Friedman addresses immigration, crime, taxes, state spending
By MICHAEL GRACZYK
Associated Press
Houston ChronicleThe number of National Guard troops on the Texas-Mexico border would jump from 1,500 to 10,000 under a plan to combat illegal immigration proposed today by independent gubernatorial candidate Kinky Friedman.
"We've waited 153 years for the feds to help us," Friedman said. "They haven't yet. We have our own army. I want 10,000 Texas National Guard troops on the border and I want them now."
The immigration proposal was one of four broad policy issues Friedman outlined today. The independent is running against in bent Republican Gov. Rick Perry, Democrat Chris Bell, and another independent, Carole Strayhorn, the state comptroller who won that office as a Republican. Also in the race is Libertarian James Werner.
Friedman also addressed crime in Houston, state spending and state taxes.
"I'm just kind of stunned other politicians are not talking about this stuff and are not doing anything," he said.
On crime, Friedman would give $100 million in state money to Houston to address a e in violence. The money would pay for more than 1,000 new police officers to fight crime, particularly violent crime blamed on Katrina evacuees. Hurricane refugees who broke the law or refused to find jobs should be sent back to Louisiana, he said.
A sharp increase in retirements, a drop in new cadets and a higher crime rate caused partly by hurricane refugees has caused a severe shortage of officers in the Houston Police Department.
Friedman also said he would cap state spending at current levels, with any increases adjusted for inflation, population increases and unforeseen disasters. He'd also cap property tax appraisals at 3 percent annually, down from the current 10 percent.
On taxes, Friedman would abolish the state business tax, which taxes gross business income and was a key element of the school finance reform passed by the legislature in a special session earlier this year. The tax, he said, "amounts to nothing more than a personal income tax in disguise."
Friedman would use an existing state budget surplus of at least $11 billion to make up any shortfall.
This move may siphon enough discontented wing-nut voters away from Perry that it could give Democratic candidate Chris Bell a better chance of making up his deficit against Perry. It's going to be an interesting two months.
Dan
Dan when you consider all the discontented voters, i.e. the Right-wing Nut, left-Wing Nut, Anti-Illegal Emigrants, KKK, Bigots, those that still believe the rumors of Perry being gay, anti-women voters, anybody but the in bent voters, those anti-democrats, people with a sense of humor, and those that just don't give a dam Kinky might just be in, after all this is TEXAS and GWB
was gov. here
His original plan was to start a million dollar trust fund for each Mexican Army general in charge of border security in the five estados on the Texas border, and deduct $5K for every illegal immigrant caught and deported.
edit - there's only four estados on the border.
Kinky's only a couple of points behind Bell as of a couple weeks ago.
A new poll just released by Pollster.com has Good-hair up by 17 points
Perry 37
Friedman 20
Bell 19
Strayhorn 16
Nbadan 1
I'm going here before heading somewhere to watch the Texas - Ohio State game tonight.
http://www.dallashobnob2006.com/
Kinky, Perry, Strayhorn, Bell, are all expected to attend.
I don't care if it is a five-way race, for the Democratic candidate only to have 19% in the governor's race against a wildly unpopular in bent tells me they need to start from scratch.
It starts with not nominating a flaming wussbag.
Kinky needs to just keep on picking up steam and November gets mighty interesting.
Friedman Says He'd Legalize Pot in Texas
Sep 14 9:56 PM US/Eastern
By MICHAEL GRACZYK
Associated Press Writer
AUSTIN, Texas
Kinky Friedman says he favors legalizing marijuana to keep nonviolent users out of prison. If Texas elects him governor, he says, he'll try to get locked-up pot users released to make room for more violent criminals.
"I think that's long overdue," Friedman told The Associated Press in an interview Wednesday. "I think everybody knows what (U.S. Sen.) John McCain said is right: We've pretty well lost the war on drugs doing it the way we're doing it. Drugs are more available and cheaper than ever before. What we're doing is not working."
Friedman, the often irreverent singer, entertainer and mystery writer, is running as an independent in a bid to unseat Republican Gov. Rick Perry, and he's getting some serious attention.
He said he'd take a closer look at the use of the death penalty in Texas, wants to clean house on the state's board and commissions and would dump public school assessment tests, even if it costs the state federal money.
On the death penalty, he said he would be more liberal with the governor's authority to grant a one-time 30-day reprieve to condemned killers.
"I would be careful killing a guy," he said. "I think there are people who need to die, but the question I've asked mostly is: When was the last time we've executed a rich man in Texas?"
He bristled at the criticism heaped on him after he called some Hurricane Katrina evacuees in Houston "crackheads and thugs."
Friedman said Wednesday that his plan to give $100 million to Houston to hire more police "was not in any way racist."
"How can you possibly regret that, telling the truth?" he asked. "I am not a racist, I am a realist. In looking at the statistics, I know that 20 percent of the homicides in Houston have been committed by the element in the evacuee population.
