Appeals Courts Matter

Too often we voters only pay attention to the most high profile races, in part it’s because of the allure of a race for President or Senate but our media also tends to focus on those races to the detriment of  other races both closer to home and in some ways more likely to impact us as individuals. It’s rare that we hear about judicial races even for appellate courts that cover large parts of the state like the Fourth Court of Appeal which covers 32 counties west and south of Guadalupe County. There’s plenty of news about Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh and that should be a reminder to us all just how important our judiciary is.

Mid-level appellate courts like the Fourth Court of Appeal are where big questions of justice are most often answered as most of their decisions are not appealed further. Those decisions can impact you on issues like medical malpractice, compensation for injury in an auto or workplace accident, or responsibility for shoddy workmanship by a homebuilder. The same appeals courts also handle issues related to family law like child custody and child support as well as criminal cases.

You probably know someone who has been involved in one or more of those kinds of cases and even if their case wasn’t appealed the result of that case was affected by prior decisions made by those justices. When an appeals court judge issues a decision it includes an opinion stating the rationale and those decisions are frequently cited in trial courts when there is a controversy over the application of law and the trial judge is expected to act consistent with those prior decisions. This makes it important for appellate court justices to have trial court experience.

The upcoming elections in Guadalupe County will include five Fourth Court of Appeals races. Many of the Republican challengers are men who have had no experience in a civilian trial court other than submitting filings and perhaps taking notes. They haven’t so much as picked a jury let alone argued a case. Some have lists of purported accomplishments like staff attorney in the court or Judge Advocate in the Marine Corps. One of the Republicans seems to expect to win just because he has an R behind his name on the ballot as he isn’t out campaigning and raising money to get his message out.

All five Democrats are women with many years of experience in trial courts, three have also had 6 years of experience on the Fourth Court of Appeals. There is a clear difference between the candidates for each of the five positions up for election on the court and the Democrats running have the experience hands down.

Judge Rebeca Martinez spoke at a meeting I attended earlier this week and told us that she was inspired to become a lawyer when she was 12 years old when she watched the Al Pacino movie “And Justice for All”. I’ve also heard Judge Patricia Alvarez speak about her inspiration for becoming an attorney and then a judge. That kind of passion for justice is what I want to see in every judge and you should too.

Early voting starts October 22 and election day is November 6, you have plenty of time to get to the polls so remember how important it is to elect qualified appeals court judges. Vote for Rebeca Martinez, Patricia Alvarez, Luz Elena Chapa, Beth Watkins, and Liza Rodriguez and you’ll get the best appellate judges available anywhere.

Published in the Seguin Gazette - September 21, 2018

Stop Bad Employers by Zeroing Out Subsidies

Recently Senator Bernie Sanders introduced a bill called the Stop Bad Employers by Zeroing Out Subsidies (Stop BEZOS) Act. The bill proposes to tax employers on the amount of public assistance their full time employees receive on a dollar for dollar basis. A prime example is an Amazon warehouse employee earning minimum wage or thereabouts which could qualify them for as much as $3,000 in public assistance. Since this essentially subsidizes the highly profitable company with taxpayer funds, money collected from you and me, Sanders’ bill would tax Amazon $3,000.

Of course the simple solution would be for Amazon, Walmart and other low wage employers to simply pay their employees a living wage which is in fact the goal of the bill as stated in the bill itself and pointed out by its author and supporters. The Stop BEZOS Act isn’t so much an attempt to tax low wage employers as it is an attention getting device intended to push for higher minimum wages and corporations taking responsibility for their employees. Congressman Ro Khanna filed companion legislation in the House known as the Corporate Responsibility and Taxpayer Protection Act and makes the point that “we need to make sure that everyone is participating in the economic success”.

Low pay isn’t the only area where Amazon, Walmart and numerous other highly profitable corporations need shaming. Amazon has been reported to keep ambulances on standby at warehouses where temperatures are so high that workers routinely pass out with heat stroke. Walmart has been cited repeatedly for cheating their employees on overtime by requiring them to clock out but locking them in the store until floors are clean and shelves are stocked. It isn’t just mammoth companies that make these unjust and often illegal demands of their employees, there are many small and medium size companies which use similar tactics to increase profits at the cost of their employees.

It’s not that Amazon or Walmart are inherently evil but they’ve been allowed to become major factors in the economy and the well-being of our nation without requiring them to be responsible corporate citizens. In the 1950s and 1960s the auto industry was a major factor in the economy and while they didn’t willing act responsibly the fact that much of their workforce was unionized put a leash on their worst behaviors which enabled assembly line workers and others to enjoy a good and healthy life with a decent retirement. Amazon, Walmart and so many others operate off the union leash and their stockholders are the only beneficiaries. You and I are forced to pick up the tab to keep those employees fed while Jeff Bezos spends his unjustly accumulated riches building rockets to take him into space.

