dania's posterous

From Street Smarts to Office Smarts

Linda Chavez-Thompson may become the first female Lieutenant Governor of Texas if she wins the 2010 elections. Self-educated and fiercely outspoken, she has become the spokesperson for labor workers around the state. 

Born and raised in Lorenzo, Texas as a second generation Mexican-American, she hoed and picked cotton at the age of ten until she was 19-years-old. Being one of ten children, she had to drop out of high school as a freshman to help support her family. 

 

However, that did not stop her from teaching herself to read and write Spanish as well as learn public speaking skills. "I always yearned and literally craved an education. It was always something I wanted to do but was never able to do," says the politician. 

 

Education and reforms to the current education system are the main platforms she pushes for. "The educational system is not what it should be. We are not dedicating the kind of monies that we need to change our children's education."

 

If elected, she plans to ensure that the money will not be cut from the education system because of the budget deficit. "They are planning to cut 3 to 5 percent, and that should be going into the education system, not taken out."

 

Unlike her opponent David Dewhurst, whose main focus is health care, Chavez-Thompson did not attend college. However, she began working at a labor union and discovered her love for helping others in public sector organizing. 

 

From there, she became the first Hispanic woman to be elected Executive Vice-President of the National American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations. After that, she was elected to serve as Vice Chair of the Democratic National Committee and in 1997 was appointed to President Bill Clinton’s Race Advisory Board. 

 

When asked if she thought her lack of a college degree seemed a positive or negative for her voters, she replied, "A positive. I may not have a Bachelor of Science, but I do have a good BS degree. I have street smarts and I have been called every name in the book, but I never folded...Not for something I believed in. I've learned from people and I have felt what they felt."

 

With the possibility of becoming the first woman to hold the office of Texas Lieutenant Governor,  Chavez-Thompson claims that being a woman has nothing to do with the kind of person you are. "I made it a point to men to never talk down to me as a woman. I had to develop a thicker skin, and yes there were difficult years but the only one that can tear those barriers down is you. In the end, all that matters is people's ability to connect with other people."

 

She has come from a humble background and managed to achieve goals that people with multiple Bachelor degrees never have. When asked how she feels about being considered a great leader, she says, "I have seen the humiliation others have suffered and worked the same labor fields. If I can prevent just one person from suffering the same humiliation and people consider that great leadership, then so be it."

 

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