By Sujata Dand, KERA Reporter
Dallas, Texas –
Sujata Dand, KERA Reporter: State Representative Charlie Geren is a businessman. He owns the popular Fort Worth barbeque fixture - the Railhead.
Charlie Geren: 2:25 I've been endorsed by the Texas Association of Business, I've been endorsed by the National Federation of Independent Business, I've been endorsed by the Association of Realtors, So, I am a Republican.
Dand: While business groups have helped Geren raise more than 180 thousand dollars in his race for re-election for district seat 99, he's been targeted by two businessmen. Houston homebuilder Bob Perry and Dr. James Leininger from San Antonio are spending nearly 1.5 million dollars to oust Geren and 4 other Republican incumbents.
Dand: Leininger and Perry rarely talk to the media. Neither one could be reached for an interview.
Harvey Kronberg, Editor of Quorum Report: I'm not sure why Bob Perry is going after Charlie Geren. He's not going after him in a major way. 5 or 10 thousand dollars for Bob Perry is chump change. But, Leininger, is very clear.
Dand: Harvey Kronberg is the editor for the Quorum Report, a bi-partisan online political journal.
Kronberg: Charlie was instrumental in knocking down and defeating the voucher proposals last time. Leininger is typically a one issue guy. He has been trying to transform the legislature now for 6 or 7 years supporting pro-voucher candidates and trying to get anti-voucher candidates beat. This has nothing to do with business. It has to do with some mission that Dr. Leninger is on very specifically about vouchers.
Dand: During the 2005 regular session, Geren watered down House Speaker Tom Craddick's school voucher plan by adding amendments. The proposal would have shifted $600 million in public education money to select students in eight inner-city school districts as vouchers for private school attendance. The bill was voted down in the House.
Chris Hatley, District 99 candidate: When I looked at the incumbent's voting record, it didn't appear to be very conservative, and I thought I'd retired and moved to a very conservative county.
Dand: Lt. Col. Chris Hatley is one of two pro-voucher candidates running against Geren. He sent a thank you note when he got his first check for $5000 from Bob Perry a couple of months ago. Today he has a war chest of more than $60,000 - 95% comes from Perry and a political action committee traced to Dr. Leininger.
Hatley: You have Republican voters who say we have a majority of Republicans- why aren't we getting anything done? And, they mention the school reform, school finance issues. The problem is that we have a majority of Republicans - but several of them have a tendency to vote with Democrats. Charlie is one of them. He blocked or voted against almost every idea that conservative Republicans put forward in the house to try to do something about our education system here in the state of Texas.
Dand: Charlie Geren.
Geren: I think there are some people -Dr. Leininger for example that are angry because I made his bill better than what it was. He said I killed it. And, so he's trying to buy state rep. seats. My opponent is being totally funded by 97% of his money is coming from San Antonio or Houston. It looks like only 3 or 4 hundred dollars of his money are coming from the district and they want to own the district. I want to represent the people of district 99.
Dand: And, Geren says, vouchers are not part of his plan right now.
Geren: I don't believe in school choice until we once again fund our public schools at the level they need to be funded. #2 get the textbooks to the kids that are up to date textbooks- give them the tools.
Dand: For Geren's other opponent - 32 year old Colby Brown - vouchers are his primary issue. Although the only contributions he's gotten - about $30 thousand dollars - come from family members and friends.
Colby Brown, District 99 candidate:We spend about $6400 per child on average in the state of Texas - that money would follow the student. You're not going to dilute the education system for any othe child in that system if they choose to leave their kids there. I just want to provide that choice.
Bill Hammond, President of the Texas Business Assocation: I think what you're seeing is a few people who are very concerned about some very specific issues that want to see change in the legislature.
Dand: Bill Hammond is the president of the Texas Association of Business - the largest business lobby in the state. In 2002, they helped Republicans take over state government. But late last year, Hammond's organization was indicted for allegedly misusing 2 million dollars from corporate donors to influence those very same elections. Political observers say the indictments weakened the business lobby, but Hammond contends they have been active in this election.
Hammond:The Texas Association for Business has a PAC which is a separate legal entity- virtually all of the races - like Geren's- we are supporting Rep. Geren. You have 5 or 6 races around the state where incumbents are being challenged and in virtually every case we are supporting the incumbent because of their business voting record.
Dand: In the early 90s, the T-A-B helped lawmakers create the nation's most comprehensive school accountability system.Today, their educational agenda hasn't changed much - the group is still lobbying for tax reform and improving accountability standards in schools.
Hammond: Businesses do believe that we need much better accountability than we presently have in TX. An individual citizen should be able to understand the budget of their local school district, their city and their county. We don't have the level of transparency that we need so that we can track some of those decisions.
Dand: So,it comes down to the pro-voucher mavericks versus the established business lobby. And, Kronberg believes the establishment isn't playing the pivotal role that it did 20 years ago when Ross Perot led the school reforms like No Pass No Play.
Kronberg: There is no big looming business figure that has taken charge to sell tax increases if it is necessary - or led the reform effort and a lot people tend to think that's because businesses are no longer local they are global. And while they may give lip-service to wanting an educated workforce they certainly don't complain about buying 12 to 15$ an hour, outsourcing engineering and programming services.
Dand: Gov. Rick Perry did tap former Democratic comptroller John Sharp to head a business-oriented group to make tax policy recommendations. Their proposals are expected some time in late March - right before the next special session on school finance. By then, it will be clearer how much public support there is for vouchers. For KERA 90.1 - I'm Sujata Dand.A HREF="http://www.kera.org/votersvoice/"TARGET="NEW">More government issues and election coverage from KERA's Voter's Voice
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