past two legislative sessions, legislators have been unsuccessful in addressing school-funding shortcomings. Currently, more than half of the school districts in Texas are forced to dip into their fund balances for daily operating expenditures -- a practice that is neither financially sound nor sustainable over an extended period of time.
Adding to the problem are inflationary costs and unfunded mandates from the state.
For example, STAAR, the new state accountability exam, will replace the TAKS test in 2011-12. Districts need to fund resources such as textbooks, curricular components and teacher training for the new test. School districts want to meet the high accountability standards, but require the necessary funding to prepare students to meet the state's academic goals.
Our school districts have already made tremendous reductions. In EPISD, $43 million in budget cuts and cost efficiencies have been made and reinvested in programs since 2006 to achieve remarkable academic progress. In YISD, there have been budget cuts of more than $41 million since 2006 without student impact. Additional education funding cuts will negatively impact the classroom and would be detrimental to the education of all students in our school districts.
We strongly urge legislators to look at every option possible to raise the revenue to fund public education, especially in light of our low targeted revenue amount. There are numerous solutions that will impact us less, including providing relief on some of the unfunded mandates, utilization of the Jobs Bill, accessing the state's Rainy Day Fund, or revamping current tax structures, rather than focusing solely on reductions.
We understand the challenges facing our legislators, and we offer our assistance and support in passing legislation that will benefit the children of Texas, our future, for years to come. "Make Education a Priority!"
Patricia L. Hughes is president of the EPISD Board of Trustees and TASB Director, Region 19A. Marty Reyes is president of the YISD Board of Trustees and TASB Director, Region 19B.
ARTICLE LINK
Wednesday, January 26, 2011
Rep. Ron Reynolds Statement on the Proposed State Budget: HB 1
AUSTIN, Texas (Jan. 26, 2011) -- On Wednesday, Jan. 19, Chairman Pitts (R-Waxahachie) filed House Bill 1, the proposed state budget for fiscal year 2012-2013. The released draft was a reality check on the highly anticipated, yet dismal financial condition facing Texas as a result of a $26.8 billion shortfall ensuing from a structural deficit within the budgeting system. "It is clear now more than ever before that we need to identify new and stable revenue streams if we are to prevent such drastic shortfalls in the future," Rep. Ron Reynolds (D-Fort Bend) commented. "The introduced House budget does not take into consideration the population growth in our state. As our population continues to grow, our resources will be spread even thinner."
The projected budget appropriates a combined $156.4 billion in state and local funds, which is $31.1 billion less than the prior biennium, while the state general revenue appropriation of $72.2 billion is $8.4 billion less than the previous two-year budget.
"This budget proposed by the state's leadership underscores the uncertainty for the future of Texas' working families, children, students, and senior citizens," stated Rep Reynolds.
The current working draft proposes a 23 percent cut to public education, zero funding for some of the smaller community colleges, a reduction in healthcare and social services, cuts to higher education and research funding, and the elimination of the TEXAS Grants (the state's primary financial aid program for new college students).
"More alarming," expressed Rep. Reynolds, "is the daunting reality that school districts will be compelled to lay off good teachers, increasing the likelihood of even more of our children being left behind."
Analysts estimate that the proposed cuts could adversely impact approximately 10,000 state employees and over 80,000 teachers, costing them their jobs.
Rep. Reynolds continued, "I am very concerned, to say the least, that no consideration has been given to tapping into the state's 'Rainy Day' fund, which is currently $9.4 billion dollars. With a proposed budget that eliminates Pre-K, depriving nearly 200,000 Texas children of an early childhood education -- I'm no meteorologist -- but, if this is not a rainy day, I don't know what is."
"This proposed budget fails Texans, specifically our most vulnerable communities: our children and seniors. In spite of what lies before us, my unshakable faith and commitment to serve fuels my passion to work tirelessly with leadership to protect Texas families and to help maintain the quality of life that we as Texans enjoy," added Rep. Reynolds.
ARTICLE LINK
The projected budget appropriates a combined $156.4 billion in state and local funds, which is $31.1 billion less than the prior biennium, while the state general revenue appropriation of $72.2 billion is $8.4 billion less than the previous two-year budget.
"This budget proposed by the state's leadership underscores the uncertainty for the future of Texas' working families, children, students, and senior citizens," stated Rep Reynolds.
The current working draft proposes a 23 percent cut to public education, zero funding for some of the smaller community colleges, a reduction in healthcare and social services, cuts to higher education and research funding, and the elimination of the TEXAS Grants (the state's primary financial aid program for new college students).
"More alarming," expressed Rep. Reynolds, "is the daunting reality that school districts will be compelled to lay off good teachers, increasing the likelihood of even more of our children being left behind."
Analysts estimate that the proposed cuts could adversely impact approximately 10,000 state employees and over 80,000 teachers, costing them their jobs.
Rep. Reynolds continued, "I am very concerned, to say the least, that no consideration has been given to tapping into the state's 'Rainy Day' fund, which is currently $9.4 billion dollars. With a proposed budget that eliminates Pre-K, depriving nearly 200,000 Texas children of an early childhood education -- I'm no meteorologist -- but, if this is not a rainy day, I don't know what is."
"This proposed budget fails Texans, specifically our most vulnerable communities: our children and seniors. In spite of what lies before us, my unshakable faith and commitment to serve fuels my passion to work tirelessly with leadership to protect Texas families and to help maintain the quality of life that we as Texans enjoy," added Rep. Reynolds.
ARTICLE LINK
Mexico: Calderon is winning
Since Mexico’s President Louis Calderon began his war against the drug cartels over 30,000 people have been murdered. That’s just the reported ones, the many more individuals that have disappeared, never to be found, is scary.
A sane person would call the battles in Mexico outright war. Reports say that the Mexican government is deploying an additional 3,000 troops to the northern Tamaulipas area and they have been arriving there since November 13. This is in addition to the Mexican marine forces already in the area and special operations forces will be sent into the area as well.
Military officials have said they will be establishing checkpoints on the highways and one hundred per cent of all vehicles will be stopped. Mobilizing that much armed manpower into one area sounds impressive, but it’s small compared to areas like Chihuahua which has over 10,000 troops on guard.
In the Greater Reynosa area, a city of just over a million people, drug traffickers have complete control. Armed Thugs openly patrol the streets shooting any opposition. In Reynosa, those who can leave have done so and the others are forced to live like hidden mice.
Also in the same general area residents had to flee because gunmen began running through the town yelling at people to get out. These incidents occurred on November 5 in Cuidad Mier because the Los Zetos cartel wanted the town for a staging area.
Reports indicate that about 300 residents have found shelter in the town of Miguel Aleman where a couple of temporary housing settlements have been established.
The killings have taken on a bizarre evil twist as beheading and dismemberment are taking place following torture. In that wonderful exotic resort Acapulco, four beheaded bodies were found in a park.
The Mayor’s body in Santiago was found with its eyes gouged out. In the pretty community of Cuernavacas four decapitated bodies were hung from a bridge for all to see.
One reporter for the Los Angeles times says that it’s hard to cover any story in Mexico because there is no one to be trusted. The local police are corrupt, the mayor is on the cartel payroll, the cab drivers are informants and every business is probably linked to the cartels.
In the last weeks of 2010 federal authorities began to make major gains with more than a half dozen cartel leaders being shot or arrested. As of this date, the La Familia cartel is having serious trouble surviving.
On November 5 the leader of the Gulf Cartel, Tony Tormenta was killed and that has weakened his organization’s fight against the Los Zetos cartel. Sinaloa cartel leader Jesus israel de las cruz Lopez was arrested by federal forces on January 5, 2011 which is another blow against these evil cartels.
It is regrettable that the President of The United States, Barack Obama will not make the same efforts from the United States side of the border. We do hear of some arrests and tunnels are found and closed, but those are having a very small effect on the overall war.
The United States and Mexico border needs to be sealed with only controlled crossings. Pandering to the large Hispanic vote in the United States is not helping the war inside Mexico. One can understand the emotional fear for family that exists in the southern United States, but the cartels must be stopped.
We can only hope that President Calderon will continue his gains and we should pray that his successor in 14 months will continue the battle. The President of Mexico is brave indeed, and he is fighting for the life of his country.
ARTICLE LINK
A sane person would call the battles in Mexico outright war. Reports say that the Mexican government is deploying an additional 3,000 troops to the northern Tamaulipas area and they have been arriving there since November 13. This is in addition to the Mexican marine forces already in the area and special operations forces will be sent into the area as well.
Military officials have said they will be establishing checkpoints on the highways and one hundred per cent of all vehicles will be stopped. Mobilizing that much armed manpower into one area sounds impressive, but it’s small compared to areas like Chihuahua which has over 10,000 troops on guard.
In the Greater Reynosa area, a city of just over a million people, drug traffickers have complete control. Armed Thugs openly patrol the streets shooting any opposition. In Reynosa, those who can leave have done so and the others are forced to live like hidden mice.
Also in the same general area residents had to flee because gunmen began running through the town yelling at people to get out. These incidents occurred on November 5 in Cuidad Mier because the Los Zetos cartel wanted the town for a staging area.
Reports indicate that about 300 residents have found shelter in the town of Miguel Aleman where a couple of temporary housing settlements have been established.
The killings have taken on a bizarre evil twist as beheading and dismemberment are taking place following torture. In that wonderful exotic resort Acapulco, four beheaded bodies were found in a park.
The Mayor’s body in Santiago was found with its eyes gouged out. In the pretty community of Cuernavacas four decapitated bodies were hung from a bridge for all to see.
One reporter for the Los Angeles times says that it’s hard to cover any story in Mexico because there is no one to be trusted. The local police are corrupt, the mayor is on the cartel payroll, the cab drivers are informants and every business is probably linked to the cartels.
In the last weeks of 2010 federal authorities began to make major gains with more than a half dozen cartel leaders being shot or arrested. As of this date, the La Familia cartel is having serious trouble surviving.
On November 5 the leader of the Gulf Cartel, Tony Tormenta was killed and that has weakened his organization’s fight against the Los Zetos cartel. Sinaloa cartel leader Jesus israel de las cruz Lopez was arrested by federal forces on January 5, 2011 which is another blow against these evil cartels.
It is regrettable that the President of The United States, Barack Obama will not make the same efforts from the United States side of the border. We do hear of some arrests and tunnels are found and closed, but those are having a very small effect on the overall war.
The United States and Mexico border needs to be sealed with only controlled crossings. Pandering to the large Hispanic vote in the United States is not helping the war inside Mexico. One can understand the emotional fear for family that exists in the southern United States, but the cartels must be stopped.
We can only hope that President Calderon will continue his gains and we should pray that his successor in 14 months will continue the battle. The President of Mexico is brave indeed, and he is fighting for the life of his country.
ARTICLE LINK
U.S. missionary fatally wounded in Mexico
Reporting from Dallas —
A U.S. missionary died at a southern Texas hospital Wednesday after her husband rushed her, mortally wounded, over the Rio Grande from Mexico.Sam Davis told police that he and his wife were traveling about 70 miles south of the border when gunmen in a pickup truck tried to stop them. When the couple sped up, the gunmen fired, wounding his wife in the head, he said.
Nancy Davis, 59, died in a McAllen hospital about 90 minutes after her husband drove the couple's truck against traffic across the Pharr International Bridge, according to a statement issued by the Pharr Police Department.
Pharr Police Chief Ruben Villescas said Mexican authorities had confirmed that the shooting occurred near San Fernando, about 70 miles south of Reynosa. The area is controlled by the Zetas drug cartel and is one of Mexico's most dangerous. It is the same area of Tamaulipas state where 72 Central and South American migrants were found slain in August, a massacre blamed on the Zetas.
