Up next in 10
U.S. Senate Candidate Forum, Austin, 2011-08-20
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Jun 5, 2025
Candidates: Glenn Addison, Andrew Castanuela, Ted Cruz, Elizabeth Ames Jones, Tom Leppert, Dan Patrick, Lela Pittenger. Sponsors: Empower Texans http://empowertexans.com/ and Central Texas 9/12 Project http://centex912project.com/
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so happy for you to be here tonight welcome to the Empower Texans Central Texas 9912 US Senate candidate Forum
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thank you for being here tonight we have an exciting program for you we're so thankful that our candidates have shown
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up to give you insight into their vision and their goals as you decide who will
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best represent you in Washington DC and represent your values in Texas I'm going
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to explain to you oh by the way I'm Lisa fr nice to meet you [Applause]
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that um each candidate everything each candidate is going to
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have two minutes to answer a question specifically tailored to their vision and their background the questions will
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be asked in order that the candidates are seated and they are seated in alphabetical order our panelists will
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each ask a question in order of the way they're seated Michael Quinn Sullivan Maria Costa Andel
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Ramirez and we will just go in order from there after the question and and answer segment the candidates will have
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a two-minute oration to deliver a summary of their Vision uh for you as
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you decide who you'd like to vote for for the US Senate on your seat you will find these uh this paper with each
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senator's uh candidate's name on it we ask that you uh complete this this isn't
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for you to take notes just complete uh this with feedback that you have have for each candidate things that you
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notice things you'd like for them to explain and it's going to be a completely confidential feedback form we
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will take this and cut each candidate's name apart and they will each receive
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their individual feedback form so please make sure you do that and then there's one for the 9912 project and Empower
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Texans as well we ask that you please hold your applause until each candidate
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has completed their response and now before we get started let's meet our candidates
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our first uh candidate is Glenn Addison Glenn Addison grew up in Channel viw Texas until he was 11 he's lived in
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Magnolia Texas for the last 39 years and he spent most of his career as a self-employed businessman uh
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representing the Farmers Insurance companies and most recently owner of Magnolia funeral home and Addison
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funeral homes in Spring Texas Glenn has served on the Magnolia ISD School Board for over 14 years with six of those
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as the school board president the Magnolia Chamber of Commerce named Glenn Addison a citizen of the year and Glenn
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and Lori Addison have two grown children Glenn
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Addison next we have Andrew castella uh also known as Cass Andrew
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castella was born in Brady Texas he served in the Air Force where he was deployed to
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Thailand Korea and the Arab Emirates castella has a degree in
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social psychology and has been a licensed chemical dependency councelor with Central Texas MHMR after retiring
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from the Air Force Cass has joined the race because like most of us he says he is tired from too much government and
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the decline of the protection of American values and morals and character I think uh I will just uh say that Cass
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wins in this category as he and Diana have six children and in Brownwood Texas
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[Applause] welcome our next candidate is Ted Cruz
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Ted Cruz is the son of a Cuban immigrant and his father came to America at 18 Penning lless Cruz credits his success
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to seeing firsthand that the America's Bedrock principle of the pursuit of happiness and freedom and opportunity is
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what makes America strong Cruz went on to study at Princeton and graduated from har Magna Kum lowy where he also served
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as editors and get ready that he served as a lot he edited a lot I'm like the Harvard Law review Harvard Journal of
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Law and public policy and was founding editor of the Latino Harvard Latino law
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review Cruz has also served as director of The Office of policy planning at the
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Federal Trade Commission associate Deputy attorney general at the US Department of Justice a policy adviser
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for Bush jany in 2000 and as clerk for chief justice William winr in the US Supreme Court who was the
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first Hispanic to do so for a chief justice Ted Cruz served as solicitor general of Texas from 2003 until 2008
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and was the youngest solicitor general in the nation the longest serving in Texas and the first Hispanic solicitor
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general in Texas he currently is a partner at Morgan Lewis and Bas LLP in
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Houston where he leads the firm's US Supreme Court board in National appell at litigation practice Ted and Heidi
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Cruz have two children and live in Houston
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[Applause] Texas please also welcome Elizabeth Ames
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Jones before becoming Texas Railroad commissioner Jones served two terms in
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the Texas House of Representatives where she was the chairman of budget and oversight for the energy resources
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committee Ames Jones was the first woman elected to a leadership position in the house Republican caucus and the
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recipient of numerous Awards recognizing her work ethic and conservative leadership railroad commissioner since
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2005 Jones served as chairman for two years and was elected to a six-year term in November
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2005 regarded as an expert in energy issues Jones represents the Railroad
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Commission on the coastal coordination council is a member of the interstate oil and gas compact commission and is a
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former member of the National Association of regulatory utility Commissioners and the southern State's
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energy board her commentary on energy has appeared in journals all across the country including the Wall Street
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Journal The Washington Post and Texas business journals Elizabeth and will
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Jones have two grown children welcome Miss Jones our commissioner
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J please welcome next time Tom leopard Tom leopard has always been a
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businessman at heart raised by his single mother leopard worked his way through college earning degrees from
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McKenna college and graduating with an MBA from Harvard Business School he
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served as a White House fellow in both the treasury Department and in the White House under President Ronald Reagan as a
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businessman leopard LED National and international construction finance and real estate companies and served as CEO
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of the Turner Corporation the nation's largest building company leopard was elected mayor of Dallas in
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2007 where under his leadership Dallas became a focal point of Economic Development education and Public Safety
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as Dallas mayor leopard employed Sound business principles in common sense to cut spending and bureaucracy Tom and
