TSEU BROADCAST : TSEU PROUDLY ENDORSES STRAYHORN FOR GOVERNOR

TEXAS STATE EMPLOYEES UNION
EMAIL BROADCAST UPDATE TO MEMBERS
April 24, 2006
In this broadcast TSEU press release Strayhorn Campaign press release analysis of campaign funds for candidates for governor

TSEU proudly endorses Strayhorn for Governor

At a joint press conference on Saturday TSEU announced our endorsement of Carole KeetonStrayhorn for governor.

The endorsement came after lengthy discussions among members of the Executive Board andmuch thought. These are some of the reasons we have acted to endorse Strayhorn:

1. Carole Keeton Strayhorn has made commitments on key TSEU issues. Among them: she hasopposed the Convergys/AccessHR contract and the Accenture/IEE contract, and will work withus to defeat them, and she will oppose the privatization of state services. She also hascommitted to work to include university employees in any statewide pay raise while she isgovernor. See the attached copy of the Strayhorn Campaign press release.

2. As Comptroller she has already shown her willingness to stand up for state employees byforcing HHSC and its contracted HR system to honor the procedures established in state law forstate employee organization membership. AccessHR had stopped accepting TSEU membershipforms until Comptroller Strayhorn got involved.

3. WE NEED A NEW GOVERNOR! Carole Keeton Strayhorn is our best chance to move RickPerry out of the Governor's Mansion. She is the only challenger who has a real statewidecampaign and a campaign fund that will allow her to take on the Perry machine.

TEXAS STATE EMPLOYEES UNIONFOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE April 22, 2006

for more information contact Mike Gross or Caroline O'Connor (512) 448-4225

TSEU ANNOUNCES ENDORSEMENT OF STRAYHORN FOR GOVERNOR

Texas State Employees Union President Judy Lugo, surrounded by fellow officers, ExecutiveBoard members, and other union activists, announced on April 22 that TSEU has endorsedCarole Keeton Strayhorn for Governor of the State of Texas. The announcement was made at a12:30 press conference at the union's Austin office.

"Texas needs a new governor," Lugo said. "Under the current administration crucial stateservices to the People of Texas are crumbling. The state employees who provide those servicesare more demoralized than ever before. State employee turnover is at all-time highs in somecrucial state agencies. We are in our tenth session of the Texas Legislature, costing millions ofdollars, without a plan on funding for our childrens' schools. These problems stem from aleadership crisis. We need a governor with vision and a plan and the skills to make it happen."

"That's why I'm proud to announce today my union's support for Carole Keeton Strayhorn forGovernor of Texas. We need a governor who will put common sense ahead of ideologicalagendas. We need a governor who puts the people of Texas ahead of corporate profiteers. Weneed a governor who understands that tax dollars are the hard earned dollars of working Texans,and spends them accordingly, but who also understands that the People of Texas wantgovernment that works, not just government on the cheap. We need a governor who, whendeciding on policy, asks first, "What's best for Texas?"

"Carole will be that kind of governor. That's why I'm proud that we'll be working to elect CaroleKeeton Strayhorn as the next governor of Texas." – 30 –

STRAYHORN FOR GOVERNORIMMEDIATE RELEASE Saturday, April 22,2006Contact Mark Sanders (512) 469-9393

STRAYHORN HONORED TO HAVE ENDORSEMENT OF TEXAS STATE EMPLOYEESUNION

(AUSTIN) – Texas Independent Candidate for Governor Carole Keeton Strayhorn today said shewas honored to accept the endorsement of the Texas State Employees Union.

"State employees are the unsung heros of the state," she said. "They stay on the job year afteryear with their pay stagnant, with cuts in their health and retirement plans, with skyrocketingworkloads as their agencies are downsized and their assignments are upsized."

"Under a Strayhorn administration, all state employees will get a pay raise, that means all stateemployees – including state employees at our universities," she said. "It is unconscionable thatlast session, university employees did not get the same pay raise all other employees received."

Strayhorn said that wholesale privatization of eligibility system at Health and Human ServicesCommission has been a complete disaster.

"The Accenture contract at that agency appears to be the perfect storm of wasted tax dollars,reduced access to services for the most vulnerable Texans and profiteering at the expense ofTexas taxpayers," she said. "The e Governor implemented this plan in haste, fired state employeesbefore he knew if the company could handle their jobs and now the agency is bringing back stateemployees to fix the mess.

"Using people from the private sector who do not know what they are doing when it comes todelivering state services is a mistake," she said.

"Government can't be all things to all people, but where we have made the decision that it is ourstate's responsibility to help our frail, elderly and our Texans with disabilities, to help workingTexans, to help our forgotten children in foster care – and to help all 4.4 million children who aretaking the first step attending our public schools and to help them take the next step to get acollege education – we must do the best job our tax dollars and common sense will allow," shesaid.

"As Governor, I look forward to continuing to work with our fine state employees who are trulypublic servants," she said.

Campaign funds of candidates for Texas Governor

From Texas Ethics Commission: these are from the reports from the candidates as posted on theCommission web site. Note: some candidates had funds remaining from before January 2005

Perry campaign:
2/27/06, on hand $ 9,444,216 , contributions since 1/05 $ 8,184,950 .
Expenditures since 1/05 $ 6,472,085.

Strayhorn campaign, 1/17/06, on hand $ 8,118,673 contributions since 1/05 $ 4,012,623 Expenditures since 1/05 $ 1,539,347

Friedman campaign: 1/23, on hand $ 271,340 contributions since 1/05 $ 1,819,271 Expenditures since 1/05 $1,343,739

Bell campaign: 2/27/06, on hand: $ 98,721 contributions since 1/05 $ 829,327 Expenditures since 1/05 $ 701,556

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To contact TSEU for more information or for materials: Austin: 512 448-4225 Houston: 713 661-9030 San Antonio: 210 354-2900 Dallas: 214 631-7863 Harlingen: 956 428-0251 Lubbock: 806 741-0044