Far-right pressure groups are still screaming about “religious discrimination” as the culprit in the Texas Senate’s failure last week to confirm Don McLeroy, R-College Station, as chairman of the State Board of Education. Today, for example, Free Market Foundation Focus on the Family-Texas is again making that absurd charge:
We are outraged that SBOE Chairman, Don McLeroy, was blocked from confirmation by 11 Democrat Senators. Despite our best efforts to the contrary, the Senate discussion focused on his Christian beliefs and the opinion of the N.Y. Times. Outrageous.
As we have already pointed out, these reckless attempts to manipulate people of faith are cynical and deeply dishonest. (Some might say un-Christian as well.)
A number of senators spoke eloquently against McLeroy’s confirmation, including Leticia Van de Putte, D-San Antonio; Eliot Shapleigh, D-El Paso; and Rodney Ellis, D-Houston. You can watch the full Senate video of the debate here. Click on the archive for May 28. Debate on McLeroy’s confirmation begins shortly after the 1:12 mark.
One of the most eloquent speeches came from Sen. Kirk Watson, D-Austin. If you don’t have time to watch the full debate, we have an audio file of Sen. Watson’s appeal to his colleagues to put the education of Texas schoolchildren above partisan politics and personal agendas. Click here to listen.
Please take the time to thank Sen. Watson and his colleagues who voted against McLeroy’s confirmation. They stood against continuing efforts to politicize our kids’ education and drag our public schools into the seemingly endless “culture wars.” They put the interests of Texas schoolchildren and their families first. Senators who voted against confirmation were Davis, Ellis, Gallegos, Hinojosa, Shapleigh, Uresti, Van de Putte, Watson, West, Whitmire and Zaffirini. You can find contact information for senators here.
