Donna Garner is one of the foremost education experts in Texas. She has been fighting against liberalism in our Texas Public education since probably before I was born. Every elected official in Texas and anyone in the Texas education world knows Donna Garner. She fought for conservative State Board of Education Members when they were attacked. She fought against Common Core and CSCOPE.
Donna Garner has endorsed Barry Smitherman for Texas Attorney General. Donna Garner sent out an email yesterday explaining in detail why she supports Barry Smitherman over Ken Paxton. Basically, the summary of what Donna Garner says is that she has been intricately involved in Texas Education and not once in the past decade has Paxton testified for or promoted any of the important conservative issues facing Texas education. Even when the conservative State Board of Education members were vilified by the media for standing for conservative values, Paxton was nowhere to be found and offered no help to the conservative SBOE members who were facing challengers in their elections. in fact, Paxton admitted to Donna Garner that he was supporting a moderate to the SBOE because she had given him large campaign donations.
Donna goes on to say that Paxton did finally do something this past session by co-authoring a bill against CSCOPE, but then a recent recording surfaced of Ken Paxton stating that as Texas Attorney General he will probably not get involved in Common Core or CSCOPE.... that lackadaisical attitude towards defending Texas from Common Core is not something she wants to see from a possible future Texas AG.
Donna Garner then goes on to explain what she supports Smitherman, who has clearly claimed that as Texas Attorney General he will fight Common Core from coming into Texas.
Below are a few paragraphs from Donna Garners Full article which can be found here:
WHAT ABOUT KEN PAXTON FOR TAG?
Then
there is Ken Paxton. I actually endorsed Ken for the TAG early-on when
called by his campaign staffer. At that time I knew many negatives
about Dan Branch but almost nothing personal about Barry Smitherman, the
Texas Railroad Commissioner.
I
knew that Ken was a pro-life, pro-family-values conservative; and I had
worked hard along with many other conservatives leading up to the 82nd
Legislative Session to help him to become the Speaker of the House
instead of Joe Straus. Unfortunately, Ken took his name out of
consideration at the very last minute, leaving us without a conservative
champion to support.
I
decided to endorse Ken for the TAG but in doing so I had to overlook
the personal conversation in which I learned that he supported a
moderate for the Texas State Board of Education simply because she had
given his campaign large donations.
I
also had to swallow my deep emotions over the fact that Ken along with
the other Texas Legislators had passed HB 5 and HB 866 which basically
gut the authentic education reform that we conservatives had fought for
15 years to establish in Texas.
As
Ken came out yesterday with strong statements about what a stalwart he
has been on education issues, I have done some reflecting on my own.
During the years 2005 – 2012 in which the Texas State Board of
Education conservatives were fighting against all odds to adopt Type #1
curriculum standards (TEKS) for English/Language Arts/Reading, Science,
Social Studies, and Math, I do not think I can remember a single time
when Ken Paxton’s name was mentioned. I cannot remember that he ever
testified, wrote a public statement, came out with editorials in support
of the SBOE’s efforts to put Texas on the path to authentic education
reform with the 4 x 4 graduation requirements and Type #1 STAAR/EOC’s.
Nor can I remember his authoring or helping to pass legislation to try
to rescue the SBOE conservatives from vilification by the media,
Democrats, and the RINO’s. In fact, so far as I can remember, Ken was
nowhere around when the SBOE needed his public support during those
very difficult years.
It
Ken was concerned enough to co-author HB 462 that supposedly banned
Common Core Standards in Texas, how could he possibly have muddled his
answer so badly on Nov. 18, 2013, when the question was asked him
regarding Common Core Standards during the TAG campaign event? (Please
listen to either of the audio clip attachments.) I do not think that
Ken’s lackadaisical answer sounds like the type of response that the
committed and impassioned people who signed his endorsement letter
yesterday would have said. I believe that if any of them had been asked
the same question Ken was asked about Common Core Standards, these
people would have answered back with a diatribe of all that is wrong
with CCSI.
I
have it on record that when Barbara Cargill was contacted by Ken’s
campaign on 11.22.13 after my article had surfaced, she was driving home
from an arduous four-day Texas State Board of Education meeting in
Austin. Barbara had not read my article at that time because she had
been so inundated with chairing the SBOE sessions. I know that she and
Ken have been friends for some time and that she had no idea what came
out of his own mouth on Nov. 18, 2013, when asked about his position on
Common Core Standards/CSCOPE if elected TAG. Whether that would have
changed her endorsement of him, I cannot say.
BARRY SMITHERMAN FOR TAG
In
contrast to Ken’s weak answer on the Common Core/CSCOPE, how did Barry
Smitherman answer questions about education issues and the positions he
would take as the TAG?
We
have at least three strong indications: (Exhibit A) Barry’s response
to the article on global warming, (Exhibit B) his strong statement
issued on 11.23.13 about Texas HB 462/state sovereignty, and (Exhibit
C) the letter he sent to his own daughter’s teacher regarding the
Southern Poverty Law Center and its liberal-left dogma that had been
inserted into his daughter’s curriculum lesson on “To Kill a
Mockingbird.”
