March 2, 2024 • 47 mins
Bell County, Texas is Ground Zero in Texas Governor Greg Abbott’s crusade to empower parents and give them school choice. Why Bell County? Because it’s the home of longtime politician Hugh Shine who strongly opposes parent’s right to decide the best school for their children—like rich parents can do. Lynn Woolley of Planet Logic and Lou Ann Anderson of Political Pursuits the Podcast team up for a close-up of Rep. Shine’s increasingly personal and nasty campaign again Belton mom and political newcomer Hillary Hickland.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
Welcome to Planet Logic and Political Pursuitsthe podcast. This is a joint presentation
today's episode, school Choice and theBell Stocracy. Lew Anne Anderson, of
course, is the purveyor of PoliticalPursuits the podcast. I'm Lynn Wooley of
Planet Logic, and we like toget together and talk politics. School Choice,
(00:22):
lew Anne, is the big issuein Texas right now, and it's
interesting that Bell County, Texas,where we happen to be, has become
almost the center point the focus,not only just in Texas, but in
the entire United States for the issueof school choice. Because you have an
entrenched incumbent who is decidedly not onGovernor Greg Abbott's side on this, and
(00:46):
you have a very attractive young housewifemother who has come along and she is
very much for school choice. Andit's been a battle. Indeed, it's
been a battle, and it keepsintensifying almost on a daily basis, even
as we're here three days out fromthe election. I think that what we
(01:07):
are finding, especially in a countylike Bell County, which is kind of
in its teenage years, I wouldsay right now, it's very rapidly growing
to becoming a more mature county,a more urban county, where in the
past it's been certainly had some developmentsbetween Colleen and Temple and even now Belton.
(01:30):
But as Austin is approaching, weare seeing more growth, We're seeing
more businesses come in. The demographic, the culture of the county is changing,
and so this particular race is almostbecoming not only about school choice pro
versus con but it's also about,as you said, an entrenched incumbent,
(01:53):
someone who has deeper ties to thecommunity versus someone who is a relative.
I almost was going to use theword newcomer, but no, I'm sure
some campaign would then claim that I'malso have just revealed that she's here illegally,
which is not the case. Sonewcomer isn't the correct word. Well,
it is a new She is arelatively new resident compared to people who
(02:16):
have been here for decades. Well, that's true. And you know,
it just amazes me that you talkabout these demographics and the shift there and
the way that the county has changed. I'd say it's pretty much an urban
county already with a population approaching ahalf a million people, and this has
(02:37):
become the bell Weather issue. Imean, the nation is looking at this
race as we speak. In today'sor the latest edition of the Wall Street
Journal, there's an op ed byGovernor Greg Abbott who is talking about this.
Hillary Hickland is mentioned in this.She's the challenger to the long time
entrenched in Comeba Hugheshine. And youknow, for a long, long,
(03:00):
long time, Hugh Shine has justbeen elect, repeat, elect, repeat,
and never had a serious challenger.And that's one of the dynamics of
this race. That is why theas I fondly refer to them, the
Bell'stocracy, is so angry because theyare unused to being challenged, and especially
(03:22):
being challenged by such a formidable opponent. A formidable opponent who also has garnered
the attention of many leaders not onlythroughout the state of Texas, but also
was able to secure the endorsement ofone former President Donald J. Trump earlier.
This one, well, Hicklin hasgot all the big endorsements. But
(03:44):
on the other hand, the powersthat be, let me see if I
can get this word right, thebell Stocracy there, you got it.
They've got Hugh Shine in their camp. And you know it's it gets to
a point where a politician is workingfor. And I'm not accusing Hugh of
this. You can make up yourmind who Shine, of course is the
(04:06):
incumbent. You can make up yourown mind. But when the when the
Belstocracy or the Travis Stocracy or theDallas Stocracy or whatever it happens to be
can pick up the phone and speeddial because the representatives are in the phone,
is easy to do. Hey,I need you to support this bill,
or I need you to introduce thatbill or whatever. And he says,
(04:28):
yes, sir. The people don'treally seem to have a voice at
that point. And I think that'swhat bothers a lot of people. Oh,
without a doubt. And I meanI found I found it. It's
so humorous. And I actually wasa little bit stunned that our local UH
newspaper, when Shine announced his reelectioncampaign, the second paragraph of his reelection
(04:55):
story, well, in fact,the headline was Shine and ounce his reelection
bid for District fifty five as TempleBelton leaders show support. The article featured
a front page picture of Shine withlocal billionaire businessman Drayton mclan, you know,
And so that was certainly a nodto him being on the hometown oligarch
(05:19):
team, but the second paragraph ofthe article went on to say approximately one
hundred Bell County residents, including aplethora of local leaders from the cities of
Temple and Belton and school officials fromthe Temple and Belton Independent School districts,
were in attendance to show their support, many of whom shared handshakes, hugs,
(05:43):
and laughs as they reconnected. AllRight, two guys I like a
lot here, Drayton McLain have workedwith for years on Children's Miracle Network.
Think very highly um him. He'sa billionaire who doesn't hoard all of his
money. He gives a lot ofit away everything. There's a lot of
things with his name on it,the children's hospitals, so on and so
forth. We have dark money.I've heard a lot of those those billionaires
(06:04):
have dark I don't. I honestlydon't even know what dark money is,
so you will have to explain that. But there's another guy out there too
that has come forward who's very wellknown, and his name is Greg Abbott,
and he's the governor of the stateof Texas, and he made school
choice his priority. So I justwant to I just want to make sure
(06:27):
people understand. I'm not in thisto demean anybody. I think the ads
have been disgusting. Hughes especially,I have to say it, his consultants
should be fired for being a despicablehuman being. On the other hand,
what made me not want to votefor the incumbent is a single issue.
(06:47):
I don't know that. I havea lot of problems with Hugh Shine's border
policies or things like that. Idon't know. But what bothers me is
that we are in a paradigm,if I can use that word. In
the United States of America with ourschools, they are not a positive force.
Our schools are run across the countryfrom California to Maine. Our schools
(07:13):
are run by the Democrat Party.The superintendents are Democrats, the school boards
are Democrats, and they are runningthe schools like political packs. They're teaching
the kids that gender doesn't matter,or sex, which is the real word,
but you can change it on awhim, and parents don't need to
know. No reason to say anythingto mom and dad about this. We'll
(07:34):
just start transitioning you. They bringin at Austin, they bust the kids
to gay pride parades in downtown Austin. They bring in drag queens. This
is stuff that should not be inour schools. And the sex manuals,
which I know you've written about,the pornographic LGBTQ sex manuals that are in
(07:58):
most of the school libraries are Meanwhile, leu Ann, how are the reading
scores? Exactly? That's what exactlywhere I was going to go. We
had the TEA release two reports backat the end of twenty twenty three,
and half or more of Texas thirdthrough eighth graders are below grade level standards.
(08:18):
And every time one of these thingscome out, I go through and
I do an analysis. Bell Countyhas about I don't know, I think
it's almost twenty school districts when yourealize that some of them are over on
the West Side and it's just thetiniest piece of the school district. But
as far as I'm concerned, Ilook at that we have seven major school
(08:41):
districts, of which you know,all of them are in Bell County,
Academy, Belton, Copper's Cove,Colleen, Slaedo, Temple, and Troy.
And of those, they follow thestate pattern of third to eighth graders
that you know more than half ormore are below or below reading level.
(09:03):
Fact in Belton third through eighth gradersreading and math in twenty twenty three,
it's thirty five percent. In Copper'sco forty percent and Colleen twenty nine percent,
in Temple forty three percent. Youdon't happen to have Austin. Wait,
man, I'm sorry. In Templeit's thirty two percent. It's Troy
(09:24):
that has forty three percent. Idon't know if you have Austin, but
I can't imagine that it would lookvery good. People are leaving that school
district. And the craziest thing isthat ford Worth seems to be changing a
little bit. I don't know ifyou've seen some of the latest stuff.
Remember when Kent Scribner was the schoolsuperintendent there, fort Worth was the most
(09:46):
liberal school district in the state.He's been gone a year or two now,
and that district's turned around a littlebit, and I hope that's a
trend. We've got to get ourschools back to the goal of bringing kids
in and teaching them something that theycan use, not about anti racism,
(10:07):
not diversity, equity and inclusion,which none of those three things are defined
as the word used to mean anymore? How about teaching them to read?
How about teaching them the classics?How about teaching them that the content of
your character is what counts. Idon't understand the schools anymore. I think
they have not. I don't thinkthey're useless. I think they're no.
