The most high profile constitutional amendment now has a campaign behind it.
Water Texas PAC
Supporters are laying the groundwork for an aggressive effort to educate voters and drown out opposition with roughly one month before early voting starts. A coalition of political action committees and business groups are leading the push.
The strategy will be bankrolled by a combination of those forces. A political action committee named Water Texas created specifically for the campaign is being led by House Speaker Joe Straus, R-San Antonio, and Rep. Allan Ritter, R-Nederland.
Like any high-powered campaign, the political playbook for the water proposition is set to include television and radio ads, direct mailers, phone banks, op-ed pieces and stump-like speeches, as well as meetings with local leaders. A heavy dose of Web and social media activity also is part of the formula.
In all, supporters are gearing for a potential multimillion-dollar campaign.
“We can’t risk losing this election. It’s too important for the future of the state,” said Bill Hammond, president and CEO of the Texas Association of Business, one of a number of groups backing the strategy. “This is just like any candidate who has to go out there and do the blocking and tackling to make sure they win an election.”
I think this is likely to pass – the advocates are much better funded and organized than the opposition, most people inherently understand the need to Do Something about water in Texas, and most amendments get passed as a matter of course. But who knows? The Water for Texas people have a Facebook page and a webpage, and I found another pro-Prop 6 Facebook page out there while looking around. While I don’t think this is the best thing ever, it’s good enough for me to support. What do you think about it?