January 26, 2025 • 41 mins
How can Texas reshape the national political landscape? Join Louie Minor as he unpacks the pulse of Bell County and beyond, starting with the intricate discussions from the Bell County Commissioner's Court meeting. We’ll explore critical issues like service agreements and the Loop Jail Construction Project, while also reflecting on broader political dynamics through the lens of a recent Democratic National Committee chair debate in Austin. Additionally, Louie shares his personal journey to the LBJ Ranch, pondering the lasting impact of Lyndon B. Johnson's legacy on working Americans.
Turning our gaze toward the future, we delve into the Democratic Party’s strategic vision, particularly highlighting Texas’s role as a pivotal battleground state. Prominent leaders such as Ken Martin, Ben Winkler, and Martin O'Malley weigh in on the potential for increased congressional representation and Texas’s critical role in shaping national policy. We’ll examine the aspirations for a federal trifecta and the importance of innovative leadership in voter registration and digital communication to ensure long-term political dominance.
Finally, hear from dynamic candidates for the Texas Democratic Party chair position as they present their visions for grassroots empowerment. From Patricia Olivares’ dedication to public service to Patsy Woods-Martin’s educational advocacy, and Chair Parker-Mims’ strategic fundraising insights to Kendall Scudder’s grassroots commitments, and Aaron Arguijo's ideas for rural Texas, each narrative paints a vivid picture of the challenges and opportunities ahead. Concluding with Louie’s plans for advocacy at the County at the Capitals event, this episode promises a comprehensive look at the political currents poised to shape Texas’s and the nation’s future.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:03):
Welcome to the Louie Miner Show.
I'm your host, bell CountyCommissioner, louie Miner.
Today is January 26, 2025.
We have a lot to talk about, solet's get started.
We'll start off with the agendafor Monday, january 27, 2025,
(00:25):
like we always do, we have theinvocation pledge of allegiance
consent.
Agenda items we have consideredthe minutes of the January 21st
2025, meeting of thecommissioner's court.
We have claims, accountspayable, payroll, restitution,
(00:47):
jury pay.
And then we have, let's see,approved service agreement with
IDOCIT for Ruby Red Services toprovide county criminal court
case information availabilityfor the Bell County Clerk at no
(01:08):
cost to the county.
Then we have item B Considerauthorizing the transfer of one
1999 Freightliner Van Coach4UZA5FAC2XCB1, or correction
(01:32):
41368 from the Sheriff's Officeto the Emergency Management
Department and 1-2020, or 2003Ford E-Super Duty F-450, vin
number 1FDXE45F33HB17996 to theElection Department.
(01:58):
Then item C receive for recordcertificate of course completion
, open meetings act and publicrecord subdivision located in
Bell County, precinct 2.
B Consider and approve finalplat of Stennett Mill Estate,
(02:40):
phase 1, being a 7.350 acre 5lot 1-block subdivision located
in Bell County, precinct 2.
Then, regular agenda itemsConsider the appointment of Bell
County Facilities Director.
B receive an update andanalysis on the Bell County
(03:01):
Elections Department's Americanswith Disability Act Compliance
Program and assessment of theNovember 5, 2024 general
election.
Consider for approval Loop JailConstruction Project's change
order ALLW number 70.2, pc C orcorrection A, l, l.
(03:23):
W number seven, zero point two.
P C O number 18 and 18 are onearea three, redesign in the
amount of $37,359 and 45 cents$9.45.
(03:50):
Then we have Consider forApproval Loop Jail Construction
Project Order ALLW number 144,regards of RFI number 360, area
2, parapet End Caps and StoneParapet Extension and stone
parapet extension in the amountof $21,258.
Item E, item C consider forapproval loop jail project
(04:14):
change order ALLW number 158regarding ASI number 13,
penthouse security wall in theamount of $3,297.
F.
Consider for approval loop jailconstruction project change
(04:37):
order ALLW165 regarding PCO165,regarding PCO 165, Area 10,
(05:06):
level 3 and 3M dorm walls andthe amount of $71,694.
G.
Consider for approval Loop JailConstruction Project Change
Order ALLW number 232.
$232 regarding RFI number 490,fresh Air Court storefronts,
(05:26):
house tower, area 10, and theamount of $53,992.
And that is everything for ourregular agenda.
Now we'll switch over to ourworkshop.
Immediately following we'llhave reports and updates from
(05:49):
various county offices anddepartments capital improvement
projects, update on jailexpansion and temporary jail
facilities, the Killeen Annexdiversion center renovations.
Then we have discuss FY 2024CIP plan.
Then discussions discuss theestablishment of an opioid
(06:13):
steering committee, a vacantSheriff's Office clerk position
and up to two extra helppositions to assist with the
development, refinement andoverall reorganization of
(06:33):
existing and or new policies ordepartmental practices.
That'll be in the morning, thenin the afternoon our workshop
beginning at 1.30.
Discuss interlocal agreementswith the cities on plat approval
, delegation authority and otherrelated issues.
(06:55):
Then discuss Chaparral Roadimprovements and MOU with the
city of Killeen and then presentan updated master plan and
receive an updated five-yearcapital plan regarding cadence
bank center.
And that is everything for theworkshop.
And then let's see.
(07:15):
We have a couple of postedmeetings.
January 27th we had the bellcounty historical commission
meeting in belton at 6 pm.
January 28th we have CentralCounty Services Board meeting at
5 pm in Temple and thenFebruary 6th at 10 am we have
(07:37):
the pre-proposal conference forKilleen, annex 101, east Central
.
And that is it for the agendasand workshop.
So I guess this week what I'dlike to talk about.
There's two things that Iattended this week and very
(08:00):
informative.
This is democratic politics atits highest levels here in the
state and nationally.
So on Wednesday down in Austinwe had a DNC debate between the
Democratic National Committeethat's who runs the national
(08:32):
apparatus, the machine,democratic machine in Washington
DC, who runs that it is vacant.
Now that one I've always I knowit changes a lot.
It's always someone new, seemslike every two years or
something like that.
We always get someone new inthere and I really never kept up
with it much because you knowit's so removed.
(08:54):
I think I do remember one time,tom Perez, who was the housing
or labor secretary, I think thelabor secretary under Obama.
After that, after the Obamaadministration, he became the
DNC chair and he came to Austinand I remember going to that
event and meeting him.
(09:17):
Not a lot of communication, nota lot of interaction here
locally with the DNC chair, butthey came.
The frontrunners came.
Now they said there's a biglist of people that are running
for DNC chair.
(09:38):
But the top three contenderscame to Austin and it was at the
Driscoll, the debate, and I'mgoing to play the end comments
for you between all three ofthem so you can hear how they
ended their thing.
But it was Martin O'Malley,former governor of Maryland,
(10:02):
former Baltimore mayor andpresidential candidate, then it
was Ben Winkler, and he's statechair in Minnesota or Wisconsin
one of the two and then statechair Ken Miller, who is State
(10:25):
Chair of the other one,wisconsin.
But very interesting that allthree of them said that how
important Texas is to the futureof the Democratic Party, how
important Texas is now to theDemocratic Party and how we need
(10:47):
to start investing locally inthe Democratic Party.
So you'll hear their closingremarks.
And then on Saturday, yesterday,I went to the LBJ Ranch.