(10:28):
I think no, I think they'rebeyond I think they're beyond useless. I
think they're teaching kids things that arenot true. Have you seen the kids,
the opinions and the thoughts of thekids on actual college campuses when the
cable networks go out and do theirstudent on the street and the anti Semitism
(10:50):
just bubbles up from these college campuses. No, I think we're doing that
at our secondary schools. Well,that's where it's that, that's where it's
starting, and that's why so importantthat we have options and it's not like
this is some revolutionary thing that oh, no one's ever thought about it.
There are like thirty states we areactually behind the curve. That's part of
(11:11):
why this issue is getting attention herein Texas because where Texas likes to position
itself as often one of the youknow, leading states in the country,
the ones that are trendsetters that aresaving the way. Yes, that's not
the case here. We are sobehind the curve of like thirty other states,
and those states they're about. Youknow, the nature of choice is
(11:35):
that it is not one size fitsall, and different approaches, different structures
will work differently in different states,as they will within different districts, as
they do for different kids. AndI mean I have made the point so
many times that you know, itappears at this point the public education industry
(11:58):
here in Texas they more the futuresuccess that school choice could bring rather than
the current failure with which right nowthey are saddling their students. And when
an industry wants to tell me,oh, we so care about the kids,
I'm sorry. I no longer believethat once upon a time I would
have given them the benefit of youfollowed the children. Having followed this issue
(12:20):
for nearly twenty years, I nolonger believe that it is about the control.
It is about their authoritarian impulses areoff the charts now and that's what
we're seeing in this election. Butyou know, I've tried, in my
posts on Facebook and X and onWB daily and you're on substack now,
(12:45):
I've tried when I mentioned this tokeep it from being personal. I have
not gone on and said Hugh Shineis a bad person. I've never done
that. I've always said he andI have been longtime friends. There was
at first one thing that made medecide to vote for somebody else, and
that one thing was school choice.I don't understand anybody who can call himself
(13:09):
a Republican or a conservative. Itmakes no sense to not be for school
choice, given the sorry state ofaffairs that our schools are in right now.
Now, I have two reasons tovote against mister Shine. One is
the school choice, of course,the other is his advertising. And I
am an old man now, andI've been through a few campaigns and I've
(13:31):
never seen such disgusting, despicable,untrue personal ads that have no relationship to
the issues. And I'm going toask you, are the days gone when
these two candidates could get together,maybe in the meeting room at some school
or the library or wherever, andtalk about school choice with some comedy and
(13:56):
with some respect for each other,and let us vote on who has the
better plan. Are those days gone? I don't know, I honestly don't
know. I would like to say, oh no, they still exist,
but there seems to be a reticencein that happening. And unfortunately, what
(14:20):
really bothers me is that we haveseen in the political landscape over the last
certainly over the last five years,that if you can't win on the issue,
you got to tear the other personapart. Yes, and so it's
a matter of, yeah, ifsubstance won't carry the day, then we'll
go we'll try and win by style. And if style means, as I
(14:43):
said in one of my articles recently, Texas our democratic led public education system
because it is democratic dominated, democraticrun. I don't know of any place
that isn't of an industry in whichyou have such part artisanship, so clearly
on the only one you can thinkof is the media. Yeah. True,
(15:05):
But any way, I said thoughthat I said that they have a
big challenge this primary cycle, andthat challenge is maintaining their dominance, their
control, their authority over the publiceducation system. And if and if dealing
with that, if overcoming it requireshook Er Krook. Krook seems to be
the form of which they're willing totake. And Krook in terms of of
(15:30):
perhaps having Democrats crossover and vote inthe Republican primary. But now we're also
seeing Krook in the form of allthis electioneering that's going on. It's something
that's been building over the last years. We have seen a lot of electioneering
or near election, you know,flirting with the flirting with going over the
boundaries of illegality with these bond elections, because God only knows, the school
(15:54):
districts are the paramount pursuers of thebond elections, take on more public debt
on behalf of their taxpayers, andstupidly people do go vote for these things
over and over again. But we'veseen electioneering or new electioneering with the bond
elections. Now we're moving into thesame thing here in these elections, especially
(16:17):
the high stakes, contentious races likewhat we have here in Bell County.
I want to make one more referenceto the negative ads and then let's move
into the electioneering. But working inradio and doing the morning show in Austin
and having television there, I'm quiteaware of the Ellen Tros race which is
down in the Lake Way, Fredericksburgarea. Ellen Troxclare, like Hillary Hicklin,
(16:45):
is a very attractive young woman physically. She's very nice person from a
personal standpoint, she knows her stufffrom a political standpoint, and she's very
conservative. They do they have toattack her personally, and the reason I
mentioned her attractiveness, you would neverknow it from the ads. They find
(17:07):
the worst, most unflattering photo theycan find, and Hugh Shine is doing
this as well. They all doit. And I want to say a
word about consultants. This is wheresome of this arises. I think some
of these candidates would be appalled todo this on their own, but the
consultants set them down and say,we've got to increase the negatives on your
(17:30):
opponent. And they do that bysuch things as Shine's consultant coming in and
wanting to say that Hillary Hicklin hasmoved here from some other part of the
country when she's a what ninth generationTexan that when she looks in the mirror
she sees Hillary Clinton. Would yougive me a break, Hugh, if
(17:52):
you happen to be listening to this, that's despicable. You're better than that,
or maybe you're not because you're lettingyour consultant do that bad on you.
And even if you win this election, you need to go take a
bath after this is over. I'mtired of the mud slinging. I don't
want to see it anymore. Iwant to know what Hugh Shine would do
with regard to school choice. It'svirtually my only issue now. I think
(18:15):
Abbot's got the border under control asmuch as he can. As far as
a political issue, the school choiceis my issue. And even if Hugh
Shine were to win and change hismind, and before school choice, he's
been tainted by this god awful racethat he has run. It's too negative.
(18:36):
It's in the gutter. It's despicable. Well, the moving here recently
is such a disingenuous argument because andthe Hillary thing. The correlation there is
that they're saying that Hillary moved herefrom New York. Actually, she lived
(18:56):
in New York some years ago whenher husband was doing a residency. She
lived there for a year. Welive in a medical community that has a
lot of doctors here. I wouldimagine that a lot of those people traveled
around and lived in certain cities fora year while they were doing different phases
(19:18):
of their medical training. But that'swhere the New York comes from. And
then the idea of the two hillariesand comparing her to Hillary Clinton. I
mean to me, that's just kindof a low hanging fruit type thing.
Oh yeah, some consultant was realproud of himself. Now here's an ad
against Hugh Shine. It's for HillaryHicklin and it's by the a f C
(19:41):
Victory Fund. And they just kindof went that way too. They've got
to picture a Hugh Shine and inthe mirror there's Beto O'Rourke. And I
hadn't seen this one until long afterthe Hillary Hickland Hillary Clinton thing came out.
But you know, sticking to theissues just seems so quaint. I
(20:02):
guess, all right, let's goto electioneering. You had a piece on
substack, and you'll excuse me ifI refer to your article by a certain
word. It was journalistic. Notonly did you make claims, but you
had all the paperwork, you scannedit, you put it in the article.
(20:23):
It's there for everybody to see,photos of the electioneering Texas code on
it. Everything. How did youthink the local media did in following up
on that story which you broke.I think they felt obligated to do something,
(20:48):
and they also the fact that complaintshave been filed with the Texas Ethics
Commission and the Bell County District Attorney'soffice. Was that part about that?
Was that part of that in thestory that was in the local paper,
the Temple Daily Telegram. Uh.No, all they did was they did
(21:15):
have something about the AG's office,which I believe is now looking looking into
it. But they had some kindof quote from the AG's office, but
they didn't really Basically, they justused a they quoted a ex posting from
(21:36):
Hicklan and then they had they talkedto Shine and you know, he told
them that his campaign staff checked withlocal school districts, which I'm not sure
who did they check with with thelocal school districts? And that would be
the spokesman, the highly paid spokesmanwho's there to protect the district, right
right, Yeah, And so youknow, did that person really have the
(22:00):
legal background to be saying, oh, yes or no, that that's that's
what we should do. But thenhe also said they followed the state statues
outline in Texas Election Code two fiftyfive thirty one that permits the procedure for
the distribution of political advertising through theinternal mail system, which I don't know.
(22:23):
I mean I've kind of done somereading on two fifty five as well,
and my reading of it says thatany officer or employee of a state
agency or political subdivision, which wouldbe a school district, may not knowingly
use or authorize the use of aninternal mail system for distribution of political advertising.