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Laura have three children and live in Dallas welcome Mr [Applause]
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leard please welcome Dan Patrick Dan Patrick has been a member of the Texas Senate since 2007 and Patrick sees as
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his primary legislative accomplishment as having In God We Trust permanently
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displayed in our Senate chamber in addition he serves on the finance committee is vice chairman of Education
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serves on the criminal justice committee Health and Human Services intergovernmental relations and the
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redistributing committee all key committees for the 82nd session Patrick
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also hosts a daily radio program in Houston on am700 Dan and Jan have two grown
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children and live in Houston Texas welcome Dan
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Patrick last and certainly not least is Leela Pinger Pinger sorry pittinger was
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born in LC Texas to an agricultural family she has been a dedicated Community volunteer and activist to the
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Friends foundation and has acted as the certified um buzzman in the state of Texas where she also volunteers as a tax
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preparer for her community pittinger worked her way through college where she earned a master's degree in dispute
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resolution from SMU and in the last few years has become active in politics in Hayes County feeling the need to serve
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after becoming alarmed at the direction of the country pettinger says that she stood up to run because she did not hear
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a voice in Washington that represented her Leela and Greg have one son and live
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in the Texas Hill Country welcome Miss p
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now let's meet our panelists who will be asking the questions thank you fine candidates let's talk to Michael Quinn
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Sullivan Michael can you stand up so everyone can see your face I'll just ask the panelists to stand up since their backs are facing Michael qu Sullivan is
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president and CEO of Empower Texans and its Premier project Texas for Texans for
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fiscal responsibilities the Fort Worth Star Telegram said that Sullivan slaves
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taxpayers dragons in Austin didn't know that when the heat is on in Austin
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Michael Quinn Sullivan knows how to make it even hotter Texas monthly recently
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dubbed him the enforcer on their list of the 25 most influential Texans and a for
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as a former newspaper reporter Capitol Hill staffer and think tank vice president and Eagle Scout did it go
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Sullivan is an avid Runner who lives in Austin with his family thank you Michael Quin solivan
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next we have Maria aosta Maria aosta is the president and
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founder of Central Texas 912 project and co-chair of the national 912 project
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established in 2009 the 912 project now has active chapter active chapters in
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Williamson Hayes and Travis counties Maria LED Services organizations in high-tech for 14 years before becoming a
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conservative Grassroots activist she also serves on the board of the Williamson County conservative
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Foundation thank you Maria Nelson Ramirez please
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stand Nelson Ramirez was born in New York City from Cuban parents an entrepreneur that was involved in a
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couple of successful Austin startups I think that's your uh person you want to hit up for a donation sucessful Austin
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T I just crack this all and currently a partner in LGE
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Executives and executive consulting firm where he's currently Consulting at HP in addition he is the CEO and managing
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partner at Providence partners and Associates high-tech staff a high-tech Staffing and consulting firm he is a
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resident of Ceda park with his wife and two kids and has been in Austin in the Austin area for 20 years Nelson Ramirez
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thank you without further Ado I think it's
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time to start thank you for being here it's a privilege to be here with you all tonight thank you for coming and being
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an active part in the in the lives and politics of your community let's get started and go with our first question
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which will be for Glenn Addison and that will be coming from Maria hi Mr Addison
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given the growing size of Social Security obligations how will you address the burden new enroles place on
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the system if you go to my website which is Glenn addison.com you'll see two
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specifics that I propos to deal with that I'm a firm believer and giving uh people choices uh but those two
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specifics deal with the fact that the first thing I would immediately do is increase the age that one can initially
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begin drawing Social Security from 62 to 63 just across the board do that boom
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effective 2014 I would take office in January 2013 that's the first change and
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then for those that are retiring beginning in 2014 uh those people would take uh when
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say they expect an initial check of $1,000 it be 3/4 of a percent less than
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that and then the people that retire in 2015 compared to what they expect today it be at 1 and a half% less and so on
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and so forth because we that are younger are going to have to work longer if we
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want to receive maximum benefits and if we don't this is where our favor Choice then we're going to have to accept the
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fact that because of longevity we're going to have to receive smaller checks in the future I do not propose uh
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cutting any current recipients because are they've made their retirement plans based on that but this these series of
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cuts would eventually add up to 18% over a 24-year period and then we would give the people the choice work longer and
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and maintain those higher level of benefits or if you insist on retiring at 67 then you're not going to get as much
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as what you thought you would I believe in giving people those kind of options uh thirdly I do think that over a period
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of generations we have to remember that we didn't get into this issue overnight uh but over a period of generations I do
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think that we should look at allowing people to begin to sck money away for themselves in addition to what's being
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paid into the system and gradually over time transition to where people can have their own retirement plan that they own
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I do not think that we can do that overnight because we as a society as a country have become addicted if you will
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and used to the current system thank you our second question is for Mr Cass or
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Andrew castella and it will be from Nelson Ramirez hey Cass how you
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doing as someone who's advocated for term limits what is the maximum number
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of term uh what's the maximum number of terms should uh someone serve in the
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Senate and if elected would you abide by those that's a very good question I am
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an advocate of term limits I think a US senator shs of two terms and that's it
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me personally I can do one term and then go home because I really don't need that kind of uh headache so to speak
