Independent Leadership for a New Direction
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Democratic Senate Convention, March 29, 2008. |
Thank you for visiting my campaign website.
I’m a Democrat running to become your next Texas Senator from District 11, and I believe we need independent leadership in Austin. That’s why I’m asking for the support of all Senate District 11 constituents - Independents, Democrats, and Republicans. I intend to exercise sound judgment for the citizens and businesses of this district, and I will not be seduced by power, money or special interests. District 11 constituents deserve to feel proud of their Senator, and you have my promise that I will work hard to earn your respect and support. We all must work together to keep Texas great.
We can help our families stay healthier, make our communities stronger, expand our economy, protect the quality of the air we breathe, and demand more open and accountable leadership in Austin.
However, we need your help to win this election. You play a vital role in this campaign and in helping turn the page in Austin. Please continue to send me your best ideas, and volunteer your time and generous financial help. Together, we can create change!
Thank you,
Joe Jaworski has been endorsed by:
Harris County AFL-CIO
Service Employees International Union (SEIU) and Houston Organization of Public Employees (HOPE)
Texas American Federation of Teachers
Texas Classroom Teachers Association
Texas State Teacher Association/Texas Faculty Association/National Education Association
Texas Progressive Alliance
Click here to see a list of all of Joe’s Endorsements.
Joe Jaworski - Helping Kids be Kids
By Pamela Ferguson
Joe Jaworski considers giving a thrill in and of itself. He believes that the greatest gift we can give young people is a sense of security so that they are free to be children. According to Joe, something diminishes in society if kids can’t be kids. He illustrates this belief through his active service to The Children’s Center, and in particular to Juan Perez, an undocumented Guatemalan youth.
The Children’s Center (www.thechildrenscenterinc.org) is a child-welfare organization dedicated to meeting the ongoing and future needs of Galveston-area youth and their families. It assists children who have been abused and neglected by, among other things, providing transitional housing for children who have no other safe place to stay. It is one of the oldest non-profits in Galveston, its programs having served the Houston-Galveston area since 1878.
Joe began his involvement with The Children’s Center in 2005 when the Center honored his work as Mayor Pro Tem at a local fundraiser. Shortly thereafter, Joe joined the Center’s board of directors. At the Children’s Center, Joe has been involved in its committee for policies and procedures and in fundraising. More…
Make College Affordable For Texas Families Again
By Joe Jaworski
Forty-five years ago this month, Alabama Governor George Wallace infamously stood in the schoolhouse door to try to stop a generation of students from attending classes.
Five years ago this month, Texas political leaders essentially did the same thing when they pushed through a deregulation bill that sent tuition rates at the state’s public colleges and universities skyrocketing — pricing a generation of otherwise eligible Texas students out of a college education.
Let’s reopen the doors of higher education by making college affordable again for the Texas families who foot the bills for our higher education system. More…
Hammerin’ in Harris
Austin Chronicle
By Richard Whittaker
When Texas Democratic Party chair Boyd Richie yelled out “Harris County? You’re next!” to this weekend’s convention, he was looking at candidates like Joe “Thundersticks” Jaworski. Running in Senate District 11 against Sen. Mike Jackson, R-La Porte, Jaworski is another part of the Democrats’ plan to do in the greater Houston area what they did in Dallas County in 2006, and produce a near-clean sweep in a supposedly Republican enclave. “We have a zeal that we have not seen in our adult life,” Jaworski said, “and it is bringing out people that have felt oppressed and just decided ‘why bother voting?’. Well, not anymore!”
But why Thundersticks? Jaworski (as in “grandson of Watergate Special Prosecutor Leon Jaworski”) is a pretty mean drummer. Good enough for The Bad Precedents, the House (and Senate) band of Rep. Jim Dunnam, D-Waco? As he proved at his post-convention party Saturday night at the Austin Club with a rousing rendition of Honky-Tonk Woman, maybe so. But would this mean forcing Sen. Bob Deuell, R-Greenville, out from behind the drums? “Maybe they could become a two-drum line-up,” said Jaworski, “Like the Grateful Dead.” OK, but you can argue amongst yourselves who gets to be Mickey Hart.
Leadership Needed to Combat Windstorm Rate Hike
The start of the hurricane season is focusing attention on the continuing need for windstorm insurance reform, especially in how the Texas Wind Storm Insurance Association does business.
More than two years after Hurricane Rita, families and small businesses are still waiting for state aid. Yet some Austin politicians are suggesting that we let the state’s windstorm insurance pool use unreliable forecast modeling to justify record rate increases.
Such “scientific-sounding mumbo-jumbo” is of “dubious honesty,” says a report in today’s Galveston County Daily News. Forecast modeling allows the insurance industry to predict hurricane disasters and raise rates accordingly, with no accountability but plenty of questions about the accuracy of the forecasts.
Bringing down windstorm rates by injecting true competition into the current dysfunctional system will be one of my top priorities in the Texas Senate. District 11 residents and businesses need affordable and adequate windstorm insurance. After all, when our coast is protected, Texas benefits.
Fighting Chances: Senate Races to Watch
People vs. PACs
Texas Observer
May 30, 2008
“Toxic Mike” and Mike “No Action” Jackson are just a few of the names Houston state Sen. Mike Jackson’s detractors have hurled his way over the years. Democrats believe his coziness with industry and the low profile he has maintained during his nine-year Senate tenure have made him vulnerable to challenge. In particular, they point to his Senate Bill 1317, which prevented the city of Houston from using nuisance ordinances to regulate toxic emissions. Jackson’s maneuver angered residents of Houston, some of whom live in his Senate District 11, who are weary of living downwind of refinery pollution.
The Democrat who might be able to crack Senate District 11 is Joe Jaworski. If the name sounds familiar, it’s because Joe is the grandson of Leon Jaworski, the special prosecutor appointed to investigate Watergate. A 46-year-old, gregarious attorney who looks younger than his years, Joe Jaworski says residents in the district are sick of legislators like Jackson who care more about special interests than about their constituents.
Jaworski is confident he can win the historically Republican district that incorporates refinery row in parts of Brazoria, Harris, and Galveston counties. In an election year in which incumbents, particularly Republican incumbents, are on the defensive, Jaworski hopes to ride the wave of change into the Texas Senate. “More than being Republican or Democrat, voters are interested in what a candidate brings to the table,” he says. “Voters want change.” More…
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