(22:48):
That they're not supposed to do that. Ah. But you go onto
the next sub section and it saysthat it does not apply, however,
to the use of an internal mailsystem to distribute political advertising that is delivered
to the premises of a state agencyor political subdivision through the United States Postal
(23:14):
Service. Now why that would bein the law? To me, I
mean just the most elementary sounds like, so the swamps telling the swamp that,
well, it's okay to do thiskind of unethical thing, but if
you use one of our other swamppartners, the Postal Service, it's okay.
(23:37):
Well, the hardest place in theworld to get an ethics bill through
would be Washington. The second hardestwould be Austin. They don't want their
hands tied on anything. But doyou let me think, well, are
you saying that there's a loophole herefor him? Well, there's a there's
a twist and that yes, thiswould suggest that there could be a loophole
(24:00):
that if you sent the materials toa school via the postals, through the
mail, through the mail, thatthat could be a loophole that you could
claim legitimacy for your action. Theonly problem is per the envelope that was
received at Chisholm Trail Elementary, wasthere any posted No? And incidentally,
(24:22):
this was these materials were originally sentto Brad Johnson, who I believe works
for the Texan, and he postedthem on x so to give that attribution
that Brad was the one who initiallyreceived the tip off of this. But
the envelope was included and it veryclearly shows, in fact the tracking number
(24:45):
is available, that it was sentvia UPS ground. So I'm not a
lawyer, you're not a lawyer.We even went to public school. But
when it says that the sub sectionprecluding a district from using the internal mail
system, that that section does notapply. So it would consequently allow them
(25:14):
to do that if it came throughthe mail. But this particular package that
we have here anyway did not comethrough the mail. It came through UPS.
So that would then seem to negatethis exception. Therefore, my question
becomes, what are the consequences?Do they throw your Do they throw out
(25:37):
the election and you have to doit over because the election has been tampered
with. It's it's a it's amisdemeanor. I mean, it's so a
couple of nights in jail or whatI mean that? I mean? I
know you mean, I'm not tryingto right, right, But my point
is that so many politicians, I'lluse Joe Biden as a perfect example,
(25:57):
with this Robert hur And investigation.He came out and basically said he's too
feeble to stand trial. He doesn'thave any brain power. No trial.
Remember the when Hillary Clinton had theillegal server, Well, no prosecutor would
take this case because it wasn't thatshe was mean or doing anything wrong.
It was that she was totally completelyincompetent. And Hillary just jumped on that,
(26:22):
Yes, I was incompetent and Iwiped my computer cleaned with a cloth.
At what point does the law haveteeth in it? It just doesn't
appear that it ever does if it'sa left winger. And in this case,
as you say, Hugh Shine,according to the stats is as close
as the Republican gets to being aDemocrat. Absolutely. And the other thing,
(26:45):
the other piece of this is,I mean, this letter goes through
and it starts out your vote andthe upcoming Republican primary is crucial for public
education and the future of the teacherretirement center system, which I love that
one because the teacher retirement system isheavily involved invested in China and on Hughes
Watch and a lot of other peoplethat are running for office, where have
(27:08):
you been on that. You knowthat you're talking about the future of the
teacher retirement system, Well, baby, you've helped get it there in trouble
with not having done anything to letthose jackals that run that system go and
invest in China because they've so overpromised and under delivered on results. And
that pension system has issues, notas bad as some throughout the state.
(27:32):
But go to my substack. There'san article from back in December that talks
about who's at risk in those retirementsystems. So I invite you to go
take a look at that to learna little bit more about that issue.
But it goes through and it talksabout all these things that you know,
he has done, and that votingagainst the seven billion dollar voucher program,
(27:55):
which it was actually an education savingsaccount. So I don't know that many
any of you people who through youryour health care or through your employer,
you have an opportunity for medical savingsaccounts. I don't know that you think
of those as medical vouchers. It'smore of a vehicle for redirecting money.
(28:18):
But anyway, he says that becausehe knew it would negatively impact public school
funding, raise your property taxes,and make the teacher retirement system actuarily unsound.
I'd be interested in exactly how thatworks. But he goes on and
then talks about, you know,being targeted by the anti public school pro
(28:40):
voucher primary opponent and these type ofthings, and the out of state people,
and of course this is the gentlemanwho just recently was received out of
state money from the well, it'sthe Texas Sands pack, but that's an
offshoot of the Sands Pack out ofLas Vegas, Nevada that is seeking gaming
(29:02):
favorable gaming legislation. But anyway,he goes on and at a point he
closes saying, you can prevent thatfrom happening. You in all caps,
must go vote and vote in theRepublican primary election. To Republican primary election.
Even if you're a Democrat, youcan vote in the Republican primary election.
Vote to protect public education. Votefor me, Hugh Shine, so
(29:26):
I can continue to defend our teachersand schools in the Texas House. Now,
another thing that's been brought up withregard to them to this is there
something There's a little something in TexasCode called coercion of a public servant or
voter. And you know if ifby means someone influences or attempts to influence
(29:48):
a public service in the specific exerciseof his official power or a specific specific
performance of his official duty, orinfluences to attempt or attempts to influence a
voter not to vote or to votein a particular manner. And certainly I
think it's fair to wonder if onreceiving this letter, a teacher receiving this
(30:15):
letter, might that teacher feel pressured, you know, considering that it's authored
by their elected House representatives saying votefor me. You know, here's my
name, vote for me, Govote in that Republican primary. I know
you might be a Democrat, butgo vote in that Republican primary. And
also by virtue of that letter beingdistributed through a school district, do you
(30:37):
not consider that it also is ostensiblysanctioned by the school district superintendent, superintendent
of the year, please get wellin some cases. Yes, yeah,
that's all very true. I wantto go to one other topic here before
we wrap it up, and Ithink this is very important. Charles Butt,
(31:03):
who is the head of the bigChib food chain, a billionaire.
He's a billionaire just in the lastfew days has given one point three million
dollars to Republican candidates who are againstschool choice. Charles Butt, whenever you
(31:26):
go to Chib and buy food,just keep this in the back of your
head. He does not like vouchers, although he accepts them at CHIB.
Go in with some food stamps andhe will take them. Those are government
vouchers. Chib is just fine withtaking them when it's to buy food,
but they don't want you to beable to have any way to go get
school choice. I shop at CHIB. I think it's a good store.
(31:51):
I think their produce is the freshestin town. And I'm in Austin during
the week, but I feel oddand I feel strange walking into there knowing
that it's a HGB food Stores.Has become a political organization that is fighting
(32:13):
against my beliefs and my values.So he's also behind raise your hand texts
exact exactly again, when you comeback here and you look at these scores,
half or more of Texas third througheighth graders are below grade level standards.
(32:35):
And then you have the Charles Buttsof the world. You have the
RAISR Hand Texas of the world.You have the Hughe Shines and other Republican
legislation leaders, the twenty one whohelped Newter basically the education savings accounts.
They are so fighting for the publiceducation system because what is half or more
(33:01):
not enough a third through eighth graderswho are below grade standards? Are we
going to try and take that upto three quarters or more? I mean,
what is the end goal? You'renot succeeding. Yet at the same
time you were so defensive about thisindustry. It's at a point it's what
(33:24):
is your endgame here? Because takingstudents to higher levels of academic success doesn't
seem to be part of the equation. So what is it that you people
are trying to accomplish. Is itto indoctrinate generations of students, because that
would seem to be the dumbing downof a society. Is that what we're
(33:45):
looking at, That would seem tobe the case and the aggression with which
that effort is being done. Toyour point about Charles Budt, yes,
Raise your Hand Texas, he wasa he helped, he helped, fan
owned that organization. It's a leftistactivist organization and they have long been advocates
(34:08):
of public schools and against any kindof rapidly against any kind of school and
one of the larger school districts inHugheshine's district was selected by Raiser Hand Texas
for a pilot program to turn schoolsuperintendents into open political activists school superintendents and
(34:30):
school boards. Yes and yes,but also along with that, I just
recently yesterday put up a story talkingabout how Raise your Hand, Texas.
In addition to having and actually TempleIndependent School District will be in the second
group of school districts. They doabout eight districts at a time. Temple
(34:50):
is is D is now one ofseven or eight in the second class of
these school districts that go through thismulti month training program. But they also
raise your hand, Texas. Evidentlyfrom what I've been told recently by someone
who attended one of these one ofthese training sessions, they will go around
(35:13):
and do a little mini workshops withschool boards throughout the state. And a
handout from one of those featured threecategories of electoral activism, electoral engagement,
issue development and campaigns, and effectivecommunications. The electoral engagement was the one
that kind of was real eye catchingbecause under that it had a category of
(35:37):
how to activate. The first pointthat that has is track and report on
staff member voting rates. And sothis is raise your hand, Texas coaching
school administrators and school board members thatthey need to track their employees' voting rates.
