Common Core FAQ's-Your Questions Answered

The Common Core.  Now that we've established that you have heard of it before, let's go a little deeper into the topic.  We've all heard that our education system is broken, right?  Then, one would assume that Common Core would attempt to be the solution to the problem.

Since we're talking about solutions here, we would also assume that the Common Core would help improve critical thinking and problem solving skills.  Both of these are something that is so desperately needed in our world that seems to be lacking a whole lot of independent thinkers.  I'll be honest, lately we seem to be all about the collective; the greater good, if you will.  Well, surely something such as Common Core, the alleged solution wouldn't have a socialist or statist agenda.  Read on....  


I have mentioned in numerous posts before that I'm a home school mom, so it shouldn't be surprising to some of you that the article that I'm citing for this particular blog comes from the Home School Legal Defense Association (HSLDA).  They came up with their own set of FAQ's for Common Core and my intention for this blog was to do that same thing, but I thought, why reinvent the wheel?  I'm going to share it with you.

Good place to start:
What is Common Core?
The Common Core State Standards (“the Common Core”) are two sets of K–12 academic standards that outline what students are expected to learn in English language arts and mathematics each year from kindergarten through high school. The goal of this checklist is not literacy, proficiency, or increased graduation rates but to make students “college- and career-ready.”¹ The Common Core was written by the National Governors Association (NGA)—an organization of governors, their head staff members, and policy makers—and the Council of Chief State School Officials (CCSSO). States receive Race to the Top (RTTT) federal funding for committing to adopt and implement the Common Core and to collect student data from preschool through the workforce.

Hmm. "..States receive Race to the Top (RTTT) federal funding for committing to adopt and implement the Common Core and to collect student data from preschool through the workforce."  Sounds like a bribe to me.

 Is the Common Core already being implemented?
The NGA released the Common Core standards on June 2, 2010. Since then, 45 states, four territories, the District of Columbia, and the Department of Defense Education Activity have adopted the Common Core State Standards. Minnesota only adopted the English language arts standards. Alaska, Nebraska, Texas, and Virginia have refused to adopt the Common Core.
As the pedagogical weakness and ballooning implementation cost of the standards becomes evident, many adopting states are scrambling to delay or defund implementation.

So, then you may ask, how is it possible to have the feds involved in this?  Federal Funding for Race to the Top is handed out for states whose schools adopt Common Core Standards.  See the next question.

How is the Federal Government involved in the Common Core?
Three sets of laws prohibit the federal government from prescribing the content of state curricula and assessments, yet the United States Department of Education has propelled the Common Core more than any other organization and is funding the creation of standardized assessments.² First, the department conditioned education grants on states’ commitment to implement the Common Core.
Second, the department offered waivers from the most burdensome portions of the No Child Left Behind Act in return for states’ promising to adopt the Common Core’s college- and career-readiness standards and corresponding assessments.
Third, the department awarded millions of dollars to consortia of states to craft the assessments based on the Common Core.

Now, the next question probably addresses the biggest concerns of most moms and dads and news outlets like Fox and talk show hosts such as Glenn Beck, who is addressing the issue with his event to be held next Tuesday, We Will Not Conform LIVE: Making Common Core History.

Does the Common Core have a philosophical bias?
Three philosophical threads weave through the Common Core—statism, moral relativism, and progressivism. The statist goals of the Common Core are implicit in the lockstep uniformity that is the central thesis of the program. Relativism’s influence on the Common Core is evident in the open-ended and research-based assessment questions and the expansive new student tracking systems, ideas which have been strongly promoted by relativist Howard Gardner. Progressive educator John Dewey argued for standardized curriculum to prevent one student from becoming superior to others and envisioned a workforce filled with people of “politically and socially correct attitudes” who would respond to orders without question.³ Workforce readiness is one of the Common Core’s main goals.

 Here is an example of the philosophical bias as seen on Fox News with Elisabeth Hasselbeck.  This is a segment describing a fifth grade English class and exhibits the statist goals of the Common Core.  Take a look.

