If we refuse to vote for the best man for the job regardless of what the outcome looks like it may be. If we can not trust God with the results of an election. Then we deserve the slavery that we will inevitably bring upon ourselves and our children.

As my brother Barry has said 'Im doing something to show God that I dont deserve it"

Carl

February 2000

NO CONSERVATIVE'S FRIEND
by Donna Ballard

The 2000 presidential campaign is déjà vu for Texas conservative Republicans. In 1994 we campaigned for a man who claimed to stand for Republican principles. But a profound sense of discouragement soon settled in among us.

George W. Bush quickly appointed Democrat Elton Boomer Insurance Commission Chairman and, later, Secretary of State. He then named Mike McKinney, a pro-abortion Democrat, as Commissioner of Health and Human Services, a position that pro-lifers consider sensitive and influential.

Although Bush promised to withdraw from certain federal programs, they actually grew. As a part of The New Standards Project a national education initiative he retained a 400-member team from Ann Richards Democratic administration. Bush protected and advanced Goals 2000 and School-To-Work, keystones of Clinton's education agenda.

As Republican members of the State Board of Education, our only serious enemy was the impenetrable alliance between the Bush administration and the educational bureaucracy. Principled conservatives received insulting, expletive-laden telephone calls from top Bush aides. It is reprehensible that today Bush so assiduously courts the very members of the Republican party that yesterday he denigrated.

We repeatedly witnessed his superbly structured political dance; it spun around any semblance of a distinct philosophical underpinning.

This background will help non-Texans understand an incident at the 1996 GOP State Convention in San Antonio. As National Convention delegates, we gathered to choose our delegation's chairman. That position traditionally goes to the highest-ranking elected official in this case, Governor Bush.

When Bush was nominated, about one-third of the delegates stood in outrage and shouted "No!" Others joined in by raising their hands. Bush easily lost the vote that day. Regardless of whether or not conservative activists are willing to come forward today and say so, they know that Bush does not keep his promises and is no conservative's friend.

WHAT MATTERS

For four years, Texas pro-lifers fought for legislation without Bush's help. Bush even rejected the anti-partial-birth abortion platform resolution submitted to the Republican National Committee. Yet in 1999, while assembling an exploratory committee for the 2000 presidential campaign, he signed a parental notification bill just in time to woo pro-life Republican primary voters.

In 1995 the Texas House of Representatives was overwhelmingly Democrat. I helped recruit 39 GOP candidates and then watched in horror as Governor Bush traveled into these districts, lending unparalleled support to Democrat incumbents.

This happened in Democrat Paul Sadler's hometown. Bush held a press conference extolling Sadler's support of the Governor's agenda. Bush operatives then endorsed Sadler in the local newspaper. Bush and his aides similarly gave aid and comfort to other Democratic legislators, including Bush's appearance at an event for Democratic House Speaker Pete Laney.

Bush's top aide, Margaret LaMontagne, and Bush's education Commissioner, Mike Moses, traveled in 1997 into the districts of conservative state officials to influence them to vote for new curriculum standards. These enforced guidelines embraced "fuzzy math" and other feel-good educational fads. Although LaMontagne and Moses alternately tempted them with future career advancements and threatened them with political extinction, conservatives uniformly demanded higher standards. Bush now brazenly takes credit for these results.

Regardless of where honest people stand on the liberal to conservative spectrum, they should be offended by the Governor of Texas because what matters to honorable people is not what their leaders say, but what they do.

CHARISMA WITHOUT SUBSTANCE

In 1994 Bush's promises of local control, an abolished state education bureaucracy, and higher academic expectations brought audiences to their feet at nearly every campaign stop.

Instead the Governor has dramatically increased state influence over local schools. Boosted by new legislation and a 52.3 percent budget increase between 1994 and 1999, state educational functionaries now savor nearly total control without public accountability.

Meanwhile, educational statistics are alarming. Under Bush, High School dropout rates have increased by one-third (to nearly 50%) and SAT scores have dropped Texas national ranking from 40th to 46th. The state-administered TAAS test is the object of widespread derision. Its difficulty has decreased annually, debunking the Governor's claim of rising student achievement.

The test required for high school graduation is written at a seventh grade level and may be taken eight times to pass. For the school to be rated acceptable only 45 percent of the campus need pass. The TAAS now drives all learning statewide. There is no community control.

Worse than violating his pledges is Bush's current claims to have fulfilled them. Bush styles himself as a "compassionate conservative." There is nothing compassionate about deluding the voters.

THE IMPLICATIONS FOR CONSERVATIVE LEADERS

The most destructive aspect of a Bush presidency is that he would wrap a deceptive cloak around the liberal education agenda, give it a spiffy new name, and call it conservative. As in Texas, this will frustrate conservative activists and transform their reformist energies into disillusionment and apathy.

Religious leaders, members of Congress, and Republican activists who have endorsed Bush but not personally witnessed his modus operandi do so at America's peril. Their support is often based upon brief encounters at the governor's mansion or on the campaign trail. Let them run against one of Bush's favorite Democratic sons or promote a principled policy that does not directly benefit the Bush camp! For them there awaits a ruthless personal and political awakening that would be anything but compassionate.

Donna Ballard

Former elected member, Texas State Board of Education, Founder and President, Grassroots for Better Education, wife and mother of four children.

4/29/00 Postscript

As George W. Bush's campaign money and the political savvy of his staff have forced all other primary candidates out of the race, Bush has immediately began to show his true colors nationally. The following articles (sent under separate cover) report the inconsistencies with his South Carolina vie for the conservative vote. They include

Bush-appointed Judge Ratliff, a Liberal's Hero
G.W. Bush Claims Greatest Tax Cut
Gay Republicans To Get A Meeting With Bush
Bush's Educational Goals

Note that Bush has now changed his language regarding the Texas Tax Miracle. Now he responds to tax questions by saying that he did not achieve all that he wanted, but that people are proud of him for being brave enough to try. This is because criticism on this point is one of the few that has stuck that Bush has been falsifying claims of radical tax reform in Texas.

A very potent T.V. commercial, produced by Forbes, ran during the Iowa primary. In this commercial a representative from a Texas Tax group documents Bush's broken promises. (Additionally, simple math proves that Texans have not received tax relief.) Bush's people saw the potential harm this commercial could have on their hopes and immediately began very aggressive damage control. Succumbing to Bush's accusations of negative campaigning, the Forbes people fell for the bait and not only pulled the commercial but stopped similar, future projects. (McCain also fell for the same accusation and, to the Bush staff's great delight, promised to stop all negative campaigning. Of course, Bush himself never made such a pledge. The difference is, Bush will not personally or publicly engage in dirty politics. Instead, his money and his people do his foul work.)