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but uh here's the reality how it's going to happen we have the United States Senate as well as the United States
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Representatives individuals who are not going to vote for this and there's going to have to be a compromise and the compromise is going
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to have to be those who already are in office are going to have to be grandfathered in until one of two things
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happen they retire or you kick them out that's how you're going to be able to pass this legislation because right now
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if you go to Congress and you tell them we're going to go with term Li and I put that legislation before the house as well as for the Senate you're not going
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to get approval they're going to fight you tooth and na but if you kind of give them the option say hey look you can do
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this until one or two things happen you retire or you go ahead and get kicked
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out by the by your constituents now I do want to follow up real quickly on the social security thing I think it's very important for us to take a look at
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Social Security and one of the things we need to really do is we need to kind of get the Social Security funds out of the General Revenue fund and put them back
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in Social Security trust fund and one of those things you do is you appeal the 1965 Social Security Act passed by Lyon
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Johnson which did exactly that we need to start building Social Security back Social
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Security trust fund back up and we got to start building that bank by having that out of the General Revenue fund because that's exactly what what's going
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on with our deficit right now by borrowing from that money some other things we definitely need to do with Social Security we need to stop taxing
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it people are in a fixed income they can't afford to be taxed but thanks to
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President Clinton who started taxing Social Security we need to give that money back to the individuals thank you
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thank you next we have a question for Ted Cruz Michael Quinn Sullivan Mr Cruz the 17th Amendment to
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the United States Constitution established the direct election of United States senators by popular vote
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in your opinion has this hurt the states and how do you respond to those who say this amendment should be
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repealed thank you for that question there's no doubt that the 17th Amendment changed the balance of power in this
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country before the 17th amendment was passed the Senate was responsive to the states it was the state legislator who
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were picking the Senate and as a consequence senators were not likely to vote to steal power from the states and
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draw it into Washington as part of the Progressive Movement the 17th amendment was passed and it made all Senators
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directly elected and facilitated the explosion of power in
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Washington I think the fundamental challenge for all of us in this race is to stand up and lead the fight to stop
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the Obama agenda and to dramatically shrink the size power and space ending of the federal government if we didn't
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have the 17th Amendment there is no doubt that would be an important structural check that would help us in
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that mission but I'll tell you there's another amendment that I think is even more important that we need to be focusing on and that's the 10th
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Amendment I have spent a lifetime supporting the 10th Amendment when I was a student in college my thesis in
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college was on the ninth and 10th amendments to the US Constitution in 2010 I led the center for 10th Amendment
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studies at the Texas public policy foundation and what we did in the center for 10 10th Amendment studies is
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developed a strategy to go and shrink the size power and spending of the
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federal government part of what we developed was a legal strategy to go after Obamacare because when you talk
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about the explosion of government power in Washington there is no more egregious example than Obamacare and the first
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bill that I will introduce in the US Senate is a bill to repeal every syllable of every word of Obamacare
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thank [Applause] you our next question is for Elizabeth
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Jones and Maria cost hello Miss Jones the United States has for decades
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lacked a cohesive National energy policy thereby limiting our energy Independence
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what should a policy include thank you Maria what should a
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national energy policy look like well as the chairman of the Railroad
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Commission which is the energy oversight Agency for the largest oil and natural gas producing state in the country it's
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Texas not Alaska by the way a lot of people get confused Texas had set the gold standard
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on energy oversight and because of what we do at the Railroad Commission we have
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enabled an industry to drill now drill here and drill safely
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that is very very important it wasn't under a state oversight agency like the
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Railroad Commission that the accident happened in the Gulf of Mexico it was under the federal agency so when people
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ask me about a national energy policy what I know is that the states can do it best and what we're seeing now are
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states that are getting into the game because they are becoming players because of the natural gas resources
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thanks to hydraulic fracturing and horizontal drilling old Technologies like hydraulic
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fracturing an old technology that is allowing for the unleashing of the natural gas reserves in this country
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that are keeping us safe and strong so while you need State oversight and I'm
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saying you need agencies like the Railroad Commission that have what they need to oversee an industry and make
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sure that it's done safely you don't need a department of energy you don't need thousand thousand and thousands of
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bureaucrats who report to duty every single day and you don't know what they've done to make you safer or more
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secure or more productive in any of our Lives I suggest we merge agencies get
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away from the Department of energy is looking for another study and an EPA
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that's looking for an even other study and competing studies from competing bureaucrats trying to get their market
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share of studies I suggest we cut agencies down to zero and let the states
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decide how they're going to regulate their energy industry thank
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you next question is for Tom leopard nson Ramirez Mr leopard uh we're going to get
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this one out of the way early for you okay as mayor of Dallas you sought
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support of acorn at SEIU as a candidate seeking for the the Republican
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nomination how would you categorize your relationship with these two left leaning
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organizations well I think probably the best way to start out the union is they oppose me now and so that makes it very
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clear reality of it was at that time that I ran from Air i p a bunch of organizations and I told them that you
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should support me because I was going to be the best mayor and indeed I believe that turned out to be the case in that