Let's look at the next question.  It's a question that I've been concerned about given my personal choice on how to educate my children and the affect that Common Core (if any) will have on them going forward.  Sadly, it looks like there might be an impact.

Will the Common Core impact private schools and home schools?
The Common Core will impact home schools and private schools in at least three ways. First, designers of the expanded statewide longitudinal databases fully intend to collect data about home school and private school students. Second, college admissions standards will be affected: Common Core standards for college readiness will be used by institutions of higher learning to determine whether a student is ready to enroll in a postsecondary course.¹⁰ Third, curriculum and standardized tests are being rewritten to conform to the Common Core. 

Next question:

Does the Common Core lead to a national curriculum?

Implementation instructions for the states written by the authors of the Common Core suggest that a national curriculum is the goal of the standards. NGA recommends that “States and districts…share the costs of developing new curricula and instructional tools and not each develop their own at greater expense for each.”¹³ The groundwork for a national curriculum is also being laid by groups of states and private organizations—such as the Gates Foundation and Achieve—collaborating to develop common curricula.


Not only has the Common Core not been tested or proven to do what the government and it's creators say that Common Core will do, it's proving to be a means of data collection.  Goodness knows we need MORE data collection, amirite?  See the next question and its answer in its entirety here:

Does the Common Core include a national database?
All 50 states have had statewide longitudinal databases in place to track their students’ scores on assessments for the past decade. Yet the authors of the Common Core are clear: the success of the standards hinges on the increased collection of student data—including demographics and postsecondary education performance—from preschool through the workforce.¹⁶ 

Massive new databases are already being built. In 2012, the Gates Foundation used $17 million to launch inBloom, a company that has built a $100 million database to track students from kindergarten through college.¹⁹ The databases identify students by name, address, and sometimes Social Security number. Combined with the changes to FERPA, the implementation of the Common Core is unleashing what is arguably the most comprehensive tracking of citizens that America has ever seen.

If that doesn't give you pause, then I'm not sure what will.  Sometimes identified by Social Security number???  Remember, the Social Security Card was something that the government assured us would never be used for identification purposes.  See question 8 and it's answer.  Why else would they need all of the data they are collecting?  For a national curriculum and to further their agendas and for financial gain!!


The article by HSLDA also addresses those who support Common Core and who opposes Common Core and why.

What I have found is that the Common Core is NOT about fixing our broken education system.  This is not about improving our children's critical thinking or problem solving skills.  This is just another way to control we the people, to brainwash our children into believing that socialism is the best economic system and maybe the most egregious thing is that they would have our children's information data mined and sold to the highest bidder.  Let me remind you of a quote that I think sums this issue up nicely, "Let me control the textbooks, and I will control the state."-Adolf Hitler  


 

We Will Not Conform LIVE: Making Common Core History-A Glenn Beck Event

Heard of Common Core?  I'll bet you have.  Heard of Glenn Beck?  Two for two?  Not bad!  How about the upcoming event that's being put together by Glenn Beck about Common Core?  No?  Well, stay tuned and I'll give you all the deets! 

Next Tuesday, July 22nd in Dallas, Glenn Beck along with Freedomworks, which is a group I'm sure you've also heard of before, is teaming up to put on an event called We Will Not Conform LIVE: A Night to Make Common Core History.  To better explain what this is, I've taken the explanation directly from the event website.  This event is... "A LIVE interactive experience during which cinema audiences will actively engage with Glenn Beck and other experts as a comprehensive plan to fight back against Common Core is crafted in real time."

"Fathom Events and Glenn Beck invite you to experience a night of action against Common Core when Glenn Beck’s We Will Not Conform is broadcast LIVE to cinemas nationwide on Tuesday, July 22 with a second showing on Tuesday, July 29."

"This isn’t a typical show - it’s an interactive experience and a rare opportunity to make a real difference in America’s education system. We Will Not Conform is your chance to not only hear from experts like Michelle Malkin, David Barton, and others but to join LIVE with fellow theatergoers across the country to develop tangible strategies in the pursuit of enacting real change in our schools. By the end of the night, the brainpower, experience, and passion of cinema audiences nationwide will be captured in a unified plan of action distributed to all participants."

