ISSUES
Candidates should debate what’s important

On Nov. 5, Texas voters will elect their next governor. The two major party candidates, Democrat Tony Sanchez and Republican Rick Perry, are engaged in one of the dirtiest campaigns in recent memory. Both candidates have filled the airwaves with attack ads high on fault finding but short on solution finding.

This comes at an unfortunate time: It has been reported the state will encounter a $7 billion budget shortfall this year.

However, both Perry and Sanchez visited groups in North Texas Monday not to discuss the upcoming budget crunch, but their opponent’s faults. Sometimes it is more important to hear a candidate speak about their views and plans rather than their opponent’s lack of experience, especially in this election.

Since their primary wins, neither candidate has made any type of concrete plan on how they will deal with the budget shortfall. Whoever wins will have to figure out a way to balance the budget, which is not allowed to run a deficit under the state constitution.

It is only logical to assume then that one of the main responsibilities of the next governor will be to balance the budget. It would be nice to know before we cast our ballots what steps will be taken to alleviate the budget problems.

Will the new governor raise taxes? If so, which ones? Will programs be cut? If so, which ones?

These are just simple questions that need to be answered before anyone can make a decision as to who they shall vote for.

With two months until the election, we hope that Perry and Sanchez will each worry more about the issues and less about his opponent’s faults and past experiences. If they don’t, we as a state should be worried about our future with a misdirected leader.