Texas Democratic Party Convention Speech
On June 26, I had the pleasure and honor to address thousands of delegates at the Texas Democratic Party's State Convention. This is the full text of my speech.
It’s ironic and sad, as we watch the Gulf of Mexico, our Gulf, as it suffers the worst man-made environmental disaster in the history of the United States. Ask anybody in Louisiana. This isn’t just an oil spill – it’s liquid death.
It’s killing the environment, it’s killing jobs, and it’s killing an entire way of life on the Gulf coast. This is the largest oil spill ever.
And the best-trained personnel, using the latest, cutting-edge equipment, can’t hope to hold back the enormity of it. If this spill heads toward Texas beaches, this liquid death will kill our coast. That’s a problem.
But an even bigger part of that problem, are the attitudes of the current, Republican leaders in Texas. Remember Sarah Palin traveling the country, leading the chants of "drill baby drill?" Remember how Texas Republicans swarmed to join her on stage? “Drill baby drill” has turned into “spill baby spill.” These Republicans’ wild enthusiasm for unbridled, unregulated, and unchecked drilling has suddenly gone underground.
But it's there – just waiting for the day we look the other way. And while the rest of the world watches in dismay as the Gulf of Mexico turns to liquid death, we have a Republican Governor tragically minimizing the situation. He would have had you believe that it’s all an “act of God.” No, Governor, it’s not an “act of God.”
They are the serial crimes of a greedy oil company that tried to cut corners to save a few bucks and ended up killing people and destroying the environment because they knew that people like Rick Perry would look the other way. An accident; as if that oil just jumped out of the ground by itself.
Friends, you wouldn’t even accept that excuse from your children! So far, the Texas Republican leadership has been expressing more enthusiasm for the so-called "safety record" of BP than the concern they express for the irreversible damage the spill is doing to our environment; and to the fishing industry; and to thousands of oilfield workers potentially out of a job; and to the millions of dollars our magnificent coast brings into the Texas economy in tourism.
And guess what…I’m running against the Republican in charge of oil spill prevention and clean up in Texas. He’s minimizing the magnitude of this man-made disaster. He’s quibbling with reporters because they're using the term "spewing" instead of the term he’d prefer –"discharging." Friends, you’ve seen the live video from the gulf floor.
It looks like it's spewing to me. I’m running against the guy who travels around giving speeches on how safe deep water drilling is. And while the Republican Land Commissioner is explaining how safe BP is, Republican Congressman Joe Barton is apologizing; not to the fishing industry, not to the tourist industry, not to the oil workers’ families who lost their loved ones and not to those who lost their jobs, but to the polluters themselves.
I’m running against the guy who said, in the middle of the biggest man-made, environmental disaster in history, the man responsible for oil spill clean up, “I don’t care if renewable energy saves the planet...” He’s not interested in saving the planet. "Drill baby drill" indeed.
I've got news for the Republican leaders: it doesn't matter how many times you try to convince Texans that there's not a problem – there’s a big problem. And if the best you can do is minimize and apologize and rationalize, and shrug your shoulders, and claim that it's just one of those things then it's time for you to go.
When I'm elected Land Commissioner we’ll permit drilling only where it's safe to drill, and only after the oil companies convince me that when the unexpected happens, they'll have solutions - not excuses. And if disaster strikes, I will break them, and they will never destroy anything in Texas ever again.
Republican promoters didn’t tell Texans when they asked us to vote for these guys that part of the deal when they got into office would be for the Republican leaders to be apologists for corporations that are killing people, killing economic development, and killing our environment.
Texans know that Republicans have been running this state, that they’ve had their chance, and that they have blown it. Texans know it’s time to elect Democrats. It’s time to elect Democrats who understand that we don’t elect people to represent the needs of greedy corporations we elect people to represent Texas families. We elect people to make sure we have clean air to breathe and clean water to drink. We elect people committed to serving Texas families, not to serving oil industry executives.
When you elect me Texas Land Commissioner, I’ll prove that you don’t have to choose between protecting the environment and growing the economy. I’ll do both, because we must do both.
For your support, for your enthusiasm, for all your hard work, and for your deep commitment to Democratic values and to a better Texas, thank you!