exas is every bit the lagging performer on the environment and health that Vice President Al Gore contends, but it is less clear how much Governor George W. Bush is to blame, a review of the Bush record in Texas indicates.
Part of the fault lies with the Democrats who ran the state for a century, some sources say. But that does not let Bush off the hook. He has aligned himself with the same settled interests who dominated when the Democrats ran things. And while Texas has made some progress in extending health coverage and attacking pollution, local sources say Bush missed many opportunities to do more.
That record of ranking last or near last on key indices and the governor's unwillingness to point the finger at Texas Democrats who are backing his campaign explain why Bush has been hamstrung in fending off Gore's increasingly insistent criticism of his home-state history. Those factors also explain why Gore, sensing the vulnerability and hard-pressed to find other issues that resonate with voters, is likely to continue zeroing in on Texas' troubles in tonight's debate and over the last three weeks of the campaign.
All of which has a certain been-there, seen-that ring for Bay State residents. Gore's strategy echoes the one Bush's father employed so effectively against Massachusetts Governor Michael Dukakis in the 1988 presidential campaign, using a mix of fair-minded critique and heavy-handed embellishment to dismantle the ''Massachusetts Miracle.''
''Democrats ran this state for years and didn't do a good job,'' says Reggie James, head of the Southwest office of the nonprofit, nonpartisan Consumers Union. ''If someone is going to suggest that George Bush ran the state backwards on these health and environmental issues, that is not true. But he had the opportunity to go forward significantly because we had the resources to do it - we had huge surpluses - and he didn't do it.''
How do Texans feel about the pounding they are taking from Gore's ads? ''A lot of Texans' feelings are wounded by what they consider the unfairness,'' said George Christian, who was press secretary under President Lyndon Johnson and held senior posts under two Democratic governors. ''It was fair game with Dukakis because he made an issue of his Massachusetts record. Governor Bush has made an issue of his education improvements here in Texas, so it's fair game for Vice President Gore to try and poke holes in his record.''
Gore first took aim at Texas's environmental record, which also happens to be where the elder Bush went after Dukakis. The numbers from the Texas Air Crisis Campaign, a coalition of 44 environmental and health groups, seem to substantiate the Gore attacks, showing that Texas ranks first in everything from days with ''very unhealthy'' air to toxic releases, recognized and suspected airborne carcinogens, and emissions of carbon monoxide, mercury, and nitrogen oxides. And Houston has surpassed Los Angeles as the smoggiest city in America.
While Texas always has been a friend to big oil and a foe of antipollution crusades, environmentalists say things have gotten worse since Bush took office. They point to the gutting of an auto-emissions inspection program, failure to promote a workable plan for cleaning smog, a weakening of air quality standards, and new limits on public participation in battling air pollution. The Legislature is partly to blame, said Jim Marston, head of the Texas office of Environmental Defense, but the governor and his appointees bear equal responsibility.
''Governor Bush quotes us correctly as saying he signed the best electric utility restructuring bill with regard to the environment,'' Marston said. ''It's true that he signed it, but people should be aware this was not his proposal.''
State Representative Rob Junell, a Democrat who heads the House Appropriations Committee and backs Bush for president, is more sympathetic to the governor and the obstacles he has faced. He sees Texas's disappointing record as a function of its concentration of petrochemical and other polluting industries, along with all its big cities like Houston, Dallas, Fort Worth, and San Antonio. ''We've made great strides,'' Junell said.
Similar arguments are being waged over health care issues, with Texas again forced to defend its abysmal performance. It is tied for last in percentage of residents who are uninsured, said Anne Dunkelberg of the nonprofit Center for Public Policy Priorities, and for next-to-last in the latest rankings of the percentage of uninsured children.
Again, Junell is an optimist and defender of Bush. ''We're signing up our kids as fast as any state,'' he said. ''A year from now we'll be in the middle of the pack.''
State Representive Kevin Bailey, a Democrat, is not convinced. ''We are one of the richest states when you look at total wealth; we rank up there with California and New York. Yet we rank with Mississippi, Alabama, and South Carolina when it comes to things like health care,'' he says.
While the numbers are tough to argue with, Bush could fight back by spreading the blame among the Democratic governors who came before him and among the Democrats who control the state's House of Representatives. ''But it would be very, very awkward for Bush to attack these Democratic legislators because mostly they have done what Bush asked them to and mostly they won't vote for Gore,'' said Ross Ramsey, editor of Texas Weekly, a newsletter on government and politics.
