February 17, 2003

Legislators urged to be advocates for children
___By Ken Camp
___Texas Baptist Communications
___AUSTIN--A multi-billion dollar deficit will reveal whether Texas lawmakers place the highest value on survival or statesmanship, according to the director of the Texas Baptist Christian Life Commission.
___Phil Strickland issued this challenge to Texas legislators at a breakfast held in conjunction with the Christian Life Commission's annual seminar at First Baptist Church of Austin, just blocks from the capitol. Legislators were invited to meet and eat with about 200 Texas Baptist ministers and lay leaders gathered for the annual seminar.
___"The decisions you make will determine the quality of life in the state," Strickland told the lawmakers. "And the tool you will use will be the state budget--that $10 to $16 billion deficit wall you are looking at. That wall is going to be very defining. It will define the legislators whose highest value is political survival and those who become true statesmen."
___The Texas budget is far from bloated and obese, he maintained. "This budget looks like a skinny, malnourished kid who threatens to become the most unhealthy kid among his 49 other friends."
___One in five Texas children live below the federal poverty level, one million children in the state lack health insurance, and the state's mental health and mental retardation office provides services to only one-fourth of the children who need them, he noted.
___Of the 194 Texas children who died from abuse and neglect in 2001, 73 percent were 3 years old or younger. And the average caseload for a Child Protective Services worker in Texas is 27 children, compared to a national target of 12, he added.
___"In most categories of child welfare, Texas ranks between 45th and 50th among all states," Strickland said. "Texas spends $24 (per citizen) on public welfare. The national average is $58."
___In addition to quality of life issues related to children, lawmakers also will face "a highly visible litmus test about our values" regarding the expansion of legalized gambling, Strickland said.
___"Do you really think that dumping legalized gambling into our stream of values will clean it up? Of course not," he said, maintaining that previous promises of gambling promoters proved hollow.
___"Gambling costs the taxpayer $3 for every dollar it brings in. Two percent of gamblers become addicted. The cost to society for each one is $18,184. Then add in bankruptcy and crime.
___"The biblical message is servanthood. The message from the state when it legalizes gambling is materialism and greed."
___Legislators also will face debates over religious freedom, he predicted.
___Citing the historic Baptist commitment to religious liberty, Strickland said, "Forgive us when we get testy about government-sponsored prayer or government wanting to force us to contribute our tax dollars to voucher programs that provide pervasively religious education to children."
___Tough issues such as pornography, environmental protection, criminal justice and campaign finance reform also will require the best leadership legislators can provide, he said.
___"For many of you, this session will define whether you go through the door of political survival or the door of caring statesmanship. Some of you will transcend party and politics and become genuine public servants who put fairness and justice and people before obligations to those who financed your campaigns. We need you."

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