Play Until You Pay

TX Congressional Dist. 17 Election 2006 Post 1
Van Taylor vs. Chet Edwards

Chet’s a midnight basketball kind of guy when it comes to juvenile crime. He supports spending $61 million to fund Girls and Boys clubs which could be a real service to our community, but not when the $61 million was diverted from money allocated for violent offender imprisonment and truth-in-sentencing programs. Mr. Edwards also voted NO when it came to appropriating $1.5 billion for states to improve their juvenile justice operations: building and renovating juvenile correction facilities, hiring juvenile judges and probation officers, and most importantly development and administration of a graduated sanctions program for juvenile offenders.

However, if wayward children push that criminal free throw line until a heinous act receives the death penalty, Chet turns into an unwavering hard-liner. He voted NO on replacing death penalty with life imprisonment and YES on making death penalty appeals harder. So, with Chet it’s “Midnight Basketball” until you get the death penalty. Where’s the mercy in that? Any parent knows that instilling personal discipline and character in a young person is an everyday task. Justice is the correct response for each stage of infraction. That’s why implementing a graduated sanctions program is so important. With Chet, it’s play until you pay — big time.