“Courage”

During the last days of session, my good friend Senator John Carona (R-Dallas) gave a great speech. John’s message was "courage."  I believe it’s a message that people will soon deliver emphatically with votes in coming elections.

John and I came to the Texas Senate in 1997. On May 28, as highest in our class’ seniority, John was named President Pro-Tem of the Senate.

"In America today, as in Texas, I believe liberals are expected to match philosophy with practicality, while conservatives are expected to make government work rather than to starve it into insignificance," he said.

"If we are to succeed here at the Capitol, we must periodically remind ourselves of our purpose. Amidst the hustle of the day, and the ever present lobby, it serves us well to stop long enough to regain focus. That is, to make certain that the Texas of today will become a better place for the children of tomorrow."

In the 80th Session, John’s assignment was Transportation and Homeland Security. For the first time in his career, he was named a committee chair. Given the uproar over privatized highways, immigration, 50 year CDA agreements, warrant less searches, tolls and the Trans—Texas Corridor, John got a "hot seat" for the whole session.

Early in the session, John went over to the House Committee, a highly unusual move, to get the attention of TXDOT Chair Ric Williamson. Then, in March, he invited hundreds of Texans to come to Austin to vent concerns, gripes and issues with tolls, Texas highways and anything else they wanted to talk about. We sat for ten hours and listened to every witness: mothers concerned about pollution, traffic and tolls, farmers angry over access, political leaders wondering about tolls, the ‘black helicopter crowd’ wary of invasion from Spain, businessmen worried about building roads.

John cuts to the chase—that’s his style. During debate on border security, he cut immigration out of the bill. “Immigration is a federal issue” he said bluntly. He directed the money to fighting drug cartels and border violence. In homeland security, he built a quick response for disasters like Katrina, centralized data under the DPS and clarified the chain of command. Real solutions to real issues.

In transportation, he worked long hours to put a framework around the key issues: how to rein in privatized highways, how to increase highway funding when "no new tax" lawmakers said "no," how to make highway decisions more transparent, how to move toll decisions closer to home. He worked on tough issues in a chaotic session. In the House, transportation leadership was (to put it diplomatically) diffused. One day, he worked with Fred Hill. The next with Wayne Smith.

Over the 140 days of session, John Carona provided "courage." During his speech, he told us what many of us think.

"It seems that Americans in 2007, and by extension Texans, are looking for honest, straight shooters, with integrity. People bold enough to lead with new ideas. Not ideologues attempting to run ahead of the parade. More than R’s or D’s they want problem solvers."

Amen.