JoAnn Fleming, Chair of the TEA Party Caucus Advisory Committee in Texas has come out swinging on State Senator Dan Patrick over his endorsement of David Dewhurst for US Senator. She made it very clear that Patrick does not speak for the TEA Party Advisory Committee and that she does NOT support David Dewhurst. The following is the press release sent out by Fleming and posted here with her permission.

Chair of the TEA Party Caucus Advisory Committee

Re: Patrick’s Endorsement of Dewhurst

Senator Dan Patrick Does Not Speak for Us! 

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

July 26, 2012

Contact:  JoAnn Fleming, Chairman, Advisory Committee to the Texas Legislature’s TEA Party
Caucus (903) 894-7204 or (903) 360-2858

JoAnn Fleming, chair of the advisory committee to the Texas Legislature’s TEA Party
Caucus today made it clear that Senator Dan Patrick does not speak for
the TEA Party Caucus Advisory Committee.

Fleming stated, “While Senator Patrick is indeed the founder and leader of the Texas Tea Party Caucus in the Senate, I want to make it very clear, in the strongest terms,  that Senator Patrick in no way speaks for the Advisory Committee to the TEA Party Caucus. The Dewhurst campaign today seizing on Patrick’s endorsement as some kind of TEA Party prize is premature and nothing but desperate spin.”

While I will not speak for individual members of the Advisory Committee, I can assure Senator Patrick that the Advisory Committee is not pleased with the following facts regarding Dewhurst’s track record:

1) On Lt. Governor David Dewhurst’s watch, Texas taxpayers continue to suffer the high cost of illegal aliens to the state of Texas. The red ink coming in 2013 is in part due to the lack of courage and will to do anything about the burden those illegally here place upon an already strained social
services safety net. We were in Austin last session and know that Lt. Governor David Dewhurst did nothing to try to curb illegal aliens’ access to social services, while the budget was being cut for citizens and legal residents! He did not support E-verify, limiting social services access to citizens and legal residents, nor even tracking and counting the cost of illegal aliens to the state budget.

2) On Lt. Governor David Dewhurst’s watch, the bill, which would have repealed in-state tuition for children of illegal aliens, was held up in committee because Dewhurst continues to appoint liberal Republicans and Democrats in key committee chair positions to keep conservative legislation off the floor for debate.

3) Over the many years he has served in office, Lt. Governor David Dewhurst has ignored the continued national security risk of sanctuary cities or de facto “hide outs” in Texas. Dewhurst has never, ever championed ending sanctuary cities, but rather gives it lip service when he’s running for office.

4) State Spending is rising! Lt. Governor David Dewhurst and other members of the Senate ignore the fact that state spending (all funds) rose 310% between 1990 and 2012, while population growth plus inflation totaled only 132%. The State of Texas has a growing dependency on federal funds. [Source: Texas Public Policy Foundation and Conservative Budget Coalition]. In spite of our calls to end crony capitalism — taxpayer dollar handouts to special interests – Dewhurst passed a budget that included $25 million in funding for a Formula One racetrack in Austin and handouts to the likes of Apple, Facebook, Frito-Lay, and Country-wide Financial/Bank of America, just to name a few! [Source: Governor Perry’s website:  Texas Enterprise Fund, updated April 30, 2012]

5) On Dewhurst’s watch, the state balanced its budget in part with accounting gimmicks and deferrals. It is a fact (see Legislative Budget Board documents and Comptroller reports) that the legislature purposefully underfunded Medicaid caseload growth by approximately $4.8 billion and used an accounting sleight of hand to defer $2.3 billion to the Foundation School Program (enrollment growth).  Dewhurst also approved a budget that diverted millions of dollars from the intended use (red light fines to trauma centers, for example) to help balance the budget.

6) When given a chance to join State Representative David Simpson and Senator Patrick in taking a real stand against the overreaching federal government in support of the Anti-groping TSA bill, David Dewhurst squandered an opportunity by caving to the federal government and thus killing the bill.

Fleming said, “Given these facts, here’s why a majority of the TEA Party Caucus Advisory Committee wants to make it clear that Senator Dan Patrick does not speak for us in this US Senate race when he calls Dewhurst “conservative”:

If Dewhurst supports taxpayer handouts to special interests in Texas, why would he stop that practice if he goes to Washington, DC?

If Dewhurst supports giving social services and welfare to illegals in Texas, why
would he stop that practice if he goes to Washington?

If Dewhurst supports amnesty and failed to end sanctuary city hideouts for
illegals in Texas, why would he stop that practice if he goes to Washington?

If Dewhurst approves of the use of accounting gimmicks and smoke-and-mirrors
techniques to balance the state budget, why wouldn’t he just add to the spending problem in Washington, DC?

If Dewhurst won’t stand up to the federal government and the TSA to protect our
Fourth Amendment rights, why would he change his behavior if he goes to Washington?

The best predictor of future behavior is what a man has done in the past.

Therefore, when Senator Dan Patrick calls Lt. Governor David Dewhurst “conservative” in his endorsement of Dewhurst for US Senate, Dan Patrick does not speak for us!

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