To get more information, I was fortunate enough to send in some questions about the event to Matt Kibbe, President and CEO of Freedomworks.  Kibbe, along with Ellen Wheeler, also from Freedomworks, will participate in the event hosted by Glenn Beck.  Freedomworks has been working on the Common Core issue for a while now, among other things, like trying to defeat and defund Obamacare, promoting conservative candidates for House and Senate races and keeping activists around the country engaged and involved.

Kelly Horsley: When did Freedomworks first start talking about Common Core:
Matt Kibbe: In the fall of 2012

Kelly Horsley: Why do you feel it is important to team with Glenn Beck to do this event?
Matt Kibbe: "It's a live interactive event linking parents, teachers, students, and more from across the country with a live event in Dallas. This will bring everyone together, on the same page, to develop a comprehensive action plan."

Kelly Horsley:  What is the most important point you hope is communicated in this event? What do you hope the audience walks away with after the event?

Matt Kibbe: "The audience will walk away from this live event with an action plan and specific steps that they can take in partnership with others around the country to stop common core."

Kelly Horsley: What can moms and dads do to make sure and keep Common Core out of their schools?

Matt Kibbe: "Stay aware! Constantly communicate with your local officials, read your childs' homework and tests, look at their textbooks. The We Will Not Conform event will provide an action plan for parents to do just this."

Kelly Horsley: How many states and or districts have adopted or implemented Common Core?

Matt Kibbe: "Officially 45 states, DC, four territories, and all Department of Defense Schools. However, we see the influence of Common Core nationwide due to changes to the SAT/ACT/AP programs."

Kelly Horsley: Common Core has been in the news a lot lately as has CSCOPE, which is here in Texas. Briefly for our readers, can you explain the difference?

Matt Kibbe: "Common Core is a national set of standards for which curriculum and testing are based. CSCOPE is a Texas specific curriculum program based on Texas standard with outside influence from common core and other programs. CSCOPE has come under scrutiny in Texas as common core has in other states. The programs are linked because of the influence of companies like Pearson."

Kelly Horsley: Tell us about the event, its release date, and where folks can go and see it and how to get tickets.

Matt Kibbe: "July 22nd, it's a live event so it's released at that point, they can go to wewillnotconform.com for more info and tickets. It will be replayed on July 29th."

You heard it here, folks.  If  you want to get Common Core out of your schools and lives, then get online and go the website listed above and secure tickets to watch this live event.  A plan of action is always a good thing.  Common Core, however, is rotten to the core.

The Texas House-Representing Voters or Subsidized Developers?

Last night at The MET Youth Building, State Representative Allen Fletcher faced a crowd of over 500 concerned, and might I add, a tad angry constituency.  The source of their anger?  Two projected low-income housing units to be built in the Cypress area; one at Queenston and W. Little York called the Catalon, the other to the north of 290 near the Ravensway subdivision, named The Lodge of Huffmeister.

On hand to kick things off was James Hardin, president of The Cypress Coaltion.  He and his wife, Barbara Hardin have started this group in order to fight the possible build of these two facilities.  James had this to say about the reason they decided to start this group, "We had heard about the low income housing on Channel 13, and we recognized the need to do something about this situation.  We signed the Change.org petition and decided we needed to go one step further and chose to do a townhall.  We set up the meeting and never in our wildest dreams did we think that there would be 500 people in attendance.  We then started thinking that we should have a coalition like Cy-Fair and we are in the process of setting up The Cypress Coalition in order to be proactive instead of reactive for future developments in and around our community."  Kay Smith, president of Texas Tea Party Republican Women was also there to help introduce the concept of the housing and information on how concerned citizens can put a stop to these projects going forward.