Former president Lyndon BainesJohnson, my favorite president,
(11:14):
did a lot for working people,everyday people.
So there was a state chairdebate.
After this last election, ify'all remember, our longtime
chair, gilberto Hinojosa,resigned, so that created a
(11:35):
vacancy and they're looking tofill that vacancy.
Now that vacancy is only goingto be temporary because we will
elect at our next convention,which is it'll be summer of next
year, of 2026, our next stateconvention.
(11:55):
That's when we will actuallyelect a state chair.
So, like I said, this is just atemporary appointment, but
there are debates scheduled.
This was the first one.
I don't think everyone attended, but a majority of the
candidates that announced thatthey're going to run for it are
(12:15):
attending, did attend it.
It was good, it was a packedhouse.
Like I said, it was my firsttime at the OBJ Ranch Never been
there, I drove by it a coupleof times but this was my first
opportunity that I had to stopand drive and explore and it was
a little awe-inspiring.
You know this is where thepresident used to be and
(12:37):
decisions were made.
You know, important people cameout there at the time and that
area shaped our world.
So, yeah, it was prettyinteresting being out there and
how fitting our first Democraticdebate for the state chair was
out there.
I was going to talk aboutrevitalizing, reshaping our
(13:01):
state party so we could startwinning.
So it was good to hear everyoneout there.
The state chair was a whole lotdifferent than DNC chair.
You know the state chair.
You see, I've seen him all thetime.
Obviously I go to all theconventions so he was always
very instrumental in running theconventions and doing stuff at
(13:24):
conventions and going to eventsout in counties and he would
always make himself available.
So this is a very important andhe was always on TV national TV
making comments on things.
So the DNC, or the Texas statechair, is a very important job,
(13:46):
both locally for Democrats andnationally as well, locally for
Democrats and nationally as well.
So I'll play their closingremarks as well, and then we
will talk about a little bitabout what's going on locally.
Speaker 3 (14:11):
Thank you, gentlemen.
You can each do two-minuteclosing statements.
We'll do a seat order, so,starting with Chairman Larkin.
Well, we have an amazingopportunity in this moment.
In every crisis there's anopportunity and it's to
reimagine the DNC.
There's so much that's stillunpacked from this last election
(14:31):
.
We don't have all the data orthe answers at this point, but
what I do know is, over my 34years of politics, I've seen a
DNC that has not been organizingin a way that's building
long-lasting and durableinfrastructure to help us.
As I mentioned before, what isthe role of the political party?
It's safety.
There's no running pointscoming in second place.
(14:56):
You can't improve people's livesso that at the end of the day,
you lose.
We have to win again.
Our national party has to winagain, and that's because it's
some sort of sport and we justpat ourselves on the back or put
a check mark on the board andcongratulate ourselves.
Winning and losing is adifference in so many people's
(15:18):
lives, so many people who relyon party to build power for them
.
We're hoping that we let peoplewho share their values and our
values, so they'll make adifference and maybe make their
lives a little bit better.
That's what all of us arefighting for.
That's what all of you arefighting for.
The beauty for me is this DNCcould do so much more in
(15:44):
partnership with all of you onthe ground and so many of us in
this country, if we would onlyreimagine.
This is our opportunity to dothat together.
Speaker 5 (15:54):
I'll leave you with this.
Speaker 3 (15:56):
This may dismalify me in some of your eyes, but I
don't have all the answers.
I'm both excited and terrifiedat the same time.
I've never been a DNC chair.
I don't know what's waiting forus now, but I have a flag in my
mouth that says none of us aresmart as always, and I believe
that all of us can figure outany of the challenges that this
(16:18):
Democratic Party is goingthrough and we can overcome.
So thank you so much for havingme tonight.
Thank you.
Speaker 4 (16:32):
We're in this crisis moment now as a country.
We're watching the hammer blowsright down the White House.
In Texas, you've beenexperiencing this for a long
time from your state governmentand we're in a moment where
people, if you ask the generalpublic, they don't really trust
eigenparties.
There was a headline about howtrust in the Democratic Party
(16:54):
was at an all-time low of 33%,and some of them pointed out in
the comments that trust in theRepublican Party was 36%.
People just don't trust ourpolitical system right now and
if we want to build change, wehave to build trust, and if we
do that, then we can thinkbigger.
(17:14):
I think a lot in this work.
We think about 2026, themidterm elections, 2028, the
presidential elections.
If we do everything right, weget a federal trifecta.
We get past the national lawsthat we've been waiting for, we
can finally pass the Women'sHealth Protection Act, end
sexism, abortion and theprotected rights of organizing
Abortion Act, the ProtectedRights Organizing Act, the End
Protection Act, the Freedom toVote Act.
(17:37):
We can do all that, but thenthe next year comes and 2030
could be like 2010, whenRepublicans sweep in in a
backlash and then break thiscountry for the next decade, and
I think our job right now is tobuild a party stronger that not
only can we win elections forthese next two election cycles,
but we can shift the center ofgravity and build the kind of
(17:58):
enduring coalition that can winthe next decade beyond.
And this has to run throughTexas.
There's a reason that we'rehere, because the vision for
building the kind of countrythat everyone deserves a chance
to live in it requires us to dothis work with a national party
as a catalytic investor, to workwith the union movement, to
(18:19):
work with our partners and ourallies across this country, in
this state, to support the workthat you do every day, to be
able to win that trust and winup and down the ballot, the way
we can change the entire futuretrajectory of this country.
You are on the front lines.
We're not really counting onyou.
We have to show up insolidarity with you every step
of the way for the years to come, and if I'm the DNC chair, you
(18:40):
have my commitment that we willdo exactly that.
Thank you.
Speaker 6 (18:52):
All that we need depends on change, and this
election for DNC chair isdefinitely a change election.
We can kid ourselves andpretend that if we just do a
little better than sevenbattleground states next time,
it'll all fix itself.
It's not going to fix itself.
We have to fix it.
We have to embrace the truththat this is a moment for change
(19:14):
.
A party's future, our country'sfuture, depends on the new
South, it depends on Texas, itdepends on the Lone Star State
becoming the North Star State.
When you all have 42congressional votes, you are
going to become that great statethat determines our nation's
(19:35):
future.
So the question we have to askourselves is do we have the
courage to change?
Do we really have the courageto make investments in voter
registration to up our game whenit comes to digital
communications, or do we want tokeep doing things the way we
have been doing things?
(19:56):
What I offer you as your nextchair, if you should so choose,
is someone who has proven hisabilities as an operational
turnaround change leader atevery level in the city city of
Baltimore.
The neighbors of my city votedfor me because I promised we
(20:16):
would change and we did.
We made our city a safer andbetter place and I was reelected
as governor.
We passed and got a lot ofimportant things, some of them
like the living wage, note forthe first time because we
changed the operations of ourstate and President Biden tapped
(20:37):
in to go to Social Security,the largest domestic program in
America, not because things weregoing well, because it was on a
steep downward trajectory andwe turned it around.
That's what we have to do.
We need you, texas.
Thank you for coming out here.
If we have the courage toembrace this moment and vote for
change, we can save our country.
I need your help and I thankyou for being here tonight.
(20:59):
Thanks a lot.
Speaker 1 (21:04):
So there you heard the candidates Once again.
