Astroturfing in SBOE Place 9

(cross-posted from Blue Dot Blues)

Oy vay. We don't have enough problems in these SBOE races? The nefarious Texas EducratParent PAC has endorsed Thomas Ratliff in the SBOE 9 Republican primary (where Don McLeroy is the incumbent).

I've written about Parent PAC's involvement in Texas elections since 2006, so if you're interested in the history, check out the tag on Blue Dot Blues. According to the Quorum Report story (subscribers only) on the Ratliff endorsement, the PAC decided to get involved at the SBOE level because that's apparently where education decisions are made (who would've thought?). A simplified way of saying it, perhaps - but the PAC spent the 2006 and 2008 election seasons swatting at voucher proponents in the Legislature, and now they're revealing a much deeper agenda than some of us had heretofore suspected and not verified. They'd like to get rid of conservatives on the SBOE, and go for people who want electronic textbooks and more education spending, for instance. Their Texas Ethics Commission reports bear this out again and again.

Just in case you're curious about who gives to Parent PAC, I scour the TEC reports so you don't have to. Here's a list from the latest report, just people who caught my eye:

January Semi-Annual:

Clifford Brown (goes by "Buster" - mayor of Corsicana, lots of cash to Democrats), $1000, 11/25/2009

Elna Christopher (Texas Association of Counties, Director of Media Relations), $100, 11/27/2009

Patricia Conradt (Chief of Staff for Rep. Joe Heflin, D-Crosbyton), $100, 12/1/2009

Sandy Dochen (Public relations), $100, 11/16/2009

Laura Fowler (Lawyer), $100, 10/10/2009

Susan Griffith (Realtor), $100, 11/17/2009

Eliu M. Hinojosa (Superintendent, Dallas ISD), $100, 12/15/2009

Shanna Igo (Texas Municipal League, Director of Legislative Services), $500, 11/17/2009

Dr. Melody Johnson (Superintendent, Fort Worth ISD), $250, 12/26/2009

Sandra Kibby (Wholesale Beverage Distributor), $100, 11/24/2009

Sara Leon (Lawyer), $100, 10/10/2009

Sherrie Matula (Educational Science Consultant and former Democrat candidate for state rep), $250, 10/3/2009

Ken McCraw (Executive Director, Texas Association of Community Schools), $250, 11/12/2009

Pam(e) Noland (District Services Coordinator, New Deal ISD), $100, 10/10/2009

Blake Powell (Lawyer), $100, 10/10/2009

Pat Pringle (Executive Director, Region XIII Education Svc. Center), $100, 12/1/2009

Gwendolyn Santiago (Executive Director, Texas Association of School Business Officials), $100, 12/23/2009

Guy Sconzo (Superintendent, Humble ISD), $100, 12/1/2009

Dr. Henry Scott (Superintendent, Denison ISD), $75, 12/1/2009

Gene Sheets (Superintendent, Muleshoe ISD), $100, 10/6/2009

Wow. That's a good chunk of the contributors on the January semi-annual. I left off a couple of retirees and one or two homemakers.

What is the agenda, again, exactly? Supporting what parents want, or what school administrators want?

Will Obama try to put lipstick on the pig Wed night? Join AFP to see and comment

Did Obama get the message? Join us Wednesday to see if Obama tries to put lipstick on that pig


Remember Gov. Jon Corzine, a Democrat, who lost his seat in New Jersey in November?

Remember Democrat Creigh Deeds who lost in Virginia’s gubernatorial race?

Remember Democrat Martha Coakley in Massachusetts who was up 30 points in the polls there in her quest for “the Kennedy seat” which she lost to Scott Brown who said he won “the people’s seat”.

Yes, Corzine, Creigh and Coakley all lost. President Obama campaigned for each of them.

Now, there’s no way to put lipstick on that pig.

The question now is – did Obama get the message that Americans are fed up with the corruption, backroom deals and vote buying?

Join us online Wednesday night for the President’s first State of the Union speech…and as we see it, there’s no way to put lipstick on that pig. Join us as we live chat (blog) the State of the Union address – and we welcome your weighing in.

Did Obama get the message Massachusetts voters sent or is Obama in denial? Some advisors’ spin this weekend indicates Obama and his White House may be sipping the Keith Obermann and Rachael Maddow kool-aide.

If Obama, his czars and minions didn’t get the message, it appears some on Capitol Hill did as 12 Congressional D’s are cutting and running. But it appears Obama was blaming it on Bush.

Yes, the people have spoken, but was Obama listening?

What can we expect now? Will Congress and the Administration attempt to ramrod their far-left agenda?

