An Interview w/ Hank Gilbert As He Enters Texas Gubenatorial Race

September 22, 2009 at 3:12 pm (Essential videos, News and Views)
Tags: Governor Rick Perry, Hank Gilbert, latino voters, Southern Shift TV, Texas Governors Race, Texas politics, Trans Texas Corridor

People are buzzing about rancher/ educator Hank Gilbert tossing his hat into the Texas gubernatorial race on the Democratic side.  Our own Ann Dellano of  The Southern Shift caught up with him and had a fairly indepth interview where Gilbert talked about everything ranging from his passionate dislike of Governor Rick Perry, his vehement opposition to the Trans Texas Corridor,  Race relations in Texas,  his plans for education, prison and advice for young Texans.

Check the 3 part interviews below..

Here Hank Gilbert talks about why he got involved with politics. He talks about Governor Rick Perry and the Trans Texas Corridor.

Here in part 2, Hank Gilbert talks about race relations and the importance of Latino voters in texas. He also talks about education and the prison industrial complex

In pt 3 of our interview with Hank Gilbert, he dispenses advice to young voters in texas as well as gives us a more indepth understanding of his upbringing and background.

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Democrat Gilbert kicks off run for governor by calling for education improvements

By GROMER JEFFERS JR. / The Dallas Morning News
gjeffers@dallasnews.com

Hank Gilbert – East Texas rancher, former schoolteacher and newly announced Democratic candidate for governor – said Monday that improving public education is critical to revitalizing the state’s economy.

“It’s the only guaranteed way of bringing long-term prosperity back to this state,” Gilbert said while kicking off his campaign at a Dallas union hall.

Dallas was the first stop in a 13-city tour that Gilbert hopes will help him score the Democratic nomination next year. Several other candidates have already thrown their hats into the March primary.

Among the other Democrats: Tom Schieffer, a Fort Worth businessman and former ambassador under President George W. Bush; and humorist/musician/author Kinky Friedman.

On the Republican side, incumbent Rick Perry is being challenged by U.S. Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison and Debra Medina, the GOP chair of Wharton County and a volunteer in U.S. Rep. Ron Paul’s unsuccessful run for president last year.

Gilbert hopes to appeal to core Democrats seeking an alternative to Schieffer, whose ties to Bush have brought criticism from some party loyalists.

“I’ll be the front-runner for the Democratic nomination,” he said after his speech. “My policies are driven by what the people across the communities are telling me.”

In 2006, Gilbert was the Democratic nominee for Texas agriculture commissioner. He got more votes than any other Democrat running for a statewide office but lost to Republican Todd Staples.

If he is to win his party’s nomination for governor, he has work to do: His announcement in Dallas drew 10 people, including four from the news media and two from his campaign. (Gilbert’s campaign said the event was designed for media, although supporters were invited.)

Schieffer has been campaigning for months. And Friedman is a popular Texas celebrity with huge name recognition.

Still, Gilbert hopes to steam by his opponents by appealing to the party base.

Mary Warren, a Dallas Democrat who attended his kickoff, said she is on Gilbert’s side.

“He’s real,” she said. “He didn’t work for a war criminal, and he’s not a comedian.”

Gilbert favors providing students with online tutoring and additional coaching for those most at risk of dropping out. He also advocates improved early-childhood education, including full-day pre-kindergarten programs.

He would give teachers a $5,000 pay raise, half coming in 2011-12. He did not specify how he would come up with the more than $1.5 billion needed to give raises to 300,000-plus Texas teachers.

“We can no longer act as though the critical changes we need to make are out of reach,” he said