House leadership is trying to impeach a champion of higher ed reform, but is protecting a State Board of Education member who appears obviously ineligible to serve.
The difference? Wallace Hall wants to bring transparency to a massive government bureaucracy and Thomas Ratliff is a connected member of a huge bureaucracy.
University of Texas Regent Wallace Hall is actually doing what millions of Texans dream about – trying improve our faltering University system. The agenda? Open up the black box of higher ed spending, which keeps dramatically increasing with no change in services. For his efforts he has been attacked by the guardians of this nest of money and power.
Thomas Ratliff, on the other hand, is a member of the State Board of Education, but is also a lobbyist for Microsoft, a company the SBOE does business with.
In an AG opinion on the subject, AG Abbott wrote, “A person who has been retained to communicate directly with the legislative or executive branch to influence legislation or administrative action in or on behalf of a profession, business, or association on a matter that pertains to or is associated or connected with any of the statutorily enumerated powers or duties of the Board is not eligible to serve on the Board.”
Conservative activist Donna Garner has written a data rich article on VoicesEmpower.com laying this situation out.
This is a good representation of House priorities when establishment politicians like Joe Straus and his partner Dan Branch are in positions of power.
–Texas Tribune article on Wallace Hall probe