The Rice Thresher (Houston, Tex.), Vol. 68, No. 12, Ed. 1 Thursday, October 23, 1980 Page: 29 of 32
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STATE REPRESENTATIVE, DISTRICT 80
House candidates discuss crucial problems in Texas
by Cecelia Calaby
The two major party candidates
running for the office of Texas
State Representative for District
80 are Republican Dan Downey
and Democrat Paul Colbert.
Charles Fuller —L. Rohwer
Charles Fuller, the Libertarian
candidate, was unavailable for an
interview. He is Assistant
Professor of Communications at
Texas Southern University and
has lived in Houston for eleven
years. He feels that his 18 years
experience as a teacher qualifies
him to make legislative decisions
involving Houston's education
problem.
The incumbent Dan Downey,
29, moved to Houston in 1976 after
graduating from Detroit College
of Law, and has worked in
Houston as a lawyer since then. He
is currently a partner in the law
firm of Green, Downey,
Patterson and Schultz. Last
February he won a special election
held to fill the seat of Lance Laylor
who was leaving to serve on the
Houston City Council. As State
Representative, he serves on the
House Committee on Liquor
Regulation. Since the legislature
has not been in session since
February, Downey has no voting
record. Over the summer, he was
appointed by Governor William
Clements as part of the Texas
delegation to the Southern
Regional Education Board
Legislative Work Council.
Paul Colbert, 31, has lived in
Texas since 1967, and Houston
since 1978. He was a political
science major in the University of
Houston Honors Program. Since
then he has worked for a chain of
hardware stores and as a market
researcher for a number of firms.
He is currently the chief researcher
for the Texas Senate Education
Committee. In this capacity,
Colbert has developed computer
models to study the impact of
school finance proposals on each
school district in Texas. Based on
his work, the legislature passed the
1979 School Finance Bill. Colbert
is also a member of the Solar
Energy Society, and has worked
with Representative Bill Keese, the
father of the gasahol program.
Downey became interested in
politics as a lawyer, and is running
he feels it is important to "get input
into the legislative process."
Through his background as a
lawyer he feels he can effectively
represent his constituency.
Colbert is running because he
sees most legislatures as "headless
horsemen," often making
decisions without really
understanding the issues. He feels
Dan Downey
that his position as chief researcher
has put him in an ideal position to
become familiar with the issues.
Downey views education, crime,
and strong neighborhoods as the
main issues. He is especially
concerned about crime; "As I
walked through the neigh-
borhoods, people won't even open
their doors in the middle of the day
on a Saturday." Downey says he is
tired of a criminal justice system
that protects the criminal more
than the victim, and feels that "the
emphasis is on the wrong party."
His program entails a combination
of better education, because
"education is the long range link to
the crime problem," reform of the
criminal justice system to require
mandatory minimum sentences for
crimes in which a deadly weapon is
used, and a strong neighborgood
watch program to provide
preventive crime control. He
stongly supports the Houstonians
on Watch (HOW) program which
operates through neighborhood
civic clubs and in partnership with
the police department. Downey
wants to improve the public
education system by raising
teachers salaries to attract and
retain competent teachers, by
requiring teacher competency
tests, and by readjusting the
expenditure formula for more
equal distribution of educational
funds.
Colbert feels the key issues are
education and flood control. He
takes a strict funding view towards
solving the public education
problem in Houston. "Money
doesn't guarantee a good
education, but a lack of sufficient
funds can severely limit the ability
of a school district to educate its
students. The current school
finance system is still weighted
heavily against poor and urban
school districts," Colbert says,
"and much remains to be done."
He also supports higher teacher
salaries and competency tests. His
program would include a careful
redistribution of state funds to aid
urban school districts.
Colbert supports the creation of
a Regional Flood Control
Authority which would coordinate
the efforts of the various County
Flood Boards. Currently the
counties are not cooperating, he
says.
Downey believes that the
current flood control system is
inadequate, but he does not favor
creating a new authority. He
favors a regional approach using
Regional Planning Commissions.
These commissions are already
provided for by law, and have the
power of eminent domain, the
power to regulate land use
management, and the power to
levy taxes and float bonds for
financing. The commission works
through the water districts of the
county and uses water district
revenues for its operation.
Both candidates feel tax relief is
an important issue. Colbert was
instrumental in developing the
'circuit-breaker' tax bill which
imposes an upper limit on the
amount of porperty tax a
homeowner is required to pay. If
property assessment places the tax
above the 'circuit-breaker' limit,
the state pays the local district the
remainder of the tax, thus, Colbert
says, "maintaining the decision-
making process in local
governments." Downey also has
added the 'circuit-breaker' bill to
his platform.
mm.
Paul Colbert —R. Dees
Hazardous waste is a concern
both Downey and Colbert share.
Neither want Texas to become a
dumping ground for chemical
wastes, and both realize that this is
an imminent problem. Both
support a state-regulated chemical
waste program with the chemical
companies bearing the cost.
"Elect me to Congress and I'll work for
realistic economic policies, energy self-
sufficiency and promote medical research
and space technology, because I'll be
working for the things you believe in."
MIKE ANDREWS
THE SENSIBLE CHOICE/CONGRESS - DISTRICT 22
Authorized ctnd paid for"by Michael A. Andrews for Congress Committee |ohn L. Shartnan. Treasurer A copy t . >ur report is filed with and ns
available for purchase from the Federal Election Commissi. >n. Washington D.C.
The Rice Thresher, October 30, 1980, section 2, page 9
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Dees, Richard. The Rice Thresher (Houston, Tex.), Vol. 68, No. 12, Ed. 1 Thursday, October 23, 1980, newspaper, October 23, 1980; Houston, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth245452/m1/29/: accessed July 18, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; crediting Rice University Woodson Research Center.