Monday, January 11, 2016

George Clayton is Running for School Board

George Clayton says he is running for RISD school board. You remember him, right? He's a one-term Republican member of the State Board of Education. He lost his re-election bid in the GOP primary. Then, as a Democrat, he lost his race for Texas State Representative to Linda Koop. Currently, he says he's the co-chair of the Trump for President Campaign for Congressional District 32. And now he says he'll be running for Richardson ISD board of trustees.


Inconsistent? Undisciplined? Unfocused? Opportunistic? You decide. In any case, these are just some of the lurches George Clayton has made in his career in politics. Somewhere along the line he announced he was going to challenge Angie Chen Button for the Texas legislature, then discovered he didn't even live in her district. Once before he said he was running for RISD school board. Then he said he wasn't. Do a search on "George Clayton" in The Wheel for more strange behavior. Full disclosure: I didn't endorse him in his 2010 run for the SBOE (smart decision in hindsight), then endorsed him in his re-election bid, reluctantly, by a process of elimination (the SBOE is that dysfunctional), but I still found him to be...well, read the archives.

In 2016, here's George Clayton in his incarnation as Donald Trump supporter, commenting about President Obama crying for the victims during a speech about gun violence:
Yesterday, Barack Obama cried. He did not cry because of his emotions toward those who have been killed by murderers, but because his Executive Actions did not obliterate the second amendment. He is upset because there are limits even to this lawless unpatriotic president. Are you familiar with these words. " I do solemnly swear that I will faithfully execute the Office of The President of the United States and will, to the best of my ability, PRESERVE, PROTECT AND DEFEND THE CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES."? How many times has this man violated his oath? How many times have the liberals come to his defense when he did violate his oath? Under, even similar but less drastic circumstances, a Republican president would have been impeached, tried, convicted and removed to lifelong exile while the main line media waved the American flag and cheered. Our nation is being undermined so completely and with such dedication, it will take a strong president and congress to restore the integrity that our nation has so longed enjoyed. The degradation of the United States is the change Mr. Obama claims that he is. In this, he is absolutely correct.
Source: Facebook.
Yikes! This is from a man who says he's running for school board. Is this the kind of man anyone wants running our schools, a man who mocks the president for shedding tears over murdered first graders? Really? A man so lacking in empathy shouldn't be anywhere near children, certainly not in charge of public schools.

His attitude towards parents is similarly uncaring. In 2010, in comments on an online article in The Dallas Morning News, he said his plan to improve science and math scores started with "keep parents as far from the schools as possible...What do parents know about pedagogy, writing curriculum, organizing lessons, determining grading rubrics etc. All they know is how intelligent little Sharon or Johnny is."

George Clayton, the serial candidate and sometime loser, is now threatening to bring this kind of thinking to the RISD.

3 comments:

Mark Steger said...

More and more announcements. Kris Oliver and Eron Linn have announced they will see re-election to the RISD school board. Lanet Greenhaw has announced she is stepping down (I thank her for her distinguished service). Katie Patterson has announced she is running.

Mark Steger said...

George Clayton lost to Kris Oliver 73% to 27%. Katie Patterson and Eron Linn were uncontested.

Mark Steger said...

George Clayton seems to have gone off the deep end.
Dallas Morning News: "'Merit or on quota?' Former Texas official questions biracial teen's Harvard acceptance"