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Chris Bell in Waxahachie tonight

Texas Gubernatorial Candidate Chris Bell, D-Houston, spoke to the Ellis County Democratic Women tonight. Great speech, fired up many of the Ellis County Democrats in attendence.
One of the most interesting quotes of the night, on the issue of stem-cell research:
“Jesus never said to heal the sick only if politics doesn’t get in the way. Jesus didn’t call a pollster before healing the leaper.”
Bell admitted his interest in Stem Cell research was personal, after losing his mother to Parkinson’s Disease in 1999 and his wife’s recent battle with breast cancer.
“What kind of son or husband would I be if I didn’t fight for a cure so that other families don’t have to go through these kind of things?”
I’ll post a few pictures from tonight a little later and I’ll post my full story, including questions from my sit-down with the Congressman on Monday.

County Judge Chad Adams

Interviewed Ellis County Judge Chad Adams this week. Here’s a preview of the full interview to run Sunday in the Waxahachie Daily Light.

(regarding the Ellis County Facilities Committee)WDL: Do you feel that they had enough tools and authority to do the job they were asked to do? Some people have said that they weren’t able to do their job at times.CA: There’s a concept – and this is from the mission field – but a man told me and I’ve forgotten his name now but he worked in the administration.
I don’t know if you know this, but that’s why I came back – to get my degree in administration — to actually go back and serve as an administrator in the field. What you have is a lot of missionaries who want to be in the bush country but because of the need for administration they end up in administration and don’t do a good job. So I felt like my gifts were good in administration so pursued an administration degree to go back and be a missionary.
But this Australian administrator looks at me and says in an Australian accent, with his blue eyes and black hair – and he was hot about something, “Let me tell you something. You can never have the responsibility without the authority. And you can never have the authority without the responsibility. They always have to be the same. You remember that.” And I did. And that concept has been wonderful.
Ultimately the court was and is responsible for the decisions that we make for this county. So I think that though some may argue the authority of the group was limited, it’s because the responsibility of the group was limited.

WDL: What then fell off track? What led you into county judge if your plan was to go back to the mission field?
CA: I guess I helped Bob Carrol in his race when he first ran for county court at law. And its funny how many people consider Bob Carrol a good friend and I guess I’m one of those. Because he is such a good friend to people. But I think that was my introduction into politics, while I was finishing up my degree in administration. And once that was completed it was just natural to slide into running for office.
We ran for justice of the peace. And an interesting dynamic is that running for public office is sort of like being a missionary. You’ve got to get your message out. You have to send your letters out for your fundraising efforts. You raise the funds and then you go and serve. It’s similar in that scope.
And I think all along my wife and I have been committed to investing our lives into other people and ultimately that’s where we see our eternal reward coming from. And this is just a natural extension of that concept.

WDL: Do you have plans to go back?
CA: To the mission field? You know I want to take my family, when the girls are old enough on a summer mission trip. It’s so important for my girls to see that they are not the only person in this universe. We develop a very selfish attitude if we think that way. and I think the girls, I want them to have a global perspective. And I think when they’re up to it we’ll make a very strong effort to do that.
My wife has done many short term mission trips in Mexico. We’ve done some together as a husband and wife. It was an interesting dynamic. I’m a take charge kind of guy and I was invading her territory in a way. But she’s an awesome girl and I’m very thankful for her.
I know this is a side note, but my personality has to have someone like my wife and she simplifies things so well. She is a very wise woman. I’ll come home with an issue and I can’t give her the entire details, but I give her a nutshell and she gives me a nutshell answer back — and she’s right. I don’t know how she does it, but it’s kind of like that intuition, wise aspect of summing the issue up and summing up what’s really going on.

WDL: What things have you taken from the mission field and put it into your public service?
CA: I don’t want to take God and throw Him up for purpose of getting elected. But honestly when you’re walking with the Lord and a decision comes — and I’m human and I don’t do this every time — but when you’re walking with the Lord, there is a voice of wisdom that is present. And it doesn’t matter which decision you face but it’s usually a right decision if you head that voice of wisdom. But if you’re not walking with the Lord and you’re not in fellowship with Him then you lack wisdom.
And if you’ve ever studied wisdom in scripture it’s an awesome live, living thing. In fact it’s an extension of God Himself.
I think decisions on the court, and in the court, and in daily routine are similar to the mission field because when you’re on the mission field there is always a crisis. When you go over there you don’t know how things are going to work out. You have to be flexible. And you’re always praying, “Lord I we’ve got this circumstance, we’re trusting you right now to take care of this situation.”
Today I was in a meeting and I went to the restroom to freshen up, and its become a standard operating procedure for me, it’s a conscious effort to say, “God You are in control, I don’t know how this meeting is going to go but I give it to you,” and it was a great meeting — I’m glad I didn’t forget to do that. But I think constant fellowship with the Lord is something I really learned on the mission field because maybe you’re up against a nation or a country or region of people that you have no way of politically manipulating, motivating or working through, you just have to say, “God I trust you.” I guess that was a big concept burned into my mind in distributing the grain to the people on the mission field — just trusting the Lord.