I’m not so partisan as to say that Republicans are solely responsible for skewed distribution of wealth in this country as I’m quite aware that Democrats, in particular Bill Clinton, have done their fair share to yank the wheels off the cart. Nevertheless at least many Democratic officials recognize the problem and want to address it while I’ve never heard a Republican even admit that a problem exists. I think we all know that Alcoholics Anonymous maxim – the first step is recognizing you have a problem. So given that Democrats are beginning to recognize we have a problem it is in the best interests of all to insure they’re elected this November.

You can start by voting for Beto O’Rourke for US Senate and picking every Democrat down the list.

Aren't You Angry?

I’m angry, I’m so angry it is hard to focus on any single issue to write about. In my free time, when not knocking on doors for a candidate I’ve been immersing myself in one of my favorite literary genres as an escape from the causes of my anger. I’m trying to do what I can to make our world a better place for my daughter and her generation but I feel frustrated by each day’s news that our government, supposedly the representative of our collective will continues to act against common decency.

The current White House occupant, the man who got nearly 3 million fewer votes than the woman who ran against him, continues to violate the order of a federal judge to return the children he instructed to be taken from the arms of their parents. It’s been over 40 days since the deadline passed and yet there are children still in the custody of federal authorities because of his mean-spiritedness.

My Republican neighbors make excuses for him and claim to agree which just means they too are mean spirited. How they reconcile their support for a policy that tears infants and young children from their parents in order to punish those parents for their temerity in walking up to border control station at Laredo or other border town requesting asylum with their claims to be devout Christians I’ll never understand.

The current White House occupant and his appointees to federal agencies along with his enablers in congress have assured that hundreds of children who have already suffered trauma most Americans will never know in countries overrun with violent gangs and corrupt governments are again traumatized by the country that they thought of as a place of safety. If I weren’t an American I would still be angry but I would feel no fault of my own. Being an American citizen, the son of a World War II veteran, I’m not just angry that it is happening, I’m angry that I’m in part responsible.

It’s not just the children of frightened refugees who our government is abusing, many young people who enlisted in our armed forces with the understanding that their service would earn them citizenship have been unceremoniously expelled. It disgusts me when I hear a Republican whether an elected official or simply a voter claims to support our troops but thinks it’s alright to deport veterans of our wars who thought their efforts had earned them a chance at citizenship.

The current White House occupant wants to end the Deferred Action for Child Arrivals program commonly known as DACA, if he finally gets his way he will be punishing the children and grandchildren of the people who actually committed the “crime” of stepping over an imaginary line. Nearly all of those children have little or no memory of any other country, many only speak English.

All those actions are awful, yet the current occupant of the White House isn’t satisfied and has now begun attempts to revoke the citizenship of people born near the border between Texas and Mexico. If you have a Hispanic surname and were born in that region you could have your passport application denied and you citizenship called into question.

The fact that it is my government and your government, which operates by the consent of the people, makes all of us responsible. Are you sickened by the man in the White House acting in your name? If you are then you not only need to vote in November you need to bring your family and neighbors too.

Published in the Seguin Gazette - September 7, 2018

Kavanaugh Nomination Tainted by Conspiracy with Foreign Adversaries

There are a host of reasons to reject Brett Kavanaugh’s nomination to the Supreme Court. From the purely partisan point of view there’s the theft of a seat in the last year of President Obama’s second term. From power perspective Kavanaugh has expressed some dangerous ideas such as his belief that a sitting President should be insulated from justice unless dispensed by congress through impeachment. From an issues point of view Kavanaugh’s decisions and dissents in numerous cases in ways that show his deference to corporate power over workers’ rights, religious bigotry over religious diversity, and the use of wealth to achieve political power in order to enhance that wealth.

I could write pages on how Kavanaugh could be one of the very worst possible choices for a lifetime appointment to the Supreme Court but Kavanaugh’s views and rulings are not the only reasons to object. We should also consider that the man occupying the White House and nominated Kavanaugh has been all but named as an unindicted co-conspirator to felony crimes involving campaign finance violations that have a penalty of 5 years in prison attached. Michael Cohen who infamously organized the payoff of porn star Stormy Daniels testified in open court as he plead guilty to 8 counts that he acted at the instruction of the “candidate”. That means that Cohen not only committed a violation of campaign finance laws he was involved in a conspiracy with Donald Trump to do so.

