Critics take aim at Bush's record in Texas

July 14, 2000
Web posted at: 5:53 p.m. EDT (2153 GMT)

NEW YORK (CNN) -- Critics questioned how compassionate George W. Bush's conservatism really is Friday as the Republican presidential hopeful tried to fend off attacks on his record as governor of Texas.

Gov. George W. Bush greets Republican U.S. Senate candidate Rep. Rick Lazio Friday.

Bush campaigned in the Big Apple Friday with first lady Hillary Rodham Clinton's Senate rival, Republican Rep. Rick Lazio. But while the Texas governor needled the first lady, Vice President Al Gore and President Clinton, he found himself interrupted by opponents of the death penalty and fending off criticism of his management of state finances and conditions along the Mexican border.

Bush insisted he could still win the Empire State in November, despite its strongly Democratic leanings in national races and said he looked forward to campaigning in New York with Lazio, who is seeking the Senate seat being vacated by retiring Democratic Sen. Daniel Patrick Moynihan.

"It's going to be quite a moment when the sitting vice president performs his last official duty -- and that is to swear in the new United States senator from New York, Rick Lazio," Bush said.

Gore, the all-but certain Democratic nominee for president, was off the campaign trail Friday after picking up the endorsement of former presidential rival Bill Bradley on Thursday. Gore resumes campaigning Saturday in Baltimore, appearing before the Democratic Leadership Council -- the moderate caucus that helped launch his and President Clinton's national careers.

But his campaign continued to jab at Bush's handling of state finances in Texas, where legislators are dipping into a budget surplus to pay for $600 in new Medicaid and prison costs. Pointing to a $1.7 billion tax cut passed during Bush's administration, Gore said his GOP rival concentrated on "massive tax breaks for those who don't need them" rather than meeting his state's needs.

"Now, Gov. Bush says he wants to do for America what he's done for Texas," Gore said Thursday.

"The very last thing this country needs is an era of Bush economics that takes us back to deficits and high interest rates and high unemployment and recession and the bad times of the 1980s."

Former Sen. Bill Bradley endorsed Vice President Al Gore for president Thursday.

While Gore characterized the problem as a "budget shortfall," Bush said the additional outlays were routine. The state's $1 billion budget surplus covers the additional spending needed, he added.

"Of course, what he didn't tell the American people is that this administration -- this administration -- has signed not one, not only two, but 13 supplemental spending bills since he has been in office totaling nearly $100 billion -- even while the budget was in deficit," Bush said.

"It's conservative to cut taxes. It's compassionate to give people their own money back, so they can save and they can dream and they can build," he added.

Other Democrats blast Bush's Texas record

Two other prominent Democrats -- Housing Secretary Andrew Cuomo and New Jersey Rep. Robert Menendez -- denounced what they called Bush's neglect of communities along the border with Mexico, saying they undermined his claim to be a "compassionate conservative." The shantytowns, known as "colonias," frequently lack drinking water, sewage lines or paved roads.

Speaking at the same Manhattan hotel where Bush spoke, Cuomo said Bush's inaction speaks louder than words. The poverty in the colonias is "as bad as any situation that exists in this nation today," Cuomo said.

"The state of Texas has done virtually nothing to help the situation in the colonias," Cuomo said. "Gov. Bush has not even visited the area, and it's in his state."

A Bush campaign spokesman dismissed the criticism as politics as usual, and said Bush signed into law a program to help the colonias last year.

Adding to the complaints, a Washington-based advocacy group, the Food Research and Action Center, said Texas did not use $33 million in federal money last summer -- leaving 1 million low-income children without summer nutrition programs. Texas officials, however, say they have addressed the problem.

Death penalty critics follow GOP contender

The most controversial aspect of Bush's governorship, however, remains his support for the death penalty in the state that has executed more inmates than any other. Bush's appearance at the Conservative Party luncheon in New York was interrupted briefly by anti-death penalty protesters, who were quickly removed.

A pair of anti-death penalty protesters are removed from the Conservative Party luncheon after interrupting Gov. Bush.

In an earlier event in Elizabeth, New Jersey, while proposing a $400 million effort to help fund after-school activities for needy youth, Bush was criticized by a Presbyterian minister who hosted the event.

In a pointed but polite exchange Friday, the Rev. Joseph Garlic told Bush at his campaign event that last month's execution of convicted murderer Gary Graham was "definitely not moral."

Graham was convicted of killing a man outside a Houston supermarket during a 1981 robbery spree based on the testimony of a single eyewitness. Anti-death penalty activists raised doubts about his guilt, and Graham proclaimed his innocence until his death.

"When you chose protocol and precedent in the case of one man's life -- the ultimate decision that could have made about a man's life -- you missed the opportunity to show compassion," Garlic said.

More than 135 convicts have been executed while Bush has been governor. He argued that the death penalty, when administered swiftly and fairly, saves lives.

"You and I must disagree on the death penalty," he told Garlic.

Reuters and The Associated Press contributed to this report.