FORT WORTH -- State Sen. Wendy Davis and state Rep. Mark Shelton squared off in a debate for the first time Thursday, battling for the Texas Senate District 10 seat next year and trading barbs on everything from sweetheart deals to dishonest state budgets.
Personal attacks touched on character, personal ethics and a lack of honesty regarding legislation last year in the first of four debates in this race between Davis, the Democrat incumbent, and Shelton, the Republican challenger."The people of this district deserve conservative leadership to help this economy grow and fund services," said Shelton, a pediatrician in Fort Worth. "I am running against ... the second most liberal person in the Texas Senate who is an unabashed liberal and out of step with this district. In addition, Wendy has used her office to enrich herself with contracts with [the North Texas Tollway Authority] and other entities."I think she needs to come forth and tell us what public entities she has contracts with."Davis said she performs her job "in an open, ethical, transparent manner" and noted that Shelton's attacks are a way to divert attention from his own legislative record."Mark Shelton is being dishonest in his attacks on me. But I am tough. I can take it," said Davis, a Fort Worth attorney. "I can take it because I know ... my voice is a voice for senate District 10."I believe Mark Shelton has forgotten who elected him to serve," Davis said. "I believe honestly that he's given up on the young people, on the kind of Texas we want to see. ... I will never give up on Texas. I am going to continue to stand strong and stand up and fight for you with every fiber of my being."These were among the issues that came up during a more than hourlong debate before hundreds of people at the Tarrant County College Trinity River Campus downtown, which was broadcast to all TCC campuses. The debate was sponsored by the Texas Prosperity Project and moderated by Ross Ramsey of The Texas Tribune.Davis and Shelton are locked in a hotly contested battle for the state Senate District 10 seat that includes part of Fort Worth, Arlington, Mansfield, Colleyville and other areas of south and Northeast Tarrant County.Four years ago, in another fierce battle for this district, Davis unseated longtime Republican state Sen. Kim Brimer, narrowly winning the brutal, high-profile race with less than 50 percent of the vote.This year's contentious race has been marked by heated television commercials, allegations of possible criminal activity and fiery rhetoric. And it has become a costly battle - Davis this week reported having more than $1.5 million on hand and Shelton reported having $566,825.33. Davis noted Thursday that Shelton has received $40,000 from the payday lending industry.During the debate, Shelton said "Wendy is stuck in a 16th-century mercantile" mindset on energy policy in this state.Davis charged that Shelton is "a voice for some extremist ideologues" in Austin.Here are a few other issues they discussed:School financesThe two agreed on a couple of issues - neither supports school vouchers or a statewide property tax to help fund public schools.But they differed on others. Among those differences: Davis said she'd like to restore money taken from public schools during the last budget but Shelton said "controlling state spending" is the top priority right now; Davis said it would be a "wise investment" for Texas to accept an estimated $100 billion from the federal government to help fund Medicaid expansion costs in the coming years but Shelton disagreed, saying that "in the short term, it might be OK, but long-term, it's not a good deal."Davis talked about working to add air monitors in Fort Worth because of urban gas drilling, since children in Tarrant County have a 25 percent asthma rate, compared with a 7 percent statewide rate. Meanwhile, she said Shelton was "working to divert hundreds and millions of dollars of money out of what was supposed to go to clean our air, ... money that we have all been paying and we expected was going to be used for clean air, but instead, he put into a little fund to stand in front of you and claim that he balanced the budget."Shelton noted that the oil and gas industry is one of the most important industries in Texas and criticized Davis for filing 16 bills last session to add fines, penalties, fees and taxes to the oil and gas industry.The budgetShelton touted the state budget he co-authored and supported during the last session, saying he supports no new taxes and local control of schools, among other things. "I'm the candidate to help the economy grow and be successful," he said. But he said the election overall is about the economy and jobs."The government cannot create jobs. The government can regulate industries and make them successful," Shelton said. "With all the problems we have right now, ... it's very important that we allow businesses to grow and prosper and people to have jobs."Davis said that Shelton's "version of local control [for school districts] was to give them the ability to fire teachers and allow them to enlarge classrooms." And she said the budget approved by the Legislature, which she voted against, "was Rick Perry's budget and it was not a balanced budget.""It was a budget that uses accounting gimmicks and tricks in order to pretend as though it was balanced," she said, adding that there was a $4.8 billion underfunding for the state's Medicaid match that will have to be made up during the next state budget. "That's not balancing our budget."Anna M. Tinsley, 817-390-7610Twitter: @annatinsleyHave more to add? News tip? Tell us