Nathan Kelly with Blazer Development was also on hand to debunk any and all misinformation that the public may have had about said projects.  Although, by the end of the meeting, I think he had been debunked.  When you boil it down, all he had were talking points and they were delivered as such.  Representative Fletcher took his share of the 'heat' as well.  There was a line at the microphone to share and express concerns from the group.  One of the most popular questions was, "Why weren't we informed of this?"

The concerns that were brought to the floor were all pretty similar, mostly about property value and the potential for the crime rate to go up after said housing is built and filled with subsidized residents, not to mention the potential strain placed on already overcrowded schools and a short staffed police force.  Some residents wanted to know why they hadn't been informed of this.  Good question.  So, Representative Fletcher responded in his defense, that he really felt he had done due diligence on his part by having met with the developer and had checked into it and he said he saw no problem signing on to having these projects built.  Once he heard that his constituency was upset with his decision, he said he would recant his decision to support it.  There were various responses to this, but I think my favorite was a lady named Lynn, a resident of Enchanted Valley.  She had this to say directly to Representative Fletcher, and I'm paraphrasing here, "Shame on you!  Think about all the money you raised to get reelected!  You should have used that money to send out information to the residents to let them know.  Shame on me for voting for you!"  Good point.

Here's the frustrating part, besides all that has already been mentioned: the developer doesn't really care about your individual concerns and your property values.  That's why this is done on a points system run by a large state agency called TDHCA.  They approve low-income/affordable housing projects based on a complex system of points.  Sadly, in the last legislative session, the state senate decided to do away with their “voting/veto” points on such matters, leaving them no sway or say in these project developments and now the House of Representatives of the State of Texas has eight points, which is enough to kill a project, if the representative should choose to write a letter of disapproval.  There are points held by the following entities, so if you care about this, these are some of the important people to contact:

-School District
-MUD 61 JF-Hofman
281-469-9405
JFHofman@District61.org
-Fire Department
-Ems
-Law Enforcement
-Local Businesses
-Elected Officials
The only other quantifiable community participation is with a coalition, which, thanks to James and Barbara Hardin, Cy-Fair has now.

Call Representative Fletcher at 281-373-5454.  Call the developer Chris Richardson at 713-914-9200 or email him at Blazer1@blazerbuilding.com.  Also, a matter of public record is the owners of the property, Edgar and Janis Lester and if you feel so inclined, you may call them at 713-629-2300 or email at ED.Lester@Stewart.com.  This is far from over, so if you are concerned and want to get involved, this is your chance!

Happy 2nd Birthday, Political Chicken!

Hello, all you beautiful people!  Amazingly, it's been a year since the Political Chicken celebrated it's first birthday.  That's right, friends, The Political Chicken is officially two years old!  I wanted to share sort of a yearly review of the blog and some new activities and developments in the life of the Political Chicken.  I hope you're as excited as I am!

In the first birthday post, I shared some of the top performers in terms of page views and some of my favorites as well.  Those that were topping the charts are still holding steady at the top.  The two top blogs remain, Sex, Lies and Politics with 321 page views and my personal favorite with 315 page views, As Iron Sharpens Iron.

Shockingly enough, the first birthday blog, Happy Birthday, Political Chicken was not too far behind those top two with 241 page views!  I guess celebrations are contagious!  I am so happy to still be writing and involved in local politics and I thank all of you for your continued support.

I have written about a myriad of things over this past year, some political, some fun and some personal.  I also like to use this blog to hold elected officials accountable and have written several times about my own congressman, John Culberson.  My blog titled, Just the Facts, Chicken weighed in at 194 page views when I shared with readers a discrepancy in stories about the truth behind Culberson's vote to fund or not to fund Obamacare.  I had a follow up conversation with the Congressman and I wrote a follow up blog about it, too.  I never released it, but now might be just the right occasion, sort of a behind the scenes look at The Political Chicken.  Wanna read it?  Here it is, titled, Voting 'No' Is a Waste of Time. 

Coming in at number five with 179 page views, is one of my other favorite blogs called A Tale of Two Senators where I outline the differences between Senator John Cornyn and Senator Ted Cruz and how since Senator Cruz had been elected, Senator Cornyn's voting record had been squeaky clean.  Sweet, right?