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situation later on the union came to me they said we need you to raise wages we need you to raise benefits my answer was
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very clear and very specific there's no justification and we don't have the money for it that's why they oppos me
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today in the terms of acorn it's a very simple one there were dozens of different forums much like this that were conducted all the way through the
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city of Dallas and all the candidates participate in those I participate in those I'll also tell you that I also
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believe it's important important for all of us to reach out and touch people I believe it's absolutely critical that we
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not only talk about a conservative agenda but we make sure that we advance a conservative agenda and I can tell you
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there's other people in the world that think differently than all of us do here it is incumbent upon us to reach out and
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make sure that we frame the problems in the right way communicate and make sure that they understand how important these
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problems are in our position and be able to adopt to those so in summary very simply Union uh doesn't support me now
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very simply because I took and and did what we should do in Washington is make that hard choice I'd also point out of
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all the candids up here I'm the only one that's ever dealt with unions across the table I'm the member that I was the one
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that was a member of the US Chamber of Commerce board not very friendly organization and I'm also Al the one
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that has called for National right to work thank you very much
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you next question is for Dan Patrick Michael Quinn solivan sen Patrick looking at the
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growing regulatory burden on small business coming from the federal government what if any limits should there be on the federal government when
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setting regulations um through the interstate through interstate commerce thank you Michael and uh let me also
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have to kind of state this up front that I'm not officially a candidate U for the Senate will make that decision in the
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next 10 days I do that to just abide by the uh rules that we have to play by um
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first of all thank you for organizing this tonight and uh I'm going to take rapid fire of a couple of these questions first of all I hope everyone
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here will sign a pledge to two terms in the Senate um on your question directly
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in the Texas Senate I've been a leader on small business I was very proud to get an A+ rating this session for
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Michael Quin Sullivan Empower Texas and the top conservative rating from Texas conservative digest and legal Forum as I
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have every session because I've led the way on promoting growth in small business we cut the small business tax
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which I was not in session when it passed in 2006 I came in 2007 but I opposed that at the time I thought the
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small business tax was intrusion if we talk about intrusion Michael at the federal level and regulations it's
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regulations intrusions at the Texas level also and so immediately I said I wanted to repeal that we've not had the
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votes to repeal it but I was able to push through legislation that cut the small business tax TA by $172 million
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and took 42,000 businesses off the roles as a US senator if I get in this race and if I were honored to have your vote
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and win we've got to focus on small business 80% of the businesses in the United States employ 50 people or less
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that's where we have to get out of the way any person who becomes your next US senator is going to go into office at a
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breaking point of whether this country survives or not this is not a time to send anyone to off to Washington without
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experience ready to take on not just Democrats but moderate Republicans and the mainstream media and mayor leopard I
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too have taken on the unions at the state level as I did this session uh fighting the Teachers Association when
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we cut uh education budget that had to be cut I want to talk more about spending and budgets in a in a future question but the bottom line is Michael
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what we all want as conservatives we want to abide by the Constitution we want limited government less spending
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and lower regulation get out of the way and give small businesses and individuals the Liberty to be successful
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in this great nation thank you for the question our next question is for Leela
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pittinger Maria aosta hello Miss pittinger hi as someone seeking to
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replace Senator K Bailey Hutcherson in the US Senate what votes has she taken
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where you would have taken a different position I think I would start is this on I it's on okay I would think I would
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start with the tar bailout I have a serious problem with that any business any organization that is so big and in
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so much trouble that it takes 50 states to bail you out we have a bigger problem than you needing money at the moment and
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I think we need to seriously look at whether you're violating the antitrust acts so I think that's a good start I
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disagree with Senator Hutcherson also when it comes to Row versus Wade her justification on not overturning Row
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versus Wade is she's worried that each of the states could become abortion Havens but if you believe in State's
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rights then you should believe that each state has the right to determine how going to support or take down abortion
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and the reality is the states are far more conservative than the federal government when it comes to abortion law
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it's especially in Texas with people like Dan Patrick who put the sonogram bill out front so I disagree with her on
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that as well a few other things I would say I disagree with her on saying you're
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going to step out and then not doing it I think that's called flip-flopping
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possibly people talk about experience and they want to know what kind of experience I have I say well if you're
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talking about lying cheating or flip-flopping on the issues I have no experience and I feel like we're getting
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way too much of that in the US Senate right now so I disagree with her on that in particular concerning a few of these
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other questions up here I think that we need to think not just on on our energy policy on a
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national level we have to think Beyond Just Energy security we need to think about a few other things like food
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security right now in this country we import more of our food than we're producing
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in the early 1900s a third of this nation was agrarian in nature it is now 1% or less if something happened that we
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had to that ports were closed not only to oil and gas but possibly to food our country would be in serious trouble if
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we were all to start tomorrow to try to grow our own food it would take seven years for our nation to be food secure
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food independent so when people talk to you about security I want you to think Beyond just the oil and gas and that how
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it adds to the cost I want you to think about what are we doing to protect our food as well thank
