Senator Eliot Shapleigh - El Paso, Texas

NEWSPAPER TREE INTERVIEW WITH SENATOR SHAPLEIGH

In Senator's Shapleigh family, public service is the highest calling. Around the family dinner-table, his family always talked about the leaders and issues of the day—from Kennedy to Nixon to Clinton.  On his mother's side, family members have served as a state Supreme Court justice, city attorney and county judge. When Peggy Rosson announced that she was going to resign, Senator Shapleigh decided to run. It seemed natural.

The following is an excerpt from an interview with Newspaper Tree:

NPT: Is there a "progressive" business community in El Paso, and how will you engage them?

Shapleigh: Sure. We've engaged them for a decade. They are engaged now—in the Medical Center of the Americas. The City and the MCA group plan to move forward with a master plan. A foundation is in place already to raise the key endowment for research. We are researching the table of programs for future activities. At Fort Bliss, Raytheon, Boeing, local tech companies are engaged in the regional tech center, which we created in the 2003 session. It is very exciting since it pulls elements from Sandia to UTEP to the Bi National lab. Eight years ago we went to UTEP to start a tech incubator, which is now picking up momentum.

Our office has been a key player in all these initiatives. But what hurts El Paso are those businesses that perpetuate predatory practices, use political influence instead of innovation and refuse to compete.

NPT: By progressive I meant progressive as the term is meant politically. Is there a difference between political progressives and progressive as it relates to the business community?

Shapleigh: I believe any definition of progressive depends on what progressive action has taken place. Based on that definition we've engaged the progressive business community for a decade.

NPT: Who are some of the leaders of what you consider the progressive business community?

Shapleigh: On different issues there are different leaders.

NPT: You mentioned the Medical Center of the Americas.

Shapleigh: On the Medical Center of the Americas, Woody Hunt, Rick Francis, Chris Balsiger, Ralph Adame, J.O. Stewart, have all made contributions.

NPT: And Fort Bliss, the BRAC process?

Shapleigh: The best thing El Paso , Alamogordo and Las Cruces ever had was six million acres of restricted air space. Once you have that asset it's a pretty easy sell on Fort Bliss' future. Several folks deserve a lot of credit on moving that issue. One is (Sen.) Kay Bailey Hutchison. She has steadfastly seen to Fort Bliss' appropriation. Others include the leaders of Raytheon Lockheed Boeing locally. Otis Hopkins, the leadership of Boeing in Texas , all have seen the Future Combat Systems as a natural fit for El Paso.

Mayor Ray Caballero and Joyce Feinberg had the foresight to create the Regional Arms Committee. Our office took a major leadership role in the state BRAC bill. That bill mandates a regional arms committee approach, so that any community can sell its military value to the Pentagon. So base realignment and closing has had many great leaders including the generals (at Fort Bliss).

NPT: Does your opponent deserve some credit for being part of that team?

Shapleigh: He deserves credit for his service as civilian aid to the Secretary of the Army, he deserves credit for creating contacts. But an issue like BRAC is as large as the whole region, and many, many people deserve credit in that effort.

NPT: When I asked you about the progressive business community and you gave as a specific example on the MCA, you mentioned Woody Hunt, Rick Francis. Is there a distinction in what you would call progressives as the term is used in relation to politics?

Shapleigh: Progressive to me means progress. When people in this community are fighting for progress I call them progressives.

NPT: What is your response to criticism of ineffectiveness?

Shapleigh: Our office is the best Senate office that El Paso has ever had. What office has started a medical school, passed a package of legislation to make us the mobility center of the border, pulled over $1.3 billion in highway money into El Paso's highways,  authored the most innovative BRAC bill in the U.S., created the best Community Leadership program in Texas, served on the CHIP conference committee and spearheaded CHIP here, funded $250 million in new construction at UTEP, written the most sweeping reform of Adult Protective Services in Texas history and had the time to pass, author or sponsor over 400 other bills.

Campaigns are the best way to talk about a great record and we plan to do just that. We are very proud of that record, more so in having done it as a minority senator in an era of far right politics. Walking across the aisle to work with senators like Sibley, Shapiro, Nelson and Duncan is one part of the job; working hard to kill the extreme program of the far right is another.

Fighting the illegal, unconstitutional redistricting plan of Tom Delay, advocating strongly to have Jack Abramoff investigated in Texas, working to stop the deep and mean spirited budget cuts of 2003, and taking a stand for fair not racist immigration are all aspects of this job. If anyone sees that record as ineffective, then they just haven't been watching.

NPT: Do you think you overreached by sending Dewhurst letters asking for medical school funding? Is there a point at which such tactics are counterproductive?

