Leticia Van De Putte in Mcallen, Tx

Thank you so very much. You know, I am so grateful to you for coming out on a really kinda cold and wet night. I mean I though the Rio Grande Valley and in particularly they told me all the beautiful weather and I know I been here but I didn't think y'all had seasons. (Laughter) This is really cold. In fact, its colder here than it is in my home city of San Antonio right now. So thank you for making the most precious gift and that is the gift of your time to be with us here tonight. My sincere thanks to Becky and Shay Guerra for opening up this magnificent gallery so that we can have some fellowship today and so you could meet me. (Spanish) Thank you. This is beautiful. This is wonderful. And, I really am thankful to the club presidents, and to the organizations and to everyone who helped put this together. It was a very short notice. And I have to tell you I am thrilled to be a candidate for your lieutenant governor of the State of Texas. (applause and cheer) I am thrilled. (applause) You know I have been in the legislature, for now almost 23 years. The first of that in the House; first elected in 1990 to 1999. And then moving over to the Senate. And I have been so blessed to be able to work with people from my community and for people all over the state who are passionate about this state. And they're passionate about whatever issue they're working with you on, right. It could be literacy, it could be healthcare, a lot of education, things for veterans and I had that opportunity to do that. To effect public policy. And now, I think as lieutenant governor I would have that opportunity and this campaign to meet so many Texans who love this state, they love their communities, but just like me they wanna make sure we're on the right path. If you want to know a little bit about me, I guess you could ask Bambi Cardenas. She may not know this but years ago, as my grandmother would say (spanish), you know way, way back. (laughter) I was, I think I just had one child at the time. And we have six children. Pete and I have six children, all during the 80's. We had six children in nine years. I'm a pharmacist by profession. But I belong to a group in San Antonio called The Mexican-American Business and Professional Group. And really I did that, so I could have friends. There were very few female pharmacists at that time, and people in the medical community and there was this group of women who nurtured each other and urged each other to be on boards and commissions. So we did professional development. And I sat there, in the house of my dear friend Maria (unaudible), who was then a council woman. And Iistened to the voice and the wisdom of a lady by the name of Dr. Bambi Cardenas. And I remember what you said. And she may not remember. But we were trying to advocate at that time for, and we still do, education for children. And it was more bilingual education, more pre-K. Actually it was kindergarten at the time. And the opportunity. And she said something that has resonated with me. She said "part of our culture"... and I am Leticia San Miguel Van De Putte. Right. My maiden name is San Miguel. My family's from Eagle Pass. My dad's family is from Eagle Pass. We are six generation Tejanos. But both of my abuelitas both in Mexico. One in Gudalajuara and one in (inaudible). And I remember Bambi, you saying, that the beautiful part of our culture is (spanish). Right, to be humble. Our grandparents and our parents tell us, "Oh be humble." Right? It's not good to be boastful. But you said, "(Spanish) doesn't cut it when you're trying to get more money for public education." (Spanish) doesn't cut it when you're trying to get affordable healthcare. (Spanish) doesn't cut it when you're trying to get the basic opportunities for the families in this state. And that not only resonated with me. You ignited something in me then that I never thought would be possible. Nine years later, I ran for the legislature. Your words still resonate. So if you want to blame anybody for Leticia San Miguel Van De Putte now running for lieutenant it's right there. (applause) She has had so many influences, but I also do recognize that it is really truly a blessing to be in the legislature. And those public officials when you're on the bench in the judiciary or you're at local government - counties, and cities and in school boards, school board trustees -- the hardest job of elected officials in this state, that we get to live in this country and in this state in freedom. And in a system of representative democracy, where you elect representatives and they go to the legislature. And I feel very, very passionate about making sure that, that legislative branch is working. But the way that Yvonne and I, Bobby and all of us that have worked in the legislature, the reason we've had that freedom is because of the men and women who, generation after generation, have served in our Armed Forces. And so before I do anything tonight, if you're a veteran can you come up here front. (Spanish) If you've ever served in the Army, Navy, Marines, Air Force, Coast Guard, active duty, guard and reserve (Spanish). Can you come up here. (applause) All of our veterans come up here. There is something, all of our veterans, there is something I have an opportunity to do. I had the privilege of chairing the veteran affairs and military installations committee. And many of you know, what the challenge coin is. And so the House committee chair gets one, and the Senate chair does and the governor as the commander-in-chief of Texas Fighting Forces. Please allow me tonight to present you with Leticia Van De Putte's coin. This is the coin that we use, umm, as governor of the day this year. When I was elected president pro tem. And I present it to you, with the gratitude of your state for the service you have