Arlington voters, here’s our recommendation in closely contested Texas House race
If a closely divided Texas House is going to be productive, it will need plenty of members in the middle, willing to compromise and work with the other party.
Alisa Simmons, the Democratic nominee for Arlington’s House District 94, brings a commendable record of service to the district and the area overall. But she’s not a fire-breathing partisan or ideologue, and that would be a major step up from incumbent Republican Rep. Tony Tinderholt.
Throughout an interview with the Star-Telegram Editorial Board, Simmons stressed that she’s ready to get to work on solutions. She brings a core of center-left policy ideas but is open to input from all sides.
Simmons, 57, brings firsthand knowledge of how the pandemic has crushed small business. She’s had to reduce the small workforce at her promotional-products firm. As a small business owner, she’s got a good sense of what it will take to revitalize that key portion of the economy.
BEHIND THE STORY
MOREHey, who is behind these endorsements?
Members of the Editorial Board, which serves as the Fort Worth Star-Telegram’s institutional voice, decide candidates and positions to recommend to voters. The members of the board are: Cynthia M. Allen, columnist; Steve Coffman, editor and president; Bud Kennedy, columnist; Ryan J. Rusak, opinion editor; and Nicole Russell, opinion writer.
Members of our Community Advisory Board may also participate in candidate interviews and offer their views, but they do not vote on which candidate to recommend.
Read more by clicking the arrow in the upper right.
How does the process work?
The Editorial Board interviews candidates, asking about positions on issues, experience and qualifications, and how they would approach holding the office for which they are running. Board members do additional research on candidates’ backgrounds and the issues at hand. After that, members discuss the candidates and generally aim to arrive at a consensus, though not necessarily unanimity. All members contribute observations and ideas, so the resulting editorials represent the board’s view, not a particular writer.
How do partisanship and ideology factor in?
We’re not tied to one party or the other, and our positions on issues range across the ideological spectrum. We tend to prefer candidates who align with our previously stated positions, but qualifications, temperament and experience are important, too.
And she has specific ideas to combat the pandemic, mentioning the need for increased coronavirus testing in Arlington. She also called on police and city code compliance departments to do a better job of monitoring capacities at restaurants and other businesses. It might not be popular, but with yet another spike seemingly in the works, we’ll need new steps to try to slow the spread.
Simmons is eager to work on criminal justice issues. As the head of the Arlington NAACP chapter, she’s well-versed on the kinds of reforms the Legislature must consider after the killings of Atatiana Jefferson, George Floyd and others. One intriguing proposal she mentioned is for special prosecutors to handle cases in which officers use deadly force, taking the politics around police and the local district attorney out of the mix.
The idea, currently used in New York, needs a thorough vetting — who appoints the prosecutor and who pays for it are key questions — but it’s the kind of policy creativity that might help move the ball on a difficult issue.
In other areas, Simmons has some studying to do. Asked about the coming massive budget shortfall, she staunchly defended public education spending and said the Legislature needs to close tax loopholes, especially for corporations. But she was unable to identify specific loopholes. It’s a common dodge, and it obscures the reality that difficult cuts, painful tax increases or both will be necessary.
She’s also advocating for a full-time Legislature. While there may need to be a bigger role for lawmakers in a coronavirus-style emergency, this isn’t a debate the House and Senate needs to spend time on in 2021.
Despite those points, Simmons would make a vastly better legislator than Tinderholt, who did not respond to an invitation to meet with the Editorial Board. The 50-year-old Arlington incumbent touts himself as one of the most conservative House members. But plenty of officeholders manage to be staunch conservatives without embarrassing Texas, as Tinderholt did last year with his 2017 bill to criminalize both women and doctors in cases of abortion.
If anything, that kind of extremism hurts the pro-life cause with reasonable people who are otherwise open to more restrictions on the procedure.
The issues facing the next Legislature are huge. All of Tarrant County needs serious lawmakers ready to get to work, strike reasonable compromises and deal with the crises spawned by the pandemic. For this southwest Arlington-based district, Alisa Simmons is that candidate.
Also on the ballot is Libertarian Jessica Pallett.
This story was originally published October 17, 2020 at 6:04 AM.