Many People Are Saying (2/2/24)
Many People Are Saying (2/2/24)
Weekly Texas rumors, gossip, and projects we're working on.
Welcome to “Many People Are Saying,” our once a week paid-subscriber article where we feature rumors we’re hearing, inside gossip in the political world, and projects and pieces we’re working on that we haven’t published yet.
This week:
We have a copy of leaked Texas Association of School Administrator documents.
RPT Chair Drama!
Email Leaks Confirm Employee Compensation Tied to DEI?
We Acquired Leaked Texas Association of School Administrators Documents
The Texas Association of School Administrators, or TASA, is a nonprofit claiming to promote, provide, and develop leadership to further educational excellence. Education has the best platitudes in politics, so their pitch sounds lovely.
TASA is a lobbying group that obtains funds to operate from Texas taxpayers through local school districts—a prime example of the often derided “taxpayer funded lobbying” industry. TASA uses this money to lobby Texas lawmakers to advance an agenda favorable to them and their interests, and not necessarily what is in the best interest of the people of Texas.
Although banning taxpayer-funded lobbying was a legislative priority for the Texas GOP, a bill proposed last session failed to pass. This has emboldened groups like TASA, who have been keen on using tax dollars to continue lobbying efforts.
We have obtained a copy of the documents TASA is currently presenting to their members and using to lobby.
Links above take you to the following video:
They even provide proper talking points to skirt around potential electioneering violations that could be committed by ISDs.
Going further, they provide “op-eds” to persuade and coach people on voting in specific primaries, even if they don’t normally align with that specific party. Sounds familiar!
A excerpt of a pre-written “op-ed”:
A civic responsibility to vote in March primaries
Many Texans may believe that they are registered as either Republicans or Democrats, therefore limiting the primary in which they are allowed to participate. However, we do not register with one party or another in this state, meaning any registered voter can choose to vote in either primary. Even if you have voted in the Republican primary previously, you can choose to vote in the Democratic primary this year — and vice versa.
If no candidate in a primary gets more than half the vote, the top two candidates advance to a runoff election a couple of months later. Supporters of public education will need to vote in those contests as well. You can vote in a party’s runoff as long as you didn’t vote in the other party’s primary earlier that year.
More Texans need to realize that our elections have fundamentally shifted. If you are simply voting in the November general election between Republicans and Democrats, you are only fulfilling part of your responsibility as a citizen. If we want our elected officials to listen to us, we must make our voice heard when given the opportunity to do so. This spring, that means voting in the party primary of your choice. It may be your last, best chance to determine who is making big decisions for our state and communities for the next several years.
Graphics are provided for social media as well.
The taxpayer-funded lobbying industry is a parasite.
It’s easy to see the appeal, as it makes important resources available to local governments who may have otherwise gone without. However, what we see is that these lobbying groups can’t leave well enough alone. Ain’t nobody got time to compete with lobbyists for civic engagement and advocacy. Texas lawmakers should end this and stop organizations like TASA from using our own money against us in TXLEGE.
Republican Party of Texas Chair Drama
Current RPT Vice-Chair Dana Myers, has announced her intention to run for Chair to replace RPT Chair, Matt Rinaldi.
This triggered a firestorm of Tweets by chairman Matt Rinaldi, highlighting his wins while chairman of the Republican Party of Texas.