Pharr police and U.S. customs agents converged on the Davises' truck just before 12:30 p.m. Wednesday, after Sam Davis stopped in the middle of bridge traffic to seek help. Nancy Davis was bleeding from a head wound in the passenger seat.
A police statement said the Davises live in the lower Rio Grande Valley in southern Texas but did not specify where or provide details about Nancy Davis' missionary work.
The Mexican Interior Ministry released a statement expressing its condolences. It said Mexican authorities were investigating the shooting but gave no details.
In late September, an American tourist was killed on a border lake about 170 miles northwest of San Fernando, and concerns about the investigation prompted Texas Gov. Rick Perry to call for a stronger response from Mexican authorities. David Hartley's wife says he was gunned down by Mexican pirates while riding a jet ski on the Mexico side of Falcon Lake. His body was never found.
ARTICLE LINK
U.S. missionary dies from gunshot after crossing to U.S. from Mexico
PHARR — A woman died after she suffered a gunshot wound to the head in Mexico earlier today.
The woman, identified as Nancy Davis, 59, was rushed to the hospital after she showed up at the Pharr point of entry with a gunshot wound late Wednesday morning.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers encountered Davis and her husband, Sam, both U.S. citizens.
Only Nancy Davis had suffered at least one gunshot wound to the head. She was transported to an area hospital via ambulance.
"She arrived at the Pharr point of entry and emergency procedures took over and she was removed by ambulance," said Felix Garza, a local U.S. Customs and Border Protection spokesman.
A source at the bridge said the woman arrived in a truck that had been "riddled with bullets" from an apparent attack in Mexico. The source confirmed the woman, in her late 50s, died from the gunshot wound.
Sources said the woman was in Reynosa doing missionary work. It remains unclear what led to the shooting, though it appears the truck had been shot from behind.
A tweet posted by the Beavertown God's Missionary Church in Beavertown, Pa., said Davis "has gone to heaven as a martyr."
"Missionary Nancy Davis has gone to Heaven as a martyr," the online post states. "This afternoon, after 38 years of missionary service she paid the ultimate sacrifice."
A telephone call to the church was not immediately returned.
Garza deferred further comment to Pharr Police Chief Ruben Villescas, who could not immediately be reached for comment Wednesday afternoon.
The bridge remained open during the incident.
ARTICLE LINK
The woman, identified as Nancy Davis, 59, was rushed to the hospital after she showed up at the Pharr point of entry with a gunshot wound late Wednesday morning.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers encountered Davis and her husband, Sam, both U.S. citizens.
Only Nancy Davis had suffered at least one gunshot wound to the head. She was transported to an area hospital via ambulance.
"She arrived at the Pharr point of entry and emergency procedures took over and she was removed by ambulance," said Felix Garza, a local U.S. Customs and Border Protection spokesman.
A source at the bridge said the woman arrived in a truck that had been "riddled with bullets" from an apparent attack in Mexico. The source confirmed the woman, in her late 50s, died from the gunshot wound.
Sources said the woman was in Reynosa doing missionary work. It remains unclear what led to the shooting, though it appears the truck had been shot from behind.
A tweet posted by the Beavertown God's Missionary Church in Beavertown, Pa., said Davis "has gone to heaven as a martyr."
"Missionary Nancy Davis has gone to Heaven as a martyr," the online post states. "This afternoon, after 38 years of missionary service she paid the ultimate sacrifice."
A telephone call to the church was not immediately returned.
Garza deferred further comment to Pharr Police Chief Ruben Villescas, who could not immediately be reached for comment Wednesday afternoon.
The bridge remained open during the incident.
ARTICLE LINK
Gonzalez, 7 other Texas congressional Democrats protest Voter ID measure
Civility is in style in Washington, D.C. But in Austin, well, they don’t like the way bad old War-shington does things.
So what happens when DC Texans deal with combative, Rick Perry-style Republicans?
They wage political war. Respectfully.
That’s what happened when eight Democratic members of the Texas congressional delegation wrote a letter to state Sen. Letitcia Van de Putte declaring that they are “saddened” by the “misguided voter identification law” that has been called a state “emergency” by Republican Gov. Rick Perry.
“Study after study has found almost no evidence of organized voter fraud, in Texas or anywhere in the country,” stated the letter signed by Reps. Sheila Jackson Lee of Houston, Eddie Bernice Johnson of Dallas, Charlie Gonzalez of San Antonio, Lloyd Doggett of Austin, Gene Green of Houston, Ruben Hinojosa of Mercedes, Silvestre Reyes of El Paso and Al Green of Houston.
“There is simply no reason to believe that voter fraud is a pressing problem for Texas. But we know with certainty that voter idenitification laws prevent eligible voters from exercising their constitutional rights.”
Democrats argue that Republicans in the Texas legislature are targeting minority communities, which vote overwhelmingly Democratic, in an effort to scare legal voters away from the polls.
The congressional Democrats predicted that as many as “hundreds of thousands of Texans” would be prevented from voting under the Perry-backed proposal, called Senate Bill 14, “the majority of them people of color, senior citizens, the disabled, students and low income voters.”
Instead of spending time on the Voter ID bill, the Texas Democrats suggested that Perry and state lawmakers spend their time on “education, job creation and providing Texans with access to affordable, quality health care.”
The Democrats’ letter echoed the views of Texas Democratic leaders, who (much less diplomatically) complained about Perry’s political machinations.
“It appears the ‘emergency item’ driving Rick Perry’s priorities is his quest to become a national GOP celebrity at any cost,” Texas Democratic Party chair Boyd Richie said yesterday. “While the governor’s hair may be camera-ready, he only wants the spotlight when it suits his own partisan politics. When it comes to the real emergency — our state’s $27 billion budget deficit and massive program cuts — Perry tries to distract Texans with divisive issues that are not ‘emergencies’ at all.”
Perry, never one to sit back and let his opponents set the political agenda, yesterday ridiculed critics who suggested that lawmakers could not balance the many “emergency” tasks before them with budget-balancing other “non-emergency” state issues.
“I guess we need to introduce ‘em to some of you ladies, who certainly know how to multitask,” he told a Lubbock crowd.
One Democratic congressman, Rep. Henry Cuellar of Laredo, did not sign the letter. He is a former Texas Secretary of State appointed by Perry.
ARTICLE LINK
So what happens when DC Texans deal with combative, Rick Perry-style Republicans?
They wage political war. Respectfully.
That’s what happened when eight Democratic members of the Texas congressional delegation wrote a letter to state Sen. Letitcia Van de Putte declaring that they are “saddened” by the “misguided voter identification law” that has been called a state “emergency” by Republican Gov. Rick Perry.
 Congressional photo Rep. Charlie Gonzalez |
“There is simply no reason to believe that voter fraud is a pressing problem for Texas. But we know with certainty that voter idenitification laws prevent eligible voters from exercising their constitutional rights.”
Democrats argue that Republicans in the Texas legislature are targeting minority communities, which vote overwhelmingly Democratic, in an effort to scare legal voters away from the polls.
The congressional Democrats predicted that as many as “hundreds of thousands of Texans” would be prevented from voting under the Perry-backed proposal, called Senate Bill 14, “the majority of them people of color, senior citizens, the disabled, students and low income voters.”
Instead of spending time on the Voter ID bill, the Texas Democrats suggested that Perry and state lawmakers spend their time on “education, job creation and providing Texans with access to affordable, quality health care.”
 AP photo Rick Perry |
“It appears the ‘emergency item’ driving Rick Perry’s priorities is his quest to become a national GOP celebrity at any cost,” Texas Democratic Party chair Boyd Richie said yesterday. “While the governor’s hair may be camera-ready, he only wants the spotlight when it suits his own partisan politics. When it comes to the real emergency — our state’s $27 billion budget deficit and massive program cuts — Perry tries to distract Texans with divisive issues that are not ‘emergencies’ at all.”
Perry, never one to sit back and let his opponents set the political agenda, yesterday ridiculed critics who suggested that lawmakers could not balance the many “emergency” tasks before them with budget-balancing other “non-emergency” state issues.
“I guess we need to introduce ‘em to some of you ladies, who certainly know how to multitask,” he told a Lubbock crowd.
One Democratic congressman, Rep. Henry Cuellar of Laredo, did not sign the letter. He is a former Texas Secretary of State appointed by Perry.
ARTICLE LINK
Shot woman shows up at Pharr bridge
The Monitor
PHARR — Emergency crews rushed a woman to the hospital after a truck she was riding in was "riddled with bullets" in Mexico.The incident occurred Wednesday at the Pharr-Reynosa International Bridge, where U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers encountered a northbound woman who suffered at least one gunshot wound, said Felix Garza, a local agency spokesman.
The woman was transported to an area hospital via ambulance. Information on her condition was not immediately known.
"She arrived at the Pharr point of entry and emergency procedures took over and she was removed by ambulance," Garza said.
A source at the bridge said the woman arrived in a truck that had been "riddled with bullets" from an apparent attack in Mexico.
The woman's immigration status was not immediately known, Garza said.
Garza deferred further comment to Pharr Police Chief Ruben Villescas, who could not immediately be reached for comment Wednesday afternoon.
The bridge remained open during the incident. Further details were not immediately available.
ARTICLE LINK
Monday, January 24, 2011
Cartels a cause of Valley's street-gang effect, cops say
The Monitor
McALLEN — Local street and prison gangs are more dangerous than Mexican cartels to the people of Hidalgo County, Sheriff Lupe Treviño said.
The county’s top cop cites a disparity in local crime statistics as the basis for his argument.
“We’ve already had incidents in Hidalgo County perpetrated by our gang members that have been detrimental to the security of our community,” he said. “We haven’t had any outright cartel activity in Hidalgo County that has hurt us.”
Although brazen street battles among cartel gunmen and the Mexican military have not spilled over the border and into Valley streets, hundreds of locals have been killed, robbed or assaulted by members of the local organized crime community in recent years, Treviño said.
As of 2005, the sheriff’s gang unit, which he boasts is the largest in a six-county area, has identified more than 70 gangs and more than 11,000 gang members in Hidalgo County, he said.
Identification is made possible through the county jail, as every person arrested in any of the 20 municipalities within the county on charges of a Class B misdemeanor — such as criminal trespassing — or higher has to go through the jail before he or she can post bond.
Investigators have several ways to obtain identifying information from individuals upon their arrival, including self-admittance, prior admissions and by looking at their tattoos.
“Those markings and tattoos tell you their life history,” Treviño said.
Identifying cartel members is difficult because they don’t carry any tags or signs on their body, the sheriff said. Investigators must rely on intelligence-gathering to connect culprits to bigger organizations.
Since 2005, gangs have been responsible for 125 homicides, 325 robberies and have been involved in 1,780 narcotics arrests in Hidalgo County, according to data from the county jail.
No such county statistics exist for members of Mexican drug cartels, Treviño said.
“When you compare numbers on gang membership and number of gangs to cartel groups and cartel members, how is the scale going to tip?” Treviño asked.
It’s not a black-and-white answer, San Juan Police Chief Juan Gonzalez said.
“I do agree that gangs are a bigger threat to us,” he said. “But their purpose is being fueled and supported by criminal organizations on the other side (of the border).”
SUBCONTRACTING
It’s no secret cartels are using gangs to hide, transport and sell narcotics, but to what extent?
“I don’t know if anyone can answer that,” McAllen Police Chief Victor Rodriguez said. “When any of us talk like that, it’s basically loose talk. It’s an effort to simply grab a blanket and wrap everything in it and not be challenged.”
Treviño said there is a definite relationship between gangs and cartels in the Valley, but it’s not as pronounced as it is in El Paso, where the Barrio Aztecas work closely with the Juárez Cartel.