So that brings us back to kindof like Russia exactly. That brings
(36:01):
us back now to this electioneering goingon and like sending out letters that could
be construed as pressuring teachers to govote. And then you also have the
schools over here watching. I meanthey're going to they're going to be tracking
these people to what end. Who'sgoing to do the tracking, who does
(36:21):
the reporting, and who's gonna tellare people going to take action on that
report with the Bell County DA HenryGarza, Is he the guy that should
step up and file charges against theShine campaign? If assuming that this is
against the law, I mean youwent through, you went through file,
(36:42):
You went through the three the threesteps here. Number one, it can
be illegal under certain circumstances. Numbertwo, maybe not if it goes through
the mail. Number three. Thisone didn't go through the mail, all
right. I mean that seems tome pretty black and white, right.
Uh? Is our district attorney whois in a retirement mode. He doesn't
have to worry about re election anymore? To be determined? To be determined,
(37:06):
will the local media run the storyin a complete manners and not sorry,
not even run the story, butwork to not suppress the story.
I found it very interesting this morning, and I did leave my tenfoil hat
at home, but I found itvery interesting this morning that when the Telegram
(37:29):
did finally write about this issue,they send out every month every morning about
five o'clock, they send out anemail that has their featured stories and has
a link to the latest electionline edition. Yes, this morning that came out
at five three. It did nothave the Shine story as one of the
(37:52):
featured stories. Now, we couldtalk about the Democrats over in Colleen getting
kicked out of their headquarters for failureto pay the rent. But here we
have one of the most high profileraces in the States, I think in
the nation, potentially the nation.It's brought the governor here three times twice.
(38:13):
And this is the second time thatHillary Hicklin has been mentioned in the
Wall Street Journal with related to thisrace. But anyway, the the link
to the edition that came out withthe five o'clock Temple Daily Telegram email linked
to yesterday's edition, and they didn'tcorrect that until when eight o three the
(38:37):
first one came out five to three, the second one came out eight oh
three. Interesting, which for peoplelike you and I who have done a
lot of posting on websites, weknow those kinds of things can be programmed,
can be scheduled, posts can bescheduled to distribute. And the fact
(38:57):
that it was those two times makesme one or that second one wasn't set
up to distribute three hours later exactlyon that three mark, but it did
conveniently now have the corrected link tothe paper. Well, but one would
hope that that was not intentional,because that's what I would call cnnism if
(39:17):
it is, well, I youknow, slazy or sloppy. I don't
know, but suppression is an issue. It is all right. I'm just
going to end my part of thisby giving you three bullet points that I
would do if somebody died and mademe king of the schools in Texas.
Number One, there would be nomore school superintendents. I would abolish the
(39:39):
post. I've written on this extensively. I believe the schools don't need educrats
running them. They need managers runningthem. The manager would be hired by
the school board. The school boardwould be a board of trustees that like
a city council managing the city manager. And we would need somebody from outside
the education bureacracy, somebody that hasrun a big outfit and run it successfully.
(40:05):
Number two, unless your child speaksEnglish fluently, you would not be
allowed in public schools until you cando the remedial English. That's the reason
that our test scores are solo.It's a language barrier, and we need
to have all classes taught in Englishexcept foreign language classes. Teaching math in
(40:28):
Spanish and Chinese and Russian and Swahilidoes not make any sense to me.
The third thing I would do paidspokesmen for the schools. They now have
departments in some governments depending on whatschool, what county, what college,
whatever. These are people who arenot there to disseminate the news regardless of
(40:52):
what it is about the school system. They're there to make the schools look
good and we're paying for them.So those would be three major changes,
and I just want to encourage peoplewhen you're trying to make a decision here.
I didn't go in to vote againstHughshine. I went to vote for
school choice. That's my issue rightnow. I mean, obviously the border,
(41:13):
but that's more of a national thing. My issue is school choice because
I see the country going to hellin a handbasket, and I think schools
are the reason schools have lost theirmission. Schools are now for schools.
They need to think about the students, they need to think about the parents,
and they need to think about thetaxpayers. And those are three areas
that don't seem to fit into CharlesButt's idea of making the schools in his
(41:38):
own image, and that's what weneed to do. Our schools need to
be there to teach kids, teachthem truthfully, teach them American history,
Texas history, Western civilization, computerscience in today's world. But the dei
and all the craft, the dragqueens that are in the school today,
the pornography, it's got to go. And I would say when we talk
(42:00):
about education freedom, there's a lotof buzzwords that are thrown about education freedom
being one of them. Empowering parentsis a term that we talk about the
fact that parents should have the abilityto direct, to choose and direct the
best course of educational course for theirchildren. Something that I think gets lost
(42:21):
along the way is we need toempower teachers. Oh, I'm critical of
the public school system. I'm criticalof teachers oftentimes. But that said,
please know I do not believe thatall teachers are bad, that all teachers
are and caring. I know thereare people out there that every day get
up and go and some of thethings they have to deal with in classes
(42:43):
are atrocious. And I mean,and today it's far different than it was
thirty forty years ago. And myheart and my respect goes to some of
the people that go in there whoI do believe are acting with the utmost
of good faith, the utmost ofgood intentions, trying to do right by
these kids. To those people,I would appeal and say, you need
(43:07):
to be empowered. But empowerment startswith yourself. Well, the education industry.
Part of what I so despise aboutthe public education system industry is that
it is so I mean I talkabout that, you know, the authoritarian
impulses that it just doesn't control.But also there is this like bureaucratic loyalty,
(43:30):
fealty that you must have to thebureaucracy, to the administration. And
what I would say to freethinking teachersis take a look at this and be
bold, be courageous. You canhelp fix the problem by coming in here
and frankly, with school choice.Don't fall for the fallacy of what things
(43:53):
like that letter from Hugh Shine andthe things that the Texas Association of Teachers
and all of these organizations are sendingout. School choice offers opportunity, not
just for children, school choice offersopportunities for teachers. Those jobs are not
going to go away. They couldend up. School choice could bring a
(44:15):
reconfiguration, a restructuring of the educationindustry. Would that not be exciting.
Rather than be in this school whereall of these kids are failing, wouldn't
it be exciting to be able togo to a school that is looking to
actually try and have kids that succeedand being part of that equation and so
(44:38):
the competition. Embrace the competition.Go see how you can be a part
of it to help improve education,be a public or private. That's what
I would say to teachers. Andthink long and hard about your vote when
they're saying when they're trying to bullyyou. You know, and schools love
(44:59):
to talk about bully. Oh,bullying is so bad. Well, these
school administrators and there are you know, other counterparts in politics. There're some
of the biggest bullies. They arestand up to that bully. Really think
about your kids and go and vote. What do you think can help affect
outcomes? And right now, rememberthat public schools don't seem to be fitting
(45:23):
that they cannot agree more that thereare a lot of good teachers out there,
there are a lot that believe they'restuck in a system where they're not
they're not enabled to say any penpowermentstarts with yourself, and they cannot keep
discipline in the classroom because of raceissues. And I don't care what kid
acts up in class. Race shouldnot be a part of the discipline.
(45:44):
Race and then all the cultural thingstoo that are coming. Absolutely, there's
so many, you know, thetrends, the so many you know,
mental health issues. I mean,there's just they're being hit on all sides.
All right, Well, let's justsay school choices on the ballot.
You can look at the negative advertising, the gutter advertising that has come out
(46:07):
from any side that it is.I deplore it. I think that this
ought to be on the basis ofthe issues. Let's get out there and
put somebody in that will bring somepositive change to these schools. All right,
lou Ann Anderson Political Pursuits the podcast. Tell people where they can find
your columns. I am Political Pursuitson substack, and I encourage you to
(46:30):
come take a look. We've gota lot of interesting content up there,
and it's not going to slow downanytime soon. I also would just say
that please remember voting is Tuesday,March fifth, seven am to seven pm.
Look at your local county voting webpage to find out your locations.
(46:54):
And I would just close by sayingcourage is contagious. Please please go out
and spread some arounds. All right, And I'm Lynnwoolly. I'm the pilot
of the podcast on Planet Logic,which is planet logic dot us. My
columns are up at wb Daily dotcom and you can catch me Monday through
(47:15):
Friday on Talk thirteen seventy in Austin. That's from seven until nine on the
Cardle and Wooly Show. That's mypartner Jim Cardle and Gosh, we're out
there trying to fight a good fightand it needs to be done in today's
America, in today's Texas and withthe Bell stocracy right, be logical.
