Category Archives for Donna Garner

Does Ken Mercer Support the Smear Campaign Against a Fellow Texas Education Board Member?

Does Texas State Board of Education member Ken Mercer, a San Antonio Republican, think one of his fellow Republicans on the board “has no integrity”? Does he think his fellow Republican has “disdain for the law,” is ineligible to serve on the board, and is using his position to enrich his business clients? If he […]

Also posted in Ken Mercer, State Board of Education, TFNEF, Thomas Ratliff | 3 Comments

Is David Bradley Betraying Anti-Muslim Extremists in Texas?

Will we soon be hearing cries of betrayal from religious-righters who have been warning that Muslims are using charter schools to indoctrinate Texas kids? Campaign finance reports filed with the Texas Ethics Commission show that David Bradley, a leader of the creationist faction on the Texas State Board of Education (SBOE), received three late contributions […]

Also posted in 2012 Texas SBOE elections, David Bradley, Harmony Public Schools, Islam, Texas Eagle Forum, TFNEF | 6 Comments

Texas Education Board Candidate Gail Spurlock Homeschooled Her Kids

Donna “Jeffrey Dahmer Believed in Evolution” Garner’s fiery email exchange with Texas State Board of Education member George Clayton this week included a particularly interesting tidbit you might have missed. Garner suggested a variety of reasons for supporting Gail “Pilgrims Were Commies” Spurlock as Clayton’s replacement on the board. Among them, she said, is that […]

Also posted in 2012 Texas SBOE elections, Cynthia Dunbar, Gail Spurlock, TFN | 15 Comments

Yowza — Fiery Email Exchange Suggests Texas Education Board Race Could Get Very Heated

Texas State Board of Education member George Clayton’s guns are blazing in a searing email exchange that makes it clear he plans to run for re-election as a write-in candidate this November. Clayton finished third in the May 29 Republican primary for the Dallas-area, District 12 seat. Former state board member Geraldine “Tincy” Miller and […]

Also posted in 2012 Texas SBOE elections, Gail Spurlock, George Clayton, LGBT issues, Lois Parrott, TFN, Tincy Miller | 9 Comments

Take a Stand Against Hate Campaigns

Are we about to see a repeat of the hateful campaign tactics religious-righters used to win election to the Texas State Board of Education in the 1990s? Back then hundreds of thousands of dollars from San Antonio businessman James Leininger funded coordinated campaigns that claimed Democratic board incumbents supported the “radical homosexual agenda” and wanted […]

Also posted in 2012 Texas SBOE elections, George Clayton, Golden Corridor Republican Women, LGBT issues | 11 Comments

Contempt for Voters

So what’s with the dishonest campaign to remove from office a State Board of Education member who had the gall to challenge — successfully — the re-election of a prominent member of the state board’s far-right faction in 2010? Just another example of the far right’s contempt for Texas voters. We’re talking about Thomas Ratliff, […]

Also posted in David Bradley, State Board of Education, Thomas Ratliff | 2 Comments

Carrying the ‘Birther’ Banner Forward

Just for sheer entertainment value, you almost gotta love fringe characters like Donna Garner. The right-wing, Waco-area gadfly bombards elected officials, journalists and assorted other folks across Texas with numerous, hair-on-fire email screeds on topics ranging from the State Board of Education (SBOE) to national politics. Unfortunately, some SBOE members have actually promoted her nonsense […]

21 Comments

Backlash Against the Right in Speaker Fight?

The fight among Texas Republicans over who should be speaker of the state House of Representatives is getting hotter. We suggested on Tuesday that over-the-top efforts by far-right pressure groups and their extremist supporters to replace Speaker Joe Straus, R-San Antonio, may well alienate other Republicans. That point was made clearer in a letter from […]

Also posted in David Barton, Joe Straus, Texas Legislature | Leave a comment

The Right Lies Again in the TX Speaker Battle

TFN Insider has already reported about the religious campaign the far right has been waging against Texas House Speaker Joe Straus, R-San Antonio. Now PolitiFact offers a clear example of how the religious right is also spreading distortions and falsehoods in the effort to replace Straus with another speaker far more likely to obey their […]

Also posted in Joe Straus, Liberty Institute, Pat Carlson, sex education, Texas Eagle Forum | 5 Comments

‘Jeffrey Dahmer Believed in Evolution’

The header above is from the subject line of a wild-eyed screed sent circulating around the Internets this past weekend by Donna Garner, a former language arts teacher in Central Texas. Social conservatives on the Texas State Board of Education seem to think Ms. Garner is some kind of curriculum guru. (Never mind that most other folks see […]

Also posted in evolution, Jeffrey Dahmer | 59 Comments