The new scholarship is named for Alonzo Jamison Jr., who served as a Democrat representing Denton County in the Texas State Representative from 1955-1967.  Jamison graduated from Denton High School and the University of North Texas, where he was editor of the Campus Chat (now the North Texas Daily).  A veteran of World War II, he was reelected six times to the Texas House of Representatives before heading the government department at Texas Woman’s University.  Jamison passed away in 2011.

Students can apply for the scholarship online by visiting the application online or by picking up a paper copy of the application at our office.  The deadline for submissions is June 1, 2012.

Apply Online Today

Donate to the Scholarship Fund Here

Last week, President Obama revised an earlier proposal to provide women with access to contraception without cost.  These revisions take religious organizations out of the process and deal directly with insurance companies to pay for this service.  The GOP has mounted a noisy campaign against this assistance for women, even though it has been available for over 10 years.

CC image from Flickr user brykmantra.

Their position is not realistic.  A high percentage of sexually active women use contraceptives during their reproductive years, and Catholic women are no different.  Major Catholic organizations supported the President’s changes, and the Catholic view of President Obama has not changed in the last few weeks.

Neither the popularity of contraception nor the approval of the President’s plan mollified the GOP.  Instead, they asserted that the President had declared war on the Constitution and religious liberties.

Earlier this week, Dr. Michael Burgess, who represents Texas’ District 26, which includes Denton County, declared on Fox Business Network that providing contraception was a violation of First Amendment rights.  We’ll let Rep. Burgess’ convoluted rhetoric speak for itself, but it’s no surprise that he sees women’s health as a business issue and the GOP’s right to limit women’s health care as a free speech issue.  Rep. Michael Burgess is the sole official member of what he refers to as the “Congressional Health Care Caucus“.

Not content with infringing just women’s health care rights, the GOP is now attacking preventive and other health care services.  Roy Blunt (R-MO) proposes that many diseases such as HIV-AIDS and Type 2 Diabetes, which have a lifestyle component, could be denied coverage.  Since most illnesses are affected by lifestyle and lifestyle is affected by economic resources, this is just another not-so-veiled effort to punish less affluent Americans.

It’s sad that in 2012, we find ourselves fighting the same battles won decades ago for women’s health rights, but here we are.

This tuition bill from 1974 shows that tuition cost $212 in 1974. Click the image to see a larger version.

Adjusting for inflation, in-state tuition and fees have increased by 432%.

In 1974, tuition and fees for 15 hours at UNT cost $212.50.  Adjusting for inflation, this is actually equivalent to $969.56 today.  This year, tuition and fees for 15 hours are $4,191.05.

Unelected bureaucrats control tuition hikes.

Facing a budget shortfall in 2003, Republican legislators in Texas gave the Board of Regents at each university the ability set tuition.  Since then, the cost of tuition has increased by over 150%.

Rick Perry appoints high paying donors to Boards of Regents.

The Governor of Texas appoints Regents to the boards of every public university in Texas.  According to a report from Texans for Public Justice (PDF), Perry pulled in over $6 million in political contributions between 2000 and 2010 from those he appointed.  Nine out of the ten members of the UNT Board of Regents are major Republican political donors, including the non-voting “student regent”.  They have donated over $500,000 to Rick Perry and his Republican allies since 2006.  Brint Ryan, vice-chairman of the board, is the second largest donor to Perry’s corporate Super-PAC.

Republican officials unanimously oppose higher education funding.

Most Americans don’t know that the Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act of 2010 contained numerous provisions to increase funding for grant and loan programs for higher education.  Every Republican in the House and Senate opposed it.  Hiding under the guise of “less government”, Republicans have cut school funding repeatedly, including a $1 billion cut to Texas higher education during the last legislative session.

We won’t stop.

On the national level, Democrats are winning the battle to keep higher education affordable and accessible.  Local representatives, however, haven’t heard the message yet.  With your help, they will.  The well-being of our nation – and of Denton County specifically – depends on our education, both primary and higher.

Our volunteers give an extraordinary amount of time and effort to our cause, but many of them don’t stop there.  Very frequently, they also donate their hard-earned funds to our organization.  We’re very proud that the people closest to our activities trust us to use their donations wisely.

We also know that not everyone has the time to volunteer, but you help us reach our latest goal by donating just $10.

Can you donate $10 today to reach our goal?

