Thread: Texas Governors Race, Carol Strayhorn on Illegal Immigration

I have a friend, which sent Carol Keyton Strayhorn's Campaing Headquaters the following e-mail and I've included the response.

Thank you very much for responding to my e-mail. You even answered a couple of questions for me which I neglected to ask you, i.e., gun issue. I, at this time, am standing firmly with your mom for our next governor and have already forwarded your response to all on my e-mail list.

HOWEVER, I did not get an answer on two issues: (1) What will Mrs. Strayhorn do about the illegals ALREADY HERE and THROUGHOUT THE STATE, as opposed to focusing simply on the border. The majority of Americans, contrary to what the news media is fabricating through factual omissions, etc., WE WANT ILLEGALS SENT PACKING. It CAN and SHOULD be done, if for no other reason, to send a message to would-be illegals...don't bother coming. We should deport illegals back BY BUS, all the way to the far end of Mexico. THEN, the remaining non-mexico residents should be ferried back to their respective countries or puddle-jumped back, if their country is not accessible by water. What little so-called deportation we ARE attempting provides the comfort and luxury of an airplane ride and is certainly no deterrent.

The second issue is anchor babies (misnomer). Study our constitution and you will learn that there is no such thing as an anchor baby. I will forward what I have on this to you separately. It makes it obviously clear - and this stand should be taken. If we STOP the free money flowing to the illegal babies born here, the mothers WILL NOT venture across the border to have those babies. We will regain the sovereignty of our borders AND OUR VOTING SYSTEM. There are scores of babies born to illegals 20-30+ years ago who are now voting in OUR COUNTRY. That is a crime in and of itself. And unless we Americans stand up and say enough is enough - we can count for lost our sovereignty. Illegals have already had an impact on elections in California. Yes, they are getting away with voting in OUR country and swaying OUR electoral processes. THIS MUST STOP. Texas is now, thanks to President Bush and Rick Perry, predominantly Mexican. I would have no problem with that, Brad, IF IT HAD BEEN DONE LEGALLY. This is an issue I, personally, will continue to bring to the forefront and fight. BTW, I have always been a straight-ticket Republican. That will not happen again in my lifetime. There are MANY Republicans out there JUST LIKE ME AND MY HUSBAND. We have had enough.

Now, with those two issues said, please let's look at how America feels about immigrants.

The United States of America is the most welcoming, most generous, most forgiving, most charitable country in the entire world. We have been blessed and protected by God Almighty since we ventured here as immigrants ourselves. We have been blessed financially, which has enabled us to be so giving to those countries less fortunate. But we have, time and again, elected the wrong folks to run our CHRISTIAN country. We have pulled so far away from our CHRISTIAN roots because of these bad decisions. Americans, who were once immigrants...LEGAL immigrants, came here and established our own customs. We did NOT come here and bring our old countries with us. We BECAME America. And over the centuries, we have, WITH OPEN ARMS, welcomed more and more immigrants - even illegal immigrants. That is no longer the case. Because as time goes by, is appears immigrants, particularly ILLEGAL immigrants, feel they have the right to come here and bring their countries with them - and NOT assimilate. We are FORCED to live with two languages now, English and spanish, in print, on the telephone, in the malls, everywhere. In many towns, you can drive through as an American and truly feel you are in another country. I have been to other countries and know this feeling well. Brad, THIS is one of the biting factors of what's going on with the illegal issue today. If someone comes to this country, legally or illegally, they MUST learn to speak the language of the land AND not live off the tax dollars of the people of the land. This has created MUCH bitterness, anger and hate among Americans. I once LOVED learning spanish, but no more. I no longer attempt to teach it to my children. I have grown to absolutely deplore a language that is now THRUST DOWN MY THROAT.

The other issue is that we are now acutely aware of how the illegal aliens are bleeding this country dry of the charity we once had. They bleed us with their illegal babies and kids. They have blatantly abused our charity of free education, free medical, free/assisted housing, and much more. Our prison population has EXPLODED with illegals. Americans are being vicitimized and murdered by illegals -- illegals who demand rights in a foreign country. Imagine that!

We Americans are struggling with exhorbitantly high taxes to support all this free government money being handed out to illegals and those here legally, who refuse to be responsible in family planning, etc. We would be the financial giant of the world again (a title China now holds) if we would get our affairs in order and start using common sense.

