Texans decided to take a gamble when they decided some years ago to amend the stateĀ constitution allowing politicians to run for seats on the State Board of Education.
I use the term “politician” in its strictest sense; the term describes anyone who seeks votes to an elected position.
Thus, the gamble occurs when politicians of varying stripes seek these offices.
I bring you one Mary Lou Bruner, a politician who’s running for a seat on the Texas State Board of Education.
She is among the strangest individuals imaginable seeking a highly critical state job, which is to help set public education policy for the state’s 5 million or so public school students.
Bruner’s statements are wacky … in the extreme.
Here’s the punch line: She is in position to win a Republican Party runoff next week and, with that victory, is a virtual cinch to be elected to the 15-member board.
http://www.texasmonthly.com/the-daily-post/mary-lou-bruner/
District 9 comprises a section of East Texas. Yes, it’s a long way from the Texas Panhandle, which is represented on the SBOE board by Amarillo lawyer and former clergyman Marty Rowley.
Bruner’s runoff opponent is Lufkin chiropractor Keven Ellis. According to Texas Monthly, early voting trends seem to suggest Bruner’s in the driver’s seat.
Why is she so unsuitable? Check out the link I’ve attached to this blog and you get the idea.
She has said some stunningly ignorant things. And yet this individual is a retired kindergarten teacher.
Bruner has said President Obama spent part of his younger days as a male prostitute; she said Islam is not a religion; she said dinosaurs went extinct because they were babies and couldn’t fend for themselves after the ark landed on Mount Ararat; she said House Speaker Paul Ryan “looks like a terrorist” after he grew a beard.
The record is full of loony statements.
To think, therefore, that this individual stands an excellent chance at this moment of helping set public education policy in Texas.
I cannot vote against her in this upcoming runoff. However, I can put this short message out there and hope that it gets to enough individuals over in the Piney Woods to deny this individual the chance to affect the education of future Texas leaders.
Check out the link. It’ll make you cringe.