That was Ken Martin.
He is the chair of theMinnesota Democrats, and then we
had speaking next was BenWinkler.
He is the Wisconsin Democraticchair, then former Governor
(21:28):
Martin O'Malley, and he's theonly one that said it in his
closing remarks.
But if you can hear the wholedebate, if you go to the Texas
Democratic Party YouTube page,you can see and hear the debate
there in its entirety, and allof them said how important Texas
(21:52):
is to the future of our nation.
We're going to be gettingprobably after redistricting in
the census in 2030, we'll begetting, you know a lot more
congressional seats, so that'swhy it's important.
(22:12):
You know we're going to havemore people here, obviously, and
hopefully it'll be morecompetitive, more blue, and
that's what we're trying to do.
So part of that strategy,though, of turning Texas blue
and breaking our 30-year droughtof no statewide elected
(22:34):
officials, is to have a chair, aDemocratic chair, with a plan,
a winning plan.
So now I want to play for youthe closing remarks from the
Texas Progressive Caucus chairdebate.
That was Saturday yesterday,january 25th, at the LBJ Library
(22:59):
, so let me pull that up for you.
Speaker 7 (23:03):
All right, for those of y'all on the live stream,
we're going to move to ourclosing.
Oh, for those of y'all on thelive stream, we're going to move
to our closing statements.
Now, um, you know what?
Uh, I'm going to do something Ireally shouldn't do.
I'm going to let the audiencedecide.
Do y', patricia, at this end?
All right, patricia, it's up toyou.
No offense down here, but I'mtrying to take some feedback,
trying to be better about thatin my life, and this way I don't
(23:25):
have to keep track of who I'mgoing to because we're only
doing one.
So, patricia, two-minuteclosing statement.
We'll move down to thedirection of my right.
Thank you.
Speaker 8 (23:34):
For sure, For sure.
I have been serving.
I have been serving for a verylong time, even long before I
knew it, and that sense ofpublic service was instilled by
four generations of militarymembers in my family.
Not because, you know, we justlove the military and that's
(23:56):
what we want to do, Because itis inherent not just in me but
in my family members, in my son,who's over there taking
pictures and stuff, who hasworked with me on several
campaigns, that the right thingto do is to help people, to put
ourselves at the forefront andto do the right thing even when
others don't agree with us.
Let me tell you it is time thatwe win statewide office, and I
(24:21):
bring the background, theexperience, the leadership and
the vision to make that happen.
I hope to be able to serve asyour next TDP chair, because it
would be an honor to serve you.
So thank you very much.
Speaker 7 (24:37):
Thank you very much, Patricia Olivares, Patsy
Woods-Martin.
Two-minute closing statement.
Speaker 9 (24:43):
So when I was at Annie's List and we worked with
budding candidates, our amazingpolitical director, monica Gomez
, would ask them first to answerthe question why me?
Why now?
This is my, why me, why now?
Moment right, why me?
(25:04):
You know, I've spent a lot oftime over the course of the last
couple of weeks, especiallytalking to members of the State
Democratic Executive Committee,and what I'm hearing from them
is that they are looking for astrong leader who can build
coalitions, who can listen tostakeholders, who can build a
plan, make that plan, execute it, fund it to win elections.
(25:30):
I have a proven track record ofdoing that and I'd like to
apply that to the TexasDemocratic Party so that we can
win elections.
And why now?
Well, now, this is a deeplypersonal commitment for me.
I'm a mother, I'm a grandmother.
(25:50):
I am worried about the kids inthis state.
What is happening?
You know, our education systemis 41st in the country when it
comes to fiscal health.
That's today, that's beforethese right-wing nutjobs get a
hold of it and continue todefund public education in this
(26:13):
state.
They've taken away theGod-given rights of women, of
members of the LGBTQ community,and we have got to stop that.
We've got to stop it and we'vegot to reverse it.
You know our hero and my friend, cecile Richards, said women
(26:34):
I've got to read it because Isaid women aren't usually in it
for the glory.
Said women aren't usually in itfor the glory, they're in it to
get shit done and I am in it toget shit done.
Speaker 7 (26:46):
Thank you very much, Patsy.
We will allow each candidate togo 10 seconds over.
If you are quoting CecileRichards, all right.
Chair Parker-Mims, yourtwo-minute closing statement.
Speaker 10 (27:01):
Thank you so much.
No, no, cecile Richard quotes,though If you think that the TDB
train is going down the righttrack and we just need a new
commander and you just need tothrow money at it, I am
absolutely not the person youshould vote for, because I do
not think we are going down theright track.
I think that we need to createa strategic plan in four areas
(27:23):
fundraising, engagement, voterregistration and get out the
vote.
What separates me from everyoneis I have done all those things
in my county, in the seventhlargest county in the state.
I have done those things ineach election cycle that we've
had, and TDP has never onceasked us how we did it.
No one.
We've increased voterregistration.
(27:45):
We were number one forpercentage increase in 2022.
Nobody asked us how we did itNot powered by the people, not
anyone.
We didn't set up tents.
We had a plan.
We have people in Denton Countywho are ready to take that plan
.
Statewide, we want to work withcounty parties, because it's
more than just money.
It's knowing how to create theinfrastructure to build a party,
(28:08):
and for some people, that mightmean just gaining 20, 30 more
people because they're in suchsmall counties.
But we have to stop and createa strategic plan in all of those
areas.
It is not simply going to be anew state chair that's going to
help us flip.
It is going to be the new planthat allows all of us to
participate, to increaseengagement, to increase
(28:28):
fundraising, to do thiscontinuously, not simply at get
out the vote time.
When we do get out the vote time, and we do that, we're already
behind the eight ball and we'vealready lost.
That includes gettingengagement with our elected
officials, getting them out,explaining what's happening,
what they're trying to voteagainst.
There's so many ways we canincrease engagement, but that
also includes working withcaucuses that empower you guys
(28:50):
to go out and increaseengagement in those areas that
you are particular to.
I'm the CEO that will do thatbecause I've done that and I ask
you to vote for me because it'stime to win in Texas and I
remember more than Ann Richards,I remember Mark White when he
was governor because we can winin Texas.
Speaker 7 (29:06):
All right.
Thank you very much, kendallScudder.
Two minute closing statement,please, and thank you.
Speaker 5 (29:11):
First, I really appreciate the opportunity to
sit up here with these awesomecandidates today, and you've
been a real trooper, erin.
I really appreciate getting toknow you more Before I start too
.
I also want to thank mybrilliant wife, carly, who lets
me go and play politics and isso supportive and holding life
down while I try to do all ofthis.
I've given my life to thisparty.
(29:31):
This party means a lot to mebecause this party was here for
my family when no one else was,and we have an obligation to
build a party that is here forpeople who need us.
People are under attack rightnow, and if they do not feel
that they can trust our party,they will continue to not show
up for us whenever we need themat a ballot box.
(29:51):
That's why I'm running toreturn our party back to the
grassroots.
You know I'll do it becauseyou've seen me do it.
You don't do politics as longas I have without making a
couple enemies, and every timethat I've been asked to, I stand
on the side of activistsagainst the establishment class
in Austin, who, I'm sure, isgoing to continue to try to tear
me down for the next two months, but I stood at the front of
that room as one of the vicechairs of this party and have a
(30:13):
100% voting record with thiscaucus.