“We haven’t gotten to that point,” he said, “but that’s why I want to keep tabs and continue putting the pressure on these guys so that it doesn’t get to that point.”
There’s a particular local gang that worries the sheriff, the Partido Revolucionario Mexicano, he said. Members must be criminal, illegal aliens in order to join, which makes the threat of conglomeration more feasible as they have what the sheriff calls “the Mexican connection.”
Regardless of ethnicity, street gangs offer cartels another perk: home-field advantage.
“They were born here; they were raised here, and they train themselves as gang members here,” the sheriff said. “They know the back streets and the back roads and how everything operates in Hidalgo County.”
Most cartel members are foreigners. They were born and raised in another country and are not familiar with our way of life, he said.
That’s exactly what makes forming a relationship between both entities more enticing, Gonzalez said.
“If the cartels want to transport narcotics through Texas, they’re not going to ask the average citizen to do that,” the San Juan police chief said. “They’re going to ask people who have been involved in criminal activity and are somewhat organized, and the only people that do that are street and prison gangs.”
“They’ve already been involved in aggravated robberies, extortion, home invasions and violent crimes.”
It’s nothing new that a more sophisticated group will use another to be its muscle, FBI spokesman Erik Vasys said. However, he would not comment on the extent of the local association between gangs and cartels, saying those are aspects of ongoing investigations.
“The whole idea is to make money,” he said. “Everyone has the same motivation.”
Vasys also refused to give an opinion on which criminal group poses a greater danger to the people of Hidalgo County, but did say one of the biggest threats is street crime — which is mostly perpetrated by gangs, according to the sheriff.
“The major source of income (for gangs) is to deal street-level drugs,” Treviño said. “That really contributes to the overall crime rate because in order for these fellows to get money to buy a load, they’re going to steal a car, they’re going to have to burglarize a home and steal a TV or they’re going to have to go commit an armed robbery.”
But it’s not only gangs with ties to cartels that are committing these crimes, Vasys warned.
“Crime is about people,” Rodriguez said. “The more people we have, the more probability of crime.”
It’s difficult to gauge which organization causes the most problems for law enforcement because they are both closely related.
“How much responsibility falls on cartels for our local crime problem?” Treviño asked. “A vast majority because it all originates with them. But how many cartel members come over to this side to commit crimes? Very few.”
Treviño acknowledges that there has been cartel-related crime in the county, but said the general public has not been the target.
“It’s always been between the cartel people and members of their own organization or those that have harmed that particular organization,” he said. “The general public has not really been harmed by it other than by reputation.”
----
Sunday, January 23, 2011
Texas's love/hate relationship with Washington's money
NEW YORK (CNNMoney) -- Texas Gov. Rick Perry likes to tell Washington to stop meddling in state affairs. He vocally opposed the Obama administration's 2009 stimulus program to spur the economy and assist cash-strapped states.
Perry also likes to trumpet that his state balanced its budget in 2009, while keeping billions in its rainy day fund.
Turns out Texas was the state that depended the most on those very stimulus funds to plug nearly 97% of its shortfall for fiscal 2010, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures.
Texas, which crafts a budget every two years, was facing a $6.6 billion shortfall for its 2010-2011 fiscal years. It plugged nearly all of that deficit with $6.4 billion in Recovery Act money, allowing it to leave its $9.1 billion rainy day fund untouched.
"Stimulus was very helpful in getting them through the last few years," said Brian Sigritz, director of state fiscal studies for the National Association of State Budget Officers, said of Texas.
Even as Perry requested the Recovery Act money, he railed against it. On the very same day he asked for the funds, he set up a petition titled "No Government Bailouts."
"Join our fight and add your voice to a growing list of several thousand Americans who are fed up with this irresponsible spending that threatens our future," Perry wrote on his blog on Feb. 18, 2009.
A governor's spokeswoman played down the money's role in shoring up Texas's finances.
"Texas would have balanced its budget regardless of the presence of stimulus dollars," said Lucy Nashed, Perry's deputy press secretary. "This money came from the pockets of Texas taxpayers, and we are committed to getting our fair share of these dollars, which would have otherwise been disbursed to other states."
Texas is in trouble too. State lawmakers unveiled Tuesday an austere budget for the 2012-2013 fiscal years that cuts $31 billion in spending. Schools, colleges, Medicaid and social services for the needy will be hit especially hard.
The state won't replace any of the federal stimulus funds with its own revenues, said Rep. Jim Pitts, who is writing the budget bill for the Texas House. It doesn't have the money. The state comptroller estimated that revenues will be $15 billion less in fiscal 2012-2013 than the previous two-year period.
Gone are the $4.3 billion in stimulus funds for Medicaid and $3.25 billion for public education. The resulting cuts outlined in the budget means schools would likely close and class sizes would get bigger. And because the budget proposes a 10% cut in Medicaid reimbursement rates for doctors, physicians will likely leave the system, making it harder for the poor to get health care.
Other areas are being hit too. For instance, the state would have to lay off 565 caseworkers who investigate child abuse. And stimulus funded child care and job training programs would also end.
Of course, stimulus alone could not have plugged this year's revenue hole. Lawmakers are suggesting a wide range of cuts to bring the budget back into balance. In all, nearly 9,300 government jobs would disappear.
"The federal money bought us some time and that time has run out," said Eva De Luna Castro, budget analyst for the Center for Public Policy Priorities, which focuses on low- and moderate-income Texans.
The budget introduced earlier this week is only the first step in a long process to crafting a final spending plan. Lawmakers and Perry will weigh in over the next few months. The state's fiscal year begins Oct. 1.
But a vocal chorus of Democratic lawmakers and advocates are already urging the GOP, which controls the Texas legislature and governor's mansion, to tap into the state's estimated $9.4 billion rainy day fund to blunt some of the spending cuts and replace the stimulus money.
Stimulus "helped us save our rainy day fund for an even rainier day," De Luna Castro said.
ARTICLE LINK
Perry also likes to trumpet that his state balanced its budget in 2009, while keeping billions in its rainy day fund.
But he couldn't have done that without a lot of help from...guess where? Washington.
Turns out Texas was the state that depended the most on those very stimulus funds to plug nearly 97% of its shortfall for fiscal 2010, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures.
Texas, which crafts a budget every two years, was facing a $6.6 billion shortfall for its 2010-2011 fiscal years. It plugged nearly all of that deficit with $6.4 billion in Recovery Act money, allowing it to leave its $9.1 billion rainy day fund untouched.
"Stimulus was very helpful in getting them through the last few years," said Brian Sigritz, director of state fiscal studies for the National Association of State Budget Officers, said of Texas.
Even as Perry requested the Recovery Act money, he railed against it. On the very same day he asked for the funds, he set up a petition titled "No Government Bailouts."
"Join our fight and add your voice to a growing list of several thousand Americans who are fed up with this irresponsible spending that threatens our future," Perry wrote on his blog on Feb. 18, 2009.
A governor's spokeswoman played down the money's role in shoring up Texas's finances.
"Texas would have balanced its budget regardless of the presence of stimulus dollars," said Lucy Nashed, Perry's deputy press secretary. "This money came from the pockets of Texas taxpayers, and we are committed to getting our fair share of these dollars, which would have otherwise been disbursed to other states."
Difficult years ahead
Unfortunately for Texas, and for most other states in the union, the stimulus safety net has dried up. So they are now facing draconian spending cuts as they try to close yawning budget gaps for fiscal 2012, which starts July 1 in most states.Texas is in trouble too. State lawmakers unveiled Tuesday an austere budget for the 2012-2013 fiscal years that cuts $31 billion in spending. Schools, colleges, Medicaid and social services for the needy will be hit especially hard.
The state won't replace any of the federal stimulus funds with its own revenues, said Rep. Jim Pitts, who is writing the budget bill for the Texas House. It doesn't have the money. The state comptroller estimated that revenues will be $15 billion less in fiscal 2012-2013 than the previous two-year period.
Gone are the $4.3 billion in stimulus funds for Medicaid and $3.25 billion for public education. The resulting cuts outlined in the budget means schools would likely close and class sizes would get bigger. And because the budget proposes a 10% cut in Medicaid reimbursement rates for doctors, physicians will likely leave the system, making it harder for the poor to get health care.
Other areas are being hit too. For instance, the state would have to lay off 565 caseworkers who investigate child abuse. And stimulus funded child care and job training programs would also end.
Of course, stimulus alone could not have plugged this year's revenue hole. Lawmakers are suggesting a wide range of cuts to bring the budget back into balance. In all, nearly 9,300 government jobs would disappear.
"The federal money bought us some time and that time has run out," said Eva De Luna Castro, budget analyst for the Center for Public Policy Priorities, which focuses on low- and moderate-income Texans.
The budget introduced earlier this week is only the first step in a long process to crafting a final spending plan. Lawmakers and Perry will weigh in over the next few months. The state's fiscal year begins Oct. 1.
But a vocal chorus of Democratic lawmakers and advocates are already urging the GOP, which controls the Texas legislature and governor's mansion, to tap into the state's estimated $9.4 billion rainy day fund to blunt some of the spending cuts and replace the stimulus money.
Stimulus "helped us save our rainy day fund for an even rainier day," De Luna Castro said.
ARTICLE LINK
Grotesque cartel violence spreads to quieter parts of Mexico
A Canadian senior was shot with an AK-47 in Mexico last week.
He wasn’t in Ciudad Juarez, or one of the northern border towns known for their brutal violence, where it isn’t uncommon to see mutilated bodies hanging off billboards warning locals they’ll be next if they report drug cartel activity to the Federales.
He was in Mazatlan, a popular vacation destination.
He was in a “safe” area, in broad daylight.
The same day, Canadian couple Rebecca Rutland and Richard Coleman accused Mexican police of arrestingthem, beating Coleman and gang raping Rutland. They were visiting another popular vacation destination, Playa del Carmen.
Mexican police claim the couple attacked each other.
In the last five years, more than 100 Canadians have died in Mexico.
This is apparently because Canadians are loud, aggressive and prone to falling off balconies, leaping in front of moving vehicles and locking themselves in the trunk of their own burning vehicle.
Of those approximately 115 deaths, 15 are considered to be murders or “suspicious.” This, for the most part, doesn’t include the 29 Canadians who have died as a result of “falling” off balconies (to be fair some really did fall).
Perhaps Mexico needs a national balcony registry because it seems guns, crime and cartels aren’t a problem for Canadians in Mexico, rather it’s the crazy, dangerous balconies.
Maybe Mexican police are slightly lacking in their investigative capability. I still have a hard time believing two Canadian soccer moms were once considered plausible suspects when fellow Canadians Domenic and Nancy Ianiero had their throats slit in 2006.
Police departments in Mexico are notoriously corrupt and many are infiltrated by the cartels. Mexican citizens will not call 911 because they know who is coming to respond — drug thugs.
The former police chief of Cancun drove around in a dark SUV pumping out Narcocorrido music — songs celebrating the exploits of drug lords. He was arrested this summer for the torture and murder of a retired Mexican general who had been appointed to a new drug-fighting task force.
The country is quite literally in the middle of a drug war.
Deluding yourself into believing the risk of violence is the same in Mexico as it is here at home is just plain dumb. There aren’t 15,000 murders a year in Canada, people’s heads aren’t dipped in acid, and police chiefs don’t murder generals in Banff.
Mexico is taking the right steps, but it is struggling to hold its ground and the Mexican government will admit to this. At least the government in Mexico City will, in the hopes of drawing more international aid to fight the cartels. The tone is notably different from Mexican officials in Canada, who appear concerned about tourist dollars.
Mexico has experienced a 70% increase in violence over the last year alone, which means things will get worse before they get better.