In the next few months, we plan to:

• Purchase banners, signs, and other promotional materials using our new branding.
• Host the Denton County Democratic Club’s Chili Supper on February 11th.  You can buy tickets to the event here.
• Organize more local events to reach new audiences, gain new voters, and educate citizens about new voter laws.

We can make your $10 donation go a long way.  Our online system is safe, secure, and fast.

Please take a few minutes from your busy day to donate $10.

“Yes, I’d like to give today!”

Thanks so much for your support,

-The Denton County Democratic Party

If Texas' new Voter ID law is approved, a voter registration card won't be enough to vote in 2012.

What type of ID will I need to vote?

If the US Department of Justice approves to the new law (it hasn’t yet), you must show one of the following to vote:

• Texas Department of Public Safety‐issued driver’s license or personal ID card
• Concealed handgun license
• A new “election identification certificate”
• US government‐issued passport
• Military ID
• Citizenship papers that include a photo

I’m a senior.  Am I exempt from the photo ID requirements?

SB 14, as passed by the Texas Legislature, has no exemptions for senior citizens, regardless of age.

How do I get a qualified photo ID?

Getting a photo ID may require documentation such as a birth certificate and take several weeks.  Voters without a qualified photo ID should allow enough time to get the required documents.

Where can I get an election identification certificate?

The election identification certificate will be available with proper identification at no cost from the Department of Public Safety in 2012 to voters who lack a qualified photo ID.

Can I use an expired driver’s license to vote?

Except for citizenship papers, the ID must be current or have expired no more than 60 days before voting.

What will the poll worker check at the polls?

Poll workers will check that the photo is of the voter and the names on the ID and voter registration list match.

What if my name changed since the last time I voted?

You can check your registration information by visiting the “Am I Registered?” page of the Texas Secretary of State’s website.  There are various ways to change your registration information:

• Visit the Texas Secretary of State’s site.  Texas does not offer online voter registration, but you can fill out a voter registration form to print and send to the Denton County Elections office.
• Visit our offices and our deputy voter registrars can assist you to update your information.

Do I need to re-register if my address changed?

If name on your ID and your voter registration  match, addresses do not need to match.

What if I don’t have a photo ID when I go to vote?

Voters without a qualified Texas state- or government-issued photo ID can vote a provisional ballot and present a qualified photo ID within 6 days.  If you are otherwise eligible and you present ID within six days, your ballot will count.

Can I use a school- or university-issued ID to vote?

No, students will not be able to use their school IDs to vote in the Texas elections. They will need to obtain one of the acceptable photo IDs issued by the Texas Department of Safety or the U.S. government.

More Texas Voter ID Resources

Much of this information was adapted from The League of Women Voters of Texas at http://www.lwvtexas.org/

The Texas Secretary of State’s website contains more information about SB 14 here.

VoteTexas.org has a simple explanation here.

CC image from user from Arch.

It could be worse.

Over the last few weeks, readers have inundated us with requests for information about the Stop Online Piracy Act, or SOPA.  You can read more about the bill, authored by Texas Republican Lamar Alexander, on OpenCongress.org here.  The nonpartisan group describes the bill:

This bill would establish a system for taking down websites that the Justice Department determines to be dedicated to copyright infringment. The DoJ or the copyright owner would be able to commence a legal action against any site they deem to have “only limited purpose or use other than infringement,” and the DoJ would be allowed to demand that search engines, social networking sites and domain name services block access to the targeted site. It would also make unauthorized web streaming of copyrighted content a felony with a possible penalty up to five years in prison. This bill combines two separate Senate bills — S.968 and S.978 — into one big House bill.

Tomorrow, websites like Wikipedia, Reddit, and many others, both large and small, will participate in this blackout.  We will be with them.

Our readership is limited.  We understand that.  But we also understand that this is an important issue to many of our supporters.  We don’t expect the Denton County GOP to do the same, since they don’t produce content for their site anyway, but we would love to see that group take part as well.

The Denton County Democratic Club will host their annual Chili Supper and Candidate Forum on February 11, 2012 at the Center for Visual Arts in Denton, Texas.  Judge Gilberto Hinojosa, candidate for Chair of the Texas Democratic Party, is scheduled to speak.

• When: Saturday, February 11th, 2012, 6:00-9:00 p.m.
• Where: Center for Visual Arts, 400 East Hickory Street, Denton, TX
• How: Tickets are $20 each.  Purchase them here.
• For more information, contact Marsha Keffer.

