Background

Rep. Myra Crownover represents District 64 in the Texas House of Representatives, which includes much of Denton, Corinth, Lake Dallas, and the surrounding area.  Earlier this year, one of her staffers quit over Crownover’s support of “oppressive legislation” against women:

It should come as no surprise that Rep. Crownover has accepted thousands in campaign cash from for-profit medical corporations since her reelection in 2010.

We’re protesting because of people like Rep. Crownover, whose interests are clearly no longer those of her constituency.  Join us at 10:00 a.m. at the Courthouse on the Square.

Tell us you’re coming on our Facebook event page here.

When

April 21, 2012

• 9:30 a.m. – Sign-in begins.
• 10:15 a.m. – Sign-in closes.

Where

The convention will be held at the LISD Bolin Administration Center in Lewisville.  See below for directions.

Delegates

If you are considering being a delegate to the State Convention in Houston on June 8 & 9, please attend the Senatorial District Convention.

• You must be a registered voter in Denton County.
• You must sign an Oath of Affiliation with the Democratic Party (on the sign-in sheet).
• To be a delegate to the national convention, submit a statement of candidacy (optional).

After sign-in has closed, officers have been elected, and the sign-in roll has been ratified, precinct conventions will begin.

You do not have to attend this convention to be a delegate to the State Convention, but you are required to complete, sign and submit an Oath of Affiliation within 5 days of the convention to the Convention Chair, and coordinate with someone in your precinct to nominate you at your precinct convention.  If finding someone to nominate you at the convention is not possible, you will automatically be added to the at-large delegate pool.

To speed up the credentialing process at sign-in, please reply by email if you plan to attend.  Include your full name, senate district, and your voter unique identifier number (VUID), which you can find at this link – Voter Registration Database .  Districts will also appear on your information at the above link when you click on your VUID number.

Committees

The Credentials, Nominations, Platform & Resolutions, and Rules & Procedures committees are appointed prior to the convention.  Contact us if you’re interested in participating.

Video

Video courtesy of the Lewisville Texan Journal.

Image Gallery

Next Event: Denton Women’s Health Rally

The DCDP will host another event for women’s health on April 28 at the Courhouse-on-the-Square in Denton.  You can RSVP for the event on the Facebook event page here.

Here are a few of the most recent examples:

• The GOP claims to be “pro-family,” but it opposes family planning and government aid to support women and their children.
• A proposed GOP-backed law in Arizona would give employers the power to request that women provide proof that their prescribed birth control pills are used for non-sexual reasons. According to this logic, you must be a whore if you want birth control pills, because a married woman wouldn’t need it.
• The Senate Judiciary Committee of Arizona voted 6-2 to endorse a controversial bill that would allow Arizona employers the right to deny health insurance coverage for contraceptives based on the employer’s religious objections. Again, Republicans want the government and business to have control over your personal life, all while touting a “small government” ideology.

"So get this, I told them 'Government should be small'."

No one is for abortions, but it is a decision a woman needs to make – not the government. Republicans in Texas have now forced women seeking an abortion (already a traumatic event) to have a transvaginal ultrasound. This procedure is normally used to examine a woman’s reproductive organs for medical reasons – not to intimidate her. But Republicans support this intimidation. The party that claims to respect the rule of law seeks to limit access to this legal procedure.

Republicans want to have it all their way, even when it means that is both ways. This is just a few of the times that the Oxymoron Party has been on both sides of an issue even when they are totally incompatible.

Tomorrow’s Protest

Join us tomorrow outside the office of Rep. Michael Burgess in Lewisville as we protest the GOP’s lack of respect for women’s health.  The event begins at 11 a.m. and ends at 1 p.m.

But when the Department of Justice rejected the idea, Governor Perry and Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott didn’t just try to take their ball and go home. Now that the playground rules say they can’t decide who gets to play and who doesn’t, they’re trying to stomp on it to make sure nobody can.

CC image from Flickr user Paul Lowry

Compliance with the bill would have cost many citizens time and money – a modern day poll tax.  In Texas, so many DPS offices have closed from budget cuts that some citizens would have had to drive 100 miles just to get an ID. DPS officials in Denton County declared that they did not have the supplies, personnel, or budget to handle the high number of citizens who needed the ID. The free voter ID card that was never officially offered from the state would have been issued in September, just before the general election.

Republicans contended that a photo ID law was needed to end voter fraud caused by individuals impersonating another citizen, or non-citizens voting – a problem that even the Texas Attorney General admits doesn’t exist. How many people would risk prison or deportation to cast one vote?

The State of Texas failed to show that millions would not be disenfranchised by the bill. The crux of the Department of Justice ruling was that so many Hispanics in Texas do not have state-issued identification that their participation in voting would be negatively affected.  In a last ditch effort to save the measure, Greg Abbott will challenge the Voting Rights Act to get Governor Perry’s “emergency” bill passed.

In their minds, they can’t be wrong; rather, the Voting Rights Act of 1965 must be.  In our minds, it’s time to let everybody play fairly in Texas.  When that happens, it’s highly likely these bullies won’t be on the playground for long.