Do the math — if violence is increasing, so is risk, and unfortunately that includes traditionally safe areas. Especially when cartels like Los Zetas have political control of the area. The Zetas are former Special Forces soldiers who tied up and shot 72 unarmed, innocent migrants in the fall to have more extortion leverage in the future.
Cartels shoot up teenagers’ birthday parties, rehab facilities and supermarkets. They don’t care. Cartels are unlikely to target you, but this past week was an example of an AK-47 bullet, a Canadian and wrong place, wrong time.
The focus should be on why Canada isn’t doing more to help out Mexico in a real sense, not just pouring money into cartel-owned areas. What are we doing to help them reform their justice system or rebuild an honest national police force?
Meanwhile, I’m terribly sorry if pointing out the facts is bad for business, but lives should matter more than dollars — both Mexican and Canadian lives.
— Stephenson will appear regularly on Sun News Network
mercedes.stephenson@sunmedia.ca
ARTICLE LINK
He wasn’t in Ciudad Juarez, or one of the northern border towns known for their brutal violence, where it isn’t uncommon to see mutilated bodies hanging off billboards warning locals they’ll be next if they report drug cartel activity to the Federales.
He was in Mazatlan, a popular vacation destination.
He was in a “safe” area, in broad daylight.
The same day, Canadian couple Rebecca Rutland and Richard Coleman accused Mexican police of arrestingthem, beating Coleman and gang raping Rutland. They were visiting another popular vacation destination, Playa del Carmen.
Mexican police claim the couple attacked each other.
In the last five years, more than 100 Canadians have died in Mexico.
This is apparently because Canadians are loud, aggressive and prone to falling off balconies, leaping in front of moving vehicles and locking themselves in the trunk of their own burning vehicle.
Of those approximately 115 deaths, 15 are considered to be murders or “suspicious.” This, for the most part, doesn’t include the 29 Canadians who have died as a result of “falling” off balconies (to be fair some really did fall).
Perhaps Mexico needs a national balcony registry because it seems guns, crime and cartels aren’t a problem for Canadians in Mexico, rather it’s the crazy, dangerous balconies.
Maybe Mexican police are slightly lacking in their investigative capability. I still have a hard time believing two Canadian soccer moms were once considered plausible suspects when fellow Canadians Domenic and Nancy Ianiero had their throats slit in 2006.
Police departments in Mexico are notoriously corrupt and many are infiltrated by the cartels. Mexican citizens will not call 911 because they know who is coming to respond — drug thugs.
The former police chief of Cancun drove around in a dark SUV pumping out Narcocorrido music — songs celebrating the exploits of drug lords. He was arrested this summer for the torture and murder of a retired Mexican general who had been appointed to a new drug-fighting task force.
The country is quite literally in the middle of a drug war.
Deluding yourself into believing the risk of violence is the same in Mexico as it is here at home is just plain dumb. There aren’t 15,000 murders a year in Canada, people’s heads aren’t dipped in acid, and police chiefs don’t murder generals in Banff.
Mexico is taking the right steps, but it is struggling to hold its ground and the Mexican government will admit to this. At least the government in Mexico City will, in the hopes of drawing more international aid to fight the cartels. The tone is notably different from Mexican officials in Canada, who appear concerned about tourist dollars.
Mexico has experienced a 70% increase in violence over the last year alone, which means things will get worse before they get better.
Do the math — if violence is increasing, so is risk, and unfortunately that includes traditionally safe areas. Especially when cartels like Los Zetas have political control of the area. The Zetas are former Special Forces soldiers who tied up and shot 72 unarmed, innocent migrants in the fall to have more extortion leverage in the future.
Cartels shoot up teenagers’ birthday parties, rehab facilities and supermarkets. They don’t care. Cartels are unlikely to target you, but this past week was an example of an AK-47 bullet, a Canadian and wrong place, wrong time.
The focus should be on why Canada isn’t doing more to help out Mexico in a real sense, not just pouring money into cartel-owned areas. What are we doing to help them reform their justice system or rebuild an honest national police force?
Meanwhile, I’m terribly sorry if pointing out the facts is bad for business, but lives should matter more than dollars — both Mexican and Canadian lives.
— Stephenson will appear regularly on Sun News Network
mercedes.stephenson@sunmedia.ca
ARTICLE LINK
Shootout In Reynosa
Authorities are asking area residents to avoid three neighborhoods and two major roads following reports of explosions, a shootout and narcoblockades.
Reynosa residents reported on the social media network Twitter that they heard two loud detonations on the city's northwest side around 3 pm Sunday.
City officials later confirmed a "situation of risk" in the Colonia Rancho Grande, Colonia El Olmo and Colonia Hidalgo.
Reynosa officials also reported blockades along main thoroughfares such as Blvd Hidalgo and Praxedis Balboa.
City officials confirmed that numerous bridges throughout the city also have blockades.
Reynosa officials are asking residents to avoid those areas and roads until an "all-clear" signal is given.
ARTICLE LINK
Reynosa residents reported on the social media network Twitter that they heard two loud detonations on the city's northwest side around 3 pm Sunday.
City officials later confirmed a "situation of risk" in the Colonia Rancho Grande, Colonia El Olmo and Colonia Hidalgo.
Reynosa officials also reported blockades along main thoroughfares such as Blvd Hidalgo and Praxedis Balboa.
City officials confirmed that numerous bridges throughout the city also have blockades.
Reynosa officials are asking residents to avoid those areas and roads until an "all-clear" signal is given.
ARTICLE LINK
Saturday, January 22, 2011
Texas University Chancellors Brace for Budget Cuts
Here are some numbers that every chancellor of a university system in Texas knows by heart: Out of $1,250,250,767 that Texas cut out of its current, 2010-11 biennial budget, $518,424,781 was drained from higher education. That’s 41.47 percent of the 5 percent total reduction among all state agencies demanded by the state's leadership. Higher ed’s overall share of the state’s budget, meanwhile, is 12.5 percent.
The chancellors are adamant that their institutions not be hit disproportionately in the next round of cuts.
Of the state’s six chancellors, four — Mike McKinney of the Texas A&M University System, Lee Jackson of the University of North Texas System, Kent Hance of the Texas Tech University System and Brian McCall of Texas State University System — served in the Texas Legislature. McKinney was also Gov. Rick Perry’s chief of staff. They all agree that the 82nd legislative session — with the state facing a budget shortfall of between $15 billion to $27 billion — will be the toughest they’ve seen.
In the coming months, the chancellors — a group that also includes Francisco Cigarroa of the University of Texas System and Renu Khator of the University of Houston System — will come to the table fully aware that there is less to go around than in past years. The Texas House is starting from a base budget that includes a $594 million drop from current levels of university funding. In the community college community, talk of shutting down institutions has already begun. If the same numbers appear in the final budget, as state Rep. Mike Villarreal, D-San Antonio, has noted in his criticism of the bill, the state's largest financial aid program will serve 69 percent fewer students in 2013 than 2011. In short, it's pretty bleak.
“We’ve been very much together in times of growth,” Jackson says. “Whether we can remain together in times of retrenchment remains to be seen.”
When it comes to the case to be made on behalf of higher ed, McCall insists, “There is no division amongst the chancellors,” though he acknowledges that each one has been hired to promote his own system. McKinney puts it this way: His check may come from Texas A&M, but he says he really works for all the people living in this state. "It would be wrong for me to do something that benefits the Texas A&M University System that harms the rest of the state," he says. "We're not going to be that selfish. But we think that a lot of things that benefit A&M also benefit the rest of the state."
Some specific issues inspire widespread agreement among higher ed officials. All institutions would like to cut back on the costs incurred by state-mandated reporting of a variety of metrics they feel are duplicative and unnecessary, for instance. But other potential changes provoke mixed reactions among the group.
For example, some lawmakers and state education officials are talking about altering the formula for how the state allocates money to universities, moving from one based on enrollment to one that rewards high graduation rates. Officials from the University of Houston System intend to make the case that the expected cuts in state funding is already an enormous challenge even without changing the formula. Over in College Station, McKinney says, “My personal prejudice is that the best time to do things is when it’s hard. We’ve already proven that when we’re flush, when we have lots of money, we won’t make hard decisions."
But first things first. They are at least unified around the basic pitch to lawmakers for this session: a plea for fairness.
Texas Tech’s Hance says the universities are not opposed to cutting their budgets. He anticipates that the 7.5 percent cuts they’ve made in the last year could ultimately be one half to one third of what the total will be when all is said and done. “But we don’t want the budget balanced on our backs,” he says. “If they’re going to cut us, they ought to cut transportation, public education, welfare, health, and everybody else.”
What worries UNT’s Jackson is the discussions that have cropped up in states like California, Florida and Nevada — states suffering through even deeper, more protracted budget problems. “They have discussed what are in effect rationing plans,” he says. These include limiting enrollment, restricting transfers from community colleges and deferring pursuits of lofty goals like recruiting top faculty. Such measures have yet to be discussed in Texas, which, Jackson says, has been emphasizing “more enrollments, more degrees, more research and more student access” even as cuts loom. “You can’t have a lot of expectations and not recognize the cost,” he says.
Barry McBee, vice chancellor for governmental relations for the UT System, notes that for his system, every 5 percent cut amounts to $500 per student at academic institutions and $7,000 per student at medical and nursing institutions. But the loss, he says, is greater than those numbers indicate — because unlike other areas of the budget, money spent on higher education is money invested.
The Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board estimates that the state gets an eightfold return on every dollar invested in public higher education. “We hate to pit ourselves against other parts of the budget,” McBee says, “but other parts of the budget do not represent the same opportunity.”
That’s why Texas State’s McCall, who only recently left the Legislature, is optimistic. “The legislature has always been good to higher ed in Texas,” he says. “There’s just too much cause and effect.”
Ultimately, Texas’s public universities will pass along at least some of the state budget cuts to their customers. “We either get the money from the student or the state,” Hance says. And the trend in recent years has been for students (and their parents) to bear a growing share of the load. In 1990, Texas Tech University received 56 percent of its total funding from the state. In 2010, it only received 36 percent. Much of the rest came from tuition and fees.
Meanwhile, many experts believe Texas universities should be expanding, not cutting back. With enrollments reaching record levels, it would take a $700 million increase in funding just to maintain current levels of service.
If the Texas State University System continues growing at its current rate, it will be 60 percent bigger by 2020. That’s just one example of why many in the higher education community feel now — with historically low construction costs and interest rates — is the time to be issuing tuition revenue bonds to fund construction projects.
As precedent, McCall points to the famous UT Tower, built in the middle of the Great Depression. UT’s McBee concurs that such an investment “would send a signal nationally that there’s still a long term strategy, vision and focus in Texas.”
All told, the Texas public university systems have submitted a wish list of construction projects totaling more than $3 billion. Not all of them, if any, will ultimately get approval. Jackson says that even if the legislators can’t make major investments, he thinks they may be able to conduct “a pretty regular review and approve a list of needed facilities."
But new buildings are not at the top of everyone’s priority list. Hance acknowledges that his Texas Tech system needs some and recognizes that it’s a good time to build. But, he says, “it doesn’t make much sense to build buildings when you can’t fund day-to-day operations.”
The relative unity among the chancellors may be strained when it comes to issues that affect only a select group of institutions.
The highly touted state-sponsored race to become the next “national research university” — or tier-one school, as it’s commonly known — does not involve every institution. For the seven universities who are competing, it’s critically important. The University of Houston, for example, credits the legislation that created the competition for helping it set a new institutional record for awards won in research — $115 million — in the last year, paving the way for a recent announcement from the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching that it has upgraded UH to its highest classification for research universities, the same level as the University of Texas and Texas A&M University.
But McKinney, whose system has no dog in the race (Texas A&M is already a tier-one school), says, “We need to quit worrying about spending money toward prestige. If you do your job, prestige will follow.”