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you conclude and we go to the second round starting with Glenn Addison Nelson
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Ramirez Mr Addison it was a pleasure meeting you earlier what uh should the role of the
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Federal Government be in developing our economy I'm glad you talked about that or asked that question because I'd like
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to to first begin with three problems that we have with our economy one is Mr Obama he's got to be fired um and and
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that's step one secondly we have got to restore the Constitution and by that I mean that article one section one is
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blatantly disregarded on a daily basis we have federal agencies and departments that are dictating to We the People and
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to the States on a daily basis telling us how to live how to conduct our Affairs and and that must stop and so if
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I'm Senator most of the legislation that I introduce will begin with the following five words this bill is to
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repeal and fill in the blank those departments and agencies must be dismantled because right now as a
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businessman I can tell you that the heavy foot of the federal government is on the neck of the American economy and
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the way that you get that boot off is by giving those powers to regulate back to the States and then then it should be up
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to Texas to decide how to deal for example with the lizard in the sandom lizard in Midland Odessa and if we don't
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like the way our legislators deal with that we can fire them we can't fire anybody from the EP but across the board
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if it doesn't deal with with nuclear for example it needs to go back to the States all these regulations because the
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states are incredible innovators of or it's a they're great incubators of innovation States compete against one
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another give those regulations back to the States and let them compete so that we can get this economy going again the
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next thing I would do is cut the corporate tax from 35 to 25 across the board except for manufacturing in which
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case I would show bias toward manufacturing it bothers me profound that we don't make very much stuff in
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this country anymore okay you pick up an item it says made in China Vietnam somewhere other than the US I would say
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make it here and and we'll give you a 10% corporate tax rate and Across the Nation I would say to corporations
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reopen these factories that you have closed rehire American workers and for
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10 years we won't charge you one dime of corporate tax on anything that you make in these reopen plants I predict that
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the hiring would begin [Applause]
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our next question is for Andrew Casta Michael Quin Sullivan Mr Casta what's
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the nature and role of America on the world stage and how do we best fulfill
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that role thank you nature and the role role
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too different wow well first of all President Obama didn't help us a lot
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with that to be honest with you one of the things we're looking at World stage or we're looking at foreign policy you
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have to look at the role that our allies play in that process our allies are the ones who are the Forefront who are going
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to assist us not only economically but strategically from a military perspective we need to re-engage our
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friendships and our commitments to our allies including redeploying the nuclear weapons or the
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the Sams back in eastern block country we need to get the Russians to let them know we're still in the game of
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Defending ourselves we keep on forgetting the concept that it's just Iraq and it's just uh the Taliban and in
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al-Qaeda but I'm sorry North Korea didn't go anywhere China didn't go anywhere and neither did Russia and and
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on top of that they're actually building their military weapons as a matter of fact China built their first aircraft carrier just not too long ago you see we
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got to start thinking beyond the concept of just one thing the other thing has to do even with Israel for instance right
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now C Lei is proposing a cutting off the funding for special Elite forces in
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Israel right now just because he feels like they're doing human human uh violations or human rights violations
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but what the heck are the dog on Hamas doing you see this is where the concept that they kind of lose s sight of
31:35
exactly what is going on from the foreign perspective what we need to do is we need to reestablish those friendships and we need to start
31:42
utilizing that to our advantage okay I do want to also expand that yes I do work with unions because when you're in
31:48
the United States military we have one of the biggest civil services in the world and when you have to deal with
31:53
stewards and labor unions to try to do pay raises and and bonuses there's a lot of other stuff you got to do cuz it
31:59
takes an act of Congress to go through that process um I think that's what we need to be
32:05
focused on and reference to that thank you thank you next we have a question for Ted Cruz
32:13
Maria aosta hello Mr Cruz how do you respond to criticism that since the Attorney
32:19
General chooses the solicitor General's causes you don't have an official record of your
32:25
own thank you Maria for that question well I will say I am deeply honored to have been appointed by Texas Attorney
32:32
General Greg Abbott in 2003 when he became attorney general and I spent five and a half hour five and a half years
32:39
and many many hours more hours than I can do the
32:44
math serving under General Abbott and I'll tell you General Abbot is my dear friend and mentor and I think he's the
32:51
finest attorney general in all 50 states [Applause]
32:58
and there is no doubt whatsoever that if we didn't have a strong principal attorney general in that office we would
33:04
not be able to stand up and lead the fight but I'll tell you when I started in that job early 2003 I sat down with
33:10
General ab and he gave me the following marching orders he said look across the country and if we can stand up and fight
33:17
to defend conservative principles go and do it and talk about an incredible job mate as the solicitor general I was the
33:24
chief lawyer for the State of Texas in front of the US Supreme Court and all the state and federal appellant courts
33:30
and with that mandate and with the support of General Abbott we began leading the conservative fights all over
33:37
this country we defended The Ten Commandments we went to the US Supreme Court we won 54 we defended the Pledge
33:42
of Allegiance we went to the US Supreme Court we won unanimously you take an issue like the Second Amendment the
33:48
Second Amendment is an issue I've been passionate on all my life my very first client when I was a baby lawyer at a law
33:55
firm was the NRA when the DC gun case was happening and
34:00
the second amendment was under attack Texas took the lead assembling a coalition of states and defending the
34:06
Second Amendment I had the honor of arguing in the court of appeals in support of the individual right to keep in be arms we went to the US Supreme
34:14
Court and we won 54 over and over again as solicitor
34:20
general I was honor to stand up and lead the fights in court to write the briefs
34:26
to argue the case and to find the cases with attorney general's support that we would fight and win and that's the
34:32
record I am proud to run on thank you next we have Elizabeth Ames
34:40
Jones Nelson Ramirez so in your current role
34:46
overseeing energy policy here in the state the EPA is on the brge of targeting Texas with a rule that could
34:52
undermine Texas electric grade because of air pollution how will you and in your
34:59
current capacity and or as Senator uh improve the relationship and and fight for
35:04
Texas if you're asking me thank you Nelson that's a the question is about the EPA and what they are doing now
35:12
attacking Texas in another way yet another way to uh put the breakes on our
35:19
growth and prosperity and our job creation and our independence and our
35:25
rugged wild catter spirit that EPA has us in their sight you're talking about
35:30
the cross state air pollution controls that the EPA is mandating yet another uh
35:37
range of regulations on electric generation plants that's the oversight
35:43