In addition other Trump associates have been given immunity from prosecution for testimony that at present we can only propose educated guesses given their positions and what we already know about them through leaks. The publisher of the National Enquirer, David Pecker, kept a safe full of documents which tell a tale of Trump’s cover-ups and possibly other illegal acts and he is prepared to testify. The Trump Organization’s Chief Financial Officer, Allen Weisselberg, who served in that capacity for over 20 years has also received immunity from prosecution for his testimony. That makes three of Trump’s closest associates, people who know “where the bodies are buried”, willing to testify against Trump.

Perhaps the most import of all the Cohen revelations is his statement that he witnessed the discussion Donald Trump denies having with his son in advance the meeting with Russian’s to collect dirt they claimed to have on Hillary Clinton. This provides evidence that Trump did indeed conspire with a foreign power against the United States.

Of course Trump hasn’t been convicted, but his legitimacy has definitely been called into question and while it is still too early to talk about impeachment it isn’t too early to put a stop to every judicial nominee’s appointment until such time as all the evidence has been presented and assessed. Most especially no President tainted by dalliances with foreign adversaries should be allowed to place their appointees on the federal bench for their lifetimes. The legitimacy of every single one of the judges he’s already appointed is also tainted.

The allegations against Trump are too significant to allow him to continue to reshape the federal judiciary unless and until the allegations are put to rest after a thorough review of the evidence presented. That won’t happen for months and likely not until after the election and only if his enablers on congress are defeated at the polls in November.

Protecting A Million Texans Requires Your Vote

As if you needed another reason to make time to vote in November think about this, Texas is one of 20 states suing the federal government to take away healthcare from millions of Americans especially middle and lower income Texans. Our Republican Attorney General, Ken Paxton, joined the suit earlier this year in an effort to use the courts to do what Congress chose not to. Paxton is empowered by the fact that Republicans control both houses of the legislature and every statewide office.

The cynical ploy used by the Attorneys General is the claim that since the individual mandate was central to the Affordable Care Act, the fact that Congress repealed it invalidates the entire law. Since 1.2 million Texans are covered through plans purchased via the Exchange created by the Affordable Care Act (ACA) having the court decide in favor of killing it will endanger the lives and health of all of them. Of course it won’t have any effect on the 4.5 million Texans denied coverage by Gov. Greg Abbott’s decision not to accept the 90% federally funded Medicaid expansion.

Whether or not Democrats can beat Paxton directly by electing Justin Nelson to replace him or indirectly through electing a majority in one or both houses of the legislature and cutting his budget, it can be done. Readers have three or four ways to protect the healthcare of over a million Texans. They can vote to replace the current Attorney General with Justin Nelson who if elected will certainly withdraw from the suit. They can vote to replace the Governor with Lupe Valdez who can make it known to the legislature that she will veto any budget that continues to fund attacks on the Affordable Care Act. They can vote to replace the incumbent in the House with John Rodgers who would fight to force Paxton to drop the suit by cutting his budget. Rodgers would also demand that the state take the federal money to expand Medicaid which would not only be a boon to those 4.5 million Texans not currently insured, it would also stimulate the economy of the entire state leading to many more jobs and higher paying jobs as well. If you live in the part of Guadalupe County which is in Senate District 25 you can replace the incumbent who is widely recognized one of the worst legislators in Texas with Steve Kling.

On the federal side we have an opportunity to put a stop to Republican efforts to repeal the ACA in whole or in part by taking back one or both houses of Congress. We need to hold onto a House seat by voting for Vicente González so that in other districts where Republican incumbents are in jeopardy of losing their seats we can gain enough to achieve a majority there. This is really important as Republicans in the House are still working to undermine the ACA by any means available. They are also plotting to cut Medicare, Social Security, and Medicaid benefits claiming that they are causing a deficit; when in fact that deficit is caused mostly by the tax breaks they just gave big banks and billionaires. A Democratic House majority insures that Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security and the ACA all continue to be adequately funded.

There is also the very real possibility of replacing one of the Senate’s most unpopular members if we all get out and vote for Beto O’Rourke. If Texas voters flip that seat it will go a long way toward making it possible to win a majority in the Senate.

Vote! Vote! Vote!

Democrats Know the Solution is Medicare for All

In 2009 when the Democratic controlled Congress passed and President Obama signed the Affordable Care Act, aka Obamacare, there was hope that nearly all Americans would soon be able to access healthcare, especially preventive care. It was expected that millions who had previously suffered, thousands who would have died and tens of thousands who would have gone bankrupt or heavily into debt would be able to breathe a sigh of relief. Some few claims by proponents turned out to be exaggerated but on the whole millions did indeed get health insurance at a price they could afford and had access to doctors and prescription medication previously unavailable to them. Even before the ink was dry on President Obama’s signature, Republicans in Congress and state governments began working to prevent Americans from having affordable healthcare. Governor Rick Perry declared that Texas would not expand Medicaid and thus denied one million Texans, many of them children the opportunity to see a doctor and receive adequate treatment.