Read the suit filed by the state here:

See picture gallery below.

For more information about each of the Democratic candidates in Denton County, see our candidate page here.

Here’s what the tag on the shirt says:

This T-shirt was sewn by 9 people in a sweatshop-free environment in Downtown L.A., where they are paid fair wages and have access to healthcare and benefits.

These items aren’t just our way of expressing your affiliation (though we like it when you do that).  They’re also a great fundraising opportunity for us.

Click above to visit our store and get your shirt today.

We can ship the items to your address (you’ll enter it in ActBlue when you make your donation), but you can also pick up your purchase from our office during normal business hours and it will save everybody time and a few bucks.

Shirts will be in our hands by March 19, so get yours today.  We’ll be adding other products to our store soon.

Get your DCDP Shirt Here Today

The party primaries in Texas are now set – hopefully, for good – for May 29, 2012.  You can read the court order here.  There will be another filing period for candidates.  They will be able to file to run in the primary between today (March 2) and Friday, March 9 at 6:00 p.m.  We have listed those who have announced already on our candidate page here.

Where will I be?

To find your current districts, visit the Texas District Viewer.

State House Districts

All of the proposed Texas House of Representatives Districts are located wholly within the county limits.  To see the maps the state will use for the 2012 election, see the interactive map from the Texas Legislative Council.

District 63

• Tan Parker, Republican Incumbent

For the southwest corner of the county, Rep. Parker’s district remains largely unchanged.  The eastern portions of the county he represented, have been split off into District 106 (see below).

District 64

• Myra Crownover, Republican Incumbent
• Mary K. Brown, Democratic Challenger (Official Site)

Rep. Crownover has represented District 64 since 2000, but her district will now include the entirety of Denton and will extend into the northwest portion of the county.

District 65

• No incumbent
• Gary Brown (Email)

This district covers parts of Lewisville and much of Carrollton in the southern portion of the county.  Rep. Burt Solomons, a major player in the redistricting disaster, left his position, which leaves this district with no incumbent in the 2012 election.  Lewisville has not been represented in the Texas House of Representatives by a resident of the city since Bullock Hyder left office in 1938.

District 106

• No incumbent

District 106 is a newly formed Texas House district that comprises the eastern portion of the county.

Congressional Districts

See the interim congressional maps here.

District 24

• Kenny Marchant, Republican Incumbent
• Patrick McGehearty, Democratic Challenger (Official Site)

A portion of the southeast corner of the county will fall in District 24, represented by Kenny Marchant.

District 26

• Michael Burgess, Republican Incumbent
• David Sanchez, Democratic Challenger (Campaign Facebook)

As before, much of Denton County is located in District 26, currently represented by Michael Burgess.

State Senate Districts

District 12

• Jane Nelson, Republican Incumbent

District 12 has been represented by Senator Jane Nelson of Flower Mound since 1993.  Nelson represented much of Denton County before the last redistricting, when it was changed to Sen Chris Harris.

District 30

• Craig Estes, Republican Incumbent

This district, comprising the northern half of the county in addition to a number of other counties, is represented by Craig Estes.

Where can I vote?

Stay tuned to our site. We will have a complete list of polling locations for the Democratic primary in Denton County as soon as possible, along with new and old precinct numbers.

Myra Crownover, the Republican who represents District 64 in the Texas House of Representatives, flattered us yesterday in an email blast to supporters with an extraordinary compliment:

Believe me, the Democrats in Denton County are on-line and they are shaping the debate.

It hasn’t been a good week for Rep. Crownover.  On Monday, Politifact Texas rated her claim that she had increased funding for education as “Pants on Fire!”  When she tried to double down on her absurd statement on her Facebook page by claiming that according to her math, she was right, things got ugly.  Republicans and Democrats alike lambasted her complete refusal to admit she could even make a mistake.

Denton Hot Seat

Image courtesy Texas Tribune.

This morning, the Texas Tribune hosted a “Hot Seat” event with Rep. Crownover and State Senator Craig Estes, and we were there to greet them.  After editor-in-chief Evan Smith grilled the two on their massive cuts to education, he allowed questions from the audience.

Rep. Crownover and Sen. Estes danced around every issue, blaming Pres. Obama’s Affordable Care Act for their own budget shortfall.  When our political director asked Rep. Crownover to name an instance in history in which cutting from education actually helped students and teachers, she couldn’t give a single example.  When Mary K. Brown, candidate for District 64 in the Democratic primary, asked a question, Crownover and Estes tossed the hot potato around until they had filled the room with as many “uhs” and “ums” as possible.

When another supporter asked Sen. Estes about his views on the invasive transvaginal sonogram mandate, he later told her privately that her views would lead to those of Adolf Hitler.

“Shaping the Debate”

Rep. Crownover’s panicky email blast the day before the event was right: we are shaping this debate.  But we aren’t interested in “attacking” her “conservative values”.  We just want her to understand that this isn’t about her values; rather, it is about the education system in our state, one that she gutted during the last legislative session without considering any alternatives.

The new scholarship is named for Alonzo Jamison Jr., who served as a Democrat representing Denton County in the Texas State Legislature 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