I am the only person in thisrace who has that voting record
that I can point to.
I am a person who understandsthat the people doing the work
on the ground in this party aremore important than any
consultant in any room in DC orin Austin, and if we are not
empowering our grassroots to dothe work on the ground to get
(30:33):
this accomplished, we will neverbe able to move the needle in
Texas.
This is about winning elections.
This is about building aninfrastructure that is long
lasting.
What did we wish that the partydid 40 years ago that we can
start doing today to make surethat the party is ready 40 years
from now?
The best time to plant a treewas 20 years ago.
The next best time is today,and I'm here to start planting
those trees and working with allof you.
(30:53):
I'm going to make some mistakesand I hope that you feel that
you have enough of arelationship with me from all
the time we've spent on thefields together and in the
trenches that you can call meand let's talk it out.
You're going to have a chairwho respects you, who wants you
at the table and is ready tobuild an apparatus that will
take back Texas for workingpeople.
Thank you, guys, for theopportunity to be here today.
Speaker 7 (31:13):
Thank you very much, Mr Aaron.
Your two-minute closingstatement, please, and thank you
closing statement.
Speaker 2 (31:25):
Please and thank you.
There are 134 counties thathave been neglected and if you
don't know, who I'm referring tois the 134 pack.
There are a lot of countiesthat have been neglected for far
too long.
We can't do it anymore.
We can't do it anymore.
My dad, when he was 17 years old, his leg was maimed right and
so his entire life he was ondisability.
Uh, his fixed income was 504 amonth, right.
So when I was growing up inhigh school, I couldn't ask him
for $5 to go out with my friendsright, they were generous.
I had good friends, right,they'd always pay for everything
(31:46):
, pay for the festivities of thenight.
But I couldn't even ask him for$5 to put gas in somebody's car
to go cruising.
Right, we were that broke.
That's who I am.
That's where I come from.
My life has turned around andI've become a great success by
all intents and purposes.
To my father, right, who grewup in the Depression era, a good
job to him was working inside.
It didn't matter if you were acashier, it didn't matter what
(32:09):
you did, if you were inside, youhad it made, period.
We've done a lot more.
I've done a lot more in my lifefor that.
That's who I am.
That's who I represent.
I represent rural Texas.
I am rural Texas.
I'm proud to be from ruralTexas.
I'm glad I'm proud to be fromwhere nobody pays attention.
Right, we made our own fun, wedid everything that we wanted to
do, and that's what I'm goingto do as your next chair.
I'm going to represent theseareas and I'm going to work with
(32:31):
anybody in these areas, and I'mgoing to work with the cities
as well.
We're all we all got to.
You know pitching together,right?
But the bottom line is this iswe cannot neglect these small
towns anymore.
That is my message to Texas,right?
And I believe that if we canmake small improvements in these
areas right, we don't have towin them.
We just got to improve in themby percentages.
(32:52):
We can win Texas, right, and soI don't want to neglect Texas.
We shouldn't do it anymore, andI hope every single one of
these candidates on the yardsstand with me.
It sounds like they do, but Ithink we've got a lot of work to
do in Texas and I think that wecan win Texas if we spend time
in rural Texas.
Speaker 7 (33:04):
Thank you Alright.
Thank you very much.
We're going to welcome Claytonback up here to say some final
words.
I just want to say a thank youto the Texas Progressive Caucus,
to the co-host, progress Texas,to each of the candidates and,
frankly, to all of y'all for avery spirited conversation.
My name is Jeff Rotkoff.
Please follow our work atthebarbedwirecom.
Please come see me and get yourPut Elon on the Rocket sticker
(33:27):
before the day is over.
Thank y'all very much.
Speaker 1 (33:31):
Well, there you go.
That was once again PatriciaOlivares.
She was a or is campaignmanager, strategist, I guess,
consultant, done a lot ofdemocratic work with
organizations all over the stateof Texas.
Then we have Patsy Woods Martin, who was the executive.
(33:55):
Know what Annie's List is?
Annie's List is an organizationthat trains, promotes, recruits
women to run for office, soit's a great group.
They've been around for a longtime, ever since I've been
(34:18):
involved in politics and doinggood things, been doing good
things in Texas to get morewomen elected to office.
Then we had Delia Parker Mims,who is the Denton County chair,
democratic chair, currentDemocratic chair, democratic
(34:56):
chair, current Democratic chair.
She claims, and I'm sure she'sright, but Denton County is the
only county in the state ofTexas this last election cycle
that Democratic turnout wentdown.
So if that's what Denton Countydid, then I'm very interested
in seeing what they did and howwe can replicate that,
regardless if she gets electedor not as the state chair.
Then we had Kendall Scudder.
(35:19):
He is, I believe, the financechair now for the Texas
Democratic Party and beeninvolved in politics obviously
for a long time, like you said.
And then finally we had AaronRojo, who is I believe he said
he was up from the panhandle andbeen involved in politics for a
(35:41):
long time, so a lot of goodpeople.
There are a couple of otherpeople that are here on the list
.
I'm looking at the TexasDemocratic Party chair list.
People that signed up wasReverend Steve Miller, rabbi
Misha Ben David and then DarceelTobey and Mary Gomez.
(36:08):
Those are all the other peoplethat have signed up to be chair,
but was not at this debate, butit was a great debate.
I enjoyed it.
There's going to be more.
I think the next one that'sgoing to be close by that I plan
to go to is going to be inAustin sometime in March,
(36:31):
whenever they get ready toactually elect and by they I
mean the SDEC chair people thatthey'll be electing the
chairperson.
So, yeah, good things arehappening in our party.
(36:52):
You know people are scared nowand everything that was in
project 2025 that presidentdonald trump said he didn't know
anything about and he distancedhimself from it and it it's his
(37:16):
playbook, it's his playbook,it's his playbook.
So everything that is goingaround right now on the internet
, it's F around and find out,and you have all these stories
of people that this is happeningto, from the hiring freeze to
CBP, one app being taken away,the hiring I mean there's just
(37:46):
so many things that's coming out, the pardons, and so it's
definitely an interesting timeto be living in, an interesting
time to be living in, and it'sup to us, the Democratic Party,
(38:13):
to remind people that there isanother option out there, that
we do care about your pocketbookissues even though you didn't
feel that way.
And that's on us because ourmessaging is not where it needs
to be.
We need to get better atmessaging.
We need to get better attelling our stories.
(38:35):
We need to get better atpromoting our policies and how
they improve people and liftpeople up out of poverty and be
leaders.
So we have a lot of thingscoming up election-wise.
(39:00):
City elections are starting tohappen or not starting.
The filing period is going onright now, so you have a lot of
people filing.
We'll have a list of thosepeople for the city of Killeen.
I'll probably wait till thefiling period is over.
They're doing a recall electionas well, at least filing for
the paperwork for members of thecity of Killeen.
(39:20):
There's supposed to be a bondelection coming up as well for
the city of Killeen, but all thelocal stuff and hopefully get
some local candidates that arerunning for election on, so so
you hear from them.
So a lot of good things goingon.
(39:41):
This is going to be a busy year.
Like I said, our commissioner'scourt we're going to be
changing the dates on when wemeet.
