Texas Tribune reports: Billionaires run the state.

[txdot-guy]

West Texas oil billionaires Tim Dunn and Farris Wilks political network financed a slate of right wing christian conservatives candidates in the 2024 primaries.

In race after race, more moderate conservative incumbents were trounced by candidates backed by Dunn and Wilks. Their political network made good on its vows for vengeance against House Republicans who voted to impeach their key state ally, Attorney General Ken Paxton, advancing more firebrands who campaigned against bipartisanship and backed anti-LGBTQ+ policies. Tuesday’s election also paved the way for the likely passage of legislation that would allow taxpayer money to fund private and religious schools — a key policy goal for a movement that seeks to infuse more Christianity into public life.

House District 60, Rep. Glenn Rogers lost his primary. Rogers made no secret of who he blamed for his loss, accusing Abbott of telling “blatant lies” as part of his $6 million spending spree against House members who broke with him on school voucher legislation last year.

But the bulk of Rogers’ ire was reserved for Dunn and Wilks — the “two billionaire, ‘Christian’ nationalist power brokers that run this state.”

“History will prove that our current state government is the most corrupt ever and is ‘bought’ by a few radical dominionist billionaires seeking to destroy public education, privatize our public schools and create a Theocracy that is both un-American and un-Texan,” Rogers wrote in a Wednesday op-ed in the Weatherford Democrat. “May God save Texas!”

https://www.texastribune.org/2024/03...erty-election/

A good read.

[Lucas McCain]

Very interesting read and thanks for providing to those of us who were unaware about our state and the names of some heavy hitters who helped dictate/manipulate the politics in Texas.

[BigBamboo]

Dunn and Wilks sound like a couple of modern day Hitlers in their ideology. Thank god they can’t assemble an army.

[txdot-guy]

Truthfully I blame Greg Abbot and Ken Paxton for this mess. Dunn and Wilks financed the candidates but it was Abbot and Paxton that campaigned for them. Let’s hope this doesn’t turn out to bite us in the ass to badly.

Abbot’s insistence on school vouchers for private schools borders on the obsessive. Our representatives (most of whom I didn’t vote for) stood up and said no to Abbot. Does he really believe that this issue is good for Texas or does he just not want to piss off some of the biggest campaign contributors in the state?

[Jackie S]

“Most Corrupt In History”

That is a pretty high bar to clear.

[Tiny]

For anyone like McCain who was unaware of Dunn and the Wilks Brothers, here's another thread,

https://www.eccie.net/showthread.php?t=2968398

And two good articles, mostly about Dunn,

https://www.texasmonthly.com/news-po...nn-runs-texas/
https://www.wsj.com/politics/policy/...tions-0bbe2dfe

I disagree with the Dunn and Wilks social agenda, and their attempt to blackball any Republican who voted to impeach their man Ken Paxton.

There are two things they promote that I do agree with. The Biden Administration has tried to take its climate agenda too far, by shutting down down drilling and leases on federal lands and the federal offshore, and approvals of new LNG plants. Dunn and the Wilks are fighting that. And they are promoting school choice, through state funding of private schools.

There's a caveat though. Their real agenda with the schools is to provide more Christian education. And too many private schools are putting out kids that may be well schooled in Christianity or Islam or whatever, but not reading, writing and math. Private schools supported directly or indirectly by government funds should have to meet minimum standards for the quality of education they provide. And vouchers should only go to families who couldn't otherwise send their kids to private school.

I may have been swayed by anecdotal data though. I know a public school teacher who complains about the level of students who transfer to her class from private schools. And I had a child who struggled in math for a good while after transitioning from a private to a public school.

Originally Posted by txdot-guy

Abbot’s insistence on school vouchers for private schools borders on the obsessive. Our representatives (most of whom I didn’t vote for) stood up and said no to Abbot. Does he really believe that this issue is good for Texas or does he just not want to piss off some of the biggest campaign contributors in the state?

What are your concerns about vouchers?

[txdot-guy]

Originally Posted by Tiny

What are your concerns about vouchers?

I don’t like the use of public funds for private education. For profit schools and religious schools tend to have priorities that don’t jibe with the purpose behind schooling in general. Schooling takes second or third place behind profit and proselytizing.

Take a look at the hasidic yeshivas in new york.

https://www.jpost.com/diaspora/article-726214

https://onlysky.media/hemant-mehta/n...-educate-kids/

[Jacuzzme]

Wow. Big money people finance political campaigns of candidates they feel align with their values and whose policies will be personally beneficial. This is big news, nothing like it has EVER happened before.