Thomas Ratliff is a lobbyist for Microsoft; now he's on the committee that rides herd on the board's $157 Million investment in – you guessed it. MicrosoftAustin – The State Board of Education started off their new term with a bang by appointing a Microsoft lobbyist to ride her on the Permanent School Fund's investments, including a $157 million investment in Microsoft. It's one of the board's top five investments.
Conservatives, already chapped that voters put a 9-member majority of liberal Democrats and moderate Republicans on the board, are inflamed by the decision, according to Donna Garner, Senior Education Policy Advisor for EducationNews.org
“Thomas Ratliff is not even eligible to serve on the SBOE because of the Texas Education Code (Subchapter A, Section 7/1-3(c) that expressly forbids lobbyists...” said Ms. Garner in a press release distributed by the Central Texas Tea Party, headquartered in Belton.
“This unbelievable decision puts Ratliff on a committee with which he has a direct conflict of interest...I sent my complaint about Thomas Ratliff to Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott for consideration.”
All seats on the State Board of Education will be up for re-election in 2012, due to redistricting.
During a heated campaign to unseat Don McLeroy, Mr. Ratliff, a Mt. Pleasant Republican, made the folowing statement to prospective voters:
"The answer you are looking for is this. I believe the Bible tells us who created the Earth and why and science tells us when it was created and how. Neither can tell the other’s story.
"I do not believe the Earth is a mere 6,000 years old, but in fact millions and millions of years old.
"I do believe that God created all things, but I don’t want a school teacher talking to my kids about theology in science class.
"My family attends church to reinforce our religious beliefs and we send our kids to science class to reinforce their learning of science."
Uh, yeah. All righty, then.
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