Wednesday night will be our first indication of what is to come.

To view the chat and weigh in on Wednesday, just visit our site www.afptx.org and click on "State of the Union Virtual Watch Party" - a hyperlink will be on that site to comment.

-- Peggy Venable

#SOTUAFP

Michael Goodwin gets the Scott Brown election right

Boy oh boy does New York Post columnist Michael Goodwin ever nail it today:

http://www.nypost.com/p/news/national/end_of_cowardly_lyin_mRWfJbYLRlOqRxirNUoCxO

We the people of the United States owe Scott Brown's supporters a huge debt of gratitude. They didn't merely elect a senator. They ripped the façade off the Obama presidency.

Just as Dorothy and Toto exposed the ordinary man behind the curtain in "The Wizard of Oz," the voters in Massachusetts revealed that, in this White House, there is no one there.

It's all smoke and mirrors, bells and whistles, held together with glib talk, Chicago politics, and an audacious sense of entitlement.
At the center is a young and talented celebrity whose worldview, we now know, is an incoherent jumble of poses and big-government instincts. His self-aggrandizing ambition exceeds his ability by so much that he is making a mess of everything he touches.

He never advances a practical idea. Every proposal overreaches and comes wrapped in ideology and a claim of moral superiority. He doesn't listen to anybody who doesn't agree with him.

Tea Party trumps Country Club

You may have heard the startling news: Bush 41 endorsed KBH. That’s a shocker! That’s after GW Bush, Karl Rove, Dick Cheney and other old-line Republicans. What does it mean?

It appears the “old” Republican Party is hanging together. They likely don’t get the tea party movement or the voters “anger and frustration”.

At the core, I am a Reaganite. I worked for Bush 41. I escaped getting Potomac Fever.

The Bush and company endorsements are much to do about nothing. Do Texas voters care about what country club Republican is endorsing another country club Republican? No. .

I worked as a political appointee for Pres. George H. W. Bush and have great admiration for him and Barbara. I also worked for President Reagan…that was the greatest privilege of my professional life. I also volunteered in the GW Bush re-election. It was the right thing to do at the time.

But I’m a tea party activist. I was a tea party activist before it was cool.

I am supporting Gov. Rick Perry. I like Sen. KBH, but am supporting Gov. Perry because he has delivered. Texas is the #1 state for business relocation, Texas has created more jobs than all other states combined, and Texas has done better weathering Obama-nomics than any other state. That doesn't happen without strong leadership.

Perry has performed - and I want to weather the rest of this Obama Administration with a proven leader as governor of Texas. – Peggy Venable

http://townhall.com/blog/g/7ccd078f-945d-40a2-9c9f-2558b0505bcc?trackbacks=true#commentAnchor

Brown isn't the savior, voters are

I'm at the Perry Blogger Summit with a room full of political activists and bloggers. Naturally, the discussion moves to the Scott Brown victory.

It is clear the Brown victory in Mass sent a shockwave through Washington, D.C. -- to Democrats and Republicans. It changed the dunamics with that one add'l R seat. But what else did it tell us?

Americans are paying attention. Voters do care. Politics as usual (dealing behind closed doors, buying votes, granting favors to supporters, etc.) Voters heard Obama say "the negotiations will be open and transparent, CSPAN will be covering them" and he lied.

Voters are outraged and the corruption and the lies.

Political activists and bloggers get it. Do politicians? Only time will tell...

UNT Pres Advocates for new TX Transportation Tax

University of North Texas President Advocates for Transportation Tax

Just when you think you’ve been around Austin and have seen it all – something surprises you.

That’s what happened when I learned of a letter the President of the University of North Texas wrote a letter to the bill sponsor supporting his new transportation tax.

As if they aren’t busy enough raising tuition and fees, now university presidents are in the business of raising transportation taxes and providing political cover for tax-raising elected officials.

Mind you, they are doing it on official state agency letterhead, and that is an inappropriate use of your tax dollars. It may even be illegal. State statute prohibits state agencies from lobbying.

AFP has been the lead organization opposing taxpayer-funded lobbying. (That’s when federal, state or local tax dollars are used to lobby – usually for more of our tax dollars.)

It appears a taxpayer-funded lobbyist asked the university president to chime in. No, that’s not helping her case any.

Thanks to the good investigative reporting of Will Lutz, with the Lone Star Report, that correspondence is now public.

To read the letter and the article (where I am quoted expressing appropriate outrage on behalf of all taxpayers), go to: http://tinyurl.com/ygc69a8

-- Peggy Venable

Reps Al Green, Sheila Jackson-Lee want government takeover

Two Texas congressional members have admitted it – they want a total government takeover of our healthcare system.

