Rep. Valinda Bolton (HD-47 Democrat)
The 2010 election cycle is shaping up to be an absolute disaster for the Democrat party. If you have any doubt, you need look only to the Massachusetts Senator election, where Republican Scott Brown is poised to defeat Democrat Martha Coakley to win the seat formerly held by Teddy Kennedy for 47 years.
If a Republican can win that seat in the bluest-of-blue states…then no Democrat seat is 100% safe.
My wife and I just moved to HD-47 a few weeks ago, where we are represented — for the time being — by Democrat Valinda Bolton.
Over the next few weeks, I’ll be taking a closer look at this election in my new district. Today, I take a little closer look at the incumbent.
Democrat Valinda Bolton
Bolton was first elected to Congress in HD-47 after winning the election with 50.24% of the vote against Republican Bill Welch.
With Obama on the ticket in 2008, she increased her margin of victory to 51.2% against Republican Donna Keel.
According to the Waco Tribune:
The fight for Bolton’s southwestern Travis County seat could be one of a handful of races that determine which party next controls the Texas House, which is split between 76 Republicans and 74 Democrats.
And this:
The Texas Association of Business says she has sided with them on key votes 50 percent of the time in her two terms. That’s a lower lifetime grade than the group gives Rep. Patrick Rose of Dripping Springs, arguably the most conservative Democrat from this area, but a higher grade than it gives more liberal Democratic Reps. Elliott Naishtat and Eddie Rodriguez of Austin.
Bolton on the issues:
Second Amendment
Meanwhile, the NRA gives Bolton only a C grade, Which out in the hunting-happy hill country that Bolton represents is way below average.
Taxes
Bolton has advocated for “a tax structure that is fair and balanced.” Except that by fair and balanced she means that rich people should pay an even higher percentage of their income in taxes, while reducing the tax burden on middle-income and lower-income families.
That’s not fair and balanced, Valinda; that’s wealth redistribution.
Public Education
She’s also a strong advocate of improving our public education using the favorite solution for all problems for Democrats: simply throw more money at the problem: “Teachers are one of our greatest resources and should be compensated as such.”
Sorry, Valinda, but simply giving more money to bad teachers (and worthless teacher unions) is not going to do a damned thing to improve the education of our children.
Voter ID
Three polls about Voter ID have been taken in Texas in the last year. All three showed that Texans, Democrat and Republican across all ethnicities, overwhelmingly support Voter Photo ID. The Democrats shut down the Texas Legislature in order to prevent a commonsense, popular bill from even being discussed on the House floor.
Bolton opposes Voter ID laws, despite the overwhelming majority of he constituents who support it.
Defending our Children
Bolton voted no to HB 8, which provided for increased penalties for violent or continuous sexual offenses against children.
GOP Opposition
I’ll have a separate post up in the next few days taking a closer look at these three strong GOP candidates who will be battling each other in the upcoming GOP primary:
Needless to say, I’ll be supporting whichever GOP candidate faces Bolton in the general election.
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Robbie, thanx for the link.
Yeah, I don’t like Bolton (as you might have surmised). Granted, we could have FAR worse (she hasn’t been a 100% stinker)… but we could also have MUCH better.
Looking forward to your continued analysis.
Could be worse. I have the woeful misfortune to be represented by Eddie Rodriguez.
So putting a larger tax burden on poor people than rich people is somehow not “wealth redistribution?”
NC — most poor people do not pay any tax. In fact, nearly 42% of our fellow adult citizens pay NO income taxes whatsoever.
There currently is NO tax burden on this class.
I think it’s fair that each person in this country pays exactly their fair share. No more, no less.
Are you serious, robbie? No tax burden on lower income people? Wrong. Everyone pays property taxes, which provides the majority of education funding, and everyone pays sales taxes, which provide the majority of state general revenue funding.
Maybe you just shouldn’t vote, because you clearly have little understanding of state policy.
Well then let’s talk about the folks who do pay taxes. Is regressive tax system not “wealth redistribution?” All I’m hearing from Bolton’s position cited above is that she prefers progressive over regressive. It doesn’t seem all that remarkable a position to me. Should it?
[...] These three Republicans running in the GOP primary in HD-47 for the chance to unseat 2-term Democrat incumbent Volinda Bolton: [...]