Video: Edwards promotes "Half in Ten" in Houston

from the Houston Chronicle

Sorry, I'm biased twords this guy. Now that he's no longer running for anything you will start to see him here more. Here is video from a presser in Houston as well as a snippet from an article about it. - Kale

He's urging lawmakers to help halve the number of poor over next 10 years

By DALE LEZON



Former U.S. Sen. John Edwards stopped in Houston Wednesday on a national tour to tout an anti-poverty campaign that aims to cut the number of the country's poor in half in a decade.

Edwards, from North Carolina, said he would "fight with every fiber of my being" to help low-income Americans.

The former Democratic vice-presidential candidate and one-time presidential hopeful joined local community and political leaders in a private roundtable discussion on poverty, the foreclosure crisis and similar issues hosted by ACORN, the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now.

City Controller Annise Parker, Harris County Commissioner Sylvia Garcia, ACORN leaders and others attended.

At a news conference following the roundtable, local leaders, including state Sen. Rodney Ellis, D-Houston, pledged support for Edwards' project.

The effort, dubbed Half in Ten, hopes to encourage state and national legislators to enact measures that will help reduce the number of impoverished citizens by 50 percent in the next 10 years.

Edwards said as the campaign's chairman he can bring national attention to the need to raise people out of poverty.

"I've got a soapbox," he said, "and I intend to use that soapbox with every fiber of my being to speak for those who have no voice."

He said that some of the measures that could help the poor and people in financial crisis would be to raise the minimum wage, expand the earned-income tax credit and make child care more affordable.

Texas ACORN president Toni McElroy said nearly 4 million people in Texas live in poverty and others are losing their homes to foreclosure. Texas, ACORN officials said, ranks 6th nationally in foreclosure rates.

State regulations are needed to protect people from lenders and mortgage brokers who encourage them to take out exotic loans, such as those that allow low down-payments for homes but later require balloon payments, ACORN leaders said.

Link to full article. May expire in future.