The Texas A&M System may not worry about tier-one legislation, but like other systems, it has institution-specific issues for policymakers to address. It is the only one that includes state agencies — seven in total, including the Texas Forest Service — in addition to academic and health institutions. That means it is the only system that has to go through the sunset process, in which state agencies have to justify their continued existence. The University of Houston System’s governing board is one of only two in the state that is legally obligated to meet in April, though budgeting cycles often necessitate a follow-up in May. UT’s McBee says that any discretionary dollars that might become available unexpectedly should be given to the University of Texas at Austin — “as the flagship.”
The systems can deal with these individual issues and any minor differences “after the fact,” McBee says. The main push will be what he calls a “rising tide philosophy” about the overall importance of higher education.
But how receptive to that philosophy will the anti-spending, small government forces that control the state legislature be? Conservative legislators, state Sen. Tommy Williams, R-The Woodlands, and state Rep. Warren Chisum, R-Pampa, recently issued recommendations for balancing the budget that included slashing spending on central administration by 30 percent, reducing the state’s largest financial aid program by 20 percent, eliminating some of the money for tier-one development and more. Following its release, they applauded the base budget. In a survey conducted by the conservative Texas Public Policy Foundation, Texans strongly favored not only slashing administrative budgets, but delaying new facilities.
At least one chancellor promises that lawmakers won't hear him whining. "They have to make hard choices," McKinney says. "There's more good to be done than they have money to do. I'm certainly going to do my job not to make theirs harder."
Ed note: An earlier version of this story misstated the total amount universities have requested in construction as $4.6 billion. It has been corrected to $3 billion.
ARTICLE LINK
The chancellors are adamant that their institutions not be hit disproportionately in the next round of cuts.
Of the state’s six chancellors, four — Mike McKinney of the Texas A&M University System, Lee Jackson of the University of North Texas System, Kent Hance of the Texas Tech University System and Brian McCall of Texas State University System — served in the Texas Legislature. McKinney was also Gov. Rick Perry’s chief of staff. They all agree that the 82nd legislative session — with the state facing a budget shortfall of between $15 billion to $27 billion — will be the toughest they’ve seen.
In the coming months, the chancellors — a group that also includes Francisco Cigarroa of the University of Texas System and Renu Khator of the University of Houston System — will come to the table fully aware that there is less to go around than in past years. The Texas House is starting from a base budget that includes a $594 million drop from current levels of university funding. In the community college community, talk of shutting down institutions has already begun. If the same numbers appear in the final budget, as state Rep. Mike Villarreal, D-San Antonio, has noted in his criticism of the bill, the state's largest financial aid program will serve 69 percent fewer students in 2013 than 2011. In short, it's pretty bleak.
“We’ve been very much together in times of growth,” Jackson says. “Whether we can remain together in times of retrenchment remains to be seen.”
When it comes to the case to be made on behalf of higher ed, McCall insists, “There is no division amongst the chancellors,” though he acknowledges that each one has been hired to promote his own system. McKinney puts it this way: His check may come from Texas A&M, but he says he really works for all the people living in this state. "It would be wrong for me to do something that benefits the Texas A&M University System that harms the rest of the state," he says. "We're not going to be that selfish. But we think that a lot of things that benefit A&M also benefit the rest of the state."
Some specific issues inspire widespread agreement among higher ed officials. All institutions would like to cut back on the costs incurred by state-mandated reporting of a variety of metrics they feel are duplicative and unnecessary, for instance. But other potential changes provoke mixed reactions among the group.
For example, some lawmakers and state education officials are talking about altering the formula for how the state allocates money to universities, moving from one based on enrollment to one that rewards high graduation rates. Officials from the University of Houston System intend to make the case that the expected cuts in state funding is already an enormous challenge even without changing the formula. Over in College Station, McKinney says, “My personal prejudice is that the best time to do things is when it’s hard. We’ve already proven that when we’re flush, when we have lots of money, we won’t make hard decisions."
But first things first. They are at least unified around the basic pitch to lawmakers for this session: a plea for fairness.
Texas Tech’s Hance says the universities are not opposed to cutting their budgets. He anticipates that the 7.5 percent cuts they’ve made in the last year could ultimately be one half to one third of what the total will be when all is said and done. “But we don’t want the budget balanced on our backs,” he says. “If they’re going to cut us, they ought to cut transportation, public education, welfare, health, and everybody else.”
What worries UNT’s Jackson is the discussions that have cropped up in states like California, Florida and Nevada — states suffering through even deeper, more protracted budget problems. “They have discussed what are in effect rationing plans,” he says. These include limiting enrollment, restricting transfers from community colleges and deferring pursuits of lofty goals like recruiting top faculty. Such measures have yet to be discussed in Texas, which, Jackson says, has been emphasizing “more enrollments, more degrees, more research and more student access” even as cuts loom. “You can’t have a lot of expectations and not recognize the cost,” he says.
Barry McBee, vice chancellor for governmental relations for the UT System, notes that for his system, every 5 percent cut amounts to $500 per student at academic institutions and $7,000 per student at medical and nursing institutions. But the loss, he says, is greater than those numbers indicate — because unlike other areas of the budget, money spent on higher education is money invested.
The Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board estimates that the state gets an eightfold return on every dollar invested in public higher education. “We hate to pit ourselves against other parts of the budget,” McBee says, “but other parts of the budget do not represent the same opportunity.”
That’s why Texas State’s McCall, who only recently left the Legislature, is optimistic. “The legislature has always been good to higher ed in Texas,” he says. “There’s just too much cause and effect.”
Ultimately, Texas’s public universities will pass along at least some of the state budget cuts to their customers. “We either get the money from the student or the state,” Hance says. And the trend in recent years has been for students (and their parents) to bear a growing share of the load. In 1990, Texas Tech University received 56 percent of its total funding from the state. In 2010, it only received 36 percent. Much of the rest came from tuition and fees.
Meanwhile, many experts believe Texas universities should be expanding, not cutting back. With enrollments reaching record levels, it would take a $700 million increase in funding just to maintain current levels of service.
If the Texas State University System continues growing at its current rate, it will be 60 percent bigger by 2020. That’s just one example of why many in the higher education community feel now — with historically low construction costs and interest rates — is the time to be issuing tuition revenue bonds to fund construction projects.
As precedent, McCall points to the famous UT Tower, built in the middle of the Great Depression. UT’s McBee concurs that such an investment “would send a signal nationally that there’s still a long term strategy, vision and focus in Texas.”
All told, the Texas public university systems have submitted a wish list of construction projects totaling more than $3 billion. Not all of them, if any, will ultimately get approval. Jackson says that even if the legislators can’t make major investments, he thinks they may be able to conduct “a pretty regular review and approve a list of needed facilities."
But new buildings are not at the top of everyone’s priority list. Hance acknowledges that his Texas Tech system needs some and recognizes that it’s a good time to build. But, he says, “it doesn’t make much sense to build buildings when you can’t fund day-to-day operations.”
The relative unity among the chancellors may be strained when it comes to issues that affect only a select group of institutions.
The highly touted state-sponsored race to become the next “national research university” — or tier-one school, as it’s commonly known — does not involve every institution. For the seven universities who are competing, it’s critically important. The University of Houston, for example, credits the legislation that created the competition for helping it set a new institutional record for awards won in research — $115 million — in the last year, paving the way for a recent announcement from the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching that it has upgraded UH to its highest classification for research universities, the same level as the University of Texas and Texas A&M University.
But McKinney, whose system has no dog in the race (Texas A&M is already a tier-one school), says, “We need to quit worrying about spending money toward prestige. If you do your job, prestige will follow.”
The Texas A&M System may not worry about tier-one legislation, but like other systems, it has institution-specific issues for policymakers to address. It is the only one that includes state agencies — seven in total, including the Texas Forest Service — in addition to academic and health institutions. That means it is the only system that has to go through the sunset process, in which state agencies have to justify their continued existence. The University of Houston System’s governing board is one of only two in the state that is legally obligated to meet in April, though budgeting cycles often necessitate a follow-up in May. UT’s McBee says that any discretionary dollars that might become available unexpectedly should be given to the University of Texas at Austin — “as the flagship.”
The systems can deal with these individual issues and any minor differences “after the fact,” McBee says. The main push will be what he calls a “rising tide philosophy” about the overall importance of higher education.
But how receptive to that philosophy will the anti-spending, small government forces that control the state legislature be? Conservative legislators, state Sen. Tommy Williams, R-The Woodlands, and state Rep. Warren Chisum, R-Pampa, recently issued recommendations for balancing the budget that included slashing spending on central administration by 30 percent, reducing the state’s largest financial aid program by 20 percent, eliminating some of the money for tier-one development and more. Following its release, they applauded the base budget. In a survey conducted by the conservative Texas Public Policy Foundation, Texans strongly favored not only slashing administrative budgets, but delaying new facilities.
At least one chancellor promises that lawmakers won't hear him whining. "They have to make hard choices," McKinney says. "There's more good to be done than they have money to do. I'm certainly going to do my job not to make theirs harder."
Ed note: An earlier version of this story misstated the total amount universities have requested in construction as $4.6 billion. It has been corrected to $3 billion.
ARTICLE LINK
Texas budget cuts may shift burden to locals
AUSTIN — Conservative lawmakers who dominate Texas politics make their political careers on promising to cut state spending and block new taxes. But when the budget slashing is done, city and county officials must pick up the pieces — and possibly raise taxes.
State legislatures across the country are facing budget problems brought on by the economic recession. California, Illinois and Georgia face shortfalls just as bad as Texas, but they plan to raise taxes to avoid dramatic cuts. The Texas governor, lieutenant governor and House speaker — all Republicans — have promised to make the state live within its means without new taxes.
When the legislature released the first draft of the new budget this week, the proposed cuts were staggering. All told, if lawmakers want to avoid raising taxes, they need to cut $27 billion from what it would cost to maintain the current level of state services.
Texas lawmakers from both parties have always been fiscally conservative, explained Sherri Greenberg, interim director of the Center for Politics and Governance at the LBJ School for Public Affairs in Austin. Texas spends less per person on state services than any other state, and the Texas Constitution forbids a personal income tax.
"It's one thing to say `no new taxes,' however, that doesn't mean there won't be all kinds of fees increased," Greenberg said. "Things are just pushed down to the local level."
Cuts set off a domino effect: Historically, public schools raise property taxes when the state education agency sends smaller checks. Cities and counties have to pick up the bill when the sick go to the emergency room because fewer doctors accept Medicaid. And when the mentally ill don't receive treatment, local law enforcement often steps in.
Texans pay for these services in one of two ways. Local authorities collect property taxes, and 64 percent of the state budget comes from sales taxes. Less spending during the recession has meant reduced state revenues. The state also collects a business tax, but that has never produced as much revenue as lawmakers predicted, Greenberg said.
The draft budget assumes no new taxes and over the next two years takes $9.8 billion away from schools and could cost 100,000 school district jobs, according to Moak, Casey & Associates, a school finance consulting firm that analyzed the budget. This at a time when Texas schools is projected to add 160,000 new students, according to census figures. The Houston Independent School District alone could lose $348 million in financing, something that could result in teacher layoffs.
"You could take to your voters a tax increase . but in this economy it's tough to even think about that," said Melinda Garrett, the chief financial officer for Houston schools. "We are 80 percent people, so you can't cut the budget without cutting people."
Some schools are already charging the maximum rate allowed without voter approval, but the Houston school board can still raise taxes 3 cents per $100 of real estate without a referendum. That is one option Garrett will present to the board — along with proposed cuts — once the state budget is finalized and becomes law in May.