Now to a list of my personal favorites that maybe didn't hit the top of the charts; here they are in no particular order:
Obama: Just Another King Louis
The People Choose, Not the Party: Taking Back Harris County From the Slates 
Principles Before Incumbents

Some of a more personal nature are these:
I Believe...
Politics And Motherhood: Making It All Work 
More Than a Woman


Are you ready for the BIG NEWS?  Drumstick..er..I mean, drum roll, please....The Political Chicken is now writing for a statewide blog called Texas GOP Vote!  I have been writing for them for almost a year now and in the process of writing for Texas GOP Vote, one of my articles was featured at the top of Google news!  You can find me on Texas GOP Vote by clicking here.

Yep, The Political Chicken is going places and you can come too!  Stay with me, folks, because as I've said before, this is just the beginning!

 

Voting 'No' Is a Waste of Time

Hi, gang.  It's been a while since I've carried my pitchfork and torch and been screaming about an officeholder's vote, hasn't it?  Sadly, that time it's come to an end.  Only, it's not over just one vote this time; no it's more about an attitude.

I have been writing blog posts about a certain U.S. Congressman, John Culberson.  I relayed some of his votes on some Hurricane Sandy relief bills and the vote to fund Obamacare.  He and his staff had no idea I did this.  Well, then I got an invite for lunch with the congressman and other precinct chairs in his district.  I did attend, just to see what he had to say.  Nothing exciting or new, just more of the same.  With that said, I sent him an email in which I shared with him my personal displeasure over his votes and also revealed the blogs AND the link to my blog so he could see what I had written. I also asked him to call me so we could discuss.

So, next morning I get a phone call from...guess who on my cell phone?  If you guessed Chewbacca, you were wrong, sorry.  So, we had a nice little chat in which he 'enlightened' me.  Heh. When I raised questions about the Hurricane Sandy relief bills, he assured me that there was money in those bills allocated for the rebuilding of Section 8 housing in New Jersey.  Great, more entitlement spending.  He also said that the representative from New Jersey Rodney Felinghuysen, a man whom he trusts, assured him the money would go straight to the housing authority.  The Congressman also reminded me of how we here in Texas sometimes experience hurricanes and he hoped that the same representative from New Jersey would stand beside him and vote for relief for Texas.  Okay, I can agree with that portion of his statement.  What I can't agree with is the spending, and what it's going to be spent on.  Here is a portion of the text of that bill from FreedomWorks website.  How can you argue with this?

This amendment, sponsored by Rep. Rodney Frelinghuysen (NJ-11), would add another $33 billion to the Disaster Relief Act, bringing the total spending in the bill to over $50 billion. Although the bill is supposedly to help the victims of Hurricane Sandy, the better portion of this amendment funds unrelated programs such as community development block grants. The "emergency" spending is also not offset, meaning that it will add to the federal deficit. 

Congressman Culberson also tried to reassure me that the spending would be 'offset' in next years budget, because the budget would be cut.  Great, but if you don't cut SPENDING, then there is a problem!   Oh, and by the way, he couldn't cite any places where they had 'offset'. 

Moving along to the Continuing Resolution (C.R.) to fund Obamacare.  So, the true story is, that YES, there is Obamacare funding in the C.R.  Congressman Culberson said that funding was 'hard wired' into the bill and there was no way to separate it from the other funding that needed to be passed.  So, I asked him why Representative Louie Gohmert would have considered voting no on that same C.R.  His answer was that sometimes Louie doesn't know what Louie is doing.  He also followed that up by saying that voting 'no' is a waste of time.  Now, in all fairness, he could have meant on this particular C.R. or just in general.

If it's the latter, I'm furious.  Even if it isn't, I'm still furious.  Voting 'no' is a waste of time?  Since when?  Tell that to Senator Cruz and Senator Paul and Senator Lee.  I'm sorry, kids, but that spells defeat in my book.  That tells me you've given up.  That would be like me, as a mom, deciding that it was just too damn hard to tell my kids 'no' anymore.  Does that even make sense?  I was so astonished when I heard those words come across my phone.