It's just going to be twice amonth now, the first and third
week of the month, so we'll seehow the shows go.
(40:01):
I think I'm pretty sure I'lltry and keep keep it to weekly.
Still hadn't made up my mind,but there's.
There's just a lot of thingsgoing out there and maybe we
could concentrate more onpolicies and and behind the
scenes and talking to people andgetting them on the record and
but yeah, so anyways, have agreat week talking to people and
(40:25):
getting them on the record andbut yeah, so anyways, have a
great week.
I will be this week down at theCapitol on Wednesday for County
at the Capitals advocating foryou and Bell County and the
Texas Association of Counties tomake sure that we have all the
tools necessary and to get someof that $28 billion that the
(40:49):
state of Texas is sitting on andget some of that back here home
to Bell County.
So thank you for listening andwe will talk to you next week,
so hey.
Welcome to the Louie Miner Show.
I'm your host, bell CountyCommissioner, louie Miner.
Today is January 26, 2025.
We have a lot to talk about, solet's get started.
We'll start off with the agendafor Monday, january 27, 2025,
(00:25):
like we always do, we have theinvocation pledge of allegiance
consent.
Agenda items we have consideredthe minutes of the January 21st
2025, meeting of thecommissioner's court.
We have claims, accountspayable, payroll, restitution,
(00:47):
jury pay.
And then we have, let's see,approved service agreement with
IDOCIT for Ruby Red Services toprovide county criminal court
case information availabilityfor the Bell County Clerk at no
(01:08):
cost to the county.
Then we have item B Considerauthorizing the transfer of one
1999 Freightliner Van Coach4UZA5FAC2XCB1, or correction
(01:32):
41368 from the Sheriff's Officeto the Emergency Management
Department and 1-2020, or 2003Ford E-Super Duty F-450, vin
number 1FDXE45F33HB17996 to theElection Department.
(01:58):
Then item C receive for recordcertificate of course completion
, open meetings act and publicrecord subdivision located in
Bell County, precinct 2.
B Consider and approve finalplat of Stennett Mill Estate,
(02:40):
phase 1, being a 7.350 acre 5lot 1-block subdivision located
in Bell County, precinct 2.
Then, regular agenda itemsConsider the appointment of Bell
County Facilities Director.
B receive an update andanalysis on the Bell County
(03:01):
Elections Department's Americanswith Disability Act Compliance
Program and assessment of theNovember 5, 2024 general
election.
Consider for approval Loop JailConstruction Project's change
order ALLW number 70.2, pc C orcorrection A, l, l.
(03:23):
W number seven, zero point two.
P C O number 18 and 18 are onearea three, redesign in the
amount of $37,359 and 45 cents$9.45.
(03:50):
Then we have Consider forApproval Loop Jail Construction
Project Order ALLW number 144,regards of RFI number 360, area
2, parapet End Caps and StoneParapet Extension and stone
parapet extension in the amountof $21,258.
Item E, item C consider forapproval loop jail project
(04:14):
change order ALLW number 158regarding ASI number 13,
penthouse security wall in theamount of $3,297.
F.
Consider for approval loop jailconstruction project change
(04:37):
order ALLW165 regarding PCO165,regarding PCO 165, Area 10,
(05:06):
level 3 and 3M dorm walls andthe amount of $71,694.
G.
Consider for approval Loop JailConstruction Project Change
Order ALLW number 232.
$232 regarding RFI number 490,fresh Air Court storefronts,
(05:26):
house tower, area 10, and theamount of $53,992.
And that is everything for ourregular agenda.
Now we'll switch over to ourworkshop.
Immediately following we'llhave reports and updates from
(05:49):
various county offices anddepartments capital improvement
projects, update on jailexpansion and temporary jail
facilities, the Killeen Annexdiversion center renovations.
Then we have discuss FY 2024CIP plan.
Then discussions discuss theestablishment of an opioid
(06:13):
steering committee, a vacantSheriff's Office clerk position
and up to two extra helppositions to assist with the
development, refinement andoverall reorganization of
(06:33):
existing and or new policies ordepartmental practices.
That'll be in the morning, thenin the afternoon our workshop
beginning at 1.30.
Discuss interlocal agreementswith the cities on plat approval
, delegation authority and otherrelated issues.
(06:55):
Then discuss Chaparral Roadimprovements and MOU with the
city of Killeen and then presentan updated master plan and
receive an updated five-yearcapital plan regarding cadence
bank center.
And that is everything for theworkshop.
And then let's see.
(07:15):
We have a couple of postedmeetings.
January 27th we had the bellcounty historical commission
meeting in belton at 6 pm.
January 28th we have CentralCounty Services Board meeting at
5 pm in Temple and thenFebruary 6th at 10 am we have
(07:37):
the pre-proposal conference forKilleen, annex 101, east Central
.
And that is it for the agendasand workshop.
So I guess this week what I'dlike to talk about.
There's two things that Iattended this week and very
(08:00):
informative.
This is democratic politics atits highest levels here in the
state and nationally.
So on Wednesday down in Austinwe had a DNC debate between the
Democratic National Committeethat's who runs the national
(08:32):
apparatus, the machine,democratic machine in Washington
DC, who runs that it is vacant.
Now that one I've always I knowit changes a lot.
It's always someone new, seemslike every two years or
something like that.
We always get someone new inthere and I really never kept up
with it much because you knowit's so removed.
(08:54):
I think I do remember one time,tom Perez, who was the housing
or labor secretary, I think thelabor secretary under Obama.
After that, after the Obamaadministration, he became the
DNC chair and he came to Austinand I remember going to that
event and meeting him.
(09:17):
Not a lot of communication, nota lot of interaction here
locally with the DNC chair, butthey came.
The frontrunners came.
Now they said there's a biglist of people that are running
for DNC chair.
(09:38):
But the top three contenderscame to Austin and it was at the
Driscoll, the debate, and I'mgoing to play the end comments
for you between all three ofthem so you can hear how they
ended their thing.
But it was Martin O'Malley,former governor of Maryland,
(10:02):
former Baltimore mayor andpresidential candidate, then it
was Ben Winkler, and he's statechair in Minnesota or Wisconsin
one of the two and then statechair Ken Miller, who is State
(10:25):
Chair of the other one,wisconsin.
But very interesting that allthree of them said that how
important Texas is to the futureof the Democratic Party, how
important Texas is now to theDemocratic Party and how we need
(10:47):
to start investing locally inthe Democratic Party.
So you'll hear their closingremarks.
And then on Saturday, yesterday,I went to the LBJ Ranch.
Former president Lyndon BainesJohnson, my favorite president,
(11:14):
did a lot for working people,everyday people.
So there was a state chairdebate.
After this last election, ify'all remember, our longtime
chair, gilberto Hinojosa,resigned, so that created a
(11:35):
vacancy and they're looking tofill that vacancy.
Now that vacancy is only goingto be temporary because we will
elect at our next convention,which is it'll be summer of next
year, of 2026, our next stateconvention.
(11:55):
That's when we will actuallyelect a state chair.
So, like I said, this is just atemporary appointment, but
there are debates scheduled.
This was the first one.
I don't think everyone attended, but a majority of the
candidates that announced thatthey're going to run for it are
(12:15):
attending, did attend it.
It was good, it was a packedhouse.