Hospitals and doctors will likely absorb the $2.8 billion the state plans to cut from Medicaid programs. The state is considering reducing what it pays doctors and hospitals to treat Medicaid patients by 10 percent. Based on past cuts in Medicaid fees, the result will be fewer doctors accepting Medicaid patients and more people relying on emergency rooms when they fall ill. Hospitals cannot turn away emergency patients.
Parkland Health and Hospital System is one of the largest public hospitals in Texas, treating more than 93,000 low-income patients who depend on the program each year. Ron Anderson, the CEO, said state cuts in health care merely shift the costs to counties and hospital districts, which rely on local property taxes. Parkland relies on medical school faculty and students to provide services, so cuts to the higher education budget will compound the cuts to the health budget, costing millions in local taxes.
"Sometimes you think you're saving money with one budget, but your actually transferring the costs to somebody else and the costs might actually be higher," Anderson said. "The taxpayers who pay these bills are actually the same taxpayers."
Texas ranks 49th in the nation in per capita spending on mental health programs, and the draft budget would cut spending by 40 percent. When mentally ill people can't get the help they need, they often end up in jail or worse, said Harris County Sheriff Adrian Garcia.
"Officers and the mentally ill will be having confrontations that will result in arrests, tazings and, regretfully, even shootings," Garcia said. "That should not be the way that families or individuals resolve their mental health issues, but that's generally how it works because there is a lack of service."
Garcia and other sheriffs across the state have repeatedly asked the legislature to increase spending on mental health programs to divert people away from jail and into treatment programs. About 25 percent of the inmates in the Harris County Jail already require psychological treatment and psychotropic drugs, costing the county $27 million a year. Many more would qualify for other treatments, he said. Now the Texas Sheriff's Association just wants the state to maintain the current funding.
"We have been working hard to control spending in the sheriff's office, but when these folks come into my custody, I have no option, I am constitutionally obligated to provide them with the care they need," Garcia said. And funding for that treatment comes from county property taxes, he said.
The draft budget introduced on Wednesday is only a start to the budget process, and the final budget will look much different. But as debate begins, local authorities will be visiting state lawmakers to try to protect their piece of the budget.
ARTICLE LINK
State legislatures across the country are facing budget problems brought on by the economic recession. California, Illinois and Georgia face shortfalls just as bad as Texas, but they plan to raise taxes to avoid dramatic cuts. The Texas governor, lieutenant governor and House speaker — all Republicans — have promised to make the state live within its means without new taxes.
When the legislature released the first draft of the new budget this week, the proposed cuts were staggering. All told, if lawmakers want to avoid raising taxes, they need to cut $27 billion from what it would cost to maintain the current level of state services.
Texas lawmakers from both parties have always been fiscally conservative, explained Sherri Greenberg, interim director of the Center for Politics and Governance at the LBJ School for Public Affairs in Austin. Texas spends less per person on state services than any other state, and the Texas Constitution forbids a personal income tax.
"It's one thing to say `no new taxes,' however, that doesn't mean there won't be all kinds of fees increased," Greenberg said. "Things are just pushed down to the local level."
Cuts set off a domino effect: Historically, public schools raise property taxes when the state education agency sends smaller checks. Cities and counties have to pick up the bill when the sick go to the emergency room because fewer doctors accept Medicaid. And when the mentally ill don't receive treatment, local law enforcement often steps in.
Texans pay for these services in one of two ways. Local authorities collect property taxes, and 64 percent of the state budget comes from sales taxes. Less spending during the recession has meant reduced state revenues. The state also collects a business tax, but that has never produced as much revenue as lawmakers predicted, Greenberg said.
The draft budget assumes no new taxes and over the next two years takes $9.8 billion away from schools and could cost 100,000 school district jobs, according to Moak, Casey & Associates, a school finance consulting firm that analyzed the budget. This at a time when Texas schools is projected to add 160,000 new students, according to census figures. The Houston Independent School District alone could lose $348 million in financing, something that could result in teacher layoffs.
"You could take to your voters a tax increase . but in this economy it's tough to even think about that," said Melinda Garrett, the chief financial officer for Houston schools. "We are 80 percent people, so you can't cut the budget without cutting people."
Some schools are already charging the maximum rate allowed without voter approval, but the Houston school board can still raise taxes 3 cents per $100 of real estate without a referendum. That is one option Garrett will present to the board — along with proposed cuts — once the state budget is finalized and becomes law in May.
Hospitals and doctors will likely absorb the $2.8 billion the state plans to cut from Medicaid programs. The state is considering reducing what it pays doctors and hospitals to treat Medicaid patients by 10 percent. Based on past cuts in Medicaid fees, the result will be fewer doctors accepting Medicaid patients and more people relying on emergency rooms when they fall ill. Hospitals cannot turn away emergency patients.
Parkland Health and Hospital System is one of the largest public hospitals in Texas, treating more than 93,000 low-income patients who depend on the program each year. Ron Anderson, the CEO, said state cuts in health care merely shift the costs to counties and hospital districts, which rely on local property taxes. Parkland relies on medical school faculty and students to provide services, so cuts to the higher education budget will compound the cuts to the health budget, costing millions in local taxes.
"Sometimes you think you're saving money with one budget, but your actually transferring the costs to somebody else and the costs might actually be higher," Anderson said. "The taxpayers who pay these bills are actually the same taxpayers."
Texas ranks 49th in the nation in per capita spending on mental health programs, and the draft budget would cut spending by 40 percent. When mentally ill people can't get the help they need, they often end up in jail or worse, said Harris County Sheriff Adrian Garcia.
"Officers and the mentally ill will be having confrontations that will result in arrests, tazings and, regretfully, even shootings," Garcia said. "That should not be the way that families or individuals resolve their mental health issues, but that's generally how it works because there is a lack of service."
Garcia and other sheriffs across the state have repeatedly asked the legislature to increase spending on mental health programs to divert people away from jail and into treatment programs. About 25 percent of the inmates in the Harris County Jail already require psychological treatment and psychotropic drugs, costing the county $27 million a year. Many more would qualify for other treatments, he said. Now the Texas Sheriff's Association just wants the state to maintain the current funding.
"We have been working hard to control spending in the sheriff's office, but when these folks come into my custody, I have no option, I am constitutionally obligated to provide them with the care they need," Garcia said. And funding for that treatment comes from county property taxes, he said.
The draft budget introduced on Wednesday is only a start to the budget process, and the final budget will look much different. But as debate begins, local authorities will be visiting state lawmakers to try to protect their piece of the budget.
ARTICLE LINK
Perry's position The governor's refusal to use the rainy day fund is troubling - and hurts taxpayers.
Gov. Rick Perry has vowed that the state's biennial budget can and will be balanced without dipping into the rainy day fund or raising taxes.
Perry's vow is disingenuous. Even if there are no new state taxes, this approach would mean a heavier tax burden, particularly for residents of populous urban areas such as Houston and Harris County.
Cutting state budgets, especially in the public health area, cannot help but mean increased costs for overstressed agencies such as the Harris County Hospital District — and that means county taxpayers. These are the same pockets that pay the freight for state services.
As well, cuts to programs such as CHIP, the Children's Health Insurance Program, and other subsidies for health care insurance, would almost certainly drive more uninsured Texans to the state's emergency rooms, where care for simple illnesses such as sore throats is more expensive by an order of magnitude.
Who pays? Those who are insured, who get billed for these costs via higher health care premiums. These costs hit employers and their employees hardest. Both groups are taxpayers, Governor.
The logic of using the state rainy day fund to address shortfalls, rather than making cuts in vital services such as children's health care and insurance, is compelling in both dollar and common-sense terms.
Children's health expenditures are matched handsomely by federal dollars and help Texans avoid the demonstrably higher expenses of paying for sick and ailing uninsured children in venues such as emergency rooms.
More to the point, healthy children have fewer absences from school and thus, better opportunities to learn. They are a smart investment. In the long term, they represent the skilled human resource that promises this state a far brighter economic future.
Gov. Perry's approach on the budget seems similar to the one he followed two years ago. In 2009, it was widely assumed that Rick Perry was using his performance in the legislative session to secure his base in the Republican Party against a challenge by U.S. Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison.
Is there another, similar agenda this time that has less to do with doing what's best for Texas than positioning Perry for national office in 2012? We can't help but wonder.
Friday, January 21, 2011
Critics Blast Approach to Community Colleges in HB 1
Among the most controversial issues in House Bill 1, the base budget, is its denial of state funding to four community colleges: Odessa College, Brazosport College, Ranger College and Frank Phillips College. While the bill does not represent a final decision, critics say presenting the proposed budget executions this way is as dangerous as the methodology behind the decision is misleading.
State Rep. Dennis Bonnen, R-Angleton, says House Appropriations Chairman Jim Pitts, R-Waxahachie, did the "honorable" thing on Tuesday by calling with advance notice that the community college in Bonnen's district, Brazosport College, would be one of the four not receiving funding in the proposed legislation. Bonnen appreciated the call, but still calls the approach "terribly irresponsible."
Bonnen describes Brazosport College as "the hub and center" of his district — one that local industry relies on for job training and that community members go to for education and cultural pursuits. "The thought of losing an institution like that is kind of debilitating," he says. Though he recognizes that the base budget is "nowhere near" how the final budget will look, Bonnen says that even suggesting a college might be closed is "significant" and even "disastrous." Students will begin looking to transfer, and others might decide to not bother enrolling.
"It creates a high degree of uncertainty," he says. "As policymakers, we'd better be damned sure it's something we're going to do if we create that uncertainty." And Bonnen feels strongly that the school will, ultimately get that funding once his arguments have been made.
One of the central arguments made by critics like Bonnen is that the methodology used to determine which schools to close was badly flawed. The four community colleges were chosen based on a drop in "contact hours," which are — like semester credit hours at universities — the base unit of measure in the state formula to determine funding for community college, when comparing data from 20 years ago to today.
"The problem with contact hours is they fluctuate," says Steve Johnson, associate vice president of external relations at the Texas Association of Community Colleges. "It's not like enrollment growth that can continue. You may be increasing the number of students and reducing contact hours."
That is, if you have a semester with a lot of part-time students. Johnson says the opposite is also true: Even with an overall reduction in students, if a large share are full time, it could produce an increase in contact hours.
The numbers used for the the House's proposed budget were based on the fall of 2010. The contact hour totals for the current semester won't be certified until March. At that point, Bonnen says he anticipates Brazosport will show a significant increase because the school currently has the highest student population in its four decades of existence.
But even if an arguably more stable measure like enrollment had been used, the TACC's Johnson questions the approach. "Why is that the starting point?" he says. "It should be that if you think there's a problem with those institutions and something like contact hour growth, then we have that discussion. You don't begin by zeroing them out because of the message that sends to students, the community, and all the rest."
State Rep. Tryon Lewis, R-Odessa, says it is neither a realistic nor sensible basis on which to make cuts. "It was not quality of instruction, not general mission, not how well they’re doing their job. It was purely percentage growth," he says, warning that such methodology favors fast-growing urban communities that don't need community colleges to attract industry as much as rural districts. And Odessa College, which Lewis attended in his younger years, is growing — voters recently passed a nearly $70 million bond issue to build more facilities. "This is what happens when you have somebody just using statistics," Lewis says, "and not looking at the overall institutions."
This is only the tip of the iceberg. The TACC calculates the total cut to community colleges in HB 1 to be $767 million. That number is the total of $142 million in cuts from the last budget cycle, $342 million in unfunded student enrollment growth, and a $283 million reduction in their employee group health insurance. "This budget makes it clear that there is no longer a state policy when it comes to community colleges," says TACC chair and El Paso Community College president Richard Rhodes. "If a college grows and educates more students, the state does not live up to its commitment by funding growth. However, if a college is perceived by state bureaucrats as somehow growing too slowly, the state will cut all of an institution's funding."