(47:40):
Everybody will see you next time.
Welcome to Planet Logic and Political Pursuitsthe podcast. This is a joint presentation
today's episode, school Choice and theBell Stocracy. Lew Anne Anderson, of
course, is the purveyor of PoliticalPursuits the podcast. I'm Lynn Wooley of
Planet Logic, and we like toget together and talk politics. School Choice,
(00:22):
lew Anne, is the big issuein Texas right now, and it's
interesting that Bell County, Texas,where we happen to be, has become
almost the center point the focus,not only just in Texas, but in
the entire United States for the issueof school choice. Because you have an
entrenched incumbent who is decidedly not onGovernor Greg Abbott's side on this, and
(00:46):
you have a very attractive young housewifemother who has come along and she is
very much for school choice. Andit's been a battle. Indeed, it's
been a battle, and it keepsintensifying almost on a daily basis, even
as we're here three days out fromthe election. I think that what we
(01:07):
are finding, especially in a countylike Bell County, which is kind of
in its teenage years, I wouldsay right now, it's very rapidly growing
to becoming a more mature county,a more urban county, where in the
past it's been certainly had some developmentsbetween Colleen and Temple and even now Belton.
(01:30):
But as Austin is approaching, weare seeing more growth, We're seeing
more businesses come in. The demographic, the culture of the county is changing,
and so this particular race is almostbecoming not only about school choice pro
versus con but it's also about,as you said, an entrenched incumbent,
(01:53):
someone who has deeper ties to thecommunity versus someone who is a relative.
I almost was going to use theword newcomer, but no, I'm sure
some campaign would then claim that I'malso have just revealed that she's here illegally,
which is not the case. Sonewcomer isn't the correct word. Well,
it is a new She is arelatively new resident compared to people who
(02:16):
have been here for decades. Well, that's true. And you know,
it just amazes me that you talkabout these demographics and the shift there and
the way that the county has changed. I'd say it's pretty much an urban
county already with a population approaching ahalf a million people, and this has
(02:37):
become the bell Weather issue. Imean, the nation is looking at this
race as we speak. In today'sor the latest edition of the Wall Street
Journal, there's an op ed byGovernor Greg Abbott who is talking about this.
Hillary Hickland is mentioned in this.She's the challenger to the long time
entrenched in Comeba Hugheshine. And youknow, for a long, long,
(03:00):
long time, Hugh Shine has justbeen elect, repeat, elect, repeat,
and never had a serious challenger.And that's one of the dynamics of
this race. That is why theas I fondly refer to them, the
Bell'stocracy, is so angry because theyare unused to being challenged, and especially
(03:22):
being challenged by such a formidable opponent. A formidable opponent who also has garnered
the attention of many leaders not onlythroughout the state of Texas, but also
was able to secure the endorsement ofone former President Donald J. Trump earlier.
This one, well, Hicklin hasgot all the big endorsements. But
(03:44):
on the other hand, the powersthat be, let me see if I
can get this word right, thebell Stocracy there, you got it.
They've got Hugh Shine in their camp. And you know it's it gets to
a point where a politician is workingfor. And I'm not accusing Hugh of
this. You can make up yourmind who Shine, of course is the
(04:06):
incumbent. You can make up yourown mind. But when the when the
Belstocracy or the Travis Stocracy or theDallas Stocracy or whatever it happens to be
can pick up the phone and speeddial because the representatives are in the phone,
is easy to do. Hey,I need you to support this bill,
or I need you to introduce thatbill or whatever. And he says,
(04:28):
yes, sir. The people don'treally seem to have a voice at
that point. And I think that'swhat bothers a lot of people. Oh,
without a doubt. And I meanI found I found it. It's
so humorous. And I actually wasa little bit stunned that our local UH
newspaper, when Shine announced his reelectioncampaign, the second paragraph of his reelection
(04:55):
story, well, in fact,the headline was Shine and ounce his reelection
bid for District fifty five as TempleBelton leaders show support. The article featured
a front page picture of Shine withlocal billionaire businessman Drayton mclan, you know,
And so that was certainly a nodto him being on the hometown oligarch
(05:19):
team, but the second paragraph ofthe article went on to say approximately one
hundred Bell County residents, including aplethora of local leaders from the cities of
Temple and Belton and school officials fromthe Temple and Belton Independent School districts,
were in attendance to show their support, many of whom shared handshakes, hugs,
(05:43):
and laughs as they reconnected. AllRight, two guys I like a
lot here, Drayton McLain have workedwith for years on Children's Miracle Network.
Think very highly um him. He'sa billionaire who doesn't hoard all of his
money. He gives a lot ofit away everything. There's a lot of
things with his name on it,the children's hospitals, so on and so
forth. We have dark money.I've heard a lot of those those billionaires
(06:04):
have dark I don't. I honestlydon't even know what dark money is,
so you will have to explain that. But there's another guy out there too
that has come forward who's very wellknown, and his name is Greg Abbott,
and he's the governor of the stateof Texas, and he made school
choice his priority. So I justwant to I just want to make sure
(06:27):
people understand. I'm not in thisto demean anybody. I think the ads
have been disgusting. Hughes especially,I have to say it, his consultants
should be fired for being a despicablehuman being. On the other hand,
what made me not want to votefor the incumbent is a single issue.
(06:47):
I don't know that. I havea lot of problems with Hugh Shine's border
policies or things like that. Idon't know. But what bothers me is
that we are in a paradigm,if I can use that word. In
the United States of America with ourschools, they are not a positive force.
Our schools are run across the countryfrom California to Maine. Our schools
(07:13):
are run by the Democrat Party.The superintendents are Democrats, the school boards
are Democrats, and they are runningthe schools like political packs. They're teaching
the kids that gender doesn't matter,or sex, which is the real word,
but you can change it on awhim, and parents don't need to
know. No reason to say anythingto mom and dad about this. We'll
(07:34):
just start transitioning you. They bringin at Austin, they bust the kids
to gay pride parades in downtown Austin. They bring in drag queens. This
is stuff that should not be inour schools. And the sex manuals,
which I know you've written about,the pornographic LGBTQ sex manuals that are in
(07:58):
most of the school libraries are Meanwhile, leu Ann, how are the reading
scores? Exactly? That's what exactlywhere I was going to go. We
had the TEA release two reports backat the end of twenty twenty three,
and half or more of Texas thirdthrough eighth graders are below grade level standards.
(08:18):
And every time one of these thingscome out, I go through and
I do an analysis. Bell Countyhas about I don't know, I think
it's almost twenty school districts when yourealize that some of them are over on
the West Side and it's just thetiniest piece of the school district. But
as far as I'm concerned, Ilook at that we have seven major school
(08:41):
districts, of which you know,all of them are in Bell County,
Academy, Belton, Copper's Cove,Colleen, Slaedo, Temple, and Troy.
And of those, they follow thestate pattern of third to eighth graders
that you know more than half ormore are below or below reading level.
(09:03):
Fact in Belton third through eighth gradersreading and math in twenty twenty three,
it's thirty five percent. In Copper'sco forty percent and Colleen twenty nine percent,
in Temple forty three percent. Youdon't happen to have Austin. Wait,
man, I'm sorry. In Templeit's thirty two percent. It's Troy
(09:24):
that has forty three percent. Idon't know if you have Austin, but
I can't imagine that it would lookvery good. People are leaving that school
district. And the craziest thing isthat ford Worth seems to be changing a
little bit. I don't know ifyou've seen some of the latest stuff.
Remember when Kent Scribner was the schoolsuperintendent there, fort Worth was the most
(09:46):
liberal school district in the state.He's been gone a year or two now,
and that district's turned around a littlebit, and I hope that's a
trend. We've got to get ourschools back to the goal of bringing kids
in and teaching them something that theycan use, not about anti racism,
(10:07):
not diversity, equity and inclusion,which none of those three things are defined
as the word used to mean anymore? How about teaching them to read?
How about teaching them the classics?How about teaching them that the content of
your character is what counts. Idon't understand the schools anymore. I think
they have not. I don't thinkthey're useless. I think they're no.
(10:28):
I think no, I think they'rebeyond I think they're beyond useless. I
think they're teaching kids things that arenot true. Have you seen the kids,
the opinions and the thoughts of thekids on actual college campuses when the
cable networks go out and do theirstudent on the street and the anti Semitism
(10:50):
just bubbles up from these college campuses. No, I think we're doing that
at our secondary schools. Well,that's where it's that, that's where it's
starting, and that's why so importantthat we have options and it's not like
this is some revolutionary thing that oh, no one's ever thought about it.