If you’ve listened to their excuses for their behavior it becomes quite clear that in the conservative mind only those who have jobs with sufficient income even deserve the benefit of healthcare. Now they don’t say it outright but that’s really what it boils down to. If you get sick or have an accident you can get as much healthcare as you can pay for. It doesn’t matter how hard you work, it just matters how much you’re paid for it.

President Obama’s Affordable Care Act was an attempt to satisfy the conservative mind by retaining the capitalist model of the existing system and even making it more profitable for insurers, as they’d have more customers, while taking care of a far greater portion of the American public. It works fairly well at what it was intended to do and would work better if Republicans including the current White House resident would stop trying to break it.

The experiment has also shown us that the capitalist approach to healthcare is not the solution that Republicans claim it is. Private insurance companies drive up the cost of care in a number of ways including the right to take 20% of premiums for themselves. In addition they cost the medical profession significant amounts due to arcane billing procedures and delays in payments. Worse still private insurers often make difficult to actually receive the care we think we’re paying for by denying the treatment the doctor prescribed for any number of reasons. When Republicans were fighting the Affordable Care Act they complained about unelected bureaucrats getting between you and your doctor, I find it telling that they had no such concerns about the flunkies of profit seeking corporations getting between you and your doctor.

Democrats in Congress and the Texas legislature have come around to an idea that many in the public already had which is that the solution to the high and often unaffordable cost of healthcare is to make it a part of what you get for your tax dollars just like every other industrialized nation on earth and even places like Iraq.

In Congress, Democrats are actively pushing for a bill known as Medicare for All while in the Texas legislature we can look forward to something similar. Both bills guarantee that every resident will receive comprehensive healthcare services. Individuals will have free choice of licensed health professionals and services including vision and dental care as well as home healthcare, adult day care, and hospice.

Healthcare for millions more Americans at lower cost, what other reason do you need to vote for Democrats in November?

Published in the Seguin Gazette - August 16, 2018

Republican Plot to Kill Paid Sick Leave

How do you feel about going into a restaurant or fast food place and being served by someone who is obviously ill? How would you feel if they were sick but you couldn’t tell just by looking or their behavior? How do you feel about your child being served by someone sick? What if it is another kind of retailer or an office you work in?

It’s important to consider this because not every employer provides paid sick leave and that encourages people who are paid at or near minimum wage to work even when sick. We all understand that many illnesses like the flu are easily transmitted from one person to another and we even have a word for an action taken to stop the spread of especially virulent strains, that word is quarantine. If you’re ill and don’t have some overwhelming reason to be out and about most people will self-quarantine just because they don’t feel like doing anything other than staying home in bed or on the sofa.

Low income folks without paid sick leave often are compelled to work even when quite ill by the need to make the rent or buy groceries for their family. Instead of self-quarantining they then interact with dozens of people and run the risk of infecting some of them. Many businesses recognize that having sick people at work just makes it more likely for other members of the staff to become sick as well and therefore offer paid sick leave.

In an effort to address the health concerns of the public who may shop at or otherwise visit locations where the employer encourages ill staff to work the cities of Austin has passed a paid sick leave ordinance. In San Antonio citizens have gathered 140,000 signatures on a petition to get a proposition to create a paid sick leave ordinance on the November ballot.

So far this seems quite reasonable but our Texas Attorney General, Ken Paxton (R), claims the Texas Minimum Wage Act preempts cities from enacting a paid sick leave ordinance. I’ve read the legislation, nowhere in it does it even mention sick leave. AG Paxton isn’t the only one on this crazy horse, our state senator, Donna Campbell (R), sent the mayor of San Antonio a letter urging him to block such an ordinance on the grounds that employers don’t like it. According to her letter some members of the business community have taken exception to the proposition on the grounds that it will cause them to lose business opportunities. This is typical Republican logic, make poor, sick people work until they drop and the heck with the health consequences for everyone else because “job creators” need every penny.

Sen. Campbell and AG Paxton just don’t get that employers aren’t job creators, customers are, and when you sicken your customers and your other employees you’re really just hurting your own bottom line. Worse they don’t care about the public health issues created by forcefully encouraging sick people to expose themselves to the general public. Given that Campbell is an emergency room doctor you’d think she’d know better but as in other cases in the past Campbell has let her raging right wing agenda override her professional judgement.

In about 90 days you and I will have an opportunity to send her a resounding message that her failure to look out for the health and well-being of the citizens of her district and all of Texas are unacceptable by electing Steve Kling as our new state senator for Senate District 25.

Published in the Seguin Gazette - August 10, 2018