Where’s Wendy (Part II)?

For the second time in this election season, I have to ask the question: Where’s Wendy Davis?

Days go by without a statement being issued or any indication of what issues the campaign will address. Even as I write, Davis is missing a golden opportunity. I’m referring, of course, to the growing concern over whether Texas power plants will be able to meet peak demand in the coming months, and whether legislators will be up to the task of seeing that Texas consumers are not saddled with huge rate increases. This issue is on the front pages; it is heaven-sent for Democrats, and yet, we have heard nothing from Wendy Davis on the subject.

Consumer issues like this one are right in the Democrats’ wheelhouse. If the Davis campaign were on top of things, they would be demanding to know how Greg Abbott is going to handle this issue, and ask whether consumers are about to be burdened with enormous bills. I suspect the answer is “yes,” but Davis seems content to let the Public Utility Commission handle the issue rather than speak out about the dangers of letting electric rates soar into the stratosphere and, not coincidentally, allow electric utilities to reap windfall profits. Granted, this is a complicated issue, but it is one that a Democratic candidate for statewide office ought to be able to exploit. The Davis campaign needs to wake up, and it must put pressure on Greg Abbott to paint him as a politician who has little interest in (or knowledge of) public policy.