There are like thirty states we areactually behind the curve. That's part of
(11:11):
why this issue is getting attention herein Texas because where Texas likes to position
itself as often one of the youknow, leading states in the country,
the ones that are trendsetters that aresaving the way. Yes, that's not
the case here. We are sobehind the curve of like thirty other states,
and those states they're about. Youknow, the nature of choice is
(11:35):
that it is not one size fitsall, and different approaches, different structures
will work differently in different states,as they will within different districts, as
they do for different kids. AndI mean I have made the point so
many times that you know, itappears at this point the public education industry
(11:58):
here in Texas they more the futuresuccess that school choice could bring rather than
the current failure with which right nowthey are saddling their students. And when
an industry wants to tell me,oh, we so care about the kids,
I'm sorry. I no longer believethat once upon a time I would
have given them the benefit of youfollowed the children. Having followed this issue
(12:20):
for nearly twenty years, I nolonger believe that it is about the control.
It is about their authoritarian impulses areoff the charts now and that's what
we're seeing in this election. Butyou know, I've tried, in my
posts on Facebook and X and onWB daily and you're on substack now,
(12:45):
I've tried when I mentioned this tokeep it from being personal. I have
not gone on and said Hugh Shineis a bad person. I've never done
that. I've always said he andI have been longtime friends. There was
at first one thing that made medecide to vote for somebody else, and
that one thing was school choice.I don't understand anybody who can call himself
(13:09):
a Republican or a conservative. Itmakes no sense to not be for school
choice, given the sorry state ofaffairs that our schools are in right now.
Now, I have two reasons tovote against mister Shine. One is
the school choice, of course,the other is his advertising. And I
am an old man now, andI've been through a few campaigns and I've
(13:31):
never seen such disgusting, despicable,untrue personal ads that have no relationship to
the issues. And I'm going toask you, are the days gone when
these two candidates could get together,maybe in the meeting room at some school
or the library or wherever, andtalk about school choice with some comedy and
(13:56):
with some respect for each other,and let us vote on who has the
better plan. Are those days gone? I don't know, I honestly don't
know. I would like to say, oh no, they still exist,
but there seems to be a reticencein that happening. And unfortunately, what
(14:20):
really bothers me is that we haveseen in the political landscape over the last
certainly over the last five years,that if you can't win on the issue,
you got to tear the other personapart. Yes, and so it's
a matter of, yeah, ifsubstance won't carry the day, then we'll
go we'll try and win by style. And if style means, as I
(14:43):
said in one of my articles recently, Texas our democratic led public education system
because it is democratic dominated, democraticrun. I don't know of any place
that isn't of an industry in whichyou have such part artisanship, so clearly
on the only one you can thinkof is the media. Yeah. True,
(15:05):
But any way, I said thoughthat I said that they have a
big challenge this primary cycle, andthat challenge is maintaining their dominance, their
control, their authority over the publiceducation system. And if and if dealing
with that, if overcoming it requireshook Er Krook. Krook seems to be
the form of which they're willing totake. And Krook in terms of of
(15:30):
perhaps having Democrats crossover and vote inthe Republican primary. But now we're also
seeing Krook in the form of allthis electioneering that's going on. It's something
that's been building over the last years. We have seen a lot of electioneering
or near election, you know,flirting with the flirting with going over the
boundaries of illegality with these bond elections, because God only knows, the school
(15:54):
districts are the paramount pursuers of thebond elections, take on more public debt
on behalf of their taxpayers, andstupidly people do go vote for these things
over and over again. But we'veseen electioneering or new electioneering with the bond
elections. Now we're moving into thesame thing here in these elections, especially
(16:17):
the high stakes, contentious races likewhat we have here in Bell County.
I want to make one more referenceto the negative ads and then let's move
into the electioneering. But working inradio and doing the morning show in Austin
and having television there, I'm quiteaware of the Ellen Tros race which is
down in the Lake Way, Fredericksburgarea. Ellen Troxclare, like Hillary Hicklin,
(16:45):
is a very attractive young woman physically. She's very nice person from a
personal standpoint, she knows her stufffrom a political standpoint, and she's very
conservative. They do they have toattack her personally, and the reason I
mentioned her attractiveness, you would neverknow it from the ads. They find
(17:07):
the worst, most unflattering photo theycan find, and Hugh Shine is doing
this as well. They all doit. And I want to say a
word about consultants. This is wheresome of this arises. I think some
of these candidates would be appalled todo this on their own, but the
consultants set them down and say,we've got to increase the negatives on your
(17:30):
opponent. And they do that bysuch things as Shine's consultant coming in and
wanting to say that Hillary Hicklin hasmoved here from some other part of the
country when she's a what ninth generationTexan that when she looks in the mirror
she sees Hillary Clinton. Would yougive me a break, Hugh, if
(17:52):
you happen to be listening to this, that's despicable. You're better than that,
or maybe you're not because you're lettingyour consultant do that bad on you.
And even if you win this election, you need to go take a
bath after this is over. I'mtired of the mud slinging. I don't
want to see it anymore. Iwant to know what Hugh Shine would do
with regard to school choice. It'svirtually my only issue now. I think
(18:15):
Abbot's got the border under control asmuch as he can. As far as
a political issue, the school choiceis my issue. And even if Hugh
Shine were to win and change hismind, and before school choice, he's
been tainted by this god awful racethat he has run. It's too negative.
(18:36):
It's in the gutter. It's despicable. Well, the moving here recently
is such a disingenuous argument because andthe Hillary thing. The correlation there is
that they're saying that Hillary moved herefrom New York. Actually, she lived
(18:56):
in New York some years ago whenher husband was doing a residency. She
lived there for a year. Welive in a medical community that has a
lot of doctors here. I wouldimagine that a lot of those people traveled
around and lived in certain cities fora year while they were doing different phases
(19:18):
of their medical training. But that'swhere the New York comes from. And
then the idea of the two hillariesand comparing her to Hillary Clinton. I
mean to me, that's just kindof a low hanging fruit type thing.
Oh yeah, some consultant was realproud of himself. Now here's an ad
against Hugh Shine. It's for HillaryHicklin and it's by the a f C
(19:41):
Victory Fund. And they just kindof went that way too. They've got
to picture a Hugh Shine and inthe mirror there's Beto O'Rourke. And I
hadn't seen this one until long afterthe Hillary Hickland Hillary Clinton thing came out.
But you know, sticking to theissues just seems so quaint. I
(20:02):
guess, all right, let's goto electioneering. You had a piece on
substack, and you'll excuse me ifI refer to your article by a certain
word. It was journalistic. Notonly did you make claims, but you
had all the paperwork, you scannedit, you put it in the article.
(20:23):
It's there for everybody to see,photos of the electioneering Texas code on
it. Everything. How did youthink the local media did in following up
on that story which you broke.I think they felt obligated to do something,
(20:48):
and they also the fact that complaintshave been filed with the Texas Ethics
Commission and the Bell County District Attorney'soffice. Was that part about that?
Was that part of that in thestory that was in the local paper,
the Temple Daily Telegram. Uh.No, all they did was they did
(21:15):
have something about the AG's office,which I believe is now looking looking into
it. But they had some kindof quote from the AG's office, but
they didn't really Basically, they justused a they quoted a ex posting from
(21:36):
Hicklan and then they had they talkedto Shine and you know, he told
them that his campaign staff checked withlocal school districts, which I'm not sure
who did they check with with thelocal school districts? And that would be
the spokesman, the highly paid spokesmanwho's there to protect the district, right
right, Yeah, And so youknow, did that person really have the
(22:00):
legal background to be saying, oh, yes or no, that that's that's
what we should do. But thenhe also said they followed the state statues
outline in Texas Election Code two fiftyfive thirty one that permits the procedure for
the distribution of political advertising through theinternal mail system, which I don't know.
(22:23):
I mean I've kind of done somereading on two fifty five as well,
and my reading of it says thatany officer or employee of a state
agency or political subdivision, which wouldbe a school district, may not knowingly
use or authorize the use of aninternal mail system for distribution of political advertising.
(22:48):
That they're not supposed to do that. Ah. But you go onto
the next sub section and it saysthat it does not apply, however,
to the use of an internal mailsystem to distribute political advertising that is delivered
to the premises of a state agencyor political subdivision through the United States Postal
(23:14):
Service. Now why that would bein the law? To me, I
mean just the most elementary sounds like, so the swamps telling the swamp that,
well, it's okay to do thiskind of unethical thing, but if
you use one of our other swamppartners, the Postal Service, it's okay.
