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October 21, 2008

Candidate Q&A: District 4 State Representative - Betty Brown

Q. Why should voters send you back to Austin for a sixth-term?

A. I feel very comfortable in saying that I have voted my constituents issues. I feel like I know my district really well and know the things that are important to them. I weight every piece of legislation based on whether it is good for Texas families. I’ve tried to stick close to that and I think it serves me well.

Just the fact that I have served for five sessions now in the Texas Legislature has given the chance to gain some very valuable experience as well as seniority that gives me a chance to do even more for my district.

Q You’ve made a lot of public statements regarding your support of the so-called voter ID bill. Why has this been such an important issue to you?

A. I know from being out there among the people in District 4 how important an issue it is to them. On an e-mail survey I recently got back there was an issue on there about illegal immigration which is very much related. Forty-two percent responded that it was their number one concern. We got 720 responses from that questionnaire.

We have such a large illegal population in our state and we increasing evidence that those people are gaining access to our elections and are voting in many instances. The opposition is claiming that we don’t have that, but we do.

The bill failed in the last legislature in the Senate after I passed it in the house. It failed to get a hearing in the Senate. I recently had a visit with the Lt. Governor and talked about how we can get it though the Senate this time. He will help us.

We have met every objection that the opposition brought to the bill. I feel like that really puts us in a position to get it passed this time. We’ve been accused of trying to suppress the vote and that’s not true. One of the things they’ve brought up as their main concern is that there would be poor or elderly people who simply could not afford a photo ID if they happen to be one of the very few people that do not have one already. We wrote into the bill that if they couldn’t afford one, the Department of Public Safety would provide one free of charge.

I don’t just hear from the people in District 4, but all around the state in support of the bill. One man in williamson County has circulated a petition with more than 1,000 signatures in favor of it.

Q: “One man, one woman” was your reply to a recent question about same-sex marriage in Texas. Even if gay marriage has been taken off the table by a 2005 constitutional amendment, why shouldn’t there be some kind of provision that allows some type of benefits for same-sex partners? If you don’t believe there should be benefits, why not?

A. Let me go back a little ways and first state that I was a great proponent of the Defense of Marriage Act. I do believe that marriage should only be between one man and one woman. When you get to other arrangements, I don’t want to see us mandate that a business would have to comply with certain stipulations. In other words, a business owner should be able to decide what kind of benefits he gives his employees. We shouldn’t place a mandate on him.

I hear people say same sex couples should be allowed to leave things to their partners. That can already be taken care of in a will. I think most things that have been brought up are misleading because there are many opportunities for legal arrangements between same sex partners.

Q The next session of the Texas Legislature will convene in January, just two months after the election. If re-elected, what pieces of legislation do you plan to file based on issues you feel are significant to your constituents?

A. Again the voter ID bill is very important. I believe it its overdue. More and more states are adopting one.

Another important issue is imminent domain. I think it’s important that a family is fairly compensated when the government takes property for a project. There are many important issues we’ll be addressing, but those are two that stand out.

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