Our politicians must stop playing the politically-correct games and do what MUST be done to reverse the trend in this country. If America falls to third world status, who else does the entire world have to fall back on for charity and compassion? France, the cowardly? China, the bully? Germany, the ruthless? Russia? The middle east, where Christians are martyred daily? Africa, where WHITES are being kicked off their own land because they are WHITE? Remember, I said we MUST stop the politically-correct games, and that includes calling the kettle black if it is indeed black.

I'm sorry this turned out so long, but Brad, there is much to be said on world issues today. And because you and I happen to live in bigger-than-life Texas, WE are one of the American states who will set the stage for the rest of the country....and THE WORLD.

I hope your mom's response to the remaining major issues, (1) deportation of existing illegals and (2) setting the record straight and halting all government benefits to illegal babies (aka anchor babies), will settle, once and for all, who my family and friends will be supporting and voting for this election.

I look forward to hearing from you soon on this and will forward your response to my contacts as before. If we, indeed, stand together on these last issues, I will do all I can to help Mrs. Strayhorn get elected. Please contact me if you need my assistance in our area.

Thank you,
Madam X

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
FYI, Strayhorn's son Brad is her campaign manager.

Dear Madam X,

Thank you for contacting us, and we wish you and your family all the best. Comptroller Carole Keeton Strayhorn is absolutely against illegal immigration, and she will secure our borders, our ports, and all our critical infrastructure and not turn any part over to foreign control. Carole Keeton Strayhorn (my Mom) will keep the tolls/taxes off our roads and bring leadership and fiscal responsibility back to Texas and put the priorities of government back on our safety, our rights, our children, their education, and the basics and not waste taxpayer money on corporate welfare or lobbyists. Carole Keeton Strayhorn has called for a vote on a Constitutional Amendment to protect private property. Carole Keeton Strayhorn is absolutely a strong supporter of the Second Amendment and gun rights and hunting rights, and her husband Ed Strayhorn (a Veteran) is an avid hunter and fisherman, and he is a lifetime NRA and TSRA member. Carole has six grandchildren (the latest only two months old), and the oldest two (my children) are both active in the Girl Scouts and many other activities. Carole Keeton Strayhorn is adamantly fighting the secret agreement with a foreign company to take our land and control our roads and other critical infrastructure--Perry calls it the Trans Texas Corridor, we call it the Trans Texas Catastrophe. Carole Keeton Strayhorn will bring leadership back to Texas and put the priorities of government back on children, our senior citizens, education, private property rights, and the basics and not waste taxpayer money on corporate welfare or lobbyists. I will apologize in advance for the length of this email, but I wanted to cover a number of issues.

I also welcome your questions and your good advice. I am Carole Keeton Strayhorn’s campaign manager and one of her sons. Carole is a strong supporter of our children, education and higher education, fiscal responsibility, agriculture, and private property rights. Comptroller Carole Keeton Strayhorn is running for governor to bring leadership back to the Office of the Governor and to put a priority back on our most precious resource our children. Carole has six grandchildren, and the oldest two (my children) are both active in the Girl Scouts and many other activities. Carole is married to Ed Strayhorn (a Veteran and former teacher). Please visit Carole’s website at file:///C:/www.carolestrayhorn.com , which will be updated in the coming weeks (please feel free to forward this info to others who are interested), which has her complete announcement speech and the news section which lays out some of her basic positions. Carole Keeton Strayhorn will lead, and she will address the tough issues, and she will get the job done. My direct email is brad@carolestrayhorn.com . Our children and grandchildren are her top priority.

And to quote from her speech:
I want my legacy to be that with every breath of air in Carole Keeton Strayhorn’s lungs, she fought passionately for education, paychecks and jobs, and protecting our most precious resource our children.

Carole wants to drive more of every education dollar directly into the classroom with the students and the teachers where it belongs. The current governor is the first, and he will be the last, governor of Texas to waste over $2 million of our taxpayer dollars on Washington D.C. lobbyists—that is wrong.