Shapleigh: Every day we work private and public agendas to move the medical school. Let's first celebrate all that has been done over the last five sessions—the vision statement, $50 million endowment fund, a BHI law, medical school authority, $140 million to build two buildings and a host of private grants are in place. So why did we not get the $20 million during the special session? Tom Craddick. Who can fix that? Rick Perry. He alone can add it to the special session call, or push it at the Legislative Budget Bureau. David Dewhurst has done everything we have asked. In the Senate, we have passed $65 million in funding for faculty three times. My job is to cajole, push, write and do anything I can to keep alive as our top priority a medical school that Dewhurst and Perry have both pledged to do.

NPT: Why is the El Paso delegation often so fractious?

Shapleigh: Every delegation is fractious. Take a look at Houston! Since my first session, our El Paso delegation has met before every session to develop and task our 10 Point El Paso Agenda. The medical school goal for that session is always at the top of the list. Every week, we meet in Austin to move the plan and see what needs to be done. Other cities don't do that. One other thing to remember—every single person in our delegation was elected and has their own constituency. Paul Moreno has a life experience, values and priorities very different from those of Pat Haggerty. So expect each of them to have bills and budget goals that might differ.

NPT: Along those lines, you've been in public battles with Reyes, Natalicio and now Samaniego. Can you catch more flies with honey then vinegar? Is this healthy democratic disagreements or harmful infighting?

Shapleigh: Democracy is best when it is open, transparent and vigorous. Changing a status quo that made El Paso the poorest big city in America is bound to create vigorous debate. Good debate is founded in well-researched facts and best practice policies. So what have been the policy differences? Let's start with UTEP. For the last decade, UTEP's graduation rates have hovered near 4 percent, near last among the 1,300 colleges in the U.S. Great cities have great universities; for El Paso to succeed UTEP must succeed. Four percent graduation rates are not success.

So we started working on this issue in 1999, when we asked for a Comptroller's Performance Review and recommendations. In 2003, we passed a landmark bill on higher education accountability to measure how all Texas universities improved in areas like graduation rates, and access to grants, scholarship and higher education. Changes to recruitment, counseling, standards, transfer policies and tuition can all improve UTEP's 4 percent graduation rate. Thankfully, Chairman James Huffines and the UT System have now made improving graduation rates the top priority and UTEP is moving to a 50 percent graduation rate in ten years.

Now, let's look at immigration. I respect Leo. He and I have worked on many issues since 1997 including deputies in high school and stronger laws to incarcerate sex offenders. Here's where we differ: local sheriffs have no authority to enforce immigration laws. Yet, in roadblocks, bus stops and raids Samaniego is doing exactly that. He also retaliated against two deputies who organized an action to press for a 40-hour work week and who exercised their constitutional rights to free speech. I expect major lawsuits on each issue, one by national civil rights groups in the near future that will enjoin violations of the Fourth Amendment and Texas racial profiling laws. I also expect the suits will cost the state and county taxpayer significant money damages, all of which can be avoided by obeying the law.   

NPT: What would El Paso gain from giving you another term?

Shapleigh: Right now, El Paso is the best place to be. I believe that the next 10 years will be the best era for El Paso since the late 1940s. Much of what we have worked to found is now moving -- the medical school, BRAC, business incubators, technology, Border manufacturing and mobility. We have more to do—laptops in schools, health insurance for many more El Pasoans, expanding the Franklin Mountain State Park, developing a technology center here in El Paso, improving Border public schools, moving UTEP to 50 percent graduation rates, fighting to fix CHIP, and most of all watching those medical students walk across the stage in August 2008.

We also worked hard to mentor independent, progressive young leaders into positions to move the El Paso agenda. Our office has the experience, seniority, contacts north, south, east and west and the institutional knowledge to best finish that work. We also have demonstrated the courage to stand up to the far right whose policies are so damaging to us here in El Paso. Why in the world would we not be there for the best part?

NPT: At a breakfast meeting, Dee Margo brought up the fact you're no longer on the Finance Committee, part of his campaign theme that you're so unpopular amongst fellow legislators that it damages your ability to get things done. What happened with the Finance Committee?

Shapleigh: I expect to be on finance in the near future. Anyone in Austin will share with you how we work every session on both sides of the aisle to get bills and riders passed. Last session, Sen. Jane Nelson, one of the most conservative members, asked me to author the 69-page Adult Protective Services reform bill. We did, and it passed out of the Senate 31-0. As chair of Senate BRAC, we authored and passed SB 652, one of the most comprehensive and innovative BRAC bills in the U.S. Two years ago I asked Florence Shapiro to come here to see great dual language programs. We have worked with her ever since on equity formulas, dual language programs and reconstitution issues. Right now, I am vice chair of the 10-member Senate Hispanic Caucus and will head it in the 2007 session.