of the TCEQ and uh and the Pu the Pu but the
35:50
Railroad Commission has the same problem with energy generation from the ground below and the EPA is trying to to put
35:57
the brakes on the over on the uh production of Texas oil and natural gas
36:03
yet another bureaucracy that has Texas in its scope just like the department of
36:09
energy that has Texas in its scope to try and undermine what we here in Texas
36:15
have created for so long and what I would do would be able to cut the funding of an agency that has gone Rogue
36:22
we haven't even talked about the US fish and wildlife and the lising of a lizard in the oil pack of the greatest uh oil
36:30
field that has this nation has known that produces 20% of all our oil and that's in the perum Basin over in West
36:36
Texas there're another lizard and the eagle for the new Shale play in South Texas it's creating jobs and prosperity
36:43
these are not the only federal agencies that have us in their sites though it's not just interior It's Not Just Energy
36:51
it's not just the EPA and we got to have somebody with the experience and the knowhow to go up there and know where
36:57
the devil is and that is in the details to cut these agencies cut the umbilical
37:02
cord release us from the growing federal government the largest expansion since
37:08
the new deal and I'm the person who can do that and I'll talk to you I see time
37:13
I can barely see time there but they told me it's up thank
37:19
you next we have a question for Tom leopard Michael Quinn Sullivan Mr
37:24
leopard you've said you want to simplify the tax code Mak more straightforward and fair what specific changes would you
37:31
support that would make the tax code more fair for individuals and Families
37:36
First I'll be very specific on how I would do that I'll deal with it on the individual and then I'll move to the business what is absolutely critical is
37:43
that we reform the tax code and change the framing of this argument as opposed to one group wins and one group loses
37:49
but instead address the real issue the real issue is we have to have an economy that's going to grow that's going to
37:54
grow substantially above the projections that we're seeing today and what we have is fundamentally a stag stagnant economy
38:00
so what we would do on the individual side is make it a very simple straightforward a much broader process
38:06
today we have 51% of the people in this nation that don't pay taxes that's a problem for all of us that do so what we
38:12
need to do is again be very specific flatten it eliminate all of the deductions with the exception of only
38:18
two charitable and mortgage interest those stay other than that all go out a very large deduction on the front end
38:25
for individuals and especially for families then move over to the corporate side today we have a corporate tax rate
38:32
of 35% at one time the United States corporate tax rate was one of the lowest in the industrialized world today it's
38:37
at the highest it needs to be 19% the median across the industrialized world is 18 to 20 we need to be at the 19%
38:45
that will not only re-energize investment here but it'll also bring what I estimate hundreds of billions of
38:50
dollars back in addition to that we've got to eliminate double taxation double taxation comes from dividends it comes
38:57
from state taxes and it comes from gift taxes those need to be eliminated and go forward finally we need to encourage
39:03
investment that investment is reflected for the most part on capital gains that capital gains needs to be at 15 15%
39:10
those are the changes that we need to make again to energize this economy and grow it and also create a tax system
39:16
that all of us can have faith in with doing this we could reduce the filing for most Americans to literally down to
39:22
a page probably not any more than the receipt that you got at the fast food place that you went to for lunch today
39:29
those are the specific examples of that uh I can tell you that not only will it make it a better situation a fair
39:35
situation for all of us it will make it simpler broader flattener and importantly grow this economy thank you
39:42
thank you and Patrick has a question from
39:48
Maria Costa hello Senator Patrick given the known fiscal and other policy
39:54
challenges facing Texas in the 2013 session should Texans be concerned that
40:00
Lieutenant Governor duur State Senator Mike Jackson and yourself are running for federal office rather than directing
40:06
your energy and experience on issues closer to home I'm not an official candidate yet but uh the governor oh
40:13
he's not here jly noted let me talk about the the budget
40:20
for a moment because this is important at the federal level we bring in about 2.4 trillion a year and we spend 3.7 we
40:26
spend 795 billion in pensions 964 billion for the military 882 billion for
40:33
welfare 130 billion for education and 160 billion for everything else the
40:39
problem that we have with the federal government is they will not make the tough choices to cut where they have to
40:46
cut when you add up the programs I just mentioned defense welfare pensions education and other it's 3.1 billion of
40:53
the total budget this past session I served on finance and there were 10 Republicans five Democrats I was the
41:00
only Republican on the committee who voted no on the budget because they wanted to spend three billion of the
41:07
rainy day fund for the next budget and I let a group of six other Republicans not on finance and we stopped that and we
41:14
made the tough choice because you have to make tough choices in the in the Texas budget 92% of every dollar is
41:22
Education Health Care and Public Safety so we're going to have a problem in the next session make no mistake we're going
41:29
to probably face about a$1 15 billion shortfall good that we kept the rainy day fund I'm glad we prevailed on that
41:34
so the question is why am I considering running for this I can't speak for David duur and I cannot speak for Mike Jackson
41:40
what they're doing and surely can't speak for the governor for what he's doing um here's here's my final analysis
41:47
it's not about offices you want to win or you think you can win I think if I get in the race I have a good opportunity to make the runoff with the
41:53
rich guy and maybe beat him in the runoff it's where we can best serve and the reason and I've only had about five
42:00
weeks to to my do my due diligence on this race since special session ended and my constitutional responsibility was
42:06
to focus on that not this race but the decision I'm going to make in the end is not about me but where can I best serve
42:11
and if I make the decision with the best place I can serve it's just staying in the Texas Senate then that's the decision I will make the decision is
42:18
going to be where I can best serve not the office I want to win and I'll make that decision in the next seven to 10
42:23
days so I hope I answer the question thank you thank you [Applause]
42:29
Leela pittinger and Nelson Ramirez has your question how you
42:35
doing you have referred to children as the youngest victims in the debate on
42:40
illegal immigration what do you mean by that I do not believe taxpayers should
42:47
be required to pay for the Education Health Care or care of illegal immigrant
42:53
children I do not you believe you should be by force required to support people who are
42:59
breaking the law but a 2-year-old a 5-year-old a 12-year-old cannot help
43:07
what their parents did by bringing them over here and while we're deciding what to do with their parents whether we're
43:13
going to send them back or under this Administration just go ahead and let them stay I believe that the children do
43:20
need care and I believe we need non-governmental organizations to lead the way on that and if you believe in it
43:27
then you should be able to donate your money to that cause and help in that way but you should not be requiring law
43:32
abiding citizens to pay for the care of people who are breaking the law so when I say that they are just truly a victims
43:40
in this that's what I mean they cannot help what their parents did they cannot help they can't help themselves they
43:46
can't walk out and hire an attorney to work on becoming citizens but they still need care and whatever we do to the
43:53
least of these we will have to answer for I believe to our creation so if you believe as an individual in
43:59
giving to a charity that helps with their healthare with their education with even teaching them English because there's a possibility the government
44:05
won't send them back then that should be your right to give that money but it's not your right to require everybody else
44:12
to pay for someone else breaking the law and having benefits accordingly which I think leads to the question if someone's
44:19
born here do we have Birthright citizenship and I think there needs to be some clarification on that amendment
44:25
to the Constitution I believe when they wrote that Amendment it was to care for people who were brought over here by
44:30
force in murderous ways for murderous reasons and they had no finances to go back to where their home was that is not
44:38
the case of the people who were coming over here giving birth to children and then staying permanently for benefits I
44:44
think we have to make an adjustment to that when it comes to Birthright citizenship I personally believe that the parent that is giving birth needs to
44:51
be a US citizen in order for the child to be a US citizen so thank you for that question Nelson you
44:58
this concludes the question and answer portion of our for we now move on to the twom minute summaries of each candidate
45:05
the candidates have pre-drawn a number in The Green Room to determine the order in which they speak and our first
45:11
candidate tonight is Andrew Cella it's the first time after all these I get to be be the first I'm
45:17
