It’s started. The other day I received this piece of campaign literature from Representative Stan Gerdes. Oops! I’ll bet that’s what you thought too.
No. It wasn’t from Stan Gerdes. It was about Stan Gerdes. It was from Americans for Prosperity.
About a year ago, I wrote a post called “Read Between the Lines” about campaign literature. All campaign literature is sophisticated marketing material. It’s meant to manipulate. Don’t be fooled.
This piece of literature was paid for by Americans for Prosperity (AFP). That’s a PAC, a political action committee. Who are they? Who else have they funded?
A look at their legally required reporting to the Texas Ethics Commission shows AFP supported ten current Republican Texas House members1. Six of those ten voted to impeach Ken Paxton, including Stan Gerdes. The other five were Angie Chen Button, Janie Lopez, John Lujan, Morgan Meyer, and Ben Bumgarner.
School Choice
So while Stan Gerdes and the other five have all signed on as co-sponsors of HB3, the House bill on Education Savings Accounts, they also voted to impeach Ken Paxton.
Did you know there are two school choice bills? Maybe not and this literature doesn’t tell you that.
The Texas Senate has passed one (SB2) and has sent it to the Texas House for consideration. And, that’s where it sits.
The Texas House has its own bill (HB3) and that one has its first public hearing on Tuesday March 11. Should that pass as it is written, the Senate and House will have to come together to iron out the differences between the two bills. If they can’t do that, school choice will not make it to the Governor’s desk.
If you’re going to call Stan Gerdes’ office as this literature suggests, ask which of the two bills he supports. If his staff says the House bill, HB3, ask if he’d also support the Senate bill. If not, why not. The devil is in the details, as they say.
1 Only one rep receiving AFP donations voted against Ken Paxton’s impeachment. The other three are new reps.