THE SPECTATOR: UNCOVERING THE TRUTH IN OUR LOCAL ELECTIONS
Do you know who is really behind half of the candidates in the upcoming Brenham City Council and Brenham School Board races? Well, I’m about to tell you how a group of people got together and solicited their own candidates for both the City Council and the School Board. Then, they publicly said that after studying all of the candidates, they just happened to endorse the very people they had put up for election. This very same group of people are also holding a number of political forums under different names, without letting all of the candidates know that they are supporting and endorsing their opponents.
The Republican Club of Washington County, the Washington County Republican Women, The Texas Leadership Summit, the Texas Church Leaders, Citizens United for Brenham Schools, Let Our Teachers Teach, and Champion Fellowship Church. At first glance you might say that’s quite an impressive list of groups all supporting the same five candidates in this election. However, upon closer examination, you will find that all of those groups have many of the same members. And after recruiting their candidates, who most if not all attend Champion Fellowship Church, they want voters to believe they did a thorough review before throwing their support behind their own candidates. Mike Garner, David Jantzi, Walt Edmunds, Steve Soman and Alan Lehmann were all recently asked at a candidates’ forum whether they had “accepted any form of aid - financial, operational, strategic or otherwise – from political special interest groups.” All five answered that they had not. I’m not sure how they came to that conclusion considering these groups are buying advertising, printing cards and flyers, and passing out yard signs for them at their meetings and forums. Even the church had signs for them available in the church foyer.
Don’t get me wrong…I’m not saying these are not good people and good organizations. They are! But I believe there is no place for such a conspiracy in our local races, especially the City and School Board elections where no political parties should be involved. Voters deserve transparency from all of the candidates, just as we expect transparency should they be elected to office. I want my officials to be able to represent all of our community, not just one church or group. And I want them to be able to think on their own, not just do what they are told by the ones who recruited them as candidates. We have enough of that going on in state and federal government.
To be fair, I must mention the names of the five candidates who are not being supported by these groups…the ones who are running their own campaigns. They are Shawn Koonce, Justin Colley, Jared Krenek, Leah Cook and Shannan Canales.
I believe voters deserve to know the truth before they cast their ballots. And that’s the way it looks to this Spectator.