Asian Supporters Find Their Choice in Gubernatorial Candidate Wendy Davis

 

By Jawahar Malhotra

HOUSTON: Even though the function was hastily put together to coincide with a brief campaign trip to the Bayou City by State Senator Wendy Davis, there was a respectable crowd of Asians of all persuasions from across the city who came for the afternoon fundraiser for her at the Houston By Nite restaurant on Wilcrest near Harwin Drive in Alief.
The fundraiser was arranged by immigration attorney and former Houston City Councilman Gordon Quan and Mimi Timmiaraju who was coincidentally visiting the city to be with her mom for the weekend. There was a good mix of Indians, Pakistanis, Chinese, Vietnamese and Filipinos among the crowd who came to listen to Davis expand on her campaign platform and also enjoy a late afternoon lunch.
The guest speaker was State Representative Gee Wu who hammered in the point that “Asians have built up this area” referring to Alief. He emphasized that Asians were contributing significantly to the Houston economy, as evident by the growing number of Asian airlines flying into Intercontinental Airport now; and that Asians valued their kids. “We want someone who values everyone”, he said, adding that when he came here, as many other Asians did, “we were dirt poor”.
Davis opened by saying that her campaign had done a lot in communities across the state by registering thousands of voters, young and old. “Education is the most important infrastructure you can build”, she exclaimed, harking back to how she had last year filibustered a proposal to take dollars from the Rainy Day fund away from education. Even though the house passed the education bill to allocate the money, it was stripped off during an amendment.
She then explained the repercussions that had on school education. A record number of classrooms filed for size waivers as many teachers were let go and some schools even closed down. “The Republican platform is to defend education at every level’, she concluded, “and Attorney General Greg Abbott has been in court for 3 years to keep these cuts”. Davis got huge applause when she stated that every 4 year-old should have quality daycare and that teachers should be paid more. She vowed to create more college access for students, declaring that Abbott would continue the policy to degrade education.

 

Davis also reiterated her position to fight for equal pay for equal work for women and attacked Abbott’s stance to decline federal assistance for Medicare, which she declared would create jobs and insurance for more Texans. She concluded by noting that her campaign had registered 30,000 people to vote and invested $6 million in “ground troops” to knock on doors and make phone calls. “In January, we were 23 points behind, now we are only in single digits”, she noted of the strides her campaign has made.
Davis took a question on funding for water infrastructure and conservation and declared that the $2 billion that had been allocated from the Rainy Day Fund was inadequate and that more investments were needed. To another impassioned and tearful question on legalizing Gay Rights in Texas she offered a sympathetic ear. “The Gold Ole Boy network has taken us about as far as they can go”, she said, “now it’s time for change”, she added noting her support for the Dream Act and that, if elected, she would not repeal it.