Candidate Questionnaire - Governor -Bob Gammage

State Candidate Questionnaire - Governor -Bob Gammage

1. Would you support requiring all electronic voting machines to print on paper for each voter a complete summary of their voting choices, which will become, after their inspection, the authoritative record of their vote? 

Response: YES

2. Would you support single payer universal health care? 

Response: YES.  That will be a long and difficult road, but I believe that is what we should target as our goal.  In the meantime, there are reforms that could help address the health insurance crisis -- such as expanding the CHIP program to include the parents of children enrolled in the program.

3. In February 2003 Santa Fe, New Mexico enacted a minimum wage ordinance which raised the minimum wage to $8.50/hour for all business and non-profits with 25 or more employees. The wage will increase to $9.50/hour in 2006 and $10.50/hour in 2008. Would you support similar legislation and an escalator clause that would guarantee cost of living adjustments? 

Response: I have made raising the minimum wage a central part of my campaign for governor.  I have proposed raising the state minimum wage from $5.15 to $6.50 an hour.  While I like the escalator idea, we need to walk before we can run in Texas.  We must get a significant minimum wage increase enacted first.

4. Would you support enactment of legislation providing for public financing of general election campaigns for elective office at the local, state and federal levels? 

Response: Yes.  Right now the special interests control the electoral process.

5. Would you consider implementing a state income tax to be used to fund health care and public education? 

Response: I believe we should look at every alternative available so that we can tap into the full resources of this state to fund vital priorities such as education and health care.  We should not shy away from a debate on this issue.  Let’s put everything – every proposal and every sacred cow -- on the table and come up with the fairest and most efficient tax system instead of wrangling with short-term fix after short-term fix.  We are still living under a tax system designed when Texas was mainly rural, had just over one-third of the population and an economy based exclusively on agriculture and energy.  We are a larger state, one of the fastest-growing states and now have one of the largest and most diverse economies in the nation.  It is time our tax system reflected those changes.

6. Would you support a ban on the death penalty?  

Response: As a member of the Texas Senate in 1973, I was one of only three senators who voted against re-instating the death penalty.  The vast majority of those on death row are African American or Hispanic.  Our indigent criminal defense system is still woefully under-funded.  Race and poverty still play too large of a role in death penalty sentences.  I am hopeful, however, that the passage of a real life without parole sentencing option will reduce the number of death penalty sentences in this state as it provides juries with another option if they believe the defendant is too much of a danger to ever be allowed to walk the streets again.

7. Would you support increased funding for renewable energy and ending subsidies to the oil and gas industry? 

Response: I am very much in favor of increasing funding for renewable energy.  The state of Texas has finally invested in wind energy, but I believe we can do more.  With the right investment strategy and targeted resources, West Texas could become the center of the green energy movement.  

8. Would you support programs to restore full funding for mental health/mental retardation adequate to provide food, shelter and medical/mental health treatment for the homeless? 

Response: Yes.  The legislature made some improvements in MHMR funding in 2001, but once the Republicans took over in 2003, these vital programs were among the first on the chopping block.  

9. Would you be in favor of changing the Texas method of selecting electors to the Electoral College from “winner take all” to proportional representation by popular vote? 

Response: After 2000, I’d rather get rid of the Electoral College entirely.  Every vote should count the same.

10. Would you support Instant Runoff Voting? 

Response: Yes.

11. Would you support a substantial increase in teacher compensation? What other approaches would you take to improve the quality of public education in Texas? 

Response: Yes.  I will push to pass a Texas Excellence in Education Act to guarantee fair funding for every school district and every school child in Texas -- with the standard set at “excellence” for all, not just the financial elite.  I will also strive to reverse cuts to teacher health insurance and retirement benefits, fully fund new textbooks for our schools, oppose school vouchers and work to improve school safety.

12. How would you improve the environment of Texas i.e. TCEQ accountability, grandfathering of refineries, power plants etc and clean air emissions standards? 

Response: The first thing I will do is put real stewards of the environment and servants of the people in charge of our regulatory agencies, not corporate, special interest lap dogs.  We’ve let the foxes run the hen house.  Secondly, I would support ending the grandfathering experiment and tell polluters they have to comply with the law.  Grandfathered facilities had decades to come up to standard, but it was cheaper to buy politicians than invest in technologies to update their plants.  If you can’t live up to the standards, you can’t do business in Texas.

13. Are you dissatisfied with the way legislative districts are configured in Texas? If yes, what will you do about it? 

Response: The redistricting battle over legislative districts was nowhere near as bitter and partisan as that of congressional redistricting, but it was still a rancorous fight.  The way Tom DeLay, Tom Craddick, Rick Perry and the Republican Leadership handled this issue was a disgrace.  They ignored needs and wishes of Texans and used partisanship as their only guide.  That is wrong and a perversion of the system.  Unless you appoint a non-partisan commission to handle redistricting, partisanship will always play some part, but it should never be the only priority.