Monday, February 01, 2010

Guessing Game: KBH or Bill White?

I heard Ch. 11's Bob Stein say that if you took away the logos and pictures on Kay Bailey Hutchinson's and Bill White's websites, you wouldn't be able to tell the difference between the two. He was analyzing the last Republican gubernatorial debate. I was doubtful, so I went and took a look.

Whose website are these quotes from - KBH or Bill White? Answers are in the comments.

1."Candidate" took aim Thursday at Gov. Rick Perry’s oversight of the Texas Enterprise Fund, saying he has kept the public in the dark about the fund’s activities. "Candidate" called for an immediate independent audit of the job creation program.

2. "Texas is not globally competitive. The state faces a downward spiral in both quality of life and economic competitiveness if it fails to educate more of its growing population (both youth and adults) to higher levels of attainment, knowledge and skills." My plan to improve education is critical for the future of our economy.

3."Education is my number one priority," Candidate said. "We can do so much more. We need to encourage high school students to consider college, and give them the skills they need to succeed in college, but also provide vocational training so that those who choose a different career path can still make enough to support their families.

4."Now, for the first time in our state, we have a situation where the percentage of Texans aged 25 to 35 with a college degree is below that of our older population, aged 35 to 55. That's the wrong direction if we want to compete to win.

5."I believe that it is time to pull back the curtains on the backrooms of the governor’s office and let the sun shine on the state’s higher office once again."

6. In this economy, it's vital that the Governor attract new businesses to the state, allow small businesses to grow, and ensure a skilled workforce through education and job training.

7. "The Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) should end plans for the ill-conceived Trans-Texas Corridor, which would have been run for private interests and would not have helped Texans go from where they live to where they work."

8. Texas deregulated prices of electricity in 1999 with support from then Lt. Governor Perry. Since 2007, there has been no limit on consumer prices. Over the last decade, Texas went from having utility bills lower than the national average to bills now higher than the national average. The Public Utility Commission should be given the authority to avoid both blackouts and price spikes by providing incentives for reserve margins, energy efficiency, and cleaner fuels, including natural gas.

9. "On behalf of every Texas taxpayer an effective, transparent and accountable state government should be our first priority. Our elected officials work for the tax payers not the other way around."

3 comments:

muse said...

1. KBH

2. White

3. KBH

4. White

5. KBH

6. White

7. White

8. White

9. KBH

Charles Kuffner said...

I've heard White say #s 2, 4, and 8, so I knew they were his. I've also heard KBH say #s 1, 3, 5, and 9, so I knew those were hers. Six and seven were the only ones I wasn't sure about.

muse said...

Thanks, Charles. There were a couple where I had to go back and look them up again after I cut and pasted them and put them in the blog, because I knew I had just seen such similar material on each of their websites.

I know Bob Stein's point was that both are going after Perry. I found that KBH hits him harder than White does, or at least more directly. White has waaaay more stuff on his website about education than I had imagined, so I am going to dig into that and maybe even request an interview. It's one reason I supported Chris Bell so whole heartedly - because he "got" the education problem in Texas.