Bonnen says the realization that the solution to the state's budgeting woes could include eliminating his local community college does not cause him to look upon revenue-increasing options like tax hikes any more favorably. He says it's his job to make the case that no responsible budget eliminates Brazosport College, and he hopes that even the architects of HB 1 will come around. Similarly, Lewis is confident that all four colleges will ultimately receive funding.
"There's no joy in this budget for anybody," Bonnen says. "As frustrated and unhappy as I may be to see Brazosport College not funded, I can assure you Chairman Pitts and others involved in this baseline budget are as troubled as I am."
State Rep. Dennis Bonnen, R-Angleton, says House Appropriations Chairman Jim Pitts, R-Waxahachie, did the "honorable" thing on Tuesday by calling with advance notice that the community college in Bonnen's district, Brazosport College, would be one of the four not receiving funding in the proposed legislation. Bonnen appreciated the call, but still calls the approach "terribly irresponsible."
Bonnen describes Brazosport College as "the hub and center" of his district — one that local industry relies on for job training and that community members go to for education and cultural pursuits. "The thought of losing an institution like that is kind of debilitating," he says. Though he recognizes that the base budget is "nowhere near" how the final budget will look, Bonnen says that even suggesting a college might be closed is "significant" and even "disastrous." Students will begin looking to transfer, and others might decide to not bother enrolling.
"It creates a high degree of uncertainty," he says. "As policymakers, we'd better be damned sure it's something we're going to do if we create that uncertainty." And Bonnen feels strongly that the school will, ultimately get that funding once his arguments have been made.
One of the central arguments made by critics like Bonnen is that the methodology used to determine which schools to close was badly flawed. The four community colleges were chosen based on a drop in "contact hours," which are — like semester credit hours at universities — the base unit of measure in the state formula to determine funding for community college, when comparing data from 20 years ago to today.
"The problem with contact hours is they fluctuate," says Steve Johnson, associate vice president of external relations at the Texas Association of Community Colleges. "It's not like enrollment growth that can continue. You may be increasing the number of students and reducing contact hours."
That is, if you have a semester with a lot of part-time students. Johnson says the opposite is also true: Even with an overall reduction in students, if a large share are full time, it could produce an increase in contact hours.
The numbers used for the the House's proposed budget were based on the fall of 2010. The contact hour totals for the current semester won't be certified until March. At that point, Bonnen says he anticipates Brazosport will show a significant increase because the school currently has the highest student population in its four decades of existence.
But even if an arguably more stable measure like enrollment had been used, the TACC's Johnson questions the approach. "Why is that the starting point?" he says. "It should be that if you think there's a problem with those institutions and something like contact hour growth, then we have that discussion. You don't begin by zeroing them out because of the message that sends to students, the community, and all the rest."
State Rep. Tryon Lewis, R-Odessa, says it is neither a realistic nor sensible basis on which to make cuts. "It was not quality of instruction, not general mission, not how well they’re doing their job. It was purely percentage growth," he says, warning that such methodology favors fast-growing urban communities that don't need community colleges to attract industry as much as rural districts. And Odessa College, which Lewis attended in his younger years, is growing — voters recently passed a nearly $70 million bond issue to build more facilities. "This is what happens when you have somebody just using statistics," Lewis says, "and not looking at the overall institutions."
This is only the tip of the iceberg. The TACC calculates the total cut to community colleges in HB 1 to be $767 million. That number is the total of $142 million in cuts from the last budget cycle, $342 million in unfunded student enrollment growth, and a $283 million reduction in their employee group health insurance. "This budget makes it clear that there is no longer a state policy when it comes to community colleges," says TACC chair and El Paso Community College president Richard Rhodes. "If a college grows and educates more students, the state does not live up to its commitment by funding growth. However, if a college is perceived by state bureaucrats as somehow growing too slowly, the state will cut all of an institution's funding."
Bonnen says the realization that the solution to the state's budgeting woes could include eliminating his local community college does not cause him to look upon revenue-increasing options like tax hikes any more favorably. He says it's his job to make the case that no responsible budget eliminates Brazosport College, and he hopes that even the architects of HB 1 will come around. Similarly, Lewis is confident that all four colleges will ultimately receive funding.
"There's no joy in this budget for anybody," Bonnen says. "As frustrated and unhappy as I may be to see Brazosport College not funded, I can assure you Chairman Pitts and others involved in this baseline budget are as troubled as I am."
Texas jobless rate jumps for 2nd straight month
AUSTIN (AP) — The state's employment agency says the jobless rate in Texas has increased for the second straight month despite continued improvement in the number of jobs.
The Texas Workforce Commission said Friday the unemployment rate for December was 8.3 percent, up from 8.2 percent in November. The agency said the state also had its fourth consecutive month of job growth, adding 20,000 positions.
The state's jobless rate remains below the national rate of 9.4 percent, and Texas job growth is outpacing the U.S. as well. Commission figures indicate Texas has added 230,800 jobs since December 2009 and has an annual growth rate of 2.3 percent compared to 0.9 percent nationally.
The strongest growth was in construction, which added 8,700 jobs in December.
The state's jobless rate remains below the national rate of 9.4 percent, and Texas job growth is outpacing the U.S. as well. Commission figures indicate Texas has added 230,800 jobs since December 2009 and has an annual growth rate of 2.3 percent compared to 0.9 percent nationally.
The strongest growth was in construction, which added 8,700 jobs in December.
House Bill 1 email
Dear Colleagues,
I hope you are all enjoying a good start to 2011.
The Legislative Budget Board (LBB) has issued the first draft of the General Appropriations Bill (House Bill 1, the budget) and their Legislative Budget Estimates and Summary. The news may or may not have floated to your office as of yet, so I am providing links and page references to the information that will interest you from a benefits perspective. Please let me know if you have questions.
- 2012-2013 General Appropriations Act: http://www.lbb.state.tx.us/Bill_82/1_Recommend/Bill-82-1_House_Recommend.pdf . Article III-35-41 will provide budget recommendations for TRS, ORP and Group Insurance. Article II-65-III-86 will provide campus specific budget information. The budget recommendation for group insurance appears to be slightly less than a 5% reduction. We have not run the numbers or predicted any funding needs as of today so how this 5% reduction impacts the plan is yet to be known.
- Legislative Budget Estimates-Summary: http://www.lbb.state.tx.us/LBE/2012-2013/LBE_HOUSE_SUMMARY_2012-2013.pdf Page 2 of the summary provides a quick summary for Higher Education. Higher Education and insurance references are throughout the document so I suggest a word search on “group insurance” or any other topic you wish to review to find the subject matter you are seeking.
- Legislative Budget Estimates-Full Report: http://www.lbb.state.tx.us/LBE/2012-2013/LBE_HOUSE_2012-2013.pdf Same as above, but in an expanded format.
- Texas State Government Effectiveness and Efficiency Report: http://www.lbb.state.tx.us/Performance%20Reporting/TX_Govt_Effective_Efficiency_Report_82nd.pdf This document is a good read and will provide you an idea of some of the legislation we may (or may not) see filed this session. Pages 97-147 of the document frame the benefits related suggestions by the LBB.
OEB has already begun analyzing filed and drafted legislation and completing fiscal notes. If you have questions regarding any legislation you see filed, you are welcome to contact us. As with all previous sessions, as legislation begins to move through the process, we will keep you informed of any benefits related legislation that may impact your members.
UT System Letter From Chancellor
Dear President ******,
By now, you’ve likely heard of the state budget bill introduced this week in the Texas House of Representatives, which proposes deep cuts to higher education and health care institutions that are dramatic and onerous, and which would have immediate and future devastating consequences for our students, faculty, staff and the communities of Texas.
In early 2010, most state agencies received a directive to cut 5 percent of general revenue from their budgets. UT System institutions implemented cuts totaling more than $175 million while accommodating a record enrollment of students, many of whom were first-generation college students from underserved regions of Texas. These reductions were disproportionately felt by higher education institutions. Even though universities in Texas account for 12.5 percent of the state’s budget, the cuts we suffered accounted for 41 percent of the total mandated reductions.
We have now been required to cut an additional 2.5 percent in the current biennium and to prepare plans for an additional 10 percent cut for the next biennium. We cannot continue to absorb cuts without directly and negatively impacting all whom we serve, and House Bill 1 proposes even more cuts. As an enterprise predominantly composed of people devoted to serving the needs of our students, patients and communities across the state, the additional budget cuts will result in more layoffs of faculty and staff and the reduction of services to students and patients throughout Texas.
Every effort will be made to protect teaching, research and mission-critical services. University research holds particular significance in Texas’ future. It helps determine the degree to which our state will remain innovative and is a key element to our economic prosperity. These proposed reductions not only imperil research, they could force enrollment caps and inevitably would result in fewer course offerings and the elimination of entire programs at academic and health institutions. The drastic reduction for financial aid programs for our students also concerns us greatly.
The additional cuts will also result in reduced levels of service to patients, particularly those enrolled in Medicaid. Our health institutions will not be able to train more physicians, nurses and other health professionals at a time when Texas has a critical shortage of such positions.
The UT System has been focused on the need for greater efficiency and productivity for several years, and has tried to anticipate what this budget cycle would bring. We have taken proactive measures that have produced more than $1.2 billion in savings and avoided costs over the last five years. At the same time, we have instituted initiatives that are improving graduation and completion rates and productivity outcomes.
A detailed assessment of the budget cuts is under way at each UT institution, and each president will be empowered to manage reductions in a manner which best meets the respective institution’s needs.
In the meantime, we will work closely with our elected officials with the hope of letting them know that while we are doing our part to address the state’s budget shortfall, we must be mindful that cutting our institutions again in a disproportionate way will have direct and negative consequences on students, patients, and our workforce, and it will not serve the state of Texas well.
We pledge to keep you informed as the legislative process moves forward. As always, we appreciate your support and all that you do to make the UT System community an exceptional one.
With great respect,
Francisco G. Cigarroa, M.D.
Chancellor
Chancellor
Delegates fear proposed budget would hit Valley schools hard
Rio Grande Valley lawmakers — shocked by the sheer scope of education cuts proposed by Texas Republicans on Tuesday — predicted Valley students would suffer far worse than those in other parts of the state.
Rep. Armando "Mando" Martinez, D-Weslaco, lambasted his opponents’ first budget draft, which eliminated $5 billion in funds for teacher incentive pay, pre-kindergarten programs, science and arts education and more.
He criticized Republicans’ refusal to break campaign promises to not raise taxes or touch a $9 billion "rainy day" fund to help fill the state’s multibillion-dollar budget shortfall.
"Republicans need to change gears and focus on using the rainy day fund," he said. "Guess what? It’s a rainy day now, and as a matter of fact, there is a hurricane in the state of Texas."
Like him, and without reservation, the Valley’s Democratic delegation condemned the Legislative Budget Board’s nearly 1,000-page proposal, which spread cuts totaling $14 billion across state services.
But as dark clouds swept the Valley sky Thursday, Martinez forecast a future just as gloomy for South Texas children if schools could not afford services for English-limited and poor students.
>> High school initiatives to graduate English-limited students
>> Assistance to teachers seeking bilingual or English as a Second Language certification
>> Intensive instruction for trailing English-limited students
"That describes the entire Valley student population," he said. "Any cut to education will be more detrimental to the future of the Valley, and you can’t argue that."
"Shock and awe" were the preferred terms of freshman Rep. Sergio Muñoz Jr.,
D-Palmview, who said no one expected schools to escape budget reductions — public schools exhaust more than 40 percent of state funds.
But he and his South Texas colleagues balked at some of the complete cuts, including:
>> Dropout prevention and recovery programs
"That’s taking away the dream of all of our students, yet it will all devastate South Texas more," Muñoz said. "We’re told this is a work in progress. But if any, or most, of this proposal passes, there will be no progress in our area.
