Al Gore and I are not saying Governor Bush is a bad person. Bush has never visited one of the colonias, which many of Texas' poorest citizens call home near the Mexican border. And I don't think you have to go to a colonia to know what it's like. Irene Gonzalez told Lieberman that her family lives with limited water, unpaved streets and no street lights. Her three-room home, which sits on cinder blocks, has plywood walls both outside and inside.
Roosters run through the home along with the couple's eight children.
This place cries out for help. He said the federal and state governments should work together to make sure there are improvements for the 400,000 Texas residents living in colonias. They are asking for basic services. Lieberman was winding up a two-day Texas campaign trip during which he criticized Bush's record as governor. On Thursday, he visited residents of a neighborhood in Odessa that is within five miles of an industrial complex that residents blame for environment-related illnesses.