Comptroller Carole Keeton Strayhorn is absolutely against illegal immigration. Carole strongly believes that the State of Texas under the leadership of the current Governor has misplaced spending priorities (the Governor recently gave $50 million of taxpayer money to study mice cells reported as a “cozy relationship” with a few big contributors), and the State of Texas must do more to protect our own borders especially the Rio Grande and the Gulf of Mexico by taking all necessary steps to secure, in reality, and to protect our borders from terrorism, crime, and illegal immigration. This is a fiscally conservative and common-sense preventative problem to avoid all the overwhelming costs to our taxpayers. Unfortunately, this will not solve all the costs Texans have had to bear for too long. The first step is to secure our border with all resources and policies necessary including using the National Guard. For our State's and our Nation's security, Comptroller Strayhorn knows we must secure our borders including the Gulf of Mexico and our ports.

Comptroller Strayhorn stated several months ago:
I am adamantly opposed to illegal immigration. Just like neighborhood patrols against crime, our law enforcement officials and volunteers must work together to combat the illegal immigration on the border. Illegal immigration has become the crisis it is because Gov. Perry has totally ignored the problem for five years. I support law-abiding citizens working hand-in-hand with local and federal authorities to combat all crime including illegal immigration. While illegal immigration is currently a federal problem, it is affecting us locally. I welcome the minutemen volunteers and their efforts to address a problem this governor has promoted by allowing illegal immigrants to pay only in-state college tuition. In a Strayhorn administration, this is not going to be a problem because I will provide local and state authorities all the policies and resources they need to combat illegal immigration.

Carole Keeton Strayhorn absolutely opposes illegal immigration and opposes illegal immigrants getting in-state tuition, which is not a federal requirement but a state law, which should be repealed. While the current Governor signed legislation in 2001 to give in-state tuition to illegal immigrants for our colleges instead of demanding foreign tuition or prohibiting access, Comptroller Carole Keeton Strayhorn successfully fought this summer for one of our veterans, Carl Basham (who grew up in this state legally), to get in-state tuition here in Texas after Governor Perry’s appointees initially fought against our fine veteran. Governor Perry signed the 2001 legislation allowing illegal immigrants to pay in-state resident tuition at our colleges—that is wrong especially when the state fights veterans from getting in state tuition, and when other citizens are denied in-state tuition. Carole Keeton Strayhorn is running for Governor to strengthen the State of Texas and to maintain its values, and to restore the prioritization of spending in government to our education, health, and safety and security of Texans including our veterans. The State of Texas should require complete cooperation between all governmental entities to keep our borders secure. Below is the release, we put out June 2nd:

STRAYHORN WILL SECURE BORDERS AND PORTS FIRST,

CALLS PERRY’S ILLEGAL IMMIGRATION RECORD

‘NON-EXISTENT, WINDOW-DRESSING’

(AUSTIN) – Texas Independent Candidate for Governor Carole Keeton Strayhorn today described Gov. Rick Perry’s record on illegal immigration as “non-existent, window dressing that is heavy on rhetoric and light on real action,” and she pledged first that she will secure Texas’ borders and ports and protect all critical infrastructure.

An aide to the governor said the governor is making a “very passionate case” about the need to secure the border in a speech today at the Republican Party of Texas convention.

“Texans don’t want to hear a ‘very passionate case’ from their governor after six years of sitting around, they want action,” she said.

“We should have secured our borders and ports six years and 10 sessions ago,” Strayhorn said. “It is no coincidence that it is an election year and Gov. Perry – after sitting in office for six years – has now discovered that illegal immigration is a problem and maybe he better dust off some tough-sounding rhetoric. But his hollow words and his failed record over the last six years have done nothing to solve the problem.”

Strayhorn has pledged that when elected governor she will give local law enforcement agencies along the border “every state resource they need” and she has said for months that she will deploy the National Guard along the border to stop the flow of illegal immigrants.

According to the Pew Hispanic Center report on March 21, 2005, of the six states with the largest number of illegal immigrants, Texas is the only one in which the percentage of the population that is illegal has actually increased in recent years. The Center reports that Texas has 1.4 million illegal immigrants – 14 percent of the total population of illegal immigrants in the United States. (http://pewhispanic.org/files/reports/44.pdf)

“This governor’s administration has been marked by failed leadership and misplaced priorities,” Strayhorn said. “In a Strayhorn administration, Texans’ interests will be top priority, not this governor’s special interests, and we will secure our borders and ports.”

