Dueling letters on Geren vs. French race

Make FW great again with Bo French

The election is on, and I would like to borrow President Donald Trump's “drain the swamp” approach. Charlie Geren has been in the Texas House for about 18 years, and his wife is a lobbyist. I say let’s give Bo French an opportunity to see if he can lower taxes and make “Fort Worth Great Again.” With Geren we have a career politician who calls himself Republican but votes Democratic.

Fort Worth deserves better!

Gary M. Turner, Fort Worth

Geren will stop Midland millionaires club

Russians aren’t the only outsiders meddling in others’ elections. Midland Millionaires’ group “Empower Texans”is trying to buy Tarrant County’s Texas House Seat 99. A variety of published reports (Just Google “Empower Texans”) identify this group as funded by a few Midland-area millionaires who distrust local governments and school districts and want to concentrate power in Austin. If the Meddling Midland Millionaires can buy enough House and Senate seats, they can control all local governments from Austin, including our schools. This group is neophyte Bo French’s biggest (and almost only) backer. What do the Meddling Midland Millionaires expect from French in return for the hundreds of thousands of dollars in campaign cash they are throwing his way? I’m casting my local vote for conservative Charlie Geren to protect Tarrant County from the Meddling Midland Millionaires.

Robert Myers, Fort Worth

We must fund schools adequately

There has been a lot of talk lately from our state legislators about cutting property taxes. Because school taxes are the largest part of homeowners' property tax bill, the cuts will disproportionately affect public schools. Depending on whose numbers you're looking at, Texas' per-student classroom expenditure is about 36th of 50 states. We already spend far less than the national average per student. We need to ask ourselves if we cut taxes, thus giving the schools even less money, how will we adequately fund public schools?

Stan Beal, Fort Worth

Big change in death penalty politics

Gov. Abbott’s decision to act on the unanimous recommendations are of the Board if Pardons and Paroles, commuting Thomas Whitaker’s death sentence to life without parole, demonstrated a remarkable change in Texas politics. Kent Whitaker’s passionate appeal to spare his son’s life convinced a self-proclaimed death penalty-supporting governor to grant clemency and compelled a bipartisan petition for mercy over retribution. It’s clear that support for the death penalty is no longer a prerequisite for Texas politicians — welcome news for the Lone Star State!

Linda Price, Fort Worth

Paxton likes voting — unless teens do it

Imagine the audacity of high school civics teachers encouraging their students to vote, even going so far as to make a class field trip to the polls!

Our Attorney General, Ken Paxton, offers his (nonbinding) opinion that this constitutes "unlawful electioneering," although the educators do not engage in any partisan discussions. state law already requires high school administrators to make an effort to register eligible students. Given Texas' abysmal voter turnout, this seems to be a reasonable and responsible exercise; introducing the students to their duty as American citizens to vote.

Given the transparent voter suppression tactics in Texas, ranging from hyperpartisan gerrymandering to skewed voter ID requirements, the AG’s opinion is understandable. He fears that if voter turnout among young people increases, it will be harder for the special interests to control the state.

Charles Stonick, Granbury

This story was originally published February 28, 2018 at 12:52 PM with the headline "Dueling letters on Geren vs. French race."