HR676 is the straight-up Canadian-style single-payer system that puts everyone in a government plan. It is also called "Medicare for everyone". It's dead-on-arrival, but Speaker Nancy Pelosi supposedly agreed to allow a floor vote on it as an amendment to the health care reform bill. Cong. John Conyers (D-MI) is the sponsor and he has 86 co-sponsors, two of them being from Texas. Let’s face it: nobody on the co-sponsor list can deny that what they really want is a total government takeover of 1/6th of our economy, and to deny you the opportunity to choose your own healthcare coverage. Here is the list of the most liberal members of Congress:

Rep Abercrombie, Neil [HI-1] - 2/11/2009
Rep Baldwin, Tammy [WI-2] - 1/26/2009
Rep Becerra, Xavier [CA-31] - 3/17/2009
Rep Berman, Howard L. [CA-28] - 1/26/2009
Rep Bishop, Sanford D., Jr. [GA-2] - 2/23/2009
Rep Brady, Robert A. [PA-1] - 2/11/2009
Rep Brown, Corrine [FL-3] - 3/3/2009
Rep Capuano, Michael E. [MA-8] - 2/23/2009
Rep Christensen, Donna M. [VI] - 4/21/2009
Rep Chu, Judy [CA-32] - 7/31/2009
Rep Clarke, Yvette D. [NY-11] - 1/26/2009
Rep Clay, Wm. Lacy [MO-1] - 1/26/2009
Rep Cleaver, Emanuel [MO-5] - 2/23/2009
Rep Cohen, Steve [TN-9] - 1/26/2009
Rep Costello, Jerry F. [IL-12] - 2/3/2009
Rep Cummings, Elijah E. [MD-7] - 2/23/2009
Rep Davis, Danny K. [IL-7] - 1/26/2009
Rep Delahunt, William D. [MA-10] - 1/26/2009
Rep Dicks, Norman D. [WA-6] - 6/15/2009
Rep Doyle, Michael F. [PA-14] - 1/26/2009
Rep Edwards, Donna F. [MD-4] - 1/26/2009
Rep Ellison, Keith [MN-5] - 1/26/2009
Rep Engel, Eliot L. [NY-17] - 1/26/2009
Rep Farr, Sam [CA-17] - 1/26/2009
Rep Fattah, Chaka [PA-2] - 2/11/2009
Rep Filner, Bob [CA-51] - 2/11/2009
Rep Frank, Barney [MA-4] - 1/28/2009
Rep Fudge, Marcia L. [OH-11] - 6/2/2009
Rep Green, Al [TX-9] - 2/23/2009
Rep Grijalva, Raul M. [AZ-7] - 1/26/2009
Rep Gutierrez, Luis V. [IL-4] - 1/26/2009
Rep Hare, Phil [IL-17] - 6/11/2009
Rep Hastings, Alcee L. [FL-23] - 2/23/2009
Rep Hinchey, Maurice D. [NY-22] - 1/26/2009
Rep Hirono, Mazie K. [HI-2] - 2/23/2009
Rep Holt, Rush D. [NJ-12] - 6/12/2009
Rep Honda, Michael M. [CA-15] - 2/11/2009
Rep Jackson, Jesse L., Jr. [IL-2] - 3/5/2009
Rep Jackson-Lee, Sheila [TX-18] - 1/26/2009
Rep Johnson, Henry C. "Hank," Jr. [GA-4] - 2/3/2009
Rep Kaptur, Marcy [OH-9] - 1/26/2009
Rep Kennedy, Patrick J. [RI-1] - 2/23/2009
Rep Kildee, Dale E. [MI-5] - 2/23/2009
Rep Kilpatrick, Carolyn C. [MI-13] - 1/26/2009
Rep Kucinich, Dennis J. [OH-10] - 1/26/2009
Rep Lee, Barbara [CA-9] - 1/26/2009
Rep Lewis, John [GA-5] - 3/17/2009
Rep Loebsack, David [IA-2] - 3/24/2009
Rep Lofgren, Zoe [CA-16] - 5/20/2009
Rep Lujan, Ben Ray [NM-3] - 3/24/2009
Rep Maloney, Carolyn B. [NY-14] - 2/23/2009
Rep Markey, Edward J. [MA-7] - 6/12/2009
Rep Massa, Eric J. J. [NY-29] - 1/26/2009
Rep McDermott, Jim [WA-7] - 1/26/2009
Rep McGovern, James P. [MA-3] - 3/3/2009
Rep Meek, Kendrick B. [FL-17] - 3/24/2009
Rep Meeks, Gregory W. [NY-6] - 1/26/2009
Rep Miller, George [CA-7] - 3/19/2009
Rep Moore, Gwen [WI-4] - 2/11/2009
Rep Murtha, John P. [PA-12] - 7/9/2009
Rep Nadler, Jerrold [NY-8] - 1/26/2009
Rep Napolitano, Grace F. [CA-38] - 1/26/2009
Rep Norton, Eleanor Holmes [DC] - 5/20/2009
Rep Olver, John W. [MA-1] - 1/26/2009
Rep Pastor, Ed [AZ-4] - 3/19/2009
Rep Payne, Donald M. [NJ-10] - 3/3/2009
Rep Pingree, Chellie [ME-1] - 1/26/2009
Rep Polis, Jared [CO-2] - 1/28/2009
Rep Roybal-Allard, Lucille [CA-34] - 3/30/2009
Rep Rush, Bobby L. [IL-1] - 2/23/2009
Rep Ryan, Tim [OH-17] - 3/5/2009
Rep Schakowsky, Janice D. [IL-9] - 2/23/2009
Rep Scott, Robert C. "Bobby" [VA-3] - 2/23/2009
Rep Serrano, Jose E. [NY-16] - 6/9/2009
Rep Thompson, Bennie G. [MS-2] - 2/23/2009
Rep Tierney, John F. [MA-6] - 1/28/2009
Rep Tonko, Paul D. [NY-21] - 1/26/2009
Rep Towns, Edolphus [NY-10] - 3/31/2009
Rep Velazquez, Nydia M. [NY-12] - 2/23/2009
Rep Waters, Maxine [CA-35] - 3/19/2009
Rep Watson, Diane E. [CA-33] - 1/26/2009
Rep Weiner, Anthony D. [NY-9] - 7/9/2009
Rep Welch, Peter [VT] - 2/23/2009
Rep Wexler, Robert [FL-19] - 2/11/2009
Rep Woolsey, Lynn C. [CA-6] - 1/26/2009
Rep Yarmuth, John A. [KY-3] - 2/23/2009

