The 134 PAC does things different. We don't have meetings, conferences or panel discussions. We have conversations. We don't look for experts or candidates to tell us what they think about rural Texas, its people and priorities. We ask them to just show up and listen to our conversations.
This Thursday evening I will be playing host and moderator for what we hope will be just one more of many conversations we have already started having. Leading off this conversation are three gentlemen, all of whom have done some serious thinking about politics and rural Texas. They are: Former Congressman Charlie Stenholm, Former State Representative Poncho Nevárez and Lubbock Journalist and Commentator Jay Leeson.
But they won't be the only ones doing the talking. We hope to hear from lots of you during the evening.
So what should you expect? Well, the three gentlemen mentioned above will be there, along with myself gathered around a card table without any agenda or pre-selected topics we have to cover in our hour and a half together. I will set the stage for us and we will start. We will not talk about national or state politics or hot button issues. What we will talk about are local and practical matters--things like, building a strong public education system, rural economic development and growth, roads and infrastructure, technology and broad band, healthcare and saving our rural hospitals just to name a few.
We are a Democratic focused organization so we will also talk about how Democrats and the Democratic Party can address these things at a political level, and start listening to rural people and impacting where they live with what they think is important.
After our conversation is over, we will have a chance for folks to meet and talk one on one with our conversation leaders and each other. Several statewide candidates will be present and you can meet and talk with them as well.
Coffee will be served because West Texans don't do anything without coffee.
If you are not able to attend in person, you can watch it live on Facebook at the following link.
I hope to see you there or online.
Jon Mark Hogg