ParentPAC endorses Ellen Cohen

I knew this was coming, but here’s the official announcement:

Texas Parent PAC today endorsed Ellen Cohen for state representative in House District 134, which encompasses Bellaire, West University, River Oaks, Meyerland, and Montrose areas of Houston.

“Ellen Cohen is the pro-public education candidate in this race,” said Texas Parent PAC board member Dinah Miller. “She is a fiscal conservative who will lead efforts to finally develop a long-term school finance plan that addresses the needs of our neighborhood schools while continuing to reduce property taxes.”

Parents from throughout Texas have joined together in a bipartisan effort to elect to the state legislature strong and effective leaders who will stand up for children and parents and strengthen public schools. In addition, a broad base of individuals and business leaders are coming together to join in this effort.

“Ellen Cohen is intelligent, articulate, a collaborator, and a proven leader,” said Carolyn Boyle, Texas Parent PAC chair. “Unlike the incumbent, Ellen Cohen will be a partner with parents and responsive to their concerns. Ellen will be part of the solution instead of part of the problem at the state Capitol.”

[…]

Texas Parent PAC is endorsing a small and select number of Republican and Democratic legislative candidates statewide. The PAC describes its endorsed candidates as “men and women of integrity, open and responsive to parents, actively involved in their communities, and committed to investing in public education to achieve economic prosperity in Texas.”

Parents are encouraged to volunteer in the Ellen Cohen campaign, to donate money and in-kind services, and to vote and bring friends to the polls during the October 23-November 3 early voting period and on the November 7 election day.

For more information on Texas Parent PAC, visit www.txparentpac.com. For more information on Ellen Cohen and her campaign, call 713-660-0899 or visit www.ellencohen.org.

For a reminder of what ParentPAC is about, see this Texas Observer story. It wasn’t necessarily clear that they were going to endorse anyone in the general, but it seems to me that after their pretty impressive record in the GOP primaries, it wouldn’t have made sense to pack up and go home afterwards. I don’t know who else they’ve touted for November (their website doesn’t say), but I’ve sent them an email to ask and will update this post when and if I get a reply. In the meantime, this is a very nice (and very well deserved) coup for Ellen Cohen. Let’s see if that ParentPAC magic carries over.

UPDATE: ParentPAC’s Carolyn Boyle answered my question via email:

We are going to be rolling out the endorsements one-by-one, with the announcement in the legislative district. It is important to our PAC that the candidates not be considered a “slate,” because they are not. The candidates we are choosing to endorse are just individually very talented!

So there you have it. And here’s the Chron story on the endorsement.

Texas Parent PAC, a group that proved influential in this year’s Republican primaries, made its first endorsement for the general election Tuesday, backing Ellen Cohen, the Democratic candidate in Texas House District 134.

Cohen was the first of an expected 20 to 25 House candidates to be endorsed by the bipartisan Texas Parent PAC.

[…]

“Ellen Cohen is the pro-public-education candidate in this race,” said Texas Parent PAC board member Dinah Miller of Dallas.

The group announced its endorsement across the street from West University Elementary School. District 134 includes Bellaire, West University Place, River Oaks, Meyerland and parts of Montrose.

“I’m flattered beyond words to be endorsed by a PAC that’s bipartisan, that cares about issues that affect public schools,” said Cohen.

[…]

Carolyn Boyle, chairwoman of the political action committee, rapped Wong for supporting private school vouchers, education cuts in 2003 and the Republican leadership’s bill to use revenue from a new business tax for property tax cuts instead of new school funding.

[…]

Boyle said she thinks education will be a key issue in this fall’s legislative races, despite a new school finance bill passed during the special session that lowers property taxes, raises teacher pay by $2,000 and boosts high school spending by $275 per student.

Boyle called that plan a “quick fix, short term.”

“We need a lot of attention on public education come January, with some really talented legislators who care,” she said.

Miller said the PAC expects to make other endorsements in Houston-area legislative races.

I’ve heard reports about one other race in Houston in which ParentPAC will support a candidate, but I’ll wait until it happens to write about it since for all I know I could be wrong.

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