Amazing. Just amazing. Here’s a video clip of Martha Wong on KUHT’s “The Connection”, which was done last week after the debate at Rice. My quick transcription of what Martha says here:
Wong: “I’m going to tell you that Carolyn Boyles (sic), who is the President of the Parent PAC, has sent me a personal email that told me ‘thank you for helping the children of Texas, and thank you for what you will do in the future for children’. I think that tells you that she thinks I am going to win this election.”
To which Ellen Cohen replies “Except that what she said at the press conference (at which ParentPAC endorsed Ellen Cohen) was that Martha has been totally against public education.”
I asked Carolyn Boyle about this. Here’s what she said to me:
I listened to a recording of the Houston PBS debate between Ellen Cohen and Martha Wong. When Ellen Cohen mentioned Texas Parent PAC had endorsed her, Wong retorted that she had received an email from “Carolyn Boyles” thanking her for all she had done for public education. As soon as Ms. Wong made that statement, Ellen Cohen fired back, “Well that’s not what Carolyn said in our press conference when she said you’ve done nothing for public education.”
Here’s the rest of the story. I was told by a friend in Houston Martha Wong was disappointed that Texas Parent PAC endorsed Ellen Cohen without talking to her. I wanted to explain to Ms. Wong how the PAC board made its decision. So I called and had a 10 minute conversation with her. I said the PAC board did not need to meet with her because we were able to review her voting record on public education, education bills authored and sponsored, and comments in committee and on the House floor. Plus, we interviewed over the phone a number of parents, educators, and public education advocates who had tried to get Ms. Wong to listen to their pro-public school positions on various bills. Ms. Wong told me her voting record did not reflect her strong support for public education, so we should have talked to her. Huh?
Ms. Wong concluded the conversation by saying something like children were #1 with her, not protecting the education bureaucracy. I told her I would email her the Parent PAC eight guiding principles and she could see children were #1 with our board of directors. So then I emailed her the principles and concluded with a nice throwoff line (see below). I try to be a gracious person–particularly when I just told someone over the phone that Texas Parent PAC did not endorse her because of a consistently poor voting record on public education.
Because I knew the context in which that email was sent, I was really surprised Martha Wong would mention my line from an email in the campaign debate, implying that I thought she was doing a good job at the Capitol!
Carolyn Boyle, Chair, Texas Parent PAC
****************************************************************
From: Carolyn Boyle
Sent: Tuesday, September 12, 2006 11:37 AM
To: [email protected]
Subject: Texas Parent PACRepresentative Wong:
Thank you for taking the time to visit with me this morning. Attached are the “Guiding Principles” of Texas Parent PAC that I mentioned. You’ll see that children are #1 with us, too!
We appreciate all you have done and will do for the children of Texas.
Carolyn Boyle
So Martha Wong took a generic pleasantry and turned it into a formal endorsement. Where have I heard that before?
If you really want to know what Carolyn Boyle and the Texas Parent PAC think about Martha Wong, here’s an excerpt from Boyle’s statement at the August 29 press conference at which Cohen got their endorsement:
Ellen Cohen will be a terrific state legislator. Unlike the incumbent, Ellen Cohen will listen to the folks in her legislative district and always vote in the public interest. Unlike the incumbent, Ellen Cohen will be part of the solution instead of part of the problem.
Over the past several days, I’ve been talking with parent and school leaders in this area about their experiences with Martha Wong since she was elected in 2003. Everyone I talked with said disappointing things.
Martha Wong rarely votes as public school parents and teachers urge her to vote. For example, the Texas Classroom Teachers Association posts on-line how legislators voted in 2005 on 17 public school matters, and Martha Wong voted wrong on all 17.
Several local leaders told me they just quit talking to Martha Wong about public education bills, because she never wanted to help, was abrasive, and often said things to discredit public schools.
There have been many “line in the sand†votes at the Capitol to determine legislators’ support for public education; Martha Wong rarely votes on the side of educators and public school parents. For example:
* In 2003, Martha Wong voted to cut funding for new textbooks, the math/reading/science initiative, after school programs, teacher health insurance, and teacher training.
* In the recent special session, Martha Wong voted to keep all revenue from Governor Perry’s business tax from ever funding public education.
* In 2005, Martha Wong supported a bill that would take away $600 million from public schools to pay private school tuition.
I observed Martha Wong at the Capitol in 2003 speaking in favor of the first education bill she ever filed as a legislator. It was an irresponsible bill with a blank check from the taxpayers. H.B. 2101 would have allowed any certified teacher or administrator in Texas to open an unregulated private school funded by taxpayers. Martha Wong’s private academies would be publicly funded at a cost of $175 million per year but have no accountability to the public – no TAKS testing, no curriculum requirements, no required teacher qualifications. Fortunately, fellow legislators recognized the many problems with Martha Wong’s bad bill and it died in committee.
Texas Parent PAC cares about many issues that affect parents and children, but our primary focus is high quality public education. Martha Wong has earned a grade of “F” for her leadership and voting record on public education.
I don’t think it could be any less equivocal than that. I don’t know what Martha Wong is thinking when she tries to claim that somehow Carolyn Boyle supports her, but whatever it is, she’s wrong. Just plain wrong.
I was told by a friend in Houston Martha Wong was disappointed that Texas Parent PAC endorsed Ellen Cohen without talking to her.
They don’t take the time to meet with all of the candidates they’re screening for endorsements?
That’s bizarre, voting record or not.
Looks to me as if anyone willing to breathe in the same world as Wong stands likely to be accused /claimed as having endorsed her. What a trollop.
Quick, someone call Amy Davis!
This reminds me of my favorite Martha Wong story. She was at a fundraiser in Bellaire and one of the guests, William, said to Rep. Wong: “You look like a child-hating demon hellspawn in that nice little red dress.”
Later, when addressing the crowd, she said “Did you all hear that? William just said this was a nice little red dress.”
Kevin,
0 for 17. Parent PAC just said “scoreboard.”
bk