Sunday, March 22, 1998

Texas Democrats focus on dollar issues

By Steve Ray

It's the money issues Texas Democrats think they can win on in November - pocketbook issues like taxes on bread and milk and high insurance rates on cars.

The response from Texans on the issues has been so dramatic that one statewide Democratic candidate secretly offered up this hopeful November prediction: Democrats 5, Republicans 2.

He was referring to races for the seven major statewide offices in Texas, contests some had earlier predicted would be swept by Republicans because of the continuing popularity of Gov. George W. Bush.

The reason for the glee? A vote in the 1997 legislative session where 44 Republicans voted for a proposal that would have eliminated property and franchise taxes and capped the state sales tax at 11 percent.

The sponsor of the plan admitted during debate that it would allow food and medicine to be taxed - including things like milk and medicine.

This year, Democrats armed with a brown paper sack filled with tortillas and baby formula and diapers took to the road.

Response to an East Texas tour with the brown paper bag in places like Texarkana, Bryan and Lufkin was so strong Democrats are taking their tour statewide.

They also tell voters the Republican sales tax increase would have included things such as eyeglasses, utility bills, gas bills, funeral services, feed, seed, fertilizer, house rentals and other services Texas families need.

During the Democratic primary 578,137 Texans voted to support a constitutional amendment prohibiting sales taxes on food and medicine.

The success of Democrats in portraying themselves as the party of fiscal conservatives has made some Republicans worried.

Last week GOP party chairwoman Susan Weddington called the Democratic efforts a desperate distortion and an example of "political cross-dressing."

She accused the Democrats of running for election on Republican reform ideas and then using their majority in the Legislature to create roadblocks for the reforms.

And she said the GOP proposal was only an effort to begin debate on real tax reform in Texas, something she said Democrats were afraid to talk about.

But Democrats were quick to talk about Republicans saying their response showed they were "flip-flopping, backtracking and trying to rewrite tax history in Texas."

In reality, the Republican proposal had little chance of passing. It's doubtful many, if any, of the GOP House members who voted for it would have actually voted for a final plan that taxed medicine and groceries.

But politics is a public relations game. And the 44 Republicans who voted for it may have given Democrats their best campaign issue of the season.

Democratic Party Chairman Bill White said the fact that no Democrat voted for the measure showed his party believed "a strong Texas depends on ensuring that every Texas family is treated fairly by our tax system."

The issue could haunt the state GOP all the way through November, despite efforts by some Republicans to downplay its significance in op-ed pieces published in some of the state's newspapers.

But the real problem for the state GOP is that despite growing trends that show the state leaning Republican, no candidate with the exception of Gov. Bush has done a good job of defining what they or Texas Republicans believe. Nor have they been able to say what they would do to improve the lives of Texans in their specific office.

Weddington tried last week, but while rhetoric about education, limited government, returning power to the people and reducing the tax burden may sound good, without specifics they aren't very effective.

On the other hand, Democrats have found some specifics in issues represented by the brown grocery sack. They've also taken on Republicans over rising car insurance. Those are two issues Texas voters can understand.

Republicans say their issues will become more clear as November gets closer. But at this point, Democrats may already be out of the gate and headed into the home stretch on issues that matter to Texas families.

The question is whether anyone is paying attention.

Steve Ray is chief of the Scripps Howard Austin Bureau.