"Our students will take a step five, 10, 20 years back," he warned.
GROWTH AND EQUITY
However, Muñoz worries most that $9 billion is missing to keep up with expected student growth.
"This budget doesn’t even provide services to the people we already have," he said. "That’s not even considering the new ones we know will come in."
Experts predict Texas will see 160,000 more students by 2013, but where schools will find the money to handle that surge is anybody’s guess.
Rep. Jim Pitts, R-Waxahachie, chairman of the House Appropriations Committee, told representatives Wednesday that he assumed some lawmakers would change that deficiency as the proposal progressed.
"You know what they say about people who assume," said Rep. Veronica Gonzales, D-McAllen. "Unless there’s a change in heart of this leadership … I don’t see how we can really make that large of a change."
Unlike Gonzales, lobbyist Martin Peña said the growth problem will be addressed sooner or later.
The executive director for the South Texas Association of Schools, Peña even expected the Legislature to tackle another big issue: fair funding.
According to the Equity Center, which represents low- and middle-income school districts, the poorest districts in Texas average a property tax rate of $1.14 and get $5,530 per student from the state.
In contrast, wealthier districts rake in $8,316 per student, with an average tax rate of $1.01.
"How can you justify across-the-board cuts taking the same amount away from a rich district as you would a poor district?" Peña said. "If they don’t fix that, people are itching to go to court, and the state will lose."
The state only defines two Valley districts as wealthy — San Isidro and Port Isabel — so Peña said the inevitable change in school funding would benefit the rest of South Texas.
(SLIM) SILVER LININGS
Two small portions in the Republicans’ proposal could also help lessen the pain for Valley schools.
One allows current funding levels for summer school classes for English-limited students, which Valley superintendents regularly say is critical to their success.
"It’s worth noting, sure," Gonzales said. "But the majority of students may get left behind in the regular (school) year. We don’t want to push everybody into the summer program because it’s the only one not cut."
She also stressed teachers will be pushed to their limit, especially because the state is considering pushing more children into classes formerly limited to 22 elementary students per teacher.
But perhaps to counteract that — and the elimination of teacher pay incentive — the Republican proposal recommends that the state reward indebted teachers who serve high-poverty areas, like the Valley.
That could retain many good educators in an area with high teacher turnover rates, the legislators said.
Still, Peña said there would be no way districts can avoid firing employees when they consume, on average, 80 percent of school budgets.
"These are middle-class people with nowhere to go, because the district next door is laying people off, too," he said. "They will only add to the (Valley’s) already way-above-average unemployment.
"The next couple of years won’t be pretty for South Texas."
Neal Morton covers education and general assignments for The Monitor. He can be reached at (956) 683-4472.
Rep. Armando "Mando" Martinez, D-Weslaco, lambasted his opponents’ first budget draft, which eliminated $5 billion in funds for teacher incentive pay, pre-kindergarten programs, science and arts education and more.
He criticized Republicans’ refusal to break campaign promises to not raise taxes or touch a $9 billion "rainy day" fund to help fill the state’s multibillion-dollar budget shortfall.
"Republicans need to change gears and focus on using the rainy day fund," he said. "Guess what? It’s a rainy day now, and as a matter of fact, there is a hurricane in the state of Texas."
Like him, and without reservation, the Valley’s Democratic delegation condemned the Legislative Budget Board’s nearly 1,000-page proposal, which spread cuts totaling $14 billion across state services.
But as dark clouds swept the Valley sky Thursday, Martinez forecast a future just as gloomy for South Texas children if schools could not afford services for English-limited and poor students.
>> High school initiatives to graduate English-limited students
>> Assistance to teachers seeking bilingual or English as a Second Language certification
>> Intensive instruction for trailing English-limited students
"That describes the entire Valley student population," he said. "Any cut to education will be more detrimental to the future of the Valley, and you can’t argue that."
"Shock and awe" were the preferred terms of freshman Rep. Sergio Muñoz Jr.,
D-Palmview, who said no one expected schools to escape budget reductions — public schools exhaust more than 40 percent of state funds.
But he and his South Texas colleagues balked at some of the complete cuts, including:
>> Dropout prevention and recovery programs
"That’s taking away the dream of all of our students, yet it will all devastate South Texas more," Muñoz said. "We’re told this is a work in progress. But if any, or most, of this proposal passes, there will be no progress in our area.
"Our students will take a step five, 10, 20 years back," he warned.
GROWTH AND EQUITY
However, Muñoz worries most that $9 billion is missing to keep up with expected student growth.
"This budget doesn’t even provide services to the people we already have," he said. "That’s not even considering the new ones we know will come in."
Experts predict Texas will see 160,000 more students by 2013, but where schools will find the money to handle that surge is anybody’s guess.
Rep. Jim Pitts, R-Waxahachie, chairman of the House Appropriations Committee, told representatives Wednesday that he assumed some lawmakers would change that deficiency as the proposal progressed.
"You know what they say about people who assume," said Rep. Veronica Gonzales, D-McAllen. "Unless there’s a change in heart of this leadership … I don’t see how we can really make that large of a change."
Unlike Gonzales, lobbyist Martin Peña said the growth problem will be addressed sooner or later.
The executive director for the South Texas Association of Schools, Peña even expected the Legislature to tackle another big issue: fair funding.
According to the Equity Center, which represents low- and middle-income school districts, the poorest districts in Texas average a property tax rate of $1.14 and get $5,530 per student from the state.
In contrast, wealthier districts rake in $8,316 per student, with an average tax rate of $1.01.
"How can you justify across-the-board cuts taking the same amount away from a rich district as you would a poor district?" Peña said. "If they don’t fix that, people are itching to go to court, and the state will lose."
The state only defines two Valley districts as wealthy — San Isidro and Port Isabel — so Peña said the inevitable change in school funding would benefit the rest of South Texas.
(SLIM) SILVER LININGS
Two small portions in the Republicans’ proposal could also help lessen the pain for Valley schools.
One allows current funding levels for summer school classes for English-limited students, which Valley superintendents regularly say is critical to their success.
"It’s worth noting, sure," Gonzales said. "But the majority of students may get left behind in the regular (school) year. We don’t want to push everybody into the summer program because it’s the only one not cut."
She also stressed teachers will be pushed to their limit, especially because the state is considering pushing more children into classes formerly limited to 22 elementary students per teacher.
But perhaps to counteract that — and the elimination of teacher pay incentive — the Republican proposal recommends that the state reward indebted teachers who serve high-poverty areas, like the Valley.
That could retain many good educators in an area with high teacher turnover rates, the legislators said.
Still, Peña said there would be no way districts can avoid firing employees when they consume, on average, 80 percent of school budgets.
"These are middle-class people with nowhere to go, because the district next door is laying people off, too," he said. "They will only add to the (Valley’s) already way-above-average unemployment.
"The next couple of years won’t be pretty for South Texas."
Neal Morton covers education and general assignments for The Monitor. He can be reached at (956) 683-4472.
Sunday, January 16, 2011
Should Mexican Cartels be labeled Terrorist Organizations?
Doris Gómora | El Universal
The Mexican government should call a meeting of the General Assembly of the United Nations and ask that the cartels of Los Zetas, La Línea and other major drug trafficking groups be included in the list of known terrorist organizations. That way all the countries in the world can develop a set of protocols to attack the finances of these "terrorists" and freeze their accounts, said Edgardo Buscaglia, a fellow at the Autonomous Technological Institute of Mexico (ITAM).
During an interview with EL UNIVERSAL, Buscaglia said the attacks that have been perpetrated by criminal groups in Mexico against the authorities and the civilian population could fall into the category of terrorism that the United Nations put forth during one of its international conventions.
“The definition establishes that these are acts of physical and psychological violence against the civilian population is meant to cause a regime change. Los Zetas and other groups are trying to change the structure within the Mexican state in order to put their own people in power," said Eduardo Buscaglia.
The academic assured EL UNIVERSAL that, “we have been under siege by narco-terrorism, or a mafia style of terrorism for a very long time. The inflection point started during the grenade attacks in Morelia, Michoacán, on September 15 2008. That was an act of terrorism, as the per the definition of the U.N."
The security expert said the president Felipe Calderón and his administration "refuse to take the case against the groups of narco-terrorists to the U.N. Security Council because of the implications of negative political impact it could have back home."
Once the cartels are defined as terrorist groups, their armed branches "would be targeted by international anti-terror agencies, who are enormously sophisticated when it comes to neutralizing threats."
"They would shine a spotlight on Los Zetas and the Sinaloa cartel. These agencies would break the cartel in short time, the financial mechanisms and bank accounts of these criminal organizations would immediately be targeted."
He further gave strength to his argument by pointing out that the number of car bombings and attacks on police and civilians in the border region that has even caused Mexico's neighbor to the north to refer to the cartel problem as a "narco-insurgency."
Political Relationships
Based on the judicial outcomes of certain cases against the members of organized crime in Mexico, Eduardo Buscaglia assured EL UNIVERSAL that the cartels are gathering strength by supporting political parties and candidates for office in the upcoming elections of 2011 and 2012.
"In the case of Los Zetas, they are trying to change the structure of the Mexican state, in order to put their own people in power. all the mafia-terrorists are attempting to manipulate the elections and candidates to assure themselves protection within the political and judicial system."
Source: http://www.eluniversal.com.mx/nacion/183069.html
The Mexican government should call a meeting of the General Assembly of the United Nations and ask that the cartels of Los Zetas, La Línea and other major drug trafficking groups be included in the list of known terrorist organizations. That way all the countries in the world can develop a set of protocols to attack the finances of these "terrorists" and freeze their accounts, said Edgardo Buscaglia, a fellow at the Autonomous Technological Institute of Mexico (ITAM).
During an interview with EL UNIVERSAL, Buscaglia said the attacks that have been perpetrated by criminal groups in Mexico against the authorities and the civilian population could fall into the category of terrorism that the United Nations put forth during one of its international conventions.
“The definition establishes that these are acts of physical and psychological violence against the civilian population is meant to cause a regime change. Los Zetas and other groups are trying to change the structure within the Mexican state in order to put their own people in power," said Eduardo Buscaglia.
The academic assured EL UNIVERSAL that, “we have been under siege by narco-terrorism, or a mafia style of terrorism for a very long time. The inflection point started during the grenade attacks in Morelia, Michoacán, on September 15 2008. That was an act of terrorism, as the per the definition of the U.N."
The security expert said the president Felipe Calderón and his administration "refuse to take the case against the groups of narco-terrorists to the U.N. Security Council because of the implications of negative political impact it could have back home."
Once the cartels are defined as terrorist groups, their armed branches "would be targeted by international anti-terror agencies, who are enormously sophisticated when it comes to neutralizing threats."
"They would shine a spotlight on Los Zetas and the Sinaloa cartel. These agencies would break the cartel in short time, the financial mechanisms and bank accounts of these criminal organizations would immediately be targeted."
He further gave strength to his argument by pointing out that the number of car bombings and attacks on police and civilians in the border region that has even caused Mexico's neighbor to the north to refer to the cartel problem as a "narco-insurgency."
Political Relationships
Based on the judicial outcomes of certain cases against the members of organized crime in Mexico, Eduardo Buscaglia assured EL UNIVERSAL that the cartels are gathering strength by supporting political parties and candidates for office in the upcoming elections of 2011 and 2012.
"In the case of Los Zetas, they are trying to change the structure of the Mexican state, in order to put their own people in power. all the mafia-terrorists are attempting to manipulate the elections and candidates to assure themselves protection within the political and judicial system."
Source: http://www.eluniversal.com.mx/nacion/183069.html
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