December 27, 2013 10:17 AM

ETHICS COMMISSION AGAIN REJECTS COMPLAINT AGAINST RATLIFF'S CHIEF CRITIC

Meantime Agendawise has taken a keen interest in this battle

For a second time this year, the Texas Ethics Commission has rejected a complaint from State Board of Education Vice Chairman Thomas Ratliff against his most vocal critic. Ratliff contends that North Texas Tea Party entrepreneur Alice Linahan may be acting as an unregistered lobbyist and he has twice now asked the TEC to look into it. So far, the agency has not seen enough information in Ratliff’s complaints to warrant moving forward with an investigation, letters from the agency obtained by QR indicate.

Linahan, as our readers know, is one of the state’s most outspoken critics of the lesson plans formerly known as CSCOPE. She bills herself as a “concerned mom” who just want to know what’s happening in Texas public school classrooms. But, it should be noted she runs a for-profit Tea Party marketing company called Voices Empower and a non-profit called Women on the Wall. Linahan has been on the warpath against Ratliff by unsuccessfully – and without much traction – calling for his impeachment. Linahan and a vocal minority have taken issue with the fact that Ratliff is a registered lobbyist for Microsoft, which is something they argue should disqualify him from serving on the SBOE.

By Scott Braddock