NPT: Do you think there will be blowback from your support of Uresti over Madla?

Shapleigh: No. Now that Madla's voters have spoken, the lieutenant governor will put me back on finance. I just finished a session where we worked with key senators on equity formulas, school reconstitution and taxes, so I do not see any issues. Sen. Madla voted to kick 235,000 children out of CHIP and 75,000 El Pasoans out of voting for water. His constituents evidently felt as strongly about that as I did.

NPT: The Finance Committee. What leads you to believe you'll be back on in the near future?

Shapleigh: Because I spoke to the lieutenant governor. He said that.

NPT: What is your appropriate role in local politics in general, and specifically, as relates to each body: City, county, school districts, water districts?

Shapleigh:  Any progressive leader should support strong independent, articulate and hardworking public servants to engage in fiscally sound government that serves the people of the community. In El Paso, we have seen what happens when people run for the title not the work, or worse, for private gain, not public service.

NPT: How much money do you plan to spend in this race?

Shapleigh: As much as friends will help me raise. Money won't win this race, people will, but it sure helps to have enough to support good volunteers.

NPT: Obviously that's always the case. Do you have a figure in mind. Might this be El Paso's first $1 million dollar race? Will you be able to match that?

Shapleigh: My answer is my answer.

NPT: You're involved in many community organizations that are not meant to be partisan -- Community Scholars, El Paso Now, El Paso Counts -- how do you support such groups without subsuming them to partisan politics?

Shapleigh: Political leaders found public programs all the time. Witness the Peace Corps or Social Security. Community Scholars and El Paso Counts are really important to our future. Community Scholars is now established, funded and a national success. El Paso Counts is all about voting and civic engagement. Sooner or later, people will see each program for the value it delivers for El Paso and leave the politics out of the program.

NPT: How do you balance or draw a line between various camps? If it so happens these organizations contain a good deal of your supporters and your opponent is maybe involved in organizations that also contain a good deal of his supporters, it may not mean those organizations are part of the campaigns but nonetheless there is this crossover among camps. How do you prevent local organizations from being dragged into political campaigns?

Shapleigh: Every political race pulls in nearly every civic organization.

NPT: So is it a matter then of choosing sides?

Shapleigh: For the organization I believe it means steadfast adherence to the vision, to its vision. The Chamber of Commerce should not become an arm of the Republican Party. That's basically all I can say.

NPT: Are you talking about their voting project?

Shapleigh: At the state level, the Texas Association of Business, which purports to speak for eight large chambers of commerce, is now a defendant in a criminal case. Clearly they participated in funding Tom Delay's redistricting activities three years ago. When organizations do that they lose the legal right to speak for their constituents. Not for profits should not engage in partisan politics, by law.

NPT: Is El Paso one of the eight chambers?

Shapleigh: Yes.

NPT: What are the chances of a state income tax being implemented. Why continue to push for it?

Shapleigh: If I walked into a town hall meeting and asked for a show of hands on a bill that would lower school property taxes 90 percent -- not the $30 per month that Perry's plan does -- pay teachers at the national average to motivate our best into the classroom, reduce class size and increase use of technology and rigorous courses, I expect nearly every El Pasoan would say ‘let's do it.' That is what an education tax based on income and dedicated to public education will do in Texas.

In El Paso, it would lower net taxes for 85 percent of El Paso homeowners. But don't expect a rational discussion of taxes until the radical right gives way to the sensible center.

NPT: It's a tough sell. Many people, even the people you say this would help, just have a gut reaction they don't want to pay more taxes, they don't want to pay a personal tax. How do you get past the gut reaction?

Shapleigh: Based on Article 8, Section 24, the fact is 85 percent of El Pasoans would pay less in net taxes. Once they understand the facts they're more willing to hear the argument. However, I'm a realist. In this era of the radical right we will not see a fair and open discussion about a tax system. A tax system that supports public education.

NPT: Do we need more money for public education. Is it really a money issue, or is it a focus issue, or a systemic issue?

Shapleigh: During the Bush-Perry era Texas has dropped to 50th in state revenues. That is, our tax system produces less per capita than any other tax system in the U.S. As a result Texas is 50th in graduation rates, 40th in average SAT, the least insured state in the country for health insurance, spends less than almost any state on mental health. All these issues dramatically affect the future quality of life of Texas but especially El Paso.

