How a Parker County school trustee helped spread ‘Stop the Steal’ nonsense
Brock school officials say they plan no action against a right-wing activist school trustee who was in Washington, D.C., during the deadly Jan. 6 assault on the U.S. Capitol and used her Twitter account to call for “patriots” to “answer the call” and “#StopTheSteal.”
Third-year Brock Trustee Katarina Lindley, 48, a Parker County physician, said by email that she was in D.C. on healthcare matters and was in her hotel room watching TV as violent militants targeted Congress to overturn an American election upheld in every court.
But on Twitter the day before at an account that is now deleted, she shared actor Kevin Sorbo’s call: “We are in the fight for our lives, will you answer the call or sit back and let tyranny run unchecked.”
The same day, she shared a New Jersey doctor’s comment opposing the COVID-19 vaccine for healthy adults.
Lindley, a White House guest and campaigner for President Donald Trump and a state officer in the far-right Association of American Physicians and Surgeons, responded in two emails that she “was saddened by what happened” at the Capitol and “would never engage in the kind of activity.”
Asked about the tweets from the now-deleted account “klindley1” — some of many social-media posts now removed from her accounts — Lindley did not respond.
On Twitter, she also shared presidential son Eric Trump’s tweet, “Patriots — who’s coming to Washington D.C tomorrow!!! Let’s #StopTheSteal.”
(The “Steal” was actually more of a presidential scam. Judges, many of them Republicans, had already upheld the election outcome. But Trump still raised money and ginned up pressure for reversing the outcome, even two months after he lost.)
No evidence connects Lindley to the events at the U.S. Capitol.
In a statement, Brock School Board President Bill Cooper said investigating trustees’ conduct outside their school district role “is outside the authority of the Board of Trustees.”
In a text message to other Brock trustees, Cooper wrote: “I told her we are a team and will remain one supporting her!”
The text message was obtained under Texas’ open-records law.
Cooper added: “Also remember we cannot engage in conversation concerning this.”
Trustee Martin Ivey replied, “I am proud of Dr Lindley’s passion towards her political view.”
Trustee Travis Faulkner added, “We have your 6!! [back]”
Lindley, born in Croatia when it was part of Yugoslavia, wrote that she is “a firm believer in the American system of government” and a physician and mom “with a deep love for my adopted country, its principles of liberty, freedom and pursuit of happiness.”
On Twitter, she also shared a Jan. 5 post by California-based Dr. Simone Gold, who has been arrested in connection with entering the Capitol the next day. (Gold was one of two figures arrested from the tea party-affiliated America’s Frontline Doctors group, which promoted treating COVID-19 with hydroxychloroquine.)
Lindley retweeted this from Gold: “Our nation is facing a constitutional crisis. Transparency is absent in medicine, and in elections. I will be speaking in DC today & tomorrow, asking you a crucial question. Integrity is on trial in the court of public opinion—be there to give your verdict.”
The vaccine-related retweet was from New Jersey Dr. Craig M. Wax. He wrote that COVID-19 vaccines are for “Seniors > 70 years old” and “People with 2+ diseases,” not for “routine use.” (The tweet was signed, “#IAmHerdImmunity.”)
Throughout 2020, Lindley wrote guest columns and appeared on conservative talk shows campaigning for Trump and against stricter COVID-19 health orders.
In April, she told conspiracy show host Jerome Corsi that she wanted to treat patients with hydroxychloroquine but some pharmacies were rejecting the prescriptions.
In June, before her June 24 appearance for a bill signing at the White House, she wrote for the Austin-based Texas Public Policy Foundation that Texas should protect the elderly and those at risk from COVID-19, but that otherwise residents should just “learn to live with it.”
Before the election, she wrote for the Weatherford Democrat that Trump “is walking the walk on healthcare reform, and he is the right man for the job. He gets two thumbs-up from this doctor.”
Her tweets probably didn’t bother many voters in Brock.
Trump carried the Brock box over now-President Joe Biden, 90%-9%.
This story was originally published January 30, 2021 at 12:00 AM.