usually the last one so that was on my lucky day first of all let me say thank you very much for inviting us uh youall
45:23
did an excellent job putting this together and I really like the format it really gives us an opportunity to expand and I like the drill questions because
45:28
that's the way they should be to be honest with you we were in there taking a picture earlier and all do respected Ross perau but I felt like Ross pero CU
45:35
I was the shortest one in the picture I said God damn on stage in the debates but with that said let me go
45:41
ahead and expand a little bit of why I feel like I would I I will make your next US
45:48
senator every candidate is a great candidate from my left to right be
45:54
honest with you we hang out together we know each other inside and out and they're great people and each one of us
45:59
has their own strengths some of us in business some of us are in law some of us in family more in business I'm in
46:07
energy so you ask yourself what the heck is this guy know about what is he going to do for me well the only thing I bring
46:14
to the table is really what every one of those other agencies really need
46:21
leadership leadership that is what every citizen wants we want to be able to trust
46:27
our elected officials that they stand by their word we want to be able to trust and say if you say you're going to go
46:33
for 6 years or you're going to go for 12 that you do that you say that you're going to drop out of the race that you're going to drop out of the race you
46:39
say you're not going to raise taxes you don't raise taxes if you're going to say you're going to stand for American except
46:44
exceptionalism then you stand by American exceptionalism you do not go
46:49
behind the curtains now this whole whole race in my opinion is built on one thing
46:56
Trust that's what it really is trust who do
47:01
you trust and I leave you this question who would you trust to put not only your
47:07
family but your country in their hands to make sure it's taken care of not only for you but for your kids and your
47:15
grandkids I've proven that trust and I don't have a problem dying for it again thank
47:24
you ler thank you again all of you for coming out thank you to the panelists I think
47:30
this was wonderful because you got to see a little step further behind just what's on our website so I hope you will
47:35
go to our websites because there's much more information this is just scratching the surface why am I running I looked up
47:42
and I didn't see my voice in the US Senate I looked at the fact that we only have one conservative woman in the
47:48
entire US Senate and she's also the only one who's undoubtedly the pro-life woman
47:53
in the US Senate I believe that voice is more more than one1 100th of this nation
47:59
and I think it's important we take that voice forward I have a passion for my country and I have a passion for
48:04
actually living values and not letting them just be talking points I think it's time that we have candidates who are
48:11
living like the rest of us who are experiencing the economy the same way we are that are struggling the same way we
48:16
are and have lived through the real effects of legislation being passed in Washington DC because I can tell you
48:22
this much the folks that are living up there sure aren't living through it I think time that we get people who are
48:28
having to get different experiences to get through life as much as I love attorneys we have 60 attorneys in the US
48:35
Senate right now I think we need more variety when it comes to perspectives and training and background and
48:40
interactions with people I think it's time that we get New Perspective when it comes to what do we do if this fails and
48:48
it can't just be about blame the other person if you're looking for someone to go to Washington DC and be on fa Fox
48:55
News shakeing finger and calling people names and blaming someone that I'm definitely not your person because I'm
49:01
up there to get a job done I'm not get going up there to get play the blame game I think both parties have done
49:07
their fair share of making a mess in this country but I believe without a doubt the people who are standing up now
49:13
and getting involved after what they've seen in the last few years are going to change all that and I think that we can
49:19
change all that but that means we're going to have to do things differently we can't do Politics as Usual and we can't be picking our candidates by the
49:26
way the pollsters say we should because the folks who make the most money from this want you to continue to do it the
49:32
same old way I encourage you to look around take a look at each candidate and ask yourself will this person truly be a
49:39
voice like mine in Washington DC I believe I will and I hope you go to my website Leela for senate.com to learn
49:46
more thank you very much
49:52
CR thank you very much for being here tonight we're in an extra ordinary time
49:57
in our nation's history Barack Obama is the most radical president this nation's
50:02
ever seen and we're out here on a Saturday night because we're concerned
50:07
about the future our kids inherit if we don't stop the explosion of spending and Power in
50:15
Washington America will cease to be a free market Nation now in this Senate primary race
50:21
you have one simple question before you that let me suggest you should answer which candidate is best prepared to
50:30
stand up and lead the fight to stop the Obama agenda to defend free market
50:37
principles and to defend the Constitution the stakes couldn't be hired just two weeks ago the credit of
50:44
the United States was downgraded for the first time in their history of our nation if I had suggested that a year
50:50
ago that would have been crazy talk that the US credit would be downgraded and the president the had the audacity
50:57
to blame that on the tea party you know that's a little bit like Charlie Sheen blaming it on the Betty
51:04
Ford Clinic it's not understanding the cause of the
51:10
problem I'm running for Senate based on a proven record of over a decade over
51:16
and over again standing up fighting to defend conservative principles and winning on a national level one of the
51:24
most significant fights was the medine fight where we stood up and fought the world Court we fought the United Nations
51:29
we fought the president of the United States I argued it twice in front of the US Supreme Court and we defended us
51:36
sovereignty and won 63 my dad came to Austin in 1957 when he
51:43
was 18 he couldn't speak a word of English he had no possessions he had $100 in his underwear and he worked as a
51:49
dishwasher just down the street making 50 cents an hour he had been imprisoned
51:54
and tortured in Cuba and when I was a kid told me over and over again when we faced oppression in Cuba I had a place
52:01
to flee to if we lose our freedom here where do we go that's why I'm running
52:07
thank
52:15
you next we have Tom leopard thank you um thank you to um Central Texas 912 and
52:21
to empower Texas for putting this on and thank you for each one of you being here um we over the course last hour so have
52:27
talked a lot of issues we've talked everything about the United States position in the world to various policy
52:33
matters the reality of it is it is all tied to a strong and growing economy the
52:40
reality of where we stand today is the fiscal mess in Washington with people who haven't told us the truth has led us
52:47
to near bankruptcy and being considered the same breath as countries like Greece
52:52
and Spain we also have an economy that stag here in Texas we saw that our unemployment rate went to 9.4% 8.4% and
53:00
the national was slightly over 9% that would be fine if it was the right number the right number on the
53:06
national level is a lot closer to 16% because again Washington wants to play with the
53:12
numbers for too long we have sent politicians to Washington politicians who wanted to be
53:18
career politicians or wanted to have a life in public office people that haven't created jobs
53:26
they haven't sign both sides of a paycheck and the reality of it is if we don't address the strength of our
53:32
economy and see it grow strong and address the fiscal mess and we're not going to have a strong Nation I was
53:38
raised by a single mom she worked very hard every single day to support us but what she was really working for was to
53:44
give me a better life and fortunately she did we're the first going to we're
53:50
going to be the first generation 13 Generations that's not going to be able to pass on something better and
53:55
stronger now we can go ahead and send the same people to Washington and we'll have the same
54:00
things happen or we can send some people that have actually had to make some tough choices on spending in the public
54:05
and the private sector we can send somebody that's actually created jobs not talked about 7-second sound bites
54:12
and that first paragraph of let's cut spending let's create jobs but someone that's actually created jobs my last
54:18
position I created 2,300 jobs the reality of it is we have to have people that have led something
54:24
three years ago this National elected someone that made good speeches and had never
54:29
let what is that got us we need different leadership
54:36
leadership that's committed to making the tough choices and that's wild for myself thank you very much for having
54:42
[Applause] me as a small businessman when I have a
54:50
bad month nobody bails me out I'm sick and tired of career politicians and establishment candidates and the elitist
54:56
is telling me how I need to vote we've got people all over the state that are uh committing Insanity every two years
55:02
by voting the same way over and over and over and I'm tired of it and so I offer myself as a common man who's got some
55:09
common sense Solutions go to my website check me out now uh some of us have uh
55:14