Exhibit A
11.18.13 -- “TX RR Comm. Barry Smitherman Responds to Common Core Global Warming” -- http://nocompromisepac.ning.
Exhibit B
11.23.13 -- “Ken Paxton Not Concerned About Common Core or CSCOPE” – http://nocompromisepac.ning.
Exhibit C
9.30.13 – “Letter to Daughter’s Teacher: Intolerance in American Study” -- http://nocompromisepac.ning.
BARRY SMITHERMAN’S PERSONAL LIFE AND LEGAL BACKGROUND
Ken
Paxton is a fine Christian fellow; and I applaud him and the other
Legislators who fought for pro-life bills in the Legislature. However,
Barry Smitherman is a strong conservative Christian also. People who
know him and his family well and who are respected conservatives
themselves have testified to this.
9.30.13 – “Texas Right To Life Endorses Barry Smitherman for Texas Attorney General” -- http://www.scribd.com/doc/
COMPARING BARRY AND KEN
Therefore,
we have to consider the skill sets that are necessary for the Texas
Attorney General’s office which is very different from a state
legislator’s skill sets. Even though Ken Paxton has made a good Texas
Legislator, he may not have the natural leadership skills and background
expertise to be the TAG. As someone recently stated succinctly, this
is the choice we have:
Ken Paxton – probate lawyer; estate planning; real estate; corporate transactions; 2003 to current, Texas Legislator
OR
Barry
Smitherman – former Harris County prosecutor (Assistant District
Attorney), service on the Public Utilities Commission (PUCT) where he
also served as Chairman, heading up two large state agencies (2004 –
present) plus 17 years in the private sector working in public finance,
has sued the EPA 7 times to protect Texas oil and gas.
Quote from David Bellow:
As
head of the Texas Public Utilities Commission, Smitherman sued Obama's
EPA 5 times. Then, as the statewide, elected Chairman of the Texas
Railroad Commission, Smitherman sued Obama's EPA 2 more times. Suing
Obama 7 times is a huge statement and one that clearly shows that
Smitherman is already ready to step into the position of Texas Attorney
General and keep on suing Obama. (11.11.13)
Quote from David Bellow:
As
Chairman of Texas Public Utilities and the Railroad Commission, Barry
Smitherman spent DOUBLE DIGIT percentages UNDER BUDGET and gave over 130
million dollars back to the State of Texas. (9.28.13 –http://www.texasgopvote.com/
TWO MORE POINTS
The usual talking points against Barry Smitherman are (#1) he has no voting record, and (#2) he supposedly brought Smart Meters into Texas.
On
point (#1), what about our Texas Hero Ted Cruz? He had no voting
record, but we all know his strength of commitment which he carried
right into the Senate and The Beltway.
On Point (#2), if voting records are so important, then what about the voting records of Ken Paxton and Dan Branch?
As best I can document, way back on 4.13.05, Dan Branch and Ken Paxton both voted for HB 2129 (79th
Legislative Session – R). This bill set up the original legislation for
Smart Meters (i.e., the deployment of advanced electricity
meters…advanced metering and metering information networks) – Section
7(b)(h); Section 8(b) -- http://www.journals.house.
Dan Branch co-authored Smart Meters legislation.
Paxton actually voted twice for the implementation of Smart Meters and
directed the Public Utilities Commission to allow the utilities to
charge a fee for installation. Paxton also supported a provision that
required the PUC to report to the Legislature on the utilities progress
in installing Smart Meters.
If
both Dan Branch and Ken Paxton felt the Smart Meters were such an
important issue, why did neither of them address it during the 83rd Legislative Session?
To
be honest, if the Texas Legislature had not passed the Smart Meters
bills in the first place, we would not have them in our state. The PUC
agency did not step outside its boundaries and make law; the PUC’s job
is to implement whatever the Legislature passes. In fact, if Smitherman
as chair of the PUC had “made” the Smart Meters laws, he most certainly
would not have been re-appointed by the Texas Senate in 2007 and
reconfirmed in 2009. That is the checks and balances process on the PUC
by the TX Senate, and Ken Paxton was in the Senate when Smitherman was
confirmed.
Now
to be fair to all three men (Smitherman, Paxton, and Branch), back when
Smart Meters were first introduced, the public did not widely know of
any potential health hazards; and we did not know that Obama would be
able to usurp state sovereignty and take complete control of our
country. We did not have to fear the federal government as we now do
under Obama.
In fact, on June 27, 2012, Barry Smitherman shared his vision about the future of energy and electric cars [This
piece was actually taped in 2009; the SwitchEnergyProject, begun in
2009, is under the Bureau of Economic Geology at the University of
Texas/State of Texas and took three years to produce -- http://switchenergyproject.
Unfortunately, because of the newly released information about the NSA data collection, the IRS targeting of conservatives, and
the total takeover by the federal government of our healthcare system
through ObamaCare and our public school education system through
ObamaCore, Americans now understand that Smart Meters could be used by the Obama administration to control our personal lives.
*To
clarify yet one more myth about Smitherman, he has told me that the
only time he visited the White House was under President G. W. Bush and
that Smitherman has never even met with Obama.