So now what?  The primary is coming...you figure it out.

Texas Tea Party Republican Women Host Dinesh D'Souza May 30th, 2014

"For over two hundred years, America has been a shining city on the hill: a symbol of freedom and opportunity for the rest of the world. An inspiration for those living in abject poverty or under oppressive regimes. A refuge and a home. A grand experiment in freedom. A prosperous land of opportunity. A force for good in times of evil, and a force for order in times of chaos."

"But what if America had never been founded?"

This is the question that is pondered in Dinesh D'Souza's new book and movie, "America: Imagine the world without her".


Next Friday, thanks to Texas Tea Party Republican Women (TTPRW) along with other Republican groups, is your chance to hear from Author, Writer and Producer Dinesh D'Souza.

Kay Smith, president of Texas Tea Party Republican Women had this to say about the upcoming event: "TTPRW wants to support our Republican Candidates and work to keep Texas RED.

This is an opportunity to raise funds for their campaigns in the November election while raising awareness of the newest feature film by Dinesh D'Souza about our Country.  America, Imagine the World Without her."

The event is to be held Friday, May 30, 2014 at the Westin Oaks Galleria in the Consort Ballroom at 5011 Westheimer.  Seats and table sponsorships are still available.  Visit www.ttprw.com for more details, or to sign up online.

Spotlight on HD 132: Interview with Michael Schofield

As long as I've been of age to vote, I took my choices seriously and did the research that was needed to help select the best and most qualified candidate.  Pffffft!  If you believe that, then I've got some ocean front property in Arizona to sell.  I hate to admit it, but it hasn't been until recently that I have been doing any sort of research or homework on candidates.

Since I've entered a more mature and responsible phase of my life, ahem, I do actually think about who would be the best candidate for the job and if you've been reading any of my posts recently, you'll know that I'm referring to one race in particular; the race for Texas House District 132.  The run-off is in full swing (early voting has started) and the two candidates that are contenders for Bill Callegari's seat at the table in HD 132 are Ann Hodge, Katy Chamber President and Mike Schofield, former adviser to Governor Perry.  I already published my interview for Ann Hodges, so here is my interview with Mike Schofield for your information.  I wanted to get a feel for both candidates and see where the interview led, and I started out with some basic questions.  Here they are in some particular order:

Kelly Horsley: Why did you decide to run for office?
Mike Schofield: Back in 2003 I got hired by the governor to work on tort reform.  It's the first time I'd ever worked with the legislature and it didn't take long to realize that this is where I could actually do my service.  This is where I could help my community most and make my mark.  Some people teach adults to read, other people can coach little league and what I could do was public policy and particularly in the house.  I realized pretty early on that I have the facility for legislating and also for figuring out how to get stuff done up there which is very different.  It's great to have an idea, it's another thing to get stuff done.  The more the governor added to my portfolio, the broader array of issues I got to work on, the more I realized that what my calling was, to serve in the legislature.  By the time I'm done, I hope I'm able to provide a service to the community.

KH: How long would you serve if elected?
MS: I have no idea.  This district will cease to exist in eight years, so if you were planning on serving for more than eight years, you have no knowledge of that.
KH:What makes you say that the district will cease to exist?
MS:The district is growing so fast, at best, it will be cut in half.  It might get decimated depending on the demographics of the county and of the area.  They may take pieces from all over the place.  They may do any number of things, but at best, it will get cut in half.  Which can change everything from not only the size of the district, but the demographics and everything else.  I've heard people say they think it will be sliced north and south of 529.