The Wright Conclusion

All parties involved have settled on an agreed conclusion to the Wright Ammendment.
The ammendment will spontaniously combust after eight years.
Here are some points of the compromise from various sources:

  • Immediate through ticketing for Southwest to anywhere domestically.
  • Wright is gone after eight years.
  • International flights only to D/FW International.
  • Reduce Love Field from 32 to 20 gates.
  • City of Dallas will negotiate a voluntary noise curfew at Love between 11 p.m. and 6 a.m.
  • Dallas will redevelop portions of Love consistent with the updated Love master plan. City will demolish the Legend terminals. City will modernize main gate, spending between $150 million to $200 million on the deal, not including the price of acquiring the six Legend terminals. Some of those costs will be rolled into landing fees and space rental charges. All these improvements have to be made by the time the Wright Amendment is repealed fully.
  • Both cities will oppose any attempt to initiate commercial passenger air service at any airport other than D/FW for the eight year period.
  • No new esate exemptions to Wright during the eight year period.
  • If Southwest operates from another airport within an 80 mile radius of Love in addition to its operations at Love, then for every such gate that Southwest operates at another airport it will voluntarily relenquish that same number at Love, up to eight gates. Same for American, witht he max at one and a half of its gates. Gates will be put on the market. If no one else claims them, the the airline can have the gates back on a sharing basis with anyone else who comes along. This penalty stays on the books until 2025.
  • Congress has to approve of this by the end of 2006, or its null, unless everyone signs back on board.

    “They tore my rotator cuffs, but they did not break my arm. The fact that Southwest Airlines stands here today with American, Fort Worth and city of Dallas, Love Field and D/FW International, means surely there must be hope for world peace. Peace and good will is the essence of our agreement. Our swords are truly being converted into plowshares. The only victor here is the public. We urge the city councils of Dallas and Fort Worth and the United States Congress” to approve the compromise. – Herb Kelleher, Southwest Airlines

    “I think Southwest did give up a lot. I think Southwest also gained a lot.” -Herb Kelleher, Southwest Airlines

    “We firmly believe that the Wright Amendment has served the region well, allowing D/FW Airport to become the economic enginer of North Texas. However, this compromise allows our employees in Dallas-Fort Worth and nationwide to move forward and refocus our collective energy on our turnaround plan and serving our customers in the best possible way.” – Gerard Arpey, American Airlines

    “Although any changes to the Wright Amendment represents new challenges for our company, we believe this agreement creates some advantages that might not have been possible if a proposed solution had been developed without our involvement.” – Dan Garton, American Airlines

    • Making a difference

    From e-mail:

    Maybe you’ve seen her on TV.
    She’s a 22-year-old evangelical Christian and a volunteer with No More Deaths, an organization that searches the Arizona desert rescuing immigrants overcome by heat and exhaustion.
    Her name is Maryada Vallet, and she’s making a difference. She’s made the national news recently, talking to reporters and meeting with politicians. She tells them about the desperate border-crossers she’s met. She speaks of separated families and overwhelming poverty.
    And when they ask why she does it, she speaks of her faith. She reminds them about Jesus’ parable of the Good Samaritan.
    Maryada is exactly the kind of young, emerging leader that our movement needs. Which is why, last year, Call to Renewal awarded her an Emerging Leader Scholarship to our annual Pentecost Conference on overcoming poverty.
    This year, we want to offer scholarships to more young leaders like Maryada. But we need your help to do it.
    We hope to strengthen our Emerging Leaders program for Pentecost 2006: Building a Covenant for a New America, June 26-28, here in Washington, D.C. More than 180 Emerging Leaders have already committed to being a part of this year’s Pentecost gathering. We want to be able to provide this opportunity to many more!
    You can build the program by giving online through our secure donation page.
    Across the country, young people are following Jesus’ call to give of themselves for others. At the Pentecost conference, we’ll help emerging leaders like Maryada learn new skills for faith-based advocacy to overcome poverty.
    Help us raise the next generation of progressive Christian leaders. Make a gift today to the Pentecost 2006 Emerging Leaders program
    Blessings,
    Jim Wallis
    Executive Director, Sojourners
    Convener, Call to Renewal
    ——————————————————————————–
    The mission of Sojourners is to articulate the biblical call to social justice, inspiring hope and building a movement to transform individuals, communities, the church, and the world.