By Julian Aguilar
The Texas Tribune
Less than two months into his new role as Texas secretary of state, Republican Carlos Cascos traveled to Mexico City, where he met with foreign dignitaries to discuss international trade. It was the first time someone in his position had made such a trip in almost six years — and Cascos said it's going to become a familiar occurrence.
“You have to go more often than once a term,” Cascos said. “I am thinking I’d like to go at a minimum twice a year.”
Cascos is not your typical governor-appointed official. He's Mexican-born, a former Democrat and from the Rio Grande Valley; he was a Cameron County commissioner and county judge before Gov. Greg Abbott named him to his current post.
And he hopes his tenure represents a shifting tide in the secretary of state's office – away from the partisan gridlock over voting issues that has plagued his predecessors, and toward bolstering Texas' relations with Mexico and improving life along the state's southern border.
Cascos' move is not out of line with his office's official responsibilities. In addition to housing the state’s elections division, the secretary of state's office also oversees Texas-Mexico relations.
d he hopes to prove that his position really is nonpartisan. During the debates that raged at the Capitol in 2009 and 2011 over requiring voters to show photo ID to cast ballots, the office was accused of being a proxy for Gov. Rick Perry, who supported the measure.
“I don’t see (the perception) as a hurdle at all. Whomever the sitting governor is and they appoint, obviously it’s going to be implied that, ‘Oh, it’s got to be a partisan office,’” Cascos said. “This office is not a partisan office.”
State Rep. Trey Martinez Fischer, D-San Antonio, who led the charge against voter ID in sessions past, said it was up to Cascos to change that perception. But Martinez Fischer also said he welcomed the new secretary and was eager to see his ideas on how to grow voter turnout.
“The elections division is a division that involves politics, and frankly, it’s very difficult to avoid administering that office without coming off as a partisan," he said. "To the extent that Secretary Cascos has ideas on how he can be pragmatic and bipartisan when it comes to voting, I think we all welcome that.”
To read the rest of the articloe, click on link: http://www.texastribune.org/2015/05/21/sos-cascos-ready-move-past-voter-id-partisan-issue/
The Texas Tribune
“You have to go more often than once a term,” Cascos said. “I am thinking I’d like to go at a minimum twice a year.”
Cascos is not your typical governor-appointed official. He's Mexican-born, a former Democrat and from the Rio Grande Valley; he was a Cameron County commissioner and county judge before Gov. Greg Abbott named him to his current post.
And he hopes his tenure represents a shifting tide in the secretary of state's office – away from the partisan gridlock over voting issues that has plagued his predecessors, and toward bolstering Texas' relations with Mexico and improving life along the state's southern border.
Cascos' move is not out of line with his office's official responsibilities. In addition to housing the state’s elections division, the secretary of state's office also oversees Texas-Mexico relations.
d he hopes to prove that his position really is nonpartisan. During the debates that raged at the Capitol in 2009 and 2011 over requiring voters to show photo ID to cast ballots, the office was accused of being a proxy for Gov. Rick Perry, who supported the measure.
“I don’t see (the perception) as a hurdle at all. Whomever the sitting governor is and they appoint, obviously it’s going to be implied that, ‘Oh, it’s got to be a partisan office,’” Cascos said. “This office is not a partisan office.”
State Rep. Trey Martinez Fischer, D-San Antonio, who led the charge against voter ID in sessions past, said it was up to Cascos to change that perception. But Martinez Fischer also said he welcomed the new secretary and was eager to see his ideas on how to grow voter turnout.
“The elections division is a division that involves politics, and frankly, it’s very difficult to avoid administering that office without coming off as a partisan," he said. "To the extent that Secretary Cascos has ideas on how he can be pragmatic and bipartisan when it comes to voting, I think we all welcome that.”
To read the rest of the articloe, click on link: http://www.texastribune.org/2015/05/21/sos-cascos-ready-move-past-voter-id-partisan-issue/
2 comments:
The racists Republicans will not allow this Mexican boy be his own man.
Well...he's just like them, so.....
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