KH:Tell me a little more about your job with the Governor because I'd like to find out more about it myself and to be able to share it with the readers.
MS: I was originally hired to work on the big tort reform bill of 2003.  We were losing Dr.'s left and right.  Women in the Valley with problem pregnancies had drive all the way to Corpus or San Antonio because doctors were leaving, even doctors who had never been sued were seeing 10% and 15% increases in their malpractice insurance every year to the point where they threw in the towel.  So I went up to work on that bill and that was my first assignment that's what I started with.  The Governor liked my work and they were in the middle of redistricting so he added election law to my portfolio.  Then he added gaming to my portfolio and then for a little while part of insurance although we have a separate person to do that.  The more I went along, the more he added. Every time he'd assign me to something, I became 'the guy' for that issue.
 By the time I was done, I had those issues, plus anything to do with property rights because I'd worked the eminent domain bill.  Plus, as I got more senior, I would be brought in on issues that weren't my responsibility originally as sort of an adviser.
I would get brought in on a number of issues over the course of time, to the point where my last session that I worked for the Governor in 2013, I had 500 bills that I was responsible for.  I was responsible for every word of them.. You're not responsible in general, you have to know if something has been added to that bill on a Thursday in April that might make it unpalatable, whether somebody snuck something in in committee OR whether somebody took a part of your bill and put it on somebody else's bill that they might not be aware of.  So, it was great training for being a legislator because you have to keep track of where everything is at all times.  You have to know how to get things off of your bill, you have to know how to go persuade people to leave your stuff alone, you have to be able to fight to maintain the things that you're trying to pass, and fight to keep bad things from happening.  That's essentially the function of a legislator.

KH: What work are you most proud of while you were there in Austin, working for the Governor?
MS: I think I'm most proud of two things; I'm most proud of my work on tort reform over the years, not any one particular bill.  I'm proud of being the guy who was responsible for seeing any problems developing anywhere in any legislation and snuffing them out so we don't lose what we've gained in Texas by preventing frivilous lawsuits and by preventing the damage to our economy that happens when you allow the lawyers to run rampant and hold everybody up.  The second thing I'm most proud of is my work on the voter ID Bill.  It took three sessions of working with legislators, working with stakeholders from around the country about their experiences with their voter ID Bills to get that bill passed.  I'm proud of my work on a lot of the text of the bill, making sure that we had free voter ID's  so that we couldn't be challenged for violating the poll tax cases.  Making sure that we had a strong Photo ID bill that didn't back down to allowing two forms of non-photo ID.  The other provisions that we had to work with over the course of the bill to make sure that we not only passed it, but we had a bill that would hold up in court and that would work.  Sometimes you see politicians just want to  pass a bill so that they get credit for it; it doesn't really matter to them what's underneath the caption.  This was really important to us that we got this bill right and it would actually serve to avoid some of the fraud and some of the problems we've seen in elections over the years.

KH: Tell me a little about the work you've done with True the Vote
MS: As the governor's election law adviser I've learned a lot about the way our election system works, so we met with stakeholders, anybody who wanted to meet with us, to let us know what they were seeing in the field and to give them the benefit of our expertise on what the law is and how things are supposed to work.  The True the Vote people, particularly Catherine Englebrecht have worked really hard to ensure fair elections.  They sent people into places where they weren't welcome to make sure the elections were being run fairly.  They took an awful lot of really vicious and inaccurate statements about what they were doing.  Politicians wanted to chill their right to go and participate in the process and ensure free elections, and they stayed with it anyway.  That's kind of going above and beyond the call but it's also what we need from citizens if we are going to maintain a free society.  You can't sit on the sidelines and hope that somebody else does that kind of work, and I really appreciate that they got off the ground and did their due diligence and got out there and learned what they needed to learn about how the system worked and trained everybody at what they were supposed to do when they got to the polling place and recruited enough volunteers to make sure the polling got done.

