Source: Houston Chronicle (TX) Contact: http://www.chron.com/ Pubdate: Sat, 3 Oct 1998 Author: Armando Villafranca PERRY GIVES CAMPAIGN SPEECH AT CITY ANTI-DRUG LUNCH Organizers say event was not meant to be political Copyright 1998 Houston Chronicle Republican lieutenant governor nominee Rick Perry was given an exclusive opportunity Friday to deliver his campaign message at a luncheon co-sponsored by the city of Houston, which also donated the use of the Wortham Center for the event. Perry, now the state's agriculture commissioner, spoke almost entirely about his campaign issues, including his new anti-drug strategy, in an address at the Drug-Free Workplace Awards luncheon. Officials with the luncheon co-sponsors, the Drug-Free Business Alliance and Houston Crackdown, the mayor's anti-drug office, had stressed that the event was to acknowledge anti-drug advocates for their work in keeping drugs out of the workplace. "This issue is not about politics and it's not a political event," said Becky Vance, executive director of Drug-Free Business Alliance, a nonprofit organization prohibited from taking sides in political races. Perry's speech, however, was publicized by his campaign and centered on tough sentences for drug dealers, teen-age drug abuse and public education. He did not address workplace drug abuse issues until the end of his address, and then only briefly. Perry told the crowd of more than 200 that children must be taught the right choices to make when it came to drugs, alcohol and tobacco. "Their behavior leads to out-of-wedlock birth, sexually transmitted diseases and a host of social problems," he said. He also told the crowd that the use of drugs among eighth graders has tripled; among 10th and 12th graders, it has doubled since 1977. He said parents can no longer send mixed signals to children and issued a zero tolerance approach to marijuana use. "The state of Texas must never legalize or decriminalize marijuana or any other illegal drug for medicinal or any other purpose. "Parents should not be put in a position of having to explain why grandma, it's okay for her to use marijuana for her glaucoma but you can't while you're boating out in Lake Texoma. We don't want to ever have to explain that in Texas," Perry said. He later acknowledged that the event gave him a prime opportunity to get out his message. "The best market in the state of Texas for getting the message out regardless of whether it's Texas wine or an anti-drug message, Houston, Texas, is the absolutely best market in the state to get one's message out," he said. Ray Andrews, Houston Crackdown executive director, said the luncheon was never intended to be political and that organizers had no control over what Perry would say in his address. Donald Hollingsworth, executive assistant for public safety and drug policy office, said Perry had been chosen by the Drug-Free Business Alliance because he was a businessman. When asked what criteria was used in selecting Perry, Hollingsworth could only cite his experience as a businessman and his anti-drug stance. Democratic lieutenant governor nominee John Sharp, who is the state comptroller and has struck similarly tough stances on drug use, was not invited, Sharp spokesman Kelly Fero said. Vance declined to comment on why Perry was selected to speak at the luncheon. When asked if Sharp was invited, Vance would not say whether he had been specifically invited, but she said she "was sure" he received an invitation. "I'm sure that he was on our list. We invited every politician in the state of Texas," she said. No other candidates were present. David Dewhurst, the event chairman who is also the Republican nominee for land commissioner, said he had no role in the selection process. He said he first learned of Perry's selection a week ago. His opponent, state Rep. Richard Raymond, D-Benavides, did not attend. "They simply asked me to lend my name as a chair and to do some minor fund-raising for this important event," he said. "I played no role whatsoever and I was not involved in the selection of the recipients or the guest speaker." Dewhurst, who introduced Perry, used the event as a opportunity to get in a word on a campaign issue when he spoke about the $8.5 billion drain drug abuse has on the state through loss of productivity, lives and health costs. He said that amount of money lost could easily have paid for teacher pay raises. Dewhurst has promised to be "the education land commissioner." As co-sponsors of the event, Mayor Lee Brown's anti-drug office provided the publicity and other preparations for the event and donated the use of the foyer of the Wortham Center, which rents for $200 an hour. A booking agent for the theater said the minimum cost for use of the upstairs foyer for a luncheon, including set-up time, is usually about $1,500. In his speech, Perry unveiled a portion of his anti-drug policy which includes a get-tough policy on drug dealers who hide behind children. "Adult drug pushers who use children to infiltrate our schools and deliver illegal substance are going to be punished with a minimum 25 years in prison, no deal, no parole. "It's important that we send a message to those who are poisoning our children and communities that they are no longer going to hide behind the law. They're not going to hide behind our children to escape long sentences," he said. Perry also emphasized the need to strengthen the fundamentals in education. "Improving our public schools, it's got to be our state's No. 1 priority. That's why I'm going to be working with Governor Bush to increase public school funding by $3.6 billion, including funding for teacher pay and class-size reduction," he said. He also spoke of his support of rewarding specialized reading teachers with a $5,000 pay increase, with incentives of up to $2,000. Other issues included earmarking $45 million to encourage nonprofit groups to go into public schools after hours to establish after-school centers. - --- Checked-by: Mike Gogulski