rendered to our country. Please accept this with my respect, with my admiration and most of all my love. (applause) Thank you for your service to our country. Thank you for your service to our country. Audience member: The Senator as been there for veterans. She has been there for us. (applause) (Spanish) I always have to say thank you to our veterans. And thank you, to you. There were two constitutional amendments that I authored this year that the people in the Rio Grande Valley supported overwhelmingly. First of all, I was very proud of Proposition number 1, which passed in November. And we, really visited with people as we deal with public policy to see what our veteran community needs and their families. And thank you for voting for Proposition number one. Which is one hundred precent property tax exemption for the spouses of those who have given the ultimate sacrifice for those killed in duty. (applause) And thank you for voting for it and passing Proposition number four, which was to have a property tax exemption for those homes that are donated by not for profits who are given to a wounded warriors and they have been retrofitted for that particular warrior and their disability. Thank for that to say thank you to our warriors who are coming back from battlefield with lifelong injuries. So thank you very much. So let me tell you a little bit about me, those of you there - there are people here that know a lot about me, and you can't say anything - but there are people that may not know, they see Leticia Van De Putte and they say "What kind of name is Van De Putte?" (laughter) Right, it's not a common name. Uh, Van De Putte is a Belgium name. And my husband, Pete Van De Putte, is a Belgium ancestor. But he has a lot of the family history right here in the Rio Grande Valley. His grandfather, actually came, they're Belgium, they spent two generations in Guatamala. During World War I went back to Belgium and then decided to come to the United States. He came to Brownsville and owned a dairy farm. And so my father-in-law, was born in Brownsville and stayed here. Now what business they had, they had an import business with beautiful tropical flowers and birds from Guatamala that came through here, that came through the Port of Brownsville here in the Rio Grande Valley, and then moved on up to San Antonio for distribution. In fact my husband's grandfather is still burried in Brownsville. But, it is a name you don't think of, right? I'm probably the only Van De Putte that you know. (laughter) But my maiden name is San Miguel. And people have told me: "Why don't you use your maiden name, cause people don't know you're latina?" Well, can you imagine my maiden name is two words: San Miguel. Van De Putte, is three. Five words doesn't fit on a bumper sticker. (laughter) It doesn't. But the other thing is Pete and I have blessed with six children, all born in the 1980's. So I had six children in nine years. And I got to live my dream. For years I owned my own pharmacy and medical clinic. My husband has a small flag manufacturing company in San Antonio. And, I really have had the blessings of our children one of who has so much of her training right here at The Rack. Nicole, our oldest daugher, is a practicing OB/GYN, but she got to spend one whole semister here in medical school. Great training. But the beauty, is when she did her residency program here. She got to spend another four months here training in surgery. Girl surgery. At, um, really in Harlingen at Valley Baptist and Harlingen Medical Center. You don't know how much, she loved the people here because she had to bring her infant with her. Now (spanish) stayed for a month, but she brought her baby here and the plan was for Nichole to stay here, because she was doing her residency, but we were going to bring the baby back to San Antonio. She couldn't be without her baby. So she enrolled her in an infant daycare and became here and just stayed here. And I think had we not been here and her husband's parents in San Antonio, she would have got recruited, she would have loved to stay here. But you don't know what a jewel you have. And how exciting its going to be when you have a full medical school, and a brand new university. (applause) Long time coming and absolutely beautiful and wonderful.The footprint will change and it will change very quickly. What happened in San Antonio, as soon as we got that medical school and the University Hospital, the first thing we got was a full fledge Veterans Affairs hospital, a VA Hospital, and then it just grew and grew. It is now the big economic generator for the City of San Antonio, is biotech and healthcare. That will transform. It was a game changer for us and you will tell your children how this is going to be changed. It's a long time coming. I was always proud to support that and thanks to the leadership here its a reality and we'll know the name tomorrow. We'll know the name tomorrow. So thank you for that. And the other thing is that I got to admit that my youngest son, even though I went to the University of Texas, the pharmacy school, very proud. I'm a proud Aggie mom. My son polito, who is six foot five -- I don't know why we still call him polito, graduated in 2012 from Texas A&M University. Very proud, and it is with so much of our family that we have had those opportunities. I had the opportunity. I wouldn't be here, if I didn't have a strong public education. So you might ask: "Why did she decide to do this?" It's hard. Texas is so big. And, it's brutal to do a campaign. Well, I'm going to tell you the real reason. Yes, I love my state but so do you, right? You love your communities, you love your neighborhood schools, you got the promise of the big Texas dream. And we want it to be strong for the next generation. But what I was hearing, from the candidates on the Republican