(23:37):
Well, the hardest place in theworld to get an ethics bill through
would be Washington. The second hardestwould be Austin. They don't want their
hands tied on anything. But doyou let me think, well, are
you saying that there's a loophole herefor him? Well, there's a there's
a twist and that yes, thiswould suggest that there could be a loophole
(24:00):
that if you sent the materials toa school via the postals, through the
mail, through the mail, thatthat could be a loophole that you could
claim legitimacy for your action. Theonly problem is per the envelope that was
received at Chisholm Trail Elementary, wasthere any posted No? And incidentally,
(24:22):
this was these materials were originally sentto Brad Johnson, who I believe works
for the Texan, and he postedthem on x so to give that attribution
that Brad was the one who initiallyreceived the tip off of this. But
the envelope was included and it veryclearly shows, in fact the tracking number
(24:45):
is available, that it was sentvia UPS ground. So I'm not a
lawyer, you're not a lawyer.We even went to public school. But
when it says that the sub sectionprecluding a district from using the internal mail
system, that that section does notapply. So it would consequently allow them
(25:14):
to do that if it came throughthe mail. But this particular package that
we have here anyway did not comethrough the mail. It came through UPS.
So that would then seem to negatethis exception. Therefore, my question
becomes, what are the consequences?Do they throw your Do they throw out
(25:37):
the election and you have to doit over because the election has been tampered
with. It's it's a it's amisdemeanor. I mean, it's so a
couple of nights in jail or whatI mean that? I mean? I
know you mean, I'm not tryingto right, right, But my point
is that so many politicians, I'lluse Joe Biden as a perfect example,
(25:57):
with this Robert hur And investigation.He came out and basically said he's too
feeble to stand trial. He doesn'thave any brain power. No trial.
Remember the when Hillary Clinton had theillegal server, Well, no prosecutor would
take this case because it wasn't thatshe was mean or doing anything wrong.
It was that she was totally completelyincompetent. And Hillary just jumped on that,
(26:22):
Yes, I was incompetent and Iwiped my computer cleaned with a cloth.
At what point does the law haveteeth in it? It just doesn't
appear that it ever does if it'sa left winger. And in this case,
as you say, Hugh Shine,according to the stats is as close
as the Republican gets to being aDemocrat. Absolutely. And the other thing,
(26:45):
the other piece of this is,I mean, this letter goes through
and it starts out your vote andthe upcoming Republican primary is crucial for public
education and the future of the teacherretirement center system, which I love that
one because the teacher retirement system isheavily involved invested in China and on Hughes
Watch and a lot of other peoplethat are running for office, where have
(27:08):
you been on that. You knowthat you're talking about the future of the
teacher retirement system, Well, baby, you've helped get it there in trouble
with not having done anything to letthose jackals that run that system go and
invest in China because they've so overpromised and under delivered on results. And
that pension system has issues, notas bad as some throughout the state.
(27:32):
But go to my substack. There'san article from back in December that talks
about who's at risk in those retirementsystems. So I invite you to go
take a look at that to learna little bit more about that issue.
But it goes through and it talksabout all these things that you know,
he has done, and that votingagainst the seven billion dollar voucher program,
(27:55):
which it was actually an education savingsaccount. So I don't know that many
any of you people who through youryour health care or through your employer,
you have an opportunity for medical savingsaccounts. I don't know that you think
of those as medical vouchers. It'smore of a vehicle for redirecting money.
(28:18):
But anyway, he says that becausehe knew it would negatively impact public school
funding, raise your property taxes,and make the teacher retirement system actuarily unsound.
I'd be interested in exactly how thatworks. But he goes on and
then talks about, you know,being targeted by the anti public school pro
(28:40):
voucher primary opponent and these type ofthings, and the out of state people,
and of course this is the gentlemanwho just recently was received out of
state money from the well, it'sthe Texas Sands pack, but that's an
offshoot of the Sands Pack out ofLas Vegas, Nevada that is seeking gaming
(29:02):
favorable gaming legislation. But anyway,he goes on and at a point he
closes saying, you can prevent thatfrom happening. You in all caps,
must go vote and vote in theRepublican primary election. To Republican primary election.
Even if you're a Democrat, youcan vote in the Republican primary election.
Vote to protect public education. Votefor me, Hugh Shine, so
(29:26):
I can continue to defend our teachersand schools in the Texas House. Now,
another thing that's been brought up withregard to them to this is there
something There's a little something in TexasCode called coercion of a public servant or
voter. And you know if ifby means someone influences or attempts to influence
(29:48):
a public service in the specific exerciseof his official power or a specific specific
performance of his official duty, orinfluences to attempt or attempts to influence a
voter not to vote or to votein a particular manner. And certainly I
think it's fair to wonder if onreceiving this letter, a teacher receiving this
(30:15):
letter, might that teacher feel pressured, you know, considering that it's authored
by their elected House representatives saying votefor me. You know, here's my
name, vote for me, Govote in that Republican primary. I know
you might be a Democrat, butgo vote in that Republican primary. And
also by virtue of that letter beingdistributed through a school district, do you
(30:37):
not consider that it also is ostensiblysanctioned by the school district superintendent, superintendent
of the year, please get wellin some cases. Yes, yeah,
that's all very true. I wantto go to one other topic here before
we wrap it up, and Ithink this is very important. Charles Butt,
(31:03):
who is the head of the bigChib food chain, a billionaire.
He's a billionaire just in the lastfew days has given one point three million
dollars to Republican candidates who are againstschool choice. Charles Butt, whenever you
(31:26):
go to Chib and buy food,just keep this in the back of your
head. He does not like vouchers, although he accepts them at CHIB.
Go in with some food stamps andhe will take them. Those are government
vouchers. Chib is just fine withtaking them when it's to buy food,
but they don't want you to beable to have any way to go get
school choice. I shop at CHIB. I think it's a good store.
(31:51):
I think their produce is the freshestin town. And I'm in Austin during
the week, but I feel oddand I feel strange walking into there knowing
that it's a HGB food Stores.Has become a political organization that is fighting
(32:13):
against my beliefs and my values.So he's also behind raise your hand texts
exact exactly again, when you comeback here and you look at these scores,
half or more of Texas third througheighth graders are below grade level standards.
(32:35):
And then you have the Charles Buttsof the world. You have the
RAISR Hand Texas of the world.You have the Hughe Shines and other Republican
legislation leaders, the twenty one whohelped Newter basically the education savings accounts.
They are so fighting for the publiceducation system because what is half or more
(33:01):
not enough a third through eighth graderswho are below grade standards? Are we
going to try and take that upto three quarters or more? I mean,
what is the end goal? You'renot succeeding. Yet at the same
time you were so defensive about thisindustry. It's at a point it's what
(33:24):
is your endgame here? Because takingstudents to higher levels of academic success doesn't
seem to be part of the equation. So what is it that you people
are trying to accomplish. Is itto indoctrinate generations of students, because that
would seem to be the dumbing downof a society. Is that what we're
(33:45):
looking at, That would seem tobe the case and the aggression with which
that effort is being done. Toyour point about Charles Budt, yes,
Raise your Hand Texas, he wasa he helped, he helped, fan
owned that organization. It's a leftistactivist organization and they have long been advocates
(34:08):
of public schools and against any kindof rapidly against any kind of school and
one of the larger school districts inHugheshine's district was selected by Raiser Hand Texas
for a pilot program to turn schoolsuperintendents into open political activists school superintendents and
(34:30):
school boards. Yes and yes,but also along with that, I just
recently yesterday put up a story talkingabout how Raise your Hand, Texas.
In addition to having and actually TempleIndependent School District will be in the second
group of school districts. They doabout eight districts at a time. Temple
(34:50):
is is D is now one ofseven or eight in the second class of
these school districts that go through thismulti month training program. But they also
raise your hand, Texas. Evidentlyfrom what I've been told recently by someone
who attended one of these one ofthese training sessions, they will go around
(35:13):
and do a little mini workshops withschool boards throughout the state. And a
handout from one of those featured threecategories of electoral activism, electoral engagement,
issue development and campaigns, and effectivecommunications. The electoral engagement was the one
that kind of was real eye catchingbecause under that it had a category of
(35:37):
how to activate. The first pointthat that has is track and report on
staff member voting rates. And sothis is raise your hand, Texas coaching
school administrators and school board members thatthey need to track their employees' voting rates.
