In Alvord Independent School District John Trice, Superintendent of A.I.S.D., and Larry Wilson, Assistant Secretary of the School Board) are using their positions to campaign for State House District 61 candidate Joe Tison. Obviously, these guys have completely lost their mind, because recent actions to try and get Mr. Tison to prevail in the Texas Primary should lead to them losing their jobs for breaking Texas laws.
Americans For Prosperity’s Peggy Venable reported on this on AFP’s blog site, and it is enough to make you wonder what these two were thinking. John Trice and Larry Wilson sent out a joint letter to every educator and employee of Alvord I.S.D. seeking to persuade the individuals that work in the school district to not only vote for Joe Tison, but to tell their families to do so as well. It is truly sad when someone abuses their position of power to try to get a friend elected in their voting district. Not only this, but they lied to A.I.S.D. employees about incumbent Rep. Phil King.
The Telecommunications Infrastructure (TIF) Tax was a subject brought up in Trice and Wilson’s letter. They said in the letter that Phil King’s support of the elimination of the tax was a big lose to school districts. Unfortunately, up until today I knew very little, if not anything about the TIF Tax, but after reading up on it it has become clear that Trice and Wilson are flat out wrong to make such a claim. The TIF Tax was instituted back in 1995, and was a one and a quarter percent tax on telephones. The original intent of the bill was to collect one and a half billion dollars, and after doing so it would be slated for repeal. This goal was evidentially met sometime ago. The money collected from the bill was originally intended to help put broadband in public schools, libraries, and hospitals around the Sate of Texas. According to Peggy Venable the tax no longer serves this purpose, so supporting the elimination of the TIF Tax has not hurt school districts at all. The fact that Phil King wants to get rid of this tax shows true fiscal responsibility on his part.
“…we can elect the candidate of our choice…….if we all vote!” What John Trice and Larry Wilson really mean is if you vote for their candidate, and not your own. I am sure that not everyone within the school district desires to see Joe Tison win in the primary, and many probably don’t want to see him win the general election seeing how most educators in the public school system are Democratic. I am sure there will be many members within the school district of Alvord who are not going to be too happy that district officials are trying to influence how employees of the I.S.D vote just so they can get a buddy in office.
It is truly ignominious on the part of these Alvord I.S.D. officials.
Filed under: Texas Primary | Tagged: Alvord, District 61, Joe Tison, John Trice, Larry Wilson
It’s incredibly disingenuous, and this electioneering may be illegal.
Thanks for sharing this info!
Well, Well, Well, Somebody finally has let the cat out of the bag. John Trice also made phone calls and said Rep. Phil King was responsible for all the spending cuts in the FFA &FCLA school programs. Could this be a lie too!!!!!
John Trice made phone calls? Were they automated calls? Do tell!
Melody – John Trice, as superindentent of Alvord ISD, walks a very fine ethical line if he’s been making those phone calls.
The mail piece in question is under scrutiny because it specifically tells school district employees to vote in the Republican primary. Since that would be a matter of public record, Mr. Trice would be in a position to hold that information against his employees.
Furthermore, if any (ANY) school resources were used to campaign for ANYONE, Tison or King, it would be illegal.
As a former student of AISD I know both of these men personally, and they have always had the best interest of the students and staff in mind. I’m sure there intentions were meant for the better of our community.
I would like to know, exactly what law did they break.
Alvord ISD needs to take out the trash. That lazy principle doesnt do anything but sit on his big butt all day and play video games and talk on the phone. Nobody likes him and if the teachers speak up, they will loose their job or their life will be miserable to where they would want to quit just like the school nurse that was followed by her shadow. The reason the greatest coach of Wise County got demoted to imaginary tennis coach is because Crutsingers wife wants Enis’s job. That pretty much sums it up.
Peggy and Michele- Sorry it has taken so long to answer your question. Just now came back to this site. The phone calls I was refering to were not automated. John Trice called a member of our local friends of the FFA and requested at list of members phone numbers so he could contact them to vote for Joe Tice, stating that Rep. Phil King was responsible for all the spending cuts in FFA & FCCLA programs.