Who "stole the safety net and defrauded the people of Texas" which includes Brownwood and Brown County Residents ?

Chris to Speak at Democratic Rally in Brownwood
Start: July 15, 2006 - 10:30am
Location: Brownwood Coliseum Annex, 500 E Baker Street, Brownwood
Chris will visit Brownwood on Saturday, July 15, to speak at a rally organized by the Brown County Democratic Party and local Democratic supporters.

The event will be held at the Brownwood Coliseum Annex beginning at 10:30 am on Saturday morning, and will be open to the public.

source: http://www.chrisbell.com/events/071506_brownwood
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Note from Blogger Steve Harris, I rode my bike over to the Brownwood Coliseum Annex this morning to see/hear/ask questions of Texas Governor Candidate Chris Bell (Democrat). When I arrived I found a room full of very friendly and engaged Brownwood and Brown County Residents who were very passionate about the issues facing Rural Texans. I asked Chris about the " Politics of Brownwood and Brown County Electric Bills" ( remember all politics is local ! and he spoke in detail and candor. For those not present at the meeting, the information found below includes some of what he stated:
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Bell calls on PUC to give aid to electric customers
By Elizabeth Pierson, The Brownsville Herald
July 11, 2006

Democratic gubernatorial candidate Chris Bell said on Tuesday he would join consumer groups in asking the state to spare elderly customers from losing electricity in the hot summer months.
In June AARP Texas, the Office of Public Utility Counsel and other consumer advocates filed a request asking the Public Utility Commission of Texas to make an emergency rule that would require electric companies to keep electricity on for elderly and some other customers until Sept. 30. The groups argue in the filing that record high electric rates combined with hotter-than-normal temperatures create a dangerous situation for frail people.
Bell is filing a comment in support of the emergency rule, said his spokesman, Jason Stanford.
In a statement, Bell criticized Gov. Rick Perry for signing into law a bill that took away $427 million from the System Benefit Fund and redirected it to the state’s general revenue fund.
Texans continue to pay a fee on their electric bills to the System Benefit Fund, designed originally to help low-income Texans pay their bills.
“We need to remember that our state budgets are moral documents that affect people’s lives, and our leaders need to start acting like it,” Bell said in a statement.
Perry’s campaign spokesman said elderly and low-income customers still enjoy some protections from the PUC and from some electric company assistance programs.
In his budget proposal to the Legislature, Perry supported leaving the System Benefit Fund intact, said spokesman Robert Black. It was the Legislature’s decision to kill the fund, Black said.
Perry has no plans to file comments on the PUC decision, Black said.
“I think the governor’s going to leave those decisions up to the PUC,” Black said. “He’s not going to micromanage the PUC.”
In the request to the PUC, consumer groups asked that companies keep power on between July 1 and Sept. 30 for residential customers who are at least 65 years old or who are registered with the state as critical care patients.
Other customers would be guaranteed power during that time if they pay at least 25 percent or $100 of their monthly bill, whichever is less. They would have to repay bills they accrue by March 2007.
The PUC is expected to consider the proposal on July 20.
source: http://www.chrisbell.com/newsroom/071206_brownsville
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Bell says governor allowed raid of fund

$427 million meant to subsidize utility bills for the elderly and poor was diverted;
By Clay Robison, Houston Chronicle
July 12, 2006

With summer temperatures soaring, Democratic gubernatorial nominee Chris Bell attempted to heat up the governor's race Tuesday by rapping Gov. Rick Perry and the Legislature for raiding a special fund designed to subsidize utility bills for senior citizens and low-income Texans.
Bell asserted that Perry "stole the safety net and defrauded the people of Texas" by allowing lawmakers last year to divert $427 million from the fund to help the state balance its budget.

source: http://www.chrisbell.com/newsroom/071206_houston?t=6
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If Rick Perry and his Republican friends "stole the safety net and defrauded the people of Texas", then they did the same to the * 6,871 Brownwood/Brown County residents. The numbers are most likely higher by now ! Call your local Republican's and ask them what the current poverty numbers for Brownwood and Brown County Texas look like !
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Brown County Texas FISCAL INFORMATION

In 1999, the Health and Human Services Commission's poverty estimates for Brown County was 6,871 or 20.16 percent of the non-institutional population. Approximately 3,307,787 Texans or 16.54 percent of the total population fell beneath the poverty line in 1999; this exceeded the U.S. poverty rate of 11.8 percent. There were 5,121 people enrolled in Medicaid in April 2002 with 2,662 of those being under the age of 18.

source: http://community.txed.state.tx.us/counties/county.cfm?id=48049