Even though AG Abbott recently lost a Texas Supreme Court decision regarding open records, he has a responsibility to ensure that transparency prevails over abuses meant to thwart the public's right to know. The public's right to know is the cornerstone of our democracy.

Barbara Ann authored an op-ed outlining ways that the AG should ensure that our system of open records prevails in light of this recent decision. Her suggestions for ensuring we promote open records have been on her campaign website since last year.

The end of the primary (early voting ends on Friday, February 26 and the primary is on Tuesday, March 2) is closing in on us and the kick off to the general election is right around the corner. As a campaign, we pledge to continue to address the issues that are important and critical to our future.

To celebrate Barbara Ann's victory and get ready for the general election, we will be gathering on March 2, 2010. If you live in Houston, we encourage you to come celebrate our entry into the general election at Maria Selma's, 1617 Richmond Avenue on Tuesday, March 2 at 7:00 p.m. featuring MECA folkloric dancers from 8:00 p.m. - 9:00 p.m.

We've already been hitting Attorney General Abbott on his failures but when the primary is officially over, we will be intensifying our efforts. Texans need to know that Attorney General Abbott has been more concerned about his image to try to advance his political career than he is about doing his job to protect Texans.

CALLING ALL SURROGATES
Texas is a huge state. As you can imagine, we get scheduling requests from all over and we're disappointed when Barbara Ann can't attend them all. But, we work to make sure she is represented with surrogates. Over the last week, while Barbara Ann was in Central Texas and Houston, we had volunteer surrogates attend events in Midland, Livingston, Millican, Glen Rose, Mont Belvieu, Grandbury, Bastrop, and New Boston.

We have a diverse group who have helped the campaign, and we're looking for more great supporters who want to sign up to be a part of our volunteer surrogate team. In the comments section, let us know that you want to be a BAR surrogate.

In addition to signing up to be a surrogate, becoming part of our volunteer team will sign you up for a weekly email from our volunteer coordinator. It's called Mission: Raise the BAR and our weekly volunteer tasks range from sending out emails, to forwarding articles about the campaign, to posting on Facebook, to getting people out to the polls. These are all small ways you can get engaged and make a difference.