Brown brings New Day to America

It is a new day in America - and people are ready to Take Back America one state at a time: Virginia, NJ, and now Mass.

Scott Brown’s amazing upset in MA tonight – winning The People’s Seat in MA - removes the speed bump to take back America, as the American people’s voices are heard. No more LA purchases, Cornhuskers bribes, union buy-outs, corrupt back-room dealings and big-government steamrollers.

The overwhelming victory in Massachusetts is a game-changer.

Obama’s broken promises were the referendum vote. Sen-to-be-Brown's right, we CAN do better.

Will the leadership get the message? Time will tell, but the American people spoke today.

America can do better – and Americans are willing to take to the streets to take back our country.

Texas can be a model to the rest of the country to create jobs, put more money in people’s pockets, and jumpstart the economy.

Kill the health care bill, stop cap and trade, stop the tax and spending, running up the national debt, raising taxes, and corrupt closed-door dealings.

It is indeed a new day in America.

Strings, what strings? says Arne Duncan

It has been reported that U.S. EDUCATION SECRETARY SAYS RACE TO THE TOP PROJECT IS NOT ABOUT FED TAKEOVER OF PUBLIC ED (Quorum Report today).
“Arne Duncan responds to recent statements by Texas Gov. Rick Perry, and says that states would not be mandated to follow national common core standards”

Well, if you believe there’s no coercion in the federal government dangling dollars in front of the states and providing “points” in an application for the number of organizations in your state that agree to federal curriculum standards….then you likely also buy the concept that C-SPAN will be in all the deliberations, dealings and vote-buying meetings on health care.

You bet it’s about control. And TX Gov Perry is right to take a pass on the Race to the Top federal dolalrs. The strings are attached to it even when Arne Duncan protests they are not…

Texas will be first to recover

Fort Worth Star-Telegram - January 18, 2010

ECONOMIST SAYS TEXAS WILL BE 1ST STATE TO RECOVER

Texas will be "last in, first out" among states battling the recession, although a recovery that has already started will require patience, a leading economist says.

The Lone Star State proved resilient because of advantages such as weather, stable home prices and a political climate favorable for companies seeking new places to do business, said Ray Perryman, head of the Perryman Group and a longtime Texas economist. Still, Perryman said Texas has seen its share of difficulty since the state got caught up in the national economic downturn in the summer of 2008. Job losses mounted last year, and the outlook remains bleak for commercial real estate.

http://www.star-telegram.com/texas/story/1900487.html

We should mention it is also due to tort reform, a rational business regulatory climate and relatively low taxes...go to www.GoodNewsInTexas to read more.