KH:If something gets passed, any bill, and the public says, "I hate this bill!  Call the Governor and ask him to veto it!"  Or, let's say something doesn't get passed and the public says, "Hey, what happened here?"  How much power or input do the people really have when they call and do that sort of thing?
MS: People can have as much impact on the Texas Legislature as they want.  And what I mean by that is, I've had numerous people at their doorstep tell me, "Well, I want to talk to my legislator but I just don't think it matters or people are paying attention."   Over the last decade I have spent a lot of time in legislators offices and I can tell you from experience that two or three calls on any one issue lights their entire office on fire.  You'll be in there and you'll here, you now, two or three calls about some water issue and suddenly the legislator's saying why is everybody in my district worried about this water issue?
 Remember, state legislative districts are fairly small compared to other political districts and legislators also know that they are not that famous or well known, so their name recognition isn't going to carry them through.  They can't afford to have people in the district angry at them, so I think that tends to spur people to really pay a lot closer attention to what happens in their district.  Particularly during a session when you're not home as much as you are the rest of the time, you rely on the people who speak up.  The squeaky wheel gets the grease because you are the conduit to what's going on in the neighborhood.
So, but my short answer to your short question, is that people can have a lot of impact, but it's incumbent on the people to be paying enough attention to contact their legislator before the action is taken rather than after the vote.  If you come to your legislator in July and say why did this pass in May, you can't do much good.  If you talk to your legislator when a bill is set for a hearing or when it's  had it's hearing and maybe there's been a news story about it, you can reach your legislator before he has to vote on it and that's when they can realize that people in the district have a different way of viewing this issue than I thought they did.

KH:That leads me to my next question, how do we keep track of all of the things that are happening in the State Legislature?  You get bits and pieces from the news.  If I want to keep up with the State Legislature I'm looking at Texas Tribune, or some of the local type things.  If a regular citizen says, they see that the state is proposing, xyz, how do we follow those bills?
MS: I never rely on the mainstream media for news about anything about public policy, not just because of their views, but because they tend to report on something after it happens, which is of no use to you.  Instead, I would go to whatever source I'm comfortable with learn about the issues I care about.  If your interested in general, you go to the Texas Tribune or the Quorum Report or any number of other frees sources where you can learn about what's about to happen.  They all have lists of hearings that are coming up.  They have discussions about bills that are in the process that haven't had any action yet.  Then, I would go to capitol.state.tx.us, which is a great resource, if you play with it for about twenty minutes, you start to learn that you look for things that you care about in any number of ways.   You can look up all the bills Schofield has filed.  You can say, I want to see all of the things in the State Affairs Committee, because that committee tends to carry the things that I care about.  You can also look up the bill by bill number.  So if you know representative Schofield has filed bill 123, you can go on and track what's happening with that bill.  Once you've got the bill, now you're good.  You can follow every step of the process.  I cannot emphasize enough, you want to get to a bill, if it's going to have a hearing, you want to get to it before the hearing, so maybe you can testify.  Maybe you can talk to the author and you can have a say in what the committee substitutes going to be.  If it's about to go to the floor, you don't want to wait until after they voted on it.  When it's going to go to the Governor's office, you don't want to wait until after he has signed it or vetoed it, you want to weigh in while he's holding on to it.

KH:What is something you wish more voters knew about the legislative process?
MS:The main thing I wish people knew was how to track the things they care about, because your interests may be different than your neighbors.  Each of you should be able to find what it is you care about, where that is in the process so that you can have an impact. That's the number one thing.  The number two thing I used to go around to different Republican groups and give a lecture on the state budget, because more people should be able to understand how to find things in that budget, understand how their money's being spent, because it is actually fairly accessible, if you know what you're looking for.  It's like learning a language, once you know what you're looking for, you never have to ask me again.  You don't have to be dependent on any state rep or any staffer or anybody else because you'll be able to look it up from now on.  An educated and an informed electorate is the best possible source of maintaining democracy.  It's so easy now.

I listened to this interview and Michael had such great answers and I really enjoyed our time during the interview.  He is a wealth of information about the legislative process and what I really liked is that he seemed passionate about making sure the electorate in HD 132 is informed and kept up to speed about things that are happening in the legislature.  That's something he and I both agree on, an informed electorate is key. 

So, HD 132, we have a great problem on our hands, we have two outstanding candidates to choose from.  Please feel free to share this and other blogs of mine or others here on Texas GOP Vote to help make an informed decision on who to best represent you. Early voting started this week and election day is May 27th.  Please get out and make your voices heard!