Friends,
This is a little different than most of my letters, but there is a big scandal that you need to know about right now.
You may even already know that there has been a massive breach of ethics at one of the highest levels of Texas government: the Speaker of the Texas House of Representatives.
Many people are saying that a crime may have even been committed.
And if this breach of trust is not dealt with strongly, it could compromise the ability of Republicans to get elected in this state, which would almost certainly be a huge setback to our ability to abolish abortion in Texas.
In fact, this scandal helps explain why HB 896, the Abolition of Abortion in Texas Act, died in the Texas House of Representatives earlier this year.
I know all this because I recently listened to an audio recording of the meeting where all this went down.
But I’m getting ahead of myself.
You may not even know yet about the scandal I’m talking about.
Here’s what happened.
Earlier this summer, the Speaker of the Texas House of Representatives, Dennis Bonnen, and the Chairman of the House Republican Caucus, Dustin Burrows, set up a meeting with Michael Quinn Sullivan, head of the Texas conservative group Empower Texans.
On top of that, Bonnen made it clear to Sullivan that he also wanted Empower Texans NOT to spend money against or publish strong criticisms of any other Republican House members.
That’s what’s called a quid pro quo; and trying to get Sullivan’s group to target some Republicans while giving others a pass in return for official government benefits is just plain unethical.
Most people would probably even call that an outright bribe.
In fact, the Democrat Party of Texas has already filed a lawsuit over it and are claiming that the unethical offer also broke campaign finance laws.
But how do we know that everything Sullivan claimed Speaker Bonnen and Chairman Borrows did is true?
Well, Sullivan recorded it.
And while the recording has yet to be publicly released, Sullivan invited conservative leaders, among others, to listen to it.
So I did.
And I can tell you that it’s just as bad, if not worse, than is being reported.
In fact, the Texas Rangers (the law enforcement agency) have been asked to investigate whether crimes were committed.
So why am I telling you all this and what does it have to do with abolishing abortion?
Three reasons
First, the subject of anti-abortion legislation actually came up several different times during the meeting.
In fact, HB 896, the Abolition of Abortion in Texas Act bill, was specifically discussed.
While they were discussing Republican priorities, Sullivan brought up the fact that the House Republican leadership (with Bonnen and Burrows at the top) had made sure the abolition of abortion bill “went nowhere.”
(This is what we have been saying all along!)
Their only response was to blame the Senate because a bill was never filed there.
Well that’s a pretty insincere reason because (a) if the House had passed the bill someone in the Senate would have carried it and (b) it wasn’t a senator that killed HB 896–it was Texas House leadership.
(But they’re right that some Texas state senators need to get up the courage to stand strong for Texas babies).
The second reason I’m telling you all this is because I need you to understand that this kind of backroom dealing is exactly what we have been saying led to Rep. Jeff Leach killing HB 896, the Abolition of Abortion in Texas Act.
You see, Bonnen is the one who appointed Leach as a committee chair, and Leach then used that power to kill the only bill in Texas that would have completely outlawed abortion.
So Leach has a lot to lose if Bonnen goes down.
In fact, do you want to know how Leach responded when he heard about how unethically Bonnen had acted in this meeting?
Leach actually tried to minimize what Bonnen had done and brush off the allegations.
Leach downplayed Bonnen’s unethical behavior even though, according to Empower Texans, Leach had not even listened to the audio (though he was invited to do so).
You can draw your own conclusions about why he would do that.
The third reason I’m telling you all this is because, if we ever want to abolish abortion in Texas, this kind of unethical culture needs to end.
Politicians who abuse their office need to be held accountable.
Once the audio is made public (which I hope will be soon), I encourage you to listen to it yourself and then call your Texas House representative to voice your opinion.
We hope that the Texas House Republicans will clean up their own house, but we’re not holding our breath.
Which means it’s probably going to be up to us citizens to clean things up for ourselves.
And if our representatives refuse to do it, then they need to be removed from office.
That’s where you come in.
If you care about integrity…
If you care about doing the right thing, no matter what…
If you care about ending the murder of 55,000 preborn children every year in Texas…
If you care about ending the judicial tyranny of Roe v. Wade…
…then I want to ask you to seriously consider running for office (or find someone else with your values who will).
Although there are a handful of good public servants in office who are fighting to abolish abortion, there are not nearly enough.
So if you have any interest at all in running, please take 5 minutes and fill out this form.
Or if you know someone else with your values who you think should run, please forward this link to them: https://aatx.typeform.com/to/xTv1qb
Once you do, we’ll be in contact to talk more and give you more information.
We’ve been waiting long enough for the current politicians to work up the courage to stand strong for Texas babies.
If they won’t do it, it’s time to replace them.
“All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing.”
For life and for the glory of God,
Bradley Pierce
Abolish Abortion Texas