Like I said, it was my firsttime at the OBJ Ranch Never been
there, I drove by it a coupleof times but this was my first
opportunity that I had to stopand drive and explore and it was
a little awe-inspiring.
You know this is where thepresident used to be and
(12:37):
decisions were made.
You know, important people cameout there at the time and that
area shaped our world.
So, yeah, it was prettyinteresting being out there and
how fitting our first Democraticdebate for the state chair was
out there.
I was going to talk aboutrevitalizing, reshaping our
(13:01):
state party so we could startwinning.
So it was good to hear everyoneout there.
The state chair was a whole lotdifferent than DNC chair.
You know the state chair.
You see, I've seen him all thetime.
Obviously I go to all theconventions so he was always
very instrumental in running theconventions and doing stuff at
(13:24):
conventions and going to eventsout in counties and he would
always make himself available.
So this is a very important andhe was always on TV national TV
making comments on things.
So the DNC, or the Texas statechair, is a very important job,
(13:46):
both locally for Democrats andnationally as well, locally for
Democrats and nationally as well.
So I'll play their closingremarks as well, and then we
will talk about a little bitabout what's going on locally.
Speaker 3 (14:11):
Thank you, gentlemen.
You can each do two-minuteclosing statements.
We'll do a seat order, so,starting with Chairman Larkin.
Well, we have an amazingopportunity in this moment.
In every crisis there's anopportunity and it's to
reimagine the DNC.
There's so much that's stillunpacked from this last election
(14:31):
.
We don't have all the data orthe answers at this point, but
what I do know is, over my 34years of politics, I've seen a
DNC that has not been organizingin a way that's building
long-lasting and durableinfrastructure to help us.
As I mentioned before, what isthe role of the political party?
It's safety.
There's no running pointscoming in second place.
(14:56):
You can't improve people's livesso that at the end of the day,
you lose.
We have to win again.
Our national party has to winagain, and that's because it's
some sort of sport and we justpat ourselves on the back or put
a check mark on the board andcongratulate ourselves.
Winning and losing is adifference in so many people's
(15:18):
lives, so many people who relyon party to build power for them
.
We're hoping that we let peoplewho share their values and our
values, so they'll make adifference and maybe make their
lives a little bit better.
That's what all of us arefighting for.
That's what all of you arefighting for.
The beauty for me is this DNCcould do so much more in
(15:44):
partnership with all of you onthe ground and so many of us in
this country, if we would onlyreimagine.
This is our opportunity to dothat together.
Speaker 5 (15:54):
I'll leave you with this.
Speaker 3 (15:56):
This may dismalify me in some of your eyes, but I
don't have all the answers.
I'm both excited and terrifiedat the same time.
I've never been a DNC chair.
I don't know what's waiting forus now, but I have a flag in my
mouth that says none of us aresmart as always, and I believe
that all of us can figure outany of the challenges that this
(16:18):
Democratic Party is goingthrough and we can overcome.
So thank you so much for havingme tonight.
Thank you.
Speaker 4 (16:32):
We're in this crisis moment now as a country.
We're watching the hammer blowsright down the White House.
In Texas, you've beenexperiencing this for a long
time from your state governmentand we're in a moment where
people, if you ask the generalpublic, they don't really trust
eigenparties.
There was a headline about howtrust in the Democratic Party
(16:54):
was at an all-time low of 33%,and some of them pointed out in
the comments that trust in theRepublican Party was 36%.
People just don't trust ourpolitical system right now and
if we want to build change, wehave to build trust, and if we
do that, then we can thinkbigger.
(17:14):
I think a lot in this work.
We think about 2026, themidterm elections, 2028, the
presidential elections.
If we do everything right, weget a federal trifecta.
We get past the national lawsthat we've been waiting for, we
can finally pass the Women'sHealth Protection Act, end
sexism, abortion and theprotected rights of organizing
Abortion Act, the ProtectedRights Organizing Act, the End
Protection Act, the Freedom toVote Act.
(17:37):
We can do all that, but thenthe next year comes and 2030
could be like 2010, whenRepublicans sweep in in a
backlash and then break thiscountry for the next decade, and
I think our job right now is tobuild a party stronger that not
only can we win elections forthese next two election cycles,
but we can shift the center ofgravity and build the kind of
(17:58):
enduring coalition that can winthe next decade beyond.
And this has to run throughTexas.
There's a reason that we'rehere, because the vision for
building the kind of countrythat everyone deserves a chance
to live in it requires us to dothis work with a national party
as a catalytic investor, to workwith the union movement, to
(18:19):
work with our partners and ourallies across this country, in
this state, to support the workthat you do every day, to be
able to win that trust and winup and down the ballot, the way
we can change the entire futuretrajectory of this country.
You are on the front lines.
We're not really counting onyou.
We have to show up insolidarity with you every step
of the way for the years to come, and if I'm the DNC chair, you
(18:40):
have my commitment that we willdo exactly that.
Thank you.
Speaker 6 (18:52):
All that we need depends on change, and this
election for DNC chair isdefinitely a change election.
We can kid ourselves andpretend that if we just do a
little better than sevenbattleground states next time,
it'll all fix itself.
It's not going to fix itself.
We have to fix it.
We have to embrace the truththat this is a moment for change
(19:14):
.
A party's future, our country'sfuture, depends on the new
South, it depends on Texas, itdepends on the Lone Star State
becoming the North Star State.
When you all have 42congressional votes, you are
going to become that great statethat determines our nation's
(19:35):
future.
So the question we have to askourselves is do we have the
courage to change?
Do we really have the courageto make investments in voter
registration to up our game whenit comes to digital
communications, or do we want tokeep doing things the way we
have been doing things?
(19:56):
What I offer you as your nextchair, if you should so choose,
is someone who has proven hisabilities as an operational
turnaround change leader atevery level in the city city of
Baltimore.
The neighbors of my city votedfor me because I promised we
(20:16):
would change and we did.
We made our city a safer andbetter place and I was reelected
as governor.
We passed and got a lot ofimportant things, some of them
like the living wage, note forthe first time because we
changed the operations of ourstate and President Biden tapped
(20:37):
in to go to Social Security,the largest domestic program in
America, not because things weregoing well, because it was on a
steep downward trajectory andwe turned it around.
That's what we have to do.
We need you, texas.
Thank you for coming out here.
If we have the courage toembrace this moment and vote for
change, we can save our country.
I need your help and I thankyou for being here tonight.
(20:59):
Thanks a lot.
Speaker 1 (21:04):
So there you heard the candidates Once again.
That was Ken Martin.
He is the chair of theMinnesota Democrats, and then we
had speaking next was BenWinkler.
He is the Wisconsin Democraticchair, then former Governor
(21:28):
Martin O'Malley, and he's theonly one that said it in his
closing remarks.
But if you can hear the wholedebate, if you go to the Texas
Democratic Party YouTube page,you can see and hear the debate
there in its entirety, and allof them said how important Texas
(21:52):
is to the future of our nation.
We're going to be gettingprobably after redistricting in
the census in 2030, we'll begetting, you know a lot more
congressional seats, so that'swhy it's important.
(22:12):
You know we're going to havemore people here, obviously, and
hopefully it'll be morecompetitive, more blue, and
that's what we're trying to do.
