Pegasus: What drew you to run for office?

Minns: I love my district, but I know you want a longer answer than that. Over the years, I have watched the leadership of our district slip into the old “what’s in it for me” mode, instead of “what’s in it for the people.”

As an Assistant Attorney General, I worked in Austin, so I got to see firsthand how what they do down there impacts our quality of life here. For example, my job was to represent the State of Texas against facilities in which elderly residents died from neglect or abuse.

Then, legislation was passed that took away my ability to protect the elderly. The Republican incumbent, State Senator John Carona, helped pass that legislation.

His “proven Republican leadership” is taking us in the wrong direction, and we need to change our course.

Pegasus: What are the platforms of your campaign?

Minns: “It’s the economy, stupid,” has never rung more true. Utilities, insurance, healthcare, and transportation all have to be reexamined for new models that make sense in today’s economy. The costs of these essential services have skyrocketed along with monopolistic style profits.

Since my opponent has financial interests in many of the things that ail us today, I wouldn’t look for any reform from him.

Our public education system is crumbling under the weight of oppressive testing and starvation funding. Our children deserve better. We can’t remain 49th in funding and expect different results. In fact, there is a direct connection between high school drop out rates and crime. A person who drops out of high school is 8 times as likely to end up in the prison system. We have the largest prison population in the country. We spend about $8 per day per student on education, but over $40 per day per prisoner. This means that we have fewer tax payers, each of whom must pay more money in taxes. We need to reverse this trend.

Our children have a 75% greater chance of suffering from asthma because they live in the Dallas area. Yet our “proven leadership” continues to fund “dirty” projects that benefit special interests. That’s not right, and it needs to change.

As a native Texan and a parent with two small children, I will fight to reclaim the American Dream for all Texas families.

Pegasus: What are the concerns of the people in the community that you represent?

Minns: We want to be able to pay the bills and keep our businesses open—costs are increasing, but wages are not.

Foreclosures are throwing families out of their homes.

Pollution is eroding our families' health and our economic development potential.

Middle-class families can no longer afford adequate healthcare.

Fix our educational system and reduce crime.

Ethics are an important concern.

Pegasus: What are the sources of conflict in your election contest?

Minns:Primarily over the economy (see above discussion) and social issues. The most important role of a state senator is to represent the interests of the people. This is a moderate district and my opponent supports the socially conservative platform of the Texas Eagle Forum. See http://www.texaseagle.org/Nov2008VGWeb.pdf.

Pegasus: How do you differ from your opponents?

Minns: Deregulation of utility rates. He wants it, I don’t.

Stronger regulation of insurance. I want it, and he failed to do it.

He wants to raise your gasoline tax. I don’t.

Pollution. As head of the Senate Transportation and Homeland Security, he should have led the effort to require that the state of Texas only purchase “green” cement for our roads, which costs the same amount as cement produced from the outdated technology and heavily polluting wet kilns. He failed to do it. To quote the Lone Star Sierra Club’s endorsement of me: “Ms. Minns is a long time member of multiple environmental organizations… Her major areas of environmental interest include air pollution, environmental health, and public transportation. Although her opponent has started reaching out to environmental groups, his voting record over his years in the Legislature does not confirm his stated commitment to clean air and water.”

I think you have to follow the money, i.e. his special interest supporters.

To quote District Attorney Craig Watkins: “[Carona] sponsors legislation that helps him enrich himself. To me, that’s the worst of the worst.”

Pegasus: Do you have a favorite Presidential candidate?

Minns: es, I support Senator Barack Obama. We need change.

Pegasus: How do you feel about the following newsy issues from the area:

* Convention center hotel

Minns: Not applicable

* Switching freeways from free to toll-based

Minns: This is another one of Carona’s ideas that I oppose—it is double taxation. The state needs to stop diverting the money from the gas tax.

* HOV lanes

Minns: HOV lanes are a great incentive to reduce the number of vehicles on the roads as long as they remain free, so I oppose Carona’s idea to charge for HOV use.

* DART rail

Minns: DART rail helps reduce the number of vehicles on the road and air pollution.

* Barnett Shale drilling

Minns: Not applicable

* Cellphone use in cars

Minns: I support hands free usage and banning text messaging while driving.

* Open internet access in public libraries

Minns: We should have open access while maintaining standards of common decency.

* "Green" buildings

Minns: “Green” buildings are great—green standards need to be included in building codes.

Pegasus: How do you feel about the following national issues:

* War in Iraq

Minns: I support our troops, but don’t agree with the war. This is mostly a federal issue, but we should be supporting our veterans better at the state level. In Texas, we have a large number of veterans living on the streets. This is unacceptable. When someone risks their life to fight for our country, they deserve better. When the national government fails to take sufficient care of our veterans, the state of Texas should not let them fall through the cracks.

* Immigration

Minns: The State of Texas needs to assume the leadership role necessary to mediate between the Federal government and the current historic wave of immigration. This involves bringing all elements of our community, public and private, together with representatives of the principals to hammer out common sense solutions that we can all live with through a collaborative process. It will undoubtedly prove to be a real test of leadership, requiring a different set of skills: coaxing one minute, knocking heads together the next. But, the present strident approach is only making things worse by inflaming passions and hardening positions while making no real progress. Only 4 of the 31 members of the Texas Senate are women. We need a leadership change with a different perspective to change our approach from confrontation to collaborative problem solving.

* Energy sources (oil vs wind vs solar)

Minns: I would favor a requirement that a certain percentage of electric power generated by utilities in the state come specifically from wind and solar power. The Texas geography and climate are ideal for developing wind and solar power. We could become leaders in solar just like we are in wind. Further, as we increase the portion of our electric power generated from renewable sources, it would be helpful to achieve a better balance of wind and solar energy. Such balance will help even out energy production during periods when one or the other source is not available.

I believe that one of the best ways to handle our utility needs is to regulate utilities, which will reduce the cost. However, we should also have a certain percentage of alternative energy, which will increase over time. We allow the market to determine which alternative energy sources are the most economical, which the state will purchase to add into the energy grid. The end result is that we increasingly use alternative energy and have lower priced utilities.

Additionally, the legislature needs to streamline the process for PUC consideration of proposed wind energy generation projects as well as expand transmission capacity. Texas is among the 3 states with the highest potential for even greater wind energy generation, yet such development is hampered by bureaucratic inertia and inadequate transmission capacity.

These two technologies offer significant economic development opportunities while helping to improve our air quality and reduce our CO2 emissions.