“Texans need to have security against terrorism as a top priority and need to be wary of this governor’s belated ‘very passionate case’ in a speech today and instead look at what he has really done which includes allowing a foreign company to take Texas land and control our critical infrastructure under a secret agreement to put toll roads all over Texas,” she said.

PERRY REAL RECORD CONTRADICTS HIS ‘PASSIONATE CASE’:
· He signed a law allowing illegal immigrants, not our Texas veterans and their spouses, to pay in-state, rather than the more expensive out-of-state, college tuition in Texas.

· He complained that the federal government is not giving him enough money for border security, but took no action.

· He complained that the federal government has released illegal immigrants onto our streets, but took no action.

· He abandoned the border to the point where ordinary citizens are now fighting illegal immigration.

· He gave a paltry $10 million to Operation Linebacker, while pouring five times that -- $50 million of taxpayer money – from his corporate welfare slush fund to study mice with two of his big contributors benefiting; giving Vought Aircraft $35 million of taxpayer money to create jobs when in fact 600 employees have been laid off; wasting $11.9 million on seven special sessions of the legislature; and spending over $2 million of taxpayer dollars on Washington, D.C., lobbyists.

· He waited until the legislature adjourned and until the day before the state Republican Convention to announce he will ask the next legislature for $100 million to help secure the border, but took no action when lawmakers were here last month for the seventh special legislative session he called.

The state budget under the governor has increased almost 45% and 44 billion dollars from 98 billion before 2001 to over 142 billion now with funding for schools at an all time low. A lot of that money has been wasted by the governor’s corporate slush fund, from which just this summer he gave $50 million dollars of your taxpayer money to study mice cells with a company owned by his largest contributors. The current governor led the charge to destroy Comptroller Strayhorn’s school performance reviews and Texas Performance Reviews, which had made recommendations for over $16 billion dollars in cost savings measures without increasing your taxes. The first action Carole would take is to reinstitute the School Performance Reviews and Texas Performance Reviews and at the same time eliminate the corporate slush fund. She would also cancel the current governor’s one million taxpayer dollar contract with a Washington, DC lobbyist.

If the Legislature won’t act on tax relief and even if they will, Carole Keeton Strayhorn wants to give the power to the people through Initiative & Referendum, which will take away the control of the “special” interests, and let voters approve such good ideas. Carole also supports truly open elections where all candidates qualify in the same manner for a spot on the ballot, and if no candidate gets over 50% of the vote, then the top two are in a runoff.

No justification exists for tolling existing freeways, and Carole Keeton Strayhorn is adamantly opposed to toll roads. On the Trans Texas Corridor—Carole Keeton Strayhorn (mom) calls it the Trans Texas CATASTROPHE, below are some news releases we have put out, and please feel free to forward them along to any interested in her position. Carole Keeton Strayhorn is extremely concerned about protecting private property rights and opposed to the toll roads and the Governor’s Trans Texas “Catastrophe” and the Governor’s secret deal with Cintra, a foreign corporation from Spain. The typical toll section will require 146 acres of right of way per mile. The total anticipated right of way for 4,000 miles of corridor is 584,000 acres, which is the largest land grab in Texas history. As for as we know, no limit will be placed on the amount of the tolls to be charged, but Carole Keeton Strayhorn is against the secret Trans Texas “Catastrophe.” To quote from Carole’s announcement speech and her heart on property rights:

And you know that Texas property belongs to Texans, not foreign companies.

We will not sit quietly by and let this Governor embark on the most historic land grab in history and cram toll roads down our throats.

This is not the Texas way, and it cannot continue.

Texas is great, but we can do better.

Here is the news release we put out May 31, 2006:

STRAYHORN DEMANDS PERRY REVEAL SECRET FOREIGN TOLL ROAD DEAL ON ANNIVERSARY OF ATTORNEY GENERAL’S RULING
Shocking Admission of Foreign Control of Land Grab Made

On the one-year anniversary of an Attorney General Ruling that foreign-based Cintra-Zachry and Gov. Perry’s Texas Department of Transportation must make public their secret contract, Texas Independent Candidate for Governor Carole Keeton Strayhorn demanded the governor release the contract to the public and explain a shocking statement by his transportation chairman.

