Texas Alliance Holds Great Convention

The Texas Alliance for Retired Americans held our "best ever" convention in Austin on January 27. We began by acknowledging that the terrific support we get from the National Alliance includes their recent commitment to hire a part-time organizer just for Texas! Support from the Texas labor movement included allowing us to meet at their conference site -- the excellent OMNI Southpark Hotel -- for free! Texas AFL-CIO President Becky Moeller and Secretary-Treasurer John Patrick both came to welcome us! We noted that we have strong board members that include former Texas AFL-CIO President Emmett Sheppard, former full-time lobbyist Tony Padilla, outstanding Community Action Network Director Marty Alvarado, and a strong Executive Board. Our Treasurer, Elaine Jones, announced that our finances have never been stronger. WE approved her report and a budget calling for us to raise another $12,000 for 2012 and spend it all on travel and organizing throughout the state.

It was noted that the fight against voter suppression will be very important in Texas this year. Clearly, the "Voter ID" bill and the controversial redistricting process are meant to turn the election process upside down. Instead of the voters choosing their politicians, the politicians are attempting to select which voters will be able to participate, as Attorney Rick Levy explains.

For Texas retirees over 65 years of age, a simple solution to many voting problems is to vote by mail. It is easy, convenient, perfectly legal, and free. Furthermore, it will insure that we get to cast our ballots in spite of "Voter ID" laws, thunderstorms, or last-minute transportation failures, because there are no restrictions on voting by mail. The Texas Secretary of State has all the information on voting from home, but watch this site for friendly directions.

Very little convention time was taken with administrative work, budgeting, re-electing our officers, or anything besides working on our Plan of Work for 2012. We had a broad general discussion and then broke into groups to discuss precisely whom we need to reach out to and what to say to them. Several people volunteered to contact key politicians or organization leaders.

We are on our way to a great 2012!