When the state shifts the tax burden to the local taxpayer, El Paso is where that hurts the most. Our tax base is less per-capita than any big city in America. So if the state is participating, if state leaders participate every year in saying no new taxes and at the end have shifted the tax burden to Thomason, to the El Paso school districts, then at the end of the day property owners here suffer the most because the program needs more property tax money to support itself since the state is not honoring its obligations under the Constitution.

NPT: What is your position on toll roads?

Shapleigh: Our mobility authority can put truck weigh stations in Mexico and build highways into New Mexico. For routes like the Border Highway, where two lanes will be fast toll lanes and four will be free, using tolls to give people a choice make sense. With truck traffic moving to the Border Highway, we can use revenues from 18-wheelers passing through El Paso to help pay for our highways and relieve a congested I-10. And most importantly, we can build our inner and outer loops in a decade, not a lifetime.

NPT: We're talking about toll roads, education, all these things that cost more money. Do you have any concerns at some point progressive government gets confused with finding new sources of revenue and growing the size of government, and how do you avoid that?

Shapleigh: Jefferson said that government is best that governs least. Basically government does what we can't do alone. At the local level, it's safety, at the state level it's a good public education in the university, at the federal level it's defense. So ultimately democracy is about defining the scope of government. After that scope has been defined we pay for it. What has happened under this radical Bush-Perry era is there has been a great Texas tax shift. Progressive elements of the tax code like the estate tax, dividend tax, capital gain tax, have been cut or eliminated, and shifted to consumption taxes. So the middle class has borne a much greater share of the cost of government and those who receive the tax cuts have been millionaires. In Bush's tax cut if you make $70,000 a year, you get a $4 tax cut. Millionaires get a $41,000 tax cut. The size of government didn't shift, just who pays for government shifted.

NPT: What is your favorite place in El Paso?

Shapleigh: Up on the top of Mount Franklin early on October mornings, watching the sun rise in the east and sharing a warm cup of coffee with good friends.

NPT: Say something nice about your opponent.

Shapleigh: I respect him for running. Public service, especially in the Rove era, means personal attacks, negative campaigns, real hurt to your family, sacrifice and long hours. But if more people took a stand for government based on pubic service, not private gain, if more independent, and informed people ran for office, El Paso would be a better place. El Paso must have competitive politics to be a competitive City. And I have to add that his mother in law is a wonderful, gracious lady.

Those Who Visited:

Intel's John Pompay visited with Senator Shapleigh in El Paso to discuss the future of laptops in Texas schools.  Senator Shapleigh authored S.B. 396 to put laptops in schools; and he co-sponsored H.B. 4 and worked with authors of other public education legislation to create a law that would advance the use of technology in public schools by expanding the laptop immersion pilot program.  

Ben Murillo, the lead plaintiff in the landmark immigration case, Murillo v. Musegades, visited with Senator Shapleigh in El Paso to discuss immigration and racial profiling on the border.  This class action lawsuit enjoined the INS from engaging in widespread unlawful searches, seizures and harassment of citizens and non-citizens, by federal agents, based on the color of a person's skin.     

Upcoming Events:

Border Profiling Press Conference

History repeats itself.

Recently, Ana Yañez Correa, the executive director of the Texas Criminal Justice Coalition, complained that the El Paso County Sheriff's Department was using Operation Linebacker money to conduct illegal raids in hotels where Hispanics were staying.  On May 19, Senator Juan "Chuy" Hinojosa (D-McAllen), in his capacity of chair of the Senate Hispanic Caucus, raised additional questions about racial profiling in a letter to Gov. Rick Perry.

The question of whether a person may be stopped for being Hispanic or having dark skin was decided in the landmark El Paso case Murillo v. Musegades.  On Monday, June 19, Benjamin Murillo, lead plaintiff in the Murillo case and Albert Armendariz Jr., lead counsel, will discuss this case and its implications on the scope of police powers on the border and in the United States.       

When:  Monday, June 19, 2006 -- 9 AM Spanish Media; 10 AM English Media   
Where:  Office of Sen. Eliot Shapleigh, 800 Wyoming Ave., Suite A

Keep Texas Beautiful Tour

El Paso has been chosen to be on of 25 cities in Texas that the Keep Texas Beautiful Tour "Texas Trash and Treasure Hunt" will visit.  El Pasoans will have the opportunity to show community pride by participating in a clean-up and volunteers will have the opportunity to become eligible to win Roundtrip Southwest Airline tickets, plus numerous other prizes.

When:  Saturday, June 24, 2006 -- registration @ 9 AM
Where:  Veterans' Memorial Park -- 9500 Gateway North