The Texas Observer

The full results of a much-discussed survey by the Republican firm Hill Research showing the weakening GOP brand in Texas have been released. The details are stunning. Take for example this slide:

Got that? In a head-to-head matchup today between a generic Democratic candidate for governor and a generic Republican, the Democrat starts out with a 13 percent advantage. In a state rep race, the Democratic advantage is 14 percent.

What is it about the Texas GOP that voters don’t like?

Voters think the Republicans are arrogant, racist, corrupt and angry. While they think Democrats are smart, innovative, reformers, fair, thoughtful and - perhaps most important - the party of the future. As Hill Research notes, “Long-term, this is simply untenable.”

What’s going on out there to produce such profound distaste with the Texas GOP? After all, this is the party that currently controls all statewide elective offices and both chambers of the Texas Legislature.

Even Texas voters are sick of Bush. That much is evident. But Republicans in time can overcome the Bush problem. More worrisome for the GOP in this state is that half of the voters surveyed cited a lack of appeal to young people and Hispanics, the most important demographic groups of the future.

Based on their survey results, Hill slices the voting population into five distinct segments: Enduring Republicans (21%), Emerging Republicans (10%), Critical Middle (25%), Emerging Democrats (17%), and Enduring Democrats (27%). It is the Critical Middle - those “not in either camp solidly - that Republicans must win to hold onto power. This group is heavily male, under age 50, self-described moderate and/or independent, focused on fiscal rather than social issues.

Hill warns in no uncertain terms that for GOP campaigns to succeed they must wrap up 80 percent of the Critical Middle. “This isn’t ‘optional’ - anything less means Republicans lose.” The Texas Republican Party, controlled in large part by religious conservatives, is going to have to make some serious changes to accommodate these folks. This group could not give a hoot about immigration (only 15% said it was the most important issue vs. 38% of the Enduring GOP). The Critical Middle also doesn’t care much for “traditional values” (8% said it was the most important vs. 16% of the Enduring GOP and 19% of the Emerging GOP). What they do rate as important are cutting property taxes (17% said it was the most important vs. 15% of the Enduring GOP), child healthcare (19% vs. 2%), and investing in education (20% vs. 9%).

Because this survey is meant as a wake-up call to complacent GOPers, Hill has some recommendations for strategists and politicians on how to reach that Critical Middle.

The danger, of course, in appealing to the Critical Middle is pissing off the Loony Right, err… Enduring GOP. But, Hill emphasizes, not acknowledging and adapting to political realities will result in a Colorado-style meltdown for the party.

The Hill survey shows that Democrats have a golden opportunity to make major gains in Texas. But Texas Democrats - as was said of Yasser Arafat - have been known to never miss an opportunity to miss an opportunity.

 State Rep. Charles “Doc” Anderson, a Waco Republican, is re-filing a bill to criminalize the hallucinogen Salvia divinorum — aka Sally D, aka Magic Mint, aka A Popular Way to Cope with Waco.

House Bill 126 would make possession of less than 28 grams of Salvia a Class A misdemeanor, adding the plant to a long list of banned substances including barbiturates, LSD, and peyote.

As Anderson tells it, the idea to ban Salvia came from the members of a Waco-area church, who got it into their heads that Salvia comes straight from the devil. At a painfully long and awkward hearing last year, the church’s pastor urged lawmakers to pass Anderson’s bill “now instead of after we have caskets that are piled up.” One young girl — prompted by the pastor — testified that she knew a boy who had tried the hallucinogen and “saw the gates of hell.” And Anderson saw the light. Since the hearing last year, the lawmaker has been relentlessly crusading against Salvia, holding hearings outside of his district and padding his campaign Web site with stories about the plant.

At present Salvia is sold legally in head shops and over the Internet. The herb’s popularity has grown but users and experts believe it’s virtually impossible to become addicted. As I reported on Anderson’s 2007 anti-Salvia bill:

“There is very low risk of abuse for this drug; there is no risk of addiction,” says Tracey Hayes of the ACLU. “From what we can tell, the toxicology of [Salvia] is not dangerous. This is more about criminalizing altered states.”

The biggest deterrent to Salvia abuse is apparently the plant itself. As a trip, users and experts say, Salvia can be about as much fun as smoking clothesline.

“Salvia divinorum is not a pleasant drug,” Hayes says. “Its effects are short-lived but often extremely uncomfortable. It would surprise me if teenagers were abusing salvia.”