So part of that strategy,though, of turning Texas blue
and breaking our 30-year droughtof no statewide elected
(22:34):
officials, is to have a chair, aDemocratic chair, with a plan,
a winning plan.
So now I want to play for youthe closing remarks from the
Texas Progressive Caucus chairdebate.
That was Saturday yesterday,january 25th, at the LBJ Library
(22:59):
, so let me pull that up for you.
Speaker 7 (23:03):
All right, for those of y'all on the live stream,
we're going to move to ourclosing.
Oh, for those of y'all on thelive stream, we're going to move
to our closing statements.
Now, um, you know what?
Uh, I'm going to do something Ireally shouldn't do.
I'm going to let the audiencedecide.
Do y', patricia, at this end?
All right, patricia, it's up toyou.
No offense down here, but I'mtrying to take some feedback,
trying to be better about thatin my life, and this way I don't
(23:25):
have to keep track of who I'mgoing to because we're only
doing one.
So, patricia, two-minuteclosing statement.
We'll move down to thedirection of my right.
Thank you.
Speaker 8 (23:34):
For sure, For sure.
I have been serving.
I have been serving for a verylong time, even long before I
knew it, and that sense ofpublic service was instilled by
four generations of militarymembers in my family.
Not because, you know, we justlove the military and that's
(23:56):
what we want to do, Because itis inherent not just in me but
in my family members, in my son,who's over there taking
pictures and stuff, who hasworked with me on several
campaigns, that the right thingto do is to help people, to put
ourselves at the forefront andto do the right thing even when
others don't agree with us.
Let me tell you it is time thatwe win statewide office, and I
(24:21):
bring the background, theexperience, the leadership and
the vision to make that happen.
I hope to be able to serve asyour next TDP chair, because it
would be an honor to serve you.
So thank you very much.
Speaker 7 (24:37):
Thank you very much, Patricia Olivares, Patsy
Woods-Martin.
Two-minute closing statement.
Speaker 9 (24:43):
So when I was at Annie's List and we worked with
budding candidates, our amazingpolitical director, monica Gomez
, would ask them first to answerthe question why me?
Why now?
This is my, why me, why now?
Moment right, why me?
(25:04):
You know, I've spent a lot oftime over the course of the last
couple of weeks, especiallytalking to members of the State
Democratic Executive Committee,and what I'm hearing from them
is that they are looking for astrong leader who can build
coalitions, who can listen tostakeholders, who can build a
plan, make that plan, execute it, fund it to win elections.
(25:30):
I have a proven track record ofdoing that and I'd like to
apply that to the TexasDemocratic Party so that we can
win elections.
And why now?
Well, now, this is a deeplypersonal commitment for me.
I'm a mother, I'm a grandmother.
(25:50):
I am worried about the kids inthis state.
What is happening?
You know, our education systemis 41st in the country when it
comes to fiscal health.
That's today, that's beforethese right-wing nutjobs get a
hold of it and continue todefund public education in this
(26:13):
state.
They've taken away theGod-given rights of women, of
members of the LGBTQ community,and we have got to stop that.
We've got to stop it and we'vegot to reverse it.
You know our hero and my friend, cecile Richards, said women
(26:34):
I've got to read it because Isaid women aren't usually in it
for the glory.
Said women aren't usually in itfor the glory, they're in it to
get shit done and I am in it toget shit done.
Speaker 7 (26:46):
Thank you very much, Patsy.
We will allow each candidate togo 10 seconds over.
If you are quoting CecileRichards, all right.
Chair Parker-Mims, yourtwo-minute closing statement.
Speaker 10 (27:01):
Thank you so much.
No, no, cecile Richard quotes,though If you think that the TDB
train is going down the righttrack and we just need a new
commander and you just need tothrow money at it, I am
absolutely not the person youshould vote for, because I do
not think we are going down theright track.
I think that we need to createa strategic plan in four areas
(27:23):
fundraising, engagement, voterregistration and get out the
vote.
What separates me from everyoneis I have done all those things
in my county, in the seventhlargest county in the state.
I have done those things ineach election cycle that we've
had, and TDP has never onceasked us how we did it.
No one.
We've increased voterregistration.
(27:45):
We were number one forpercentage increase in 2022.
Nobody asked us how we did itNot powered by the people, not
anyone.
We didn't set up tents.
We had a plan.
We have people in Denton Countywho are ready to take that plan
.
Statewide, we want to work withcounty parties, because it's
more than just money.
It's knowing how to create theinfrastructure to build a party,
(28:08):
and for some people, that mightmean just gaining 20, 30 more
people because they're in suchsmall counties.
But we have to stop and createa strategic plan in all of those
areas.
It is not simply going to be anew state chair that's going to
help us flip.
It is going to be the new planthat allows all of us to
participate, to increaseengagement, to increase
(28:28):
fundraising, to do thiscontinuously, not simply at get
out the vote time.
When we do get out the vote time, and we do that, we're already
behind the eight ball and we'vealready lost.
That includes gettingengagement with our elected
officials, getting them out,explaining what's happening,
what they're trying to voteagainst.
There's so many ways we canincrease engagement, but that
also includes working withcaucuses that empower you guys
(28:50):
to go out and increaseengagement in those areas that
you are particular to.
I'm the CEO that will do thatbecause I've done that and I ask
you to vote for me because it'stime to win in Texas and I
remember more than Ann Richards,I remember Mark White when he
was governor because we can winin Texas.
Speaker 7 (29:06):
All right.
Thank you very much, kendallScudder.
Two minute closing statement,please, and thank you.
Speaker 5 (29:11):
First, I really appreciate the opportunity to
sit up here with these awesomecandidates today, and you've
been a real trooper, erin.
I really appreciate getting toknow you more Before I start too
.
I also want to thank mybrilliant wife, carly, who lets
me go and play politics and isso supportive and holding life
down while I try to do all ofthis.
I've given my life to thisparty.
(29:31):
This party means a lot to mebecause this party was here for
my family when no one else was,and we have an obligation to
build a party that is here forpeople who need us.
People are under attack rightnow, and if they do not feel
that they can trust our party,they will continue to not show
up for us whenever we need themat a ballot box.
(29:51):
That's why I'm running toreturn our party back to the
grassroots.
You know I'll do it becauseyou've seen me do it.
You don't do politics as longas I have without making a
couple enemies, and every timethat I've been asked to, I stand
on the side of activistsagainst the establishment class
in Austin, who, I'm sure, isgoing to continue to try to tear
me down for the next two months, but I stood at the front of
that room as one of the vicechairs of this party and have a
(30:13):
100% voting record with thiscaucus.
I am the only person in thisrace who has that voting record
that I can point to.
I am a person who understandsthat the people doing the work
on the ground in this party aremore important than any
consultant in any room in DC orin Austin, and if we are not
empowering our grassroots to dothe work on the ground to get
(30:33):
this accomplished, we will neverbe able to move the needle in
Texas.
This is about winning elections.
This is about building aninfrastructure that is long
lasting.
What did we wish that the partydid 40 years ago that we can
start doing today to make surethat the party is ready 40 years
from now?
The best time to plant a treewas 20 years ago.
The next best time is today,and I'm here to start planting
those trees and working with allof you.
(30:53):
I'm going to make some mistakesand I hope that you feel that
you have enough of arelationship with me from all
the time we've spent on thefields together and in the
trenches that you can call meand let's talk it out.