"I never said what color their skin was. I never said all evacuees are crack dealers or crackheads. I'm smarter than that."
Also in the race for governor are Democrat Chris Bell, Libertarian James Werner and another independent, Carole Strayhorn, the state comptroller who won that office as a Republican.
As for Friedman, he said he doesn't like being called a politician.
"I don't mind being called a flip-flopper," he said, a description Perry's campaign has placed on him. "I think we actually could use a flip-flopper as governor because a flip-flopper is a human being open to change, and God knows change is what we need now."
He acknowledged that the Texas governor's authority is limited compared with executives in other states but said he would use the bully pulpit to cajole legislators. He doesn't trust them, he said, adding: "I do not trust the media either."
"Right now the lobbyists are leading us. We have a lack of leadership, a vacuum," he said.
One of the Texas governor's few powerful roles is in appointing state board members, and Friedman said he would replace as many as he could, including regents at the University of Texas and Texas A&M.
"You clean house," he said. "You get the old farts out of there. You put a bunch of young people in and you put a bunch of people who care about Texas. It's pretty simple."
If he wins _ most polls show Perry leading in the race but not running away with it _ Friedman said one of the first calls he'd make as governor would be to Robert Muhammad, head of the Nation of Islam in Houston, who he said "the Lord put in my path at the Austin airport earlier this year."
"He's a very visionary man," Friedman said. "You would think we're at opposite poles, but we're not. That's the guy I would tap. I would tap him to help us get those gangsters and thugs and crackheads out of there.
Kinky's got some good ideas going, it should make November interesting.
I say legalize pot and tax the out of it.
I'm with you on that.
And make texas the most dominant state in the history of the known human world?
Sounds too good to be true. Besides, for every person with an open ear to kinky's ideas there are THREE tparks out there, dead set on holding their chin up high in the name of our lord, george, w, bush.
I thought taxes were bad...??
Kinky's gone from about 5% in the polls up to 20%, while Perry has dropped from the 50% area down to mid to high 30s, due largely to his insistance upon the Trans Texas Corridor albatross.Sounds too good to be true. Besides, for every person with an open ear to kinky's ideas there are THREE tparks out there, dead set on holding their chin up high in the name of our lord, george, w, bush.
Friedman will probably win IMO...about the only thing hurting him is his stance on the death penalty...it's hard to claim you are going to dewussify the state with that stance.
He's got Willie on his side so that's pretty much going to kick the out of any of his opponents...but the death penalty stance is hurting him.
Still...I like him better than Perry, who I have never liked, I just liked him better than his opponents...but his fratboyness annoys me and always has.
I like Friedman's stance on alternative energy...that and the idea of seeing Willie witha government job is enough to get him my vote.
I agree, but dude, if you look at his platform, his stance on everything sounds so good that its literally impossible for him to be elected governor--remember we use electronic voting machines now.
I don't see anything that can't be pulled off...most of it is just common sense...if you run as an independent you can split the issues.
The bottom line is that he's likeable and he's on the right side of most of the issues with the right people everywhere just South of Dallas and just North of the Valley...
He'll win from Carl's Corner, to Austin, Houston and Centex...and everything in between.
His problem is going to be winning Dallas, and further north and the periphreal areas of the state...
Everything about him counts against him in Dallas/bible belt, from his looks to his abortion and death penalty stances to the fact that he is a jew...Rick Perry is the posterboy for Dallas politicians...
Carl's Corner?? lol...there are like an entire 12 voters there probably
I know that...but IMO it represents the Northern boundy for where he will win...I don't see him winning anything above there...Dallas, Amarillo Lubbock, El Paso...
why wouldn't el paso vote for him
I just don't think they will...El Paso(and all the other border towns) will go straight Democrat much like Dallas will go Republican. They always do.
I'm whottt's owner!
I give all what you think you are...
Nothing wrong with that.On the death penalty, he said he would be more liberal with the governor's authority to grant a one-time 30-day reprieve to condemned killers.
"I would be careful killing a guy," he said. "I think there are people who need to die, but the question I've asked mostly is: When was the last time we've executed a rich man in Texas?"
AmenHe acknowledged that the Texas governor's authority is limited compared with executives in other states but said he would use the bully pulpit to cajole legislators. He doesn't trust them, he said, adding: "I do not trust the media either."
[QUOTE]One of the Texas governor's few powerful roles is in appointing state board members, and Friedman said he would replace as many as he could, including regents at the University of Texas and Texas A&M.
"You clean house," he said. ... people who care about Texas. It's pretty simple."[/QUOTE]
OK, I'm!!!!!!
BTW I like the idea of playing Texas Holdem in Texas. I'm tired of driving all the way to Louisana to loss my Money.
You sleep with dogs...
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