Wednesday, September 24, 1997
Haywood launches re-election campaign
By RICHARD HORN / Abilene Reporter-News
State Sen. Tom Haywood launched his campaign for a second term
Tuesday, with no challengers in sight.
The Wichita Falls Republican, who unseated Democrat Steve Carriker
in 1994, listed several goals for a second four-year term. Some
of them were proposed in the last session but failed to pass.
He said he would continue to fight for initiative and referendum,
allowing voters to propose their own laws. He said he is already
trying to line up votes for his child care proposal, through which
businesses would be offered tax incentives to provide programs
for employees' children.
Haywood also renewed a call for allowing local governments
to retain 5 percent of lottery proceeds, a measure that passed
the Senate last session but never made it out of the House. He
pledged to try to cut state regulations further, as well.
He also noted he helped pass significant tort reform during
his first term, and let it be known he considers stopping bad
bills to be just as important as passing new ones.
"Since I was elected, two legislative sessions have passed,
as have some 2,000 bills," he said. "Do we really need
that many more laws? I want to concentrate on keeping unnecessary
bills from passing, keeping the law of the land free from clutter,
and making our lives simple once again."
On property tax reform, Haywood said he has forwarded to Gov.
George W. Bush's office some figures from school districts in
his area that feel they lost money under the increased homestead
exemption passed by voters last month.
"We've asked him to audit those numbers so we can know
whether or not we did what we thought we were doing," he
said.
The 67-year-old Haywood, who has Parkinson's Disease, said
he feels "great." Earlier rumors he might not run, he
said, were the work of "wishful-thinking Democrats."
With the filing period only about two months away, no challengers
from either party have surfaced in the huge district, which extends
into the Panhandle and to the Oklahoma border north of Dallas.
Some local Republicans had in past months talked of hopes someone
from Abilene would run against Haywood in the primary, but no
party challenge has materialized from anywhere in the district.
Democrats insist they will field a candidate, though no names
have been mentioned publicly.
"We're looking for somebody, but no one's shown up yet,"
said Dianne Thueson, Wichita County Democratic chairman.
Michael Moore, political director of the state Democratic Party,
said he's heard some names of people considering the race, but
nothing final.
"Haywood can be defeated," he said. "That district
trends Democratic. There are some people talking about it."
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Copyright ©1997,
Abilene Reporter-News / Texnews / E.W. Scripps Publications
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