So that brings us back to kindof like Russia exactly. That brings
(36:01):
us back now to this electioneering goingon and like sending out letters that could
be construed as pressuring teachers to govote. And then you also have the
schools over here watching. I meanthey're going to they're going to be tracking
these people to what end. Who'sgoing to do the tracking, who does
(36:21):
the reporting, and who's gonna tellare people going to take action on that
report with the Bell County DA HenryGarza, Is he the guy that should
step up and file charges against theShine campaign? If assuming that this is
against the law, I mean youwent through, you went through file,
(36:42):
You went through the three the threesteps here. Number one, it can
be illegal under certain circumstances. Numbertwo, maybe not if it goes through
the mail. Number three. Thisone didn't go through the mail, all
right. I mean that seems tome pretty black and white, right.
Uh? Is our district attorney whois in a retirement mode. He doesn't
have to worry about re election anymore? To be determined? To be determined,
(37:06):
will the local media run the storyin a complete manners and not sorry,
not even run the story, butwork to not suppress the story.
I found it very interesting this morning, and I did leave my tenfoil hat
at home, but I found itvery interesting this morning that when the Telegram
(37:29):
did finally write about this issue,they send out every month every morning about
five o'clock, they send out anemail that has their featured stories and has
a link to the latest electionline edition. Yes, this morning that came out
at five three. It did nothave the Shine story as one of the
(37:52):
featured stories. Now, we couldtalk about the Democrats over in Colleen getting
kicked out of their headquarters for failureto pay the rent. But here we
have one of the most high profileraces in the States, I think in
the nation, potentially the nation.It's brought the governor here three times twice.
(38:13):
And this is the second time thatHillary Hicklin has been mentioned in the
Wall Street Journal with related to thisrace. But anyway, the the link
to the edition that came out withthe five o'clock Temple Daily Telegram email linked
to yesterday's edition, and they didn'tcorrect that until when eight o three the
(38:37):
first one came out five to three, the second one came out eight oh
three. Interesting, which for peoplelike you and I who have done a
lot of posting on websites, weknow those kinds of things can be programmed,
can be scheduled, posts can bescheduled to distribute. And the fact
(38:57):
that it was those two times makesme one or that second one wasn't set
up to distribute three hours later exactlyon that three mark, but it did
conveniently now have the corrected link tothe paper. Well, but one would
hope that that was not intentional,because that's what I would call cnnism if
(39:17):
it is, well, I youknow, slazy or sloppy. I don't
know, but suppression is an issue. It is all right. I'm just
going to end my part of thisby giving you three bullet points that I
would do if somebody died and mademe king of the schools in Texas.
Number One, there would be nomore school superintendents. I would abolish the
(39:39):
post. I've written on this extensively. I believe the schools don't need educrats
running them. They need managers runningthem. The manager would be hired by
the school board. The school boardwould be a board of trustees that like
a city council managing the city manager. And we would need somebody from outside
the education bureacracy, somebody that hasrun a big outfit and run it successfully.
(40:05):
Number two, unless your child speaksEnglish fluently, you would not be
allowed in public schools until you cando the remedial English. That's the reason
that our test scores are solo.It's a language barrier, and we need
to have all classes taught in Englishexcept foreign language classes. Teaching math in
(40:28):
Spanish and Chinese and Russian and Swahilidoes not make any sense to me.
The third thing I would do paidspokesmen for the schools. They now have
departments in some governments depending on whatschool, what county, what college,
whatever. These are people who arenot there to disseminate the news regardless of
(40:52):
what it is about the school system. They're there to make the schools look
good and we're paying for them.So those would be three major changes,
and I just want to encourage peoplewhen you're trying to make a decision here.
I didn't go in to vote againstHughshine. I went to vote for
school choice. That's my issue rightnow. I mean, obviously the border,
(41:13):
but that's more of a national thing. My issue is school choice because
I see the country going to hellin a handbasket, and I think schools
are the reason schools have lost theirmission. Schools are now for schools.
They need to think about the students, they need to think about the parents,
and they need to think about thetaxpayers. And those are three areas
that don't seem to fit into CharlesButt's idea of making the schools in his
(41:38):
own image, and that's what weneed to do. Our schools need to
be there to teach kids, teachthem truthfully, teach them American history,
Texas history, Western civilization, computerscience in today's world. But the dei
and all the craft, the dragqueens that are in the school today,
the pornography, it's got to go. And I would say when we talk
(42:00):
about education freedom, there's a lotof buzzwords that are thrown about education freedom
being one of them. Empowering parentsis a term that we talk about the
fact that parents should have the abilityto direct, to choose and direct the
best course of educational course for theirchildren. Something that I think gets lost
(42:21):
along the way is we need toempower teachers. Oh, I'm critical of
the public school system. I'm criticalof teachers oftentimes. But that said,
please know I do not believe thatall teachers are bad, that all teachers
are and caring. I know thereare people out there that every day get
up and go and some of thethings they have to deal with in classes
(42:43):
are atrocious. And I mean,and today it's far different than it was
thirty forty years ago. And myheart and my respect goes to some of
the people that go in there whoI do believe are acting with the utmost
of good faith, the utmost ofgood intentions, trying to do right by
these kids. To those people,I would appeal and say, you need
(43:07):
to be empowered. But empowerment startswith yourself. Well, the education industry.
Part of what I so despise aboutthe public education system industry is that
it is so I mean I talkabout that, you know, the authoritarian
impulses that it just doesn't control.But also there is this like bureaucratic loyalty,
(43:30):
fealty that you must have to thebureaucracy, to the administration. And
what I would say to freethinking teachersis take a look at this and be
bold, be courageous. You canhelp fix the problem by coming in here
and frankly, with school choice.Don't fall for the fallacy of what things
(43:53):
like that letter from Hugh Shine andthe things that the Texas Association of Teachers
and all of these organizations are sendingout. School choice offers opportunity, not
just for children, school choice offersopportunities for teachers. Those jobs are not
going to go away. They couldend up. School choice could bring a
(44:15):
reconfiguration, a restructuring of the educationindustry. Would that not be exciting.
Rather than be in this school whereall of these kids are failing, wouldn't
it be exciting to be able togo to a school that is looking to
actually try and have kids that succeedand being part of that equation and so
(44:38):
the competition. Embrace the competition.Go see how you can be a part
of it to help improve education,be a public or private. That's what
I would say to teachers. Andthink long and hard about your vote when
they're saying when they're trying to bullyyou. You know, and schools love
(44:59):
to talk about bully. Oh,bullying is so bad. Well, these
school administrators and there are you know, other counterparts in politics. There're some
of the biggest bullies. They arestand up to that bully. Really think
about your kids and go and vote. What do you think can help affect
outcomes? And right now, rememberthat public schools don't seem to be fitting
(45:23):
that they cannot agree more that thereare a lot of good teachers out there,
there are a lot that believe they'restuck in a system where they're not
they're not enabled to say any penpowermentstarts with yourself, and they cannot keep
discipline in the classroom because of raceissues. And I don't care what kid
acts up in class. Race shouldnot be a part of the discipline.
(45:44):
Race and then all the cultural thingstoo that are coming. Absolutely, there's
so many, you know, thetrends, the so many you know,
mental health issues. I mean,there's just they're being hit on all sides.
All right, Well, let's justsay school choices on the ballot.
You can look at the negative advertising, the gutter advertising that has come out
(46:07):
from any side that it is.I deplore it. I think that this
ought to be on the basis ofthe issues. Let's get out there and
put somebody in that will bring somepositive change to these schools. All right,
lou Ann Anderson Political Pursuits the podcast. Tell people where they can find
your columns. I am Political Pursuitson substack, and I encourage you to
(46:30):
come take a look. We've gota lot of interesting content up there,
and it's not going to slow downanytime soon. I also would just say
that please remember voting is Tuesday,March fifth, seven am to seven pm.
Look at your local county voting webpage to find out your locations.
(46:54):
And I would just close by sayingcourage is contagious. Please please go out
and spread some arounds. All right, And I'm Lynnwoolly. I'm the pilot
of the podcast on Planet Logic,which is planet logic dot us. My
columns are up at wb Daily dotcom and you can catch me Monday through
(47:15):
Friday on Talk thirteen seventy in Austin. That's from seven until nine on the
Cardle and Wooly Show. That's mypartner Jim Cardle and Gosh, we're out
there trying to fight a good fightand it needs to be done in today's
America, in today's Texas and withthe Bell stocracy right, be logical.
(47:40):
Everybody will see you next time.
Popular Podcasts
24/7 News: The Latest
The latest news in 4 minutes updated every hour, every day.
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com
The Clay Travis and Buck Sexton Show
The Clay Travis and Buck Sexton Show. Clay Travis and Buck Sexton tackle the biggest stories in news, politics and current events with intelligence and humor. From the border crisis, to the madness of cancel culture and far-left missteps, Clay and Buck guide listeners through the latest headlines and hot topics with fun and entertaining conversations and opinions.