Get your tickets here.

Click on the image above to purchase tickets!

Hinojosa has a long record of service as a judge in Cameron County, Texas, where he has served as the 107th District Court, the 13th Court of Appeals, and as County Judge.  In 2007, he was elected Chair of the Cameron County Democratic Party.  In 2011, he filed to run for Chair of the Texas Democratic Party after current Chair Boyd Richie announced he would not run again.

The club hosts the Chili Supper each year.  The event is a major fundraiser for us and for Democratic candidates.

Bring your dancing shoes.

That’s how much Republicans in Texas cut from public education funding during the 2011 legislative session.

Denton County Republican Texas House of Representatives members have plenty of excuses for making these huge cuts:

Protesters on March 12, 2011 at the "Save Texas Schools" rally in Austin, Texas. CC image courtesy Matthew Juran.

• Tan Parker (R-Flower Mound, 63) justified them by comparing them to slashes he endorsed to other state agencies.  Cutting education at a slower rate than other agencies doesn’t make it acceptable.
• Myra Crownover (R-Lake Dallas, 64) enthusiastically supported gutting our public education system, claiming that she had to make the “painful decisions”.  She even said on the House floor “I think this is the right thing for Texas, and I will be voting aye.” (PDF, p. 6427)  Cutting $4 billion from public education will never be “the right thing for Texas”.
• Burt Solomons (R-Carrollton, 65) spent so much creating the redistricting disaster in Texas (he was chair of the committee) that he practically ignored education entirely until he voted to cut it.

How can our elected officials believe a low tax rate is more important than educating our children and paying our teachers properly?  The Texas GOP tried to shift the blame to local school districts, even though districts in Denton County like Lewisville ISD have already cut administration positions and payand are still financially struggling.

Cutting $4 billion from our state education system is penny wise, pound foolish.  Before these cuts, Texas ranked 42nd in funding levels.  More than 12,000 teachers and support staff have been laid off already.

Fund Education Properly

Education funding should be the first thing passed every session, not the last.  It should not be a partisan issue, but it has become one.  Our resolve is simple: fund our schools, our students, and our teachers properly.  There is no excuse for not providing the most basic of services to citizens.

We will support those who support our future.  There will be no more cuts, and there will be no more excuses.

Firstly, our meetings are open to the public.

Candidates Mary Brown, Patrick McGehearty, David Sanchez, and Ken Williams stand with DCDP Chair Phyllis Wolper at the December 2011 EC Meeting.

For example, we will host our next Public Executive Committee Meeting at La Milpa Restaurant in Denton (click to see map) on January 12, 2012.  Don’t let the “executive” label fool you; these are regular, informal meetings that we host every month, and you are more than welcome to attend, regardless of your level of involvement.

At our meeting, we will go through a few normal procedures, such as the Pledge of Allegiance, and then our County Chair discusses a few issues pertinent to our cause.  Our Committee Chairs (see our “Lead” page) give their reports.  Typically, we try to have a guest speaker from outside the party to discuss an important issue.

But mostly, we simply enjoy being together and discussing subjects both political and personal, and we’re more than happy to see new people at these gatherings.

There’s no need to RSVP or even tell us that you’re coming.  If you’re looking for an opportunity to talk to other Democratic friends from throughout Denton County, please attend our next meeting at La Milpa and we’d be glad to have you.

CC image courtesy Victor Chapa.

Voter ID Laws

Start the new year off right with a correct ID or license.  You might think that a voter identification requirement is no big deal – after all, you have a driver’s license.  But these laws may affect you and millions of other citizens.  Make sure the name and address on your driver’s license or other state-issued ID matches the information on your voter registration card.  If the information doesn’t match, beat the rush and get it changed.  The Department of Public Safety will have neither the manpower nor the budget to handle the expected number of applications for Voter IDs and changes to current IDs.

Shortened Voting Periods

Many people must vote early to have any opportunity to vote at all.  Most of our polling place workers must vote early because they do not work at their local polling place and have no breaks during the day to go vote.  Other workers have rigid schedules.  Additionally, poll workers are no longer required to assist anyone who enters the wrong polling place to find their correct location.  Taking away the one Sunday during which people can vote or reducing the hours a polling place is open makes a difference to many who have little job flexibility.