It was with great sadness I learned today of the passing last night of Ann Richards, former governor of the great state of Texas.
I was always a Ann Richards fan for a number of reasons. One, of course, was that she was a strong woman leader, encouraging other women and minorities to get involved with politics on a local, state and national level. Quoting her obituary in the New York Times today:
A champion of civil rights for minorities, gays and women, Ms. Richards first ran for governor calling for a “New Texas” that would offer more opportunity and power to those groups.
As governor, among other achievements, she fulfilled her campaign promise to bring more blacks, Hispanics and women into public office. She appointed the first black regent to the University of Texas and installed the first blacks and women on the state's legendary police force, the Texas Rangers. She also pushed for harsher penalties for polluters and gained control of the state’s insurance board in a drive to reduce the industry’s influence over state government.
Ms. Richards oversaw an expansion of the state’s prison system, increasing the space for prisoners by a third, and cracked down on the number of prisoners being paroled. She also instituted a major substance abuse program for prisoners. And she championed the creation of the Texas lottery as a source of public school financing. She bought the first scratch-off ticket herself on May 29, 1992.
She also was a tireless supporter of the arts in Texas, promoting Texas culture and the arts every where she went. Have to love that. I've always thought a world without the arts is a gray and bleak place indeed. That is one of the reasons I've gotten up early every Thursday morning for nearly seven years now to go down to KNON as an unpaid volunteer and bring you BIG TEXAS BLUES. Everyone needs to believe in something. I believe in the Blues. And I believed in Ann Richards.
I worked on Ann's campaign for re-election because I believed so strongly in what she stood for, the things that she had accomplished as Governor, and all the things she still wanted to get done.
One of the things I did was man the phones in the evenings, calling people who had voted for Ann in 1990. I considered myself fairly politically savvy, but was not prepared for what happened. Which was this. I would call people, thank them for voting for Governor Richards in the first election, and say "We hope we can count on your support in this election." Time after time I heard this a version of this "I like Ann. I think she's been a good governor. I think she's been good for Texas. But I'm a Republican, and I'm going to vote Bush."
The first time I heard it, I was literally speechless. They voted for her, liked her and thought she was doing a good job, AND YET WERE GOING TO VOTE FOR SOMEONE ELSE. I heard it so often, I quickly became numb to it, but by the end I was just disgusted. That kind of blind following scares the hell out of me. I hope it scares the hell out of all of you too. I just don't understand the logic of voting for someone, them getting into office and doing the things you wanted them to do, and then voting for someone else. I don't get it because there is no logic to it. Whatever.
No politician is perfect, and none are without fault, but to me Ann Richards embodied the Great State of Texas and was a superb representative of ALL it's people. With her quick wit, tall white Texas hairdo, and strong opinions, she was as much a Texas icon as Big Tex and the Lone Star Flag itself. Ann Richards was as Texan as they come. God bless her for it
No comments:
Post a Comment