Thursday afternoon, after a barrelfull of bigwigs called into question the veracity with which the Trustees were protecting our voting rights, SBISD Trustees Karen Peck, Chris Gonzalez, and Minda Caesar appeared in front of TV cameras "to clarify a few things".
Their impromptu press conference did not go well.
Karen Peck, Esq., reading from remarks prepared in advance, had "three brief points to make". Ms. Peck was simultaneously juvenile and paternalistic while doing so. It was really quite something to watch for an informed person. We encourage all of our readers to see for themselves at the KPRC link below. Save SBISD has archived the footage as well.
In making her first point, Ms. Peck led with her chin, saying that if Election Day is moved to November "no one will be disenfranchised, or deprived of the right to vote."
Really?
A mediocre 10th grade debate team member could throw a knockout punch at that one by simply citing Webster's Dictionary. Karen Peck, Esq. did not establish the most solid of foundations for her forthcoming remarks.
Ms. Peck hopped straight from this shaky definitional ground right into argumentative discourse with some of the most powerful elected officials in the State. She trotted a straw man onto the field, saying, "November elections have significantly more voter turnout than do May elections...why is anyone objecting to increased voter turnout?"
Nobody is objecting to increased voter turnout, counselor. In fact, many of our readers contributed to the largest turnout in the history of SBISD last May.
What people are objecting to is the fact that Karen Peck, Esq., is now pushing for a cancelation of the May election that is already in process. If Ms. Peck gets her way, turnout will be precisely ZERO. It's science, Karen.
Additionally, people are objecting to the fact that Karen Peck, esquire, did not even file for re-election to her seat, and her current term expires...wait for it... THIS MAY!!
Facts:
Ms. Peck's own actions have dictated that under no electoral circumstance will she be serving as Trustee past May 2022.
On Thursday, Ms. Peck took the time to read prepared, argumentative remarks into a television camera.
Ms. Peck's argument, if successful, would ostensibly keep her in 'office' for some longer, arbitrary timeframe.
Ms. Peck did this after 250 days of stoic, masked silence on the matter.
Ms. Peck took these actions of her own free will.
Either Ms. Peck can see the problem here, and is duplicitous, or she cannot, and is myopic.
Regardless of whether the former or the latter is true, Karen Peck, Esq., has proven by her deliberate actions she is no longer in position to capably represent her constituency.
Ms. Peck, in her final point, hid behind the process, claiming any decision was not in her hands. Her head-nodding was telling tribute to her blithe disregard for her own direct involvement in the very process she sought shelter behind. Shameful.
When directly questioned by a reporter whether the district had, in fact, agreed to a cancellation of the May election and its movement to November, Karen Peck, Esq., could not seem to find the simple, one-word answer ('yes') and instead prattled on about pleadings and websites and how the answers to that extraordinarily simple question are all over there somewhere.
Telling indeed. The purpose of press conferences is to make the complicated, simple. If these trustees weren't willing to do that, why did they call a press conference in the first place?
For their part, Senator Paul Bettencourt and State Board of Education Member Will Hickman bulldozed right through Ms. Peck's feeble straw man, immediately posting a friend-of-the-court brief in Elizondo vs. SBISD opposing any change to the May election date. Senator Bettencourt remarked:
"Voters deserve to timely vote on their rep[resentatives]!"
I think we can all agree on that. Senator Bettencourt and Member Hickman have our thanks.
If you have read this far, you are a true believer. Please help recruit others by SHARING THIS UPDATE on social media. Districts Die in Darkness.
If you would like to receive future updates from Save SBISD, please subscribe here.
If you would like to follow us on Twitter, we are @SaveSBISD
KPRC's coverage of the press conference is available here, second video in the article.
Comments