You're going to have a chairwho respects you, who wants you
at the table and is ready tobuild an apparatus that will
take back Texas for workingpeople.
Thank you, guys, for theopportunity to be here today.
Speaker 7 (31:13):
Thank you very much, Mr Aaron.
Your two-minute closingstatement, please, and thank you
closing statement.
Speaker 2 (31:25):
Please and thank you.
There are 134 counties thathave been neglected and if you
don't know, who I'm referring tois the 134 pack.
There are a lot of countiesthat have been neglected for far
too long.
We can't do it anymore.
We can't do it anymore.
My dad, when he was 17 years old, his leg was maimed right and
so his entire life he was ondisability.
Uh, his fixed income was 504 amonth, right.
So when I was growing up inhigh school, I couldn't ask him
for $5 to go out with my friendsright, they were generous.
I had good friends, right,they'd always pay for everything
(31:46):
, pay for the festivities of thenight.
But I couldn't even ask him for$5 to put gas in somebody's car
to go cruising.
Right, we were that broke.
That's who I am.
That's where I come from.
My life has turned around andI've become a great success by
all intents and purposes.
To my father, right, who grewup in the Depression era, a good
job to him was working inside.
It didn't matter if you were acashier, it didn't matter what
(32:09):
you did, if you were inside, youhad it made, period.
We've done a lot more.
I've done a lot more in my lifefor that.
That's who I am.
That's who I represent.
I represent rural Texas.
I am rural Texas.
I'm proud to be from ruralTexas.
I'm glad I'm proud to be fromwhere nobody pays attention.
Right, we made our own fun, wedid everything that we wanted to
do, and that's what I'm goingto do as your next chair.
I'm going to represent theseareas and I'm going to work with
(32:31):
anybody in these areas, and I'mgoing to work with the cities
as well.
We're all we all got to.
You know pitching together,right?
But the bottom line is this iswe cannot neglect these small
towns anymore.
That is my message to Texas,right?
And I believe that if we canmake small improvements in these
areas right, we don't have towin them.
We just got to improve in themby percentages.
(32:52):
We can win Texas, right, and soI don't want to neglect Texas.
We shouldn't do it anymore, andI hope every single one of
these candidates on the yardsstand with me.
It sounds like they do, but Ithink we've got a lot of work to
do in Texas and I think that wecan win Texas if we spend time
in rural Texas.
Speaker 7 (33:04):
Thank you Alright.
Thank you very much.
We're going to welcome Claytonback up here to say some final
words.
I just want to say a thank youto the Texas Progressive Caucus,
to the co-host, progress Texas,to each of the candidates and,
frankly, to all of y'all for avery spirited conversation.
My name is Jeff Rotkoff.
Please follow our work atthebarbedwirecom.
Please come see me and get yourPut Elon on the Rocket sticker
(33:27):
before the day is over.
Thank y'all very much.
Speaker 1 (33:31):
Well, there you go.
That was once again PatriciaOlivares.
She was a or is campaignmanager, strategist, I guess,
consultant, done a lot ofdemocratic work with
organizations all over the stateof Texas.
Then we have Patsy Woods Martin, who was the executive.
(33:55):
Know what Annie's List is?
Annie's List is an organizationthat trains, promotes, recruits
women to run for office, soit's a great group.
They've been around for a longtime, ever since I've been
(34:18):
involved in politics and doinggood things, been doing good
things in Texas to get morewomen elected to office.
Then we had Delia Parker Mims,who is the Denton County chair,
democratic chair, currentDemocratic chair, democratic
(34:56):
chair, current Democratic chair.
She claims, and I'm sure she'sright, but Denton County is the
only county in the state ofTexas this last election cycle
that Democratic turnout wentdown.
So if that's what Denton Countydid, then I'm very interested
in seeing what they did and howwe can replicate that,
regardless if she gets electedor not as the state chair.
Then we had Kendall Scudder.
(35:19):
He is, I believe, the financechair now for the Texas
Democratic Party and beeninvolved in politics obviously
for a long time, like you said.
And then finally we had AaronRojo, who is I believe he said
he was up from the panhandle andbeen involved in politics for a
(35:41):
long time, so a lot of goodpeople.
There are a couple of otherpeople that are here on the list
.
I'm looking at the TexasDemocratic Party chair list.
People that signed up wasReverend Steve Miller, rabbi
Misha Ben David and then DarceelTobey and Mary Gomez.
(36:08):
Those are all the other peoplethat have signed up to be chair,
but was not at this debate, butit was a great debate.
I enjoyed it.
There's going to be more.
I think the next one that'sgoing to be close by that I plan
to go to is going to be inAustin sometime in March,
(36:31):
whenever they get ready toactually elect and by they I
mean the SDEC chair people thatthey'll be electing the
chairperson.
So, yeah, good things arehappening in our party.
(36:52):
You know people are scared nowand everything that was in
project 2025 that presidentdonald trump said he didn't know
anything about and he distancedhimself from it and it it's his
(37:16):
playbook, it's his playbook,it's his playbook.
So everything that is goingaround right now on the internet
, it's F around and find out,and you have all these stories
of people that this is happeningto, from the hiring freeze to
CBP, one app being taken away,the hiring I mean there's just
(37:46):
so many things that's coming out, the pardons, and so it's
definitely an interesting timeto be living in, an interesting
time to be living in, and it'sup to us, the Democratic Party,
(38:13):
to remind people that there isanother option out there, that
we do care about your pocketbookissues even though you didn't
feel that way.
And that's on us because ourmessaging is not where it needs
to be.
We need to get better atmessaging.
We need to get better attelling our stories.
(38:35):
We need to get better atpromoting our policies and how
they improve people and liftpeople up out of poverty and be
leaders.
So we have a lot of thingscoming up election-wise.
(39:00):
City elections are starting tohappen or not starting.
The filing period is going onright now, so you have a lot of
people filing.
We'll have a list of thosepeople for the city of Killeen.
I'll probably wait till thefiling period is over.
They're doing a recall electionas well, at least filing for
the paperwork for members of thecity of Killeen.
(39:20):
There's supposed to be a bondelection coming up as well for
the city of Killeen, but all thelocal stuff and hopefully get
some local candidates that arerunning for election on, so so
you hear from them.
So a lot of good things goingon.
(39:41):
This is going to be a busy year.
Like I said, our commissioner'scourt we're going to be
changing the dates on when wemeet.
It's just going to be twice amonth now, the first and third
week of the month, so we'll seehow the shows go.
(40:01):
I think I'm pretty sure I'lltry and keep keep it to weekly.
Still hadn't made up my mind,but there's.
There's just a lot of thingsgoing out there and maybe we
could concentrate more onpolicies and and behind the
scenes and talking to people andgetting them on the record and
but yeah, so anyways, have agreat week talking to people and
(40:25):
getting them on the record andbut yeah, so anyways, have a
great week.
I will be this week down at theCapitol on Wednesday for County
at the Capitals advocating foryou and Bell County and the
Texas Association of Counties tomake sure that we have all the
tools necessary and to get someof that $28 billion that the
(40:49):
state of Texas is sitting on andget some of that back here home
to Bell County.
So thank you for listening andwe will talk to you next week,
so hey.
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