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Dear Editor,
Thanks for covering the D4 council race. ["
Council District 4 Rematch Finds Candidates Still Split on Housing Policy," News, Sept. 20] In addition to their differences on housing issues, there is one more point that D4 candidates Chito Vela and Monica Guzman differ on. Last time I asked them, Guzman said she supported having the council take up a Gaza ceasefire resolution. Vela said it wasn't local and the council should not discuss it. As the Middle East approaches a boiling point, that might be a significant difference for some voters.
Dear Editor,
Re: "
Casar Introduces Act to Help Fossil Fuel Workers Transition to Clean Energy Jobs" [News, Sept. 17]: Greg Casar's American Energy Worker Opportunity Act doesn't go far enough to protect workers! Your article didn't mention that the wage compensation proposed is for only 60 days following employment termination. We need to treat the climate crisis like the emergency that it is – ensuring a just transition for fossil fuel workers is fundamental to that. Eddie Espinoza, Green Party candidate for Railroad Commissioner this year, is committed to a rapid transition to renewable energy, implemented in a way that protects fossil fuel workers. I'm voting in the interests of the people, supporting workers, not corporations.
Dear Editor,
Regarding Michael King’s article “
Doug Greco’s Campaign Odyssey Turns to Federal Court” [News, Sept. 20], I thank him for taking the time to talk with me and for representing my arguments in his piece. And while he has a right to believe that the well-funded and wealthy incumbent has the advantage in this race, I do want to make one correction, and one other response.
I knew what the contribution limits were going in, and the challenges that these restrictions would pose for a grassroots candidate. What I didn't know was that I might approach the geographic limit so fast. Nor did I know that I would be the only candidate willing to sign the City's Campaign Contract, which voluntarily limits candidates to $120,000 in contributions and spending limits for the race. Had all candidates signed the contract like I did, we would have had a very inexpensive mayoral campaign with each candidate limited to $120,000. But that didn't happen, so by city code I'm also released from the caps AND I’m the only candidate to get public funding in a runoff. If other candidates want big money in the race, as a former AISD teacher and grassroots organizer I want a fair playing field.
My case is not about Citizens United, which had to do with corporate funding of PACs, but about geographic restrictions on individual, grassroots donations, unique to the city of Austin, and which occur at no other level of government. They favor incumbents and wealthy candidates. The check against big money in politics are contribution limits (very low at $450/person in Austin) and transparency: Jeremy Sylestine, who vastly outraised the more progressive Jose Garza in the Travis County D.A.’s Democratic primary race using Republican dollars (some of whom have also given to Watson), lost handily because Garza’s campaign rightly exposed the donors using Sylestine’s campaign finance reports, which all candidates running for office must file regularly throughout the election.