side for lieutenant governor were nothing like what I heard from Texans. Everyday mainstream Texans, who just want a place where they can grow their family and they can start a small business and they can live a life of dignity and of promise. Thats what Texans want. But what I heard from them was very toxic. First thing I heard is that they all want to repeal the Dream Act, something that I authored twelve years ago and has been working very well. Which says if you graduate from a Texas high school and you've been here three years, you get to pay the same amount as the person who graduated with you. Supported by the business community. And they all say they want to repeal that. And then the second thing coming out of their mouth was very, very hurtful. They called the border a warzone. They don't live here. Tell me the vibrancy of our border is a warzone. So what would they say to pander to the extreme 5% of Texas voters who control the Republican primary elections, and I know them. That is not how I thought they felt. But that's what they'll say to get a vote. They will demonize where you live and in this community, just because they need that vote in the Republican primary. But I also saw what was happening in south Texas. We have a 21st century economy and 19th century roads, that they want to tear up. In south Texas they're talking about tearing up our roads to gravel, because we don't have money to fix them; to continue the maintenance. And the little effort that we had, was almost 20 years too late. And the water plan that we have, we know the lifeblood of any community is a secure water. Right, you have to turn on that water faucet and make sure that you're going to have quality, pure clean water. Cause that's economic development. And for too long this leadership, has been kicking the can down the road. Not wanting to put investments in highways or in water. But the worst thing, is that they don't want to put investment in the infrastructure of opportunity and that's our education system. After the 2011 cuts, all of those Republicans went home and they bragged about how much they cut from your public schools, from our public schools. Bragged that they took $1 billion out of universities and colleges. Bragged about it. That's not the future of Texas. That's not where we need to be. It's not. And, it was a tough decision for our family. Many of you know that our family had a lot of tragedies this year. I was probably not thinking at all of this. In May we lost our infant grandson. He would have been six months old. It's your worst fear. You wake up and your baby doesn't. He died of S.I.D.S. And, six weeks later my dad, a Korean War veteran, 82 and in perfectly good health, was tragically killed in a horrific traffic accident. And then, in September we lost the matriarch of my husbands family my dear mother-in-law. It was just too much. And, I thought my family can't do this, right? I mean how can we, how can I ask them to do this? But everytime I kept hearing those Republican candidates for lieutenant governor. I said somebody's got to stand up. Somebody's got to fight for our kids. Somebody's got to fight for education. Somebody has to bring them back to reality. And, so with our family we met and I can tell you, they're up to the task. You know one thing that happens when you lose a family member, and I know that the holidays are hard for those of you who have lost family members, it puts your priorities into place. I have six grandchildren. Texas has to be a better place for them. And, we can't let this current leadership continue. We cannot. (applause) So tonight, I ask you for your help. I ask you to help me. I ask you to help Wendy. I ask you to help our Democratic candidates. Because we need to win. And let me tell you that those of us who are in elected office, winning elections feels really good. Those of you who are a Democrat, it feels good. But, it's more than winning the election, it's what you do when you have the elected position. It's what you do to change policy. It's how you can affect life. It's putting investments into the future of our state. And that's why it's important to win this election, and I'm begging you for your help. I'm going to need you to make sure that we come out in November. And Wendy's going to need you. We are all going to need you. Because they say for too long, "Oh, you know what south Texas, the Valley, they don't vote in November. They don't care." That's wrong. I think you care very deeply. I know that my community cares. But sometimes they think that their vote isn't going to matter. Every vote's going to matter in this one. Because you vote Democratic. You vote. The people when they vote they understand it's about our kids, it's about our grandkids. They understand that. But if they don't then we'll have more people coming to brag about how much they cut our public schools and they won't put the investment where we need it the most, in the fast growth areas, in the highways that we need for economic development and a secured water system. I need you. So I know as you're going through this holiday season, you're thinking about a lot of things and your families. I know our family is wondering when I'm going to come home and make some tamales. I'm telling them I'm campaigning this year, we're going to have to buy them. But I ask you for your help. This is the first of many visits. Say a little prayer for our family and for Wendy's family, as we go through this and all of our candidates, and then promise me that you're going to help us make sure that our state remains strong. (Spanish) Thank you for being here. (applause) (Spanish) And as our family always ends everything, because it is my abuelitas. As we say it, as she always says one thing. She says "Dios y Tejas" So I leave you with "Dios y Tejas" Thank you (applause)