He’s on the right track. It’s just a question of whether he takes it to the correct destination.
Rep. Glenn Rogers
The corruption that exists at the highest level of Texas state government would have made Governor “Pa” Ferguson blush.
Governor Greg Abbott has defiled the Office of Governor by creating and repeating blatant lies about me and my House colleagues, those who took a stand for our public schools. I stood by the Governor on all his legislative priorities but just one, school vouchers. For just one disagreement, and for a $6 million check from Jeff Yass, a Pennsylvanian TikTok investor, and voucher vendor, Abbott went scorched earth against rural Texas and the Representatives who did their jobs-representing their districts.
My tenure in the Texas House included two general sessions, seven special sessions, redistricting, Covid, winter storm Uri, a Democrat quorum break, expulsion of a House member and the impeachment of Ken Paxton. It also includes a litany of conservative victories that made Texas safer, reigned in out-of-control government bureaucracy, lessened what had become a crushing tax burden on our families and businesses, and fostered economic growth.
[…]
In my first race the opposition was the Wilks, Tim Dunn, Empower Texans, and the entire enterprise of dozens of PACs and “non-profits” they financed. The race ended in a hard fought Covid-delayed runoff victory against Farris Wilks’ son-in-law.
In my second race, my opposition was Wilks and Dunn, Empower Texans (rebranded to Defend Texas Liberty), and the Voucher Lobby, including the American Federation for Children and the School Freedom Fund (based in Virginia). In that race, we dealt with a runoff and an expensive, unnecessary recount.
In my third race the opposition was all the above, but now included a rebranded Defend Texas Liberty (Texans United for a Conservative Majority), vastly greater money from the Voucher Lobby, and Governor Greg Abbott.
This time the millions of dollars spent spreading lies about my record and the non-stop false impugning of my integrity were just too much to overcome. The real losers in this race are:
1) Texas public schools;
2) Rural Texas; and
3) Representative Government.
This morning, I have no regrets. I believe in the words of Sam Houston, “Do right and risk the consequences.”
History will prove Ken Paxton is a corrupt, sophisticated criminal. History will prove vouchers are simply an expensive entitlement program for the wealthy and a get rich scheme for voucher vendors. History will prove Governor Greg Abbott is a liar.
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.
Rep. Rogers is quite correct about who the villains are here, not just in his own race but in the big picture. But what is he going to do about it? As Campos correctly notes, Republicans like Rogers have benefitted in the past from these same forces. It’s just now that they’re the targets they’re upset about it. (That may be unfair to Rep. Rogers – I haven’t had any real reason to pay attention to him before now, so perhaps he was saying things like this before. I somewhat doubt it, but I can’t say for sure. But it’s definitely true in general.)
The obvious corrective to this is what I said before. It’s on Rep. Rogers and all of the other victims of revenge to invest in some payback. If you want to save the state from those “radical dominionist billionaires”, you have to work to defeat their water carriers in the Lege and the AG’s office and the Governor’s mansion. You can try to do that in the next primary election, but you have to be prepared to keep it up for the general election. These people aren’t on your team. You need to convince your remaining supporters that they’re not on their team, either, and that they have to vote accordingly. Yes, that may mean voting for Democrats. If they don’t like it, well, look at the alternative, as Rep. Rogers has clearly laid out. You can fight back or you can roll over. It’s your choice.
Good story, good to see a Republican laying this out so clearly. If a Democrat said this, the MAGAs would just dismiss it. Maybe they will listen to this guy.
This is classic radicalization- the purity tests get stricter and stricter. Rodgers is nowhere close to liberal, but he disagreed on vouchers, therefore his is now impure and must be cast out. I doubt that he’ll take that final step. Sununu and McConnell have officially endorsed Trump, even though they know he is unfit, and they know that we know that they know this. Party over country.
We can’t post images here, so I’ll describe a most appropriate meme. It’s a still from Hulu’s “The Handmaid’s Tale”, showing two women in the iconic red garb, looking quite despondent. It’s captioned: “What was I supposed to do, vote for a DEMOCRAT?????”
(Yes, yes you were.)
Here’s the simple answer to Glenn: actions have consequences. The three women (R) appeals court justices found out, too, as did many others. Dade Phelan’s finding out is delayed with a runoff, but he’ll feel the voter’s wrath as well…it’s just delayed a bit.
Action: https://www.texastribune.org/2023/05/27/ken-paxton-texas-house-impeachment-vote/
Consequence: His voters obviously liked him, to put him in office in the first place, but it turns out they like Ken Paxton, and what Ken is doing for Texans, and more generally, for America MORE than they liked Glenn. America likes an underdog. Look at the lawfare being waged against Trump. It’s only made him more popular. It’s the same thing with Paxton. The impeachment over a kitchen remodel that didn’t get remodeled was the final straw that woke up many Texans. Inviting the Texas Senators over to Paxton’s house to see for themselves should have shamed every Senator from voting to remove Paxton, but they weren’t shamed, and now the people have spoken to you, Glenn.
Good for Glenn for standing on his principles anyway. He and Liz Cheney, and Adam Kinzinger, can all maybe get together for book club, or maybe a weekly coffee klatch, with all their new found free time.
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