been talked down to because we've not argued before the highest court in the land but I'll tell you what when I was
55:19
in college I thought Co and pal was a good conservative because he worked for a good conservative so just because you
55:24
work for a conservative doesn't make you a good conservative if you don't have a record of making your own paycheck and
55:30
not being on the government payroll Etc okay and so I'm a bit tired of being talked down to because I'm a common man
55:35
now I will tell you this we need somebody up there that will take the fight to them that has the backbone to
55:40
stand up and say no more this will not stand now we got some people on this stage that have quite a few hooks in
55:47
them already in fact when they go to the airport they they have to go through a special way because the machine starts
55:52
going off with all those hooks in them you see nobody's got their hooks in Glenn Addy okay I'm a bit tired of doing
55:58
the same thing over and over again and expecting different results now I'll give you an example of how common sense
56:04
should be taking place and it's not on the Schoolboard in Magnolia we wanted to have our pre kindergarten kids go
56:11
Tuesday and Thursday one week Monday Wednesday Friday the next week that way we could eliminate midday bus routes it
56:17
would save our district $240 something, a year would save across the state of Texas tens of millions of dollars guess
56:24
what we were told no can't do it that way and we say why because we say so
56:30
it's time that we have people with some common sense in Washington DC that will get up there and like Charlton hon said
56:36
you'll pry my gun from my cold dead hands all right I don't mind telling you
56:41
that we better get away from doing the same thing over and over again because this this nation is circling the drain
56:48
okay if we keep doing the same thing over and over we are going down and so you people that get this little tingly
56:53
feel on your left leg when you hear a good speech you need to get over that and look at all of us and save this
56:59
country before it's too late well well then
57:06
Mr next is Elizabeth Ames Jones thank you all thank you so much for being here
57:11
on a Saturday night and all of us could be doing a lot of other things but nothing gives me a greater privilege
57:17
than being able to be here and stand up to you and ask you for your vote and your support I stood for election 10 11
57:25
years ago and the people elected me to be a citizen legislator legislator to go
57:31
and fight for them in the halls of government right down the road I wasn't hired by anybody and I'm not the
57:37
smoothest talking person but you know what I've got the core convictions that were born and bread in Texas and I've
57:43
been steeped in them from the time at the dinner table I come from the people
57:49
who cleared the land been here for generations and I know what makes Texas
57:57
great and it's not the party it's not the Republican party it's not all these
58:02
associations it's the people it is you you are the root of all the great things
58:08
that have happened in this state and all the great things that are going to happen in this country Margaret Thatcher
58:14
said we have no Liberty without economic Liberty that was a great question Michael what can the government do they
58:20
can do nothing they have to unleash the entrepreneurship and the innovation
58:26
the Ingenuity of the American people and let it go they have to get out of the way and live up to the founding fathers
58:34
and their vision for the country for years and decades and generations to come the precious 10th Amendment yes it
58:41
is my favorite Amendment too Ted and I didn't just talk about it I didn't write a paper about it I lived it and people
58:47
elected me to uphold it in the Texas legislature where you are closer to the people and the federal government is
58:55
doing too much and they have got to cut that cord and send back to the people so
59:00
you all can be part of the process and they have to do less and be more
59:05
efficient and let us be live up and live our own
59:11
dreams so yes I am running for the United States Senate I was elected as a citizen legislator I know what it means
59:19
yes I was picked and then elected to be an energy Steward and I've worked hard for the people of Texas and I think the
59:26
proof is in the numbers it's been a great privilege to be serving you here I look forward to serving you later and
59:33
living up to the dreams of all of the people in this room and those who can't be with us tonight God bless you all and
59:39
God bless Texas thank
59:44
you thank you Dan Patrick thank you thank you for coming out on this
59:50
Saturday I do have a tough decision to make because Maria is right if Rick Perry and David D first get elected I
59:58
think there's a likelihood both it could the Texas Senate will pick the next Governor lieutenant governor potentially
1:00:05
there's constitutional question on that and I have to decide do I want to be in that fight or do I want to run for this
1:00:11
office because that is a key fight for us I don't want to see 12 Democrats and four Republicans pick the next governor
1:00:18
and there'll need to be someone there on the line to fight when I ran for office in 2006 I was the last guy in the race I
1:00:23
was up against two house chairman the lobby supported them and they said Dan doesn't have a chance and because of the
1:00:29
issues not because of me because of the issues we won that race with 69% of the vote in the story to vote and it was it
1:00:36
was the beginning of the tea party we didn't call it the Tea Party then but it was the Grassroots and I made a pledge
1:00:41
that I would be the most conservative Senator and lead the Senate to the right and Michael Quinn Sullivan knows that I
1:00:47
have because every session I've been in I'm ready either the top with the second most conservative member and I passed
1:00:53
legislation to help business to put under God in our pledge in God we trust in the Senate the sonogram bill and I
1:00:58
led the fight to reduce spending you need to send someone to Washington who's ready to go and who has been tested the
1:01:05
Bible says know them by their fruits I've cast Over 12,000 votes in three sessions you can look at the record go
1:01:12
to danpatrick.org if I'm not in this race it's going to be because I think I can serve conservative cause better in
1:01:18
Texas and I hope you will pick the best person you think will fight for you in my closing minute what I want to say
1:01:25
this is really about you it's not about us politicians come and go we're there for a short time some are there too long
1:01:32
but the issues never change the conservative principles and values that our constitution was founded upon are
1:01:39
the same then they're the same today and the path for this country Out of This
1:01:45
Disaster that we're in under this current Administration will be based on conservative principles and values you
1:01:51
need to send whomever it is you select and if I'm in the race I hope you'll give me consideration you need to select
1:01:56
someone who has a proven record that you can count on will hit the ground running will take on Democrats the mainstream
1:02:01
media and moderate Republicans and put this country back on the track of those conservative values that our constitution was founding upon thank you
1:02:08
it's been a privilege to be
1:02:14
here that concludes the Forum portion of our program we just like to thank you all for sharing your time with us this
1:02:21
Saturday night of course this event would not be possible without so many people who help pull this together would
1:02:27
you please join me and giv a warm welcome uh Applause to our sponsors Empower Texans and the central Texas 9
1:02:34
12 project along with several volunteers who helped us with the logistics coordinating the room the communications
1:02:40
and getting these candidates here just uh let me say all the names and then we can thank them together thank you Debbie
1:02:46
depal thank you Lori and Amy Mark Smith our photographer Andrew Kerr with the
1:02:53
logistics I'm sorry You' got a camera there he's perpetrating Mark Smith we'll thank
1:02:58
you too Bob Green Mark Smith the photographer for Central Texas 912
1:03:03
project and Maria aosta Nelson M mirez and Michael Quinn Sullivan thank you we
1:03:09
hope that you learned something tonight from these candidates and we appreciate your service and your leadership and we
1:03:14
also hope you had to answer some tough questions we hope you've given some insight into who you should vote for
1:03:20
following this please meet our candidates in the foyer where they will be able to answer questions from you give you some cute bumper stickers and
1:03:28
uh and just meet you and and get to know you on a a more personal level before we leave I'd also like to leave with a
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quote from uh one of Texas's most influential uh members of the Texas
1:03:41
Senate and who later went on to be a us congresswoman to one of my heroes Barbara Jordan and that is we only want
1:03:47
we only ask that when we stand up and talk about one nation under God Liberty
1:03:54
Justice for every every body we only want to be able to look at the flag put our right hand over our hearts repeat
1:04:01
those words and know that they are true God bless you God bless Texas and God bless the United States of America oh I
1:04:07
have one more thing wait clap one a second I have one more thing look in your pamphlet and if you do have a
1:04:14
bookmark that looks like this check your pamphlet do you have it you do
1:04:22
congratulations I'm giving away copies of my book Obama tea party is in God in the foyer and so if you have one of
1:04:28
these and has a signature on it please meet me out there to get your free signed copy thank you
1:04:36
[Applause]
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