by Big Daddy Weaver » Mon Jan 21, 2013 10:39 am
The Christian Life Commission under Suzii Paynter has been perhaps the most effective and influential of all faith-based advocacy organizations at the state level. The CLC's successes have been due to its uniqueness in terms of approach and impressive in light of the political realities in a deep deep Red state where the GOP is rather divided these days into different factions.
Sandy calls the CLC "bland" and maybe it is "bland" by today's standards of faith-based groups popping off Chicken-Little Sky is Falling mass appeals for funding to fight the evil Republicans or the socialist Democrats. The CLC doesn't do that and doesn't have to do that.
I'll give an example of the effectiveness. Ten years ago, Texas was sentencing around 50 people to death. In 2011, only 8 were given death sentences. We know Texas loves the death penalty and still outpaces almost every other state.
But the very real decline in Texas is due to the passage of legislation that allowed for Life Without Parole. For decades, the only option a jury had was Life (w/ possibility of parole at a future point) or the Death Penalty. Rather than risk putting murders back on the streets 30-40 years later, juries have been quick to go the Death Penalty route.
The CLC was instrumental in getting the Life Without Parole option passed. They spearheaded that effort. Liberal groups never bothered for such a sensible, meaningful reform because they kept pursuing the abolishment of death penalty (like that will happen in Texas...). Conservatives have no moral problem with the death penalty, generally. But the proposal of Life Without Parole made fiscal sense AND was what families victims were demanding. So, now the state of Texas has that option.
I can rattle off other examples of the CLC's effectiveness. The CLC has successfully fought off efforts to slash funding to food programs for public schools. This session (and last session) they are targeting PayDay lenders and have a diverse coalition of supporters, conservative and liberal, Democrat and Republican, backing them. If anyone knows anything about PayDay lenders, then you know it's one of the sleaziest industries in America.
The fact is that the CLC has been effective among conservatives, is respected among many conservatives and is widely popular even among conservatives in the BGCT under Suzii Paynter.
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