“We need government in the sunshine,” Strayhorn said. “I’m calling on Gov. Perry to order his transportation department to drop its lawsuit and release to all Texans the secret contract with a foreign company.”

Last week Perry’s appointed Chairman of the Texas Department of Transportation Ric Williamson told North Texas elected officials and business leaders: “If you aggressively invite the private sector to be your partner, you can’t tell them where to build the road.”(Fort Worth Star-Telegram (5/26/2006).

“Texas property belongs to Texans, not foreign companies; Texas freeways belong to Texans, not foreign companies,” she said. “We will not sit quietly by and let this Governor embark on the biggest land grab in history and cram toll roads down our throats.”

Strayhorn said Williamson’s admission that a foreign company – Cintra, not Texans, will be deciding where new highways are to be built is even more reason for the secret contract to be made public.

“Texans have a right to know what the Governor has promised this foreign company in a contract the Attorney General says is public,” she said. “Apparently the Governor and his transportation chairman believe what a foreign company wants, a foreign company gets, and Texans have no say over our freeways and critical infrastructure.”

Perry’s transportation department and Cintra filed a lawsuit last year to fight the Attorney General and keep details of the contract secret, and continue to keep it tied up in the courts.

“Rick Perry was beaming as the cameras were rolling while he looked over the shoulders of his highway henchmen signing the secret contract with a foreign company,” she said. “The contract that Rick Perry saw cannot be seen by you or me.”

“Hard working Texas taxpayers have the right to read the full details of a contract they will be stuck with for the next 50 years,” she said. “It should have never been secret in the first place and certainly should have been released a year ago when the Attorney General ruled. If Gov. Perry has nothing to hide, he should release the contract today on this anniversary of the Attorney General Ruling.”

Perry’s $184 billion Trans Texas Corridor is estimated to be 4,000 miles, which is more mileage than Texas’ 3,200-mile share of the interstate system.

The Corridor’s first projects are supposed to be toll roads paralleling Interstate 35 from Oklahoma to Mexico and the proposed I-69 route from Mexico, bypass Corpus Christi and Houston, to Texarkana.

Carole Keeton Strayhorn supports the death penalty and opposes an income tax.

Carole Keeton Strayhorn will fight for all the children’s health, safety, and education. What is most heartbreaking, is to see the State of Texas abdicating its responsibility to protect the children of Texas from prenatal care and through early childhood and beyond in areas of health, safety, and education. Carole Keeton Strayhorn will fight for all the children. What is most heartbreaking, is to see the State of Texas abdicating its responsibility to protect the children of Texas from prenatal care and through early childhood and beyond in areas of health, safety, and education. Carole Keeton Strayhorn is running for Governor in large part because too many children in Texas have been forgotten and abandoned from foster kids to school kids. Carole called for the adoption of “Jessica’s law” last summer and during each of the last three Legislative sessions, but the governor refused to add the protection of our children from violent sexual predators to the special session agenda any of the last three times. Carole did a study of Texas foster children entitled the “Forgotten Children,” file:///C:/www.window.state.tx.us/forgottenchildren/execsumm , to shed light on some unimaginable situations Texas foster kids currently face with strong proposals to help the children. Comptroller Strayhorn absolutely was appalled at the over medication and abusive situations she uncovered. We can and we must do better for our children and our future.

If you would like to support Carole Keeton Strayhorn, you can start now by emailing around the website file:///C:/www.CaroleStrayhorn.com or file:///C:/www.OneToughGrandma.com to all your family and friends to support Carole Keeton Strayhorn for Governor. Carole Keeton Strayhorn will be a Governor for all Texans.

Thanks,
Brad

Brad McClellan
Son & Campaign Manager
Carole Keeton Strayhorn for Governor
file:///C:/brad@carolestrayhorn.com
file:///C:/www.OneToughGrandma.com
512-469-9393

I would have to vote for Carol if I lived in Texas!

Geez, some of you Texas folks better rally the voters. This woman sounds good for Texas!

I'm almost envious that you all have someone like this runnig. You should spread the word about her.

I'm spreading the word this morning!!!!!!!! I've got bumper stickers too!

Dixie