Steve Brudniak, a middle-aged psychedelic enthusiast in Austin, compared the 5-to-10 minute experience to “the ride at AstroWorld that makes you dizzy.” It’s something most people try just once or twice for kicks. Indigenous people in Oaxaca, Mexico, have used Salvia for centuries for medicinal purposes, and some American scientists have flagged the herb’s psychoactive ingredient as promising for treating disorders such as schizophrenia and Alzheimer’s disease.

State Rep. Debbie Riddle, a Republican from Tomball, continues her crusade against undocumented immigrants with a suite of bills that would turn the screws on non-citizens.

House Bill 50 would bar undocumented immigrants from paying in-state tuition. Similar bills failed last session. HB 48 would allow for state investigations into employers who have “knowingly” hired illegal immigrants. The Texas Workforce Commission could, through a tribunal process, strip the employer of state-issued licenses. (Call it the Brown Scare: “Mr. Smith, are you now or have you ever been the employer of an ILLEGAL ALIEN?”)

A third bill, HB 49, has received much less attention. It would create a new misdemeanor offense — Criminal Trespass By Illegal Aliens — that would appear to apply to a virtually limitless number of border-hoppers. Under the legislation, cops would be authorized to arrest individuals believed to be “trespassing” in Texas, among other federal immigration violations. Riddle’s new trespassing crime is in fact a state application of long-standing federal statutes that prohibit illegal entry into the U.S.

In recent years, federal prosecutors, working with the Border Patrol, have clogged Texas border courts with immigration cases. It’s part of the Bush administration’s “Operation Streamline,” a zero-tolerance program that aims to charge, convict, and deport every single apprehended illegal entrant.

That’s not good enough for Riddle. Her bill would dramatically widen this dragnet by allowing local law enforcement in on the game. The concern among immigrant rights groups is whether it’s appropriate for local cops to essentially enforce federal immigration laws.

Now, Riddle may seem like a hater, but like a lot of social conservatives she’s got God on her side. Back in March she told a House committee that the Big Guy was interested in seeing legislation like HB 49 taken up by the Lege. “I think God would have us work on this and then vote,” she said.

For reporters, the first day that Texas legislators can file bills for the upcoming session is like Christmas in November.

Yesterday, the pre-filing period began for the 81st Legislature, and the bills flooded in by the hundreds. (A list of House bills is here and Senate bills here.)

There’s the usual collection of poorly thought out bills, funny bills, scary bills, and bills that are downright unconstitutional.

One idea already receiving media scrutiny is Rep. Frank Corte and Sen. Dan Patrick’s proposal to require women seeking an abortion to first receive an ultrasound so they can see the fetus and hear its heartbeat. Corte and Patrick do stipulate in the bill that women “may avert their eyes” from the ultrasound display. (How nice of them. Presumably they ruled out the Clockwork Orange-style eye-lid clamp approach as impractical.)

Corte has another doozy of a bill that’s so far received scant attention. His House Bill 44 seems an attempt to dissuade women seeking emergency contraception (the morning after pill). The bill begins by defining emergency contraception as a drug that is “used postcoitally.”

It requires pharmacists to first inform anyone seeking the morning after pill that the drug could prevent “implantation of a fertilized egg,” (Just in case someone actually wants arthritis medicine and asked for the wrong thing.)

A pharmacy must also display a sign that’s 18 by 24 inches and reads:

IF YOU BELIEVE THAT LIFE BEGINS AT FERTILIZATION — THE POINT WHERE THE SPERM AND EGG UNITE — THEN YOU NEED TO KNOW THAT EMERGENCY CONTRACEPTION MAY EITHER FUNCTION AS A CONTRACEPTIVE TO PREVENT THE EGG AND SPERM FROM UNITING OR PREVENT THE IMPLANTATION OF YOUR ALREADY FERTILIZED EGG IN YOUR WOMB. THE PHARMACIST DISPENSING THIS DRUG IS REQUIRED TO EXPLAIN TO YOU HOW THE PRODUCT MAY HELP TO PREVENT YOUR PREGNANCY.

Finally, Corte would require anyone seeking emergency contraception — after they read the sign — to show a driver’s license and sign for the purchase. The pharmacy would then be required to “make a record of the transaction,” including the person’s name and the date. The pharmacy would have to keep the record of that sale for two years. The bill doesn’t restrict access to those records.

This process could intimidate and humiliate young women trying to obtain legal medication, especially in small towns.