Conservative Texas Female Leaders Call on Dewhurst to Apologize

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE CONTACT: JoAnn Fleming: 903-360-2858

April 25, 2014
Michelle Smith: 972-835-9506
Dr. Julie Turner: 832-928-6672
Terri Hall: 210-275-0640
Sonja Harris: 210-872-9861
Julie McCarty: 972-670-7692
Maggie Wright: 817-480-3110

ACROSS TEXAS – Nowhere in the nation is the conservative movement stronger than in Texas, and some of the most politically informed leaders of the “Texas Liberty Movement” are women. Energized from big wins across the state in the March 4th Republican Primary, these pro-family, pro-liberty, pro-free market conservative women are a diverse group of mothers, professionals, business-owners, bloggers, and leaders of some of the largest conservative organizations and TEA parties in Texas. These women do not agree on every issue, but they do agree on one thing – David Dewhurst has gone too far. Today, several of these conservative female leaders released a joint statement calling on Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst to apologize to women, Hispanics, and legal immigrants for exploiting them in his cheap, un-statesmanlike shot at the top vote getter in the Republican primary race for lieutenant governor – Senator Dan Patrick.

Dewhurst raised the ire of these conservative women because of highly offensive comments he made when speaking to the Houston Hispanic Chamber of Commerce luncheon last Thursday (April 17). [Source: Quorum Report Daily Buzz] Speaking in Spanish and English, Dewhurst attacked Patrick, “My opponent is anti-immigrant, anti-Hispanic, and anti-woman, and I’m not any of those things.”

Sonja Harris, TexasGOPvote.com blogger and long-time Republican activist: “I was invited to attend the debate with Senator Dan Patrick and San Antonio Mayor Julian Castro, and Dan Patrick made it very clear that he welcomes legal immigrants and believes we have a responsibility to secure the border for safety and that the exploitation of the people coming across the border is not right. He favors a guest worker program and made it clear that deportation is out of the question. My observation of Dan Patrick is that he is not anti-immigrant, anti-Hispanic, nor is he anti-woman.”

Michelle Smith, a pro-life, pro-family state leader of the nation’s largest public policy women’s organization: “There is absolutely no justification for such an exploitative attack on Dan Patrick. For Mr. Dewhurst to say Sen. Patrick is anti-woman is just wrong. I’ve known Dan Patrick for many years. He is deeply pro-family, pro-life, and very inclusive of women when it comes to discussing legislation and public policy.”

JoAnn Fleming, executive director of Grassroots America and two-term chairman of the Texas Legislature’s TEA Party Caucus Advisory Committee: “Mr. Dewhurst needs to do the honorable thing and apologize for his reckless choice of words. It was bad enough that he tried to destroy Ted Cruz during the 2012 US Senate race. We hoped he had learned a lesson. Sadly, he has now resorted to taking a page out of the liberal playbook and using it to try to destroy Dan Patrick with reprehensible name-calling. This is the worst kind of politics – it’s racially divisive, demeaning, and quite pathetic.”

“I always cheer up immensely if an attack is particularly wounding because I think, well, if they attack one personally, it means they have not a single political argument left.” - Former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, the Iron Lady

We, the undersigned, call on Lt. Governor David Dewhurst to apologize publicly for his exploitative, baseless attack on Senator Dan Patrick – an attack, which employed racially divisive, extreme, and demeaning language and only served to debase the very serious issues surrounding illegal immigration:

JoAnn Fleming – Executive Director, Grassroots America - We the People PAC and
two-term Chairman of the Texas Legislature’s TEA Party Caucus Advisory Committee*
Michelle Smith – State Director, Concerned Women for America of Texas*
Sonja Harris – blogger for TexasGOPvote.com and long-time Republican activist
Dr. Julie Turner – President, Texas Patriots PAC and two-term member of the Texas Legislature’s TEA Party Caucus Advisory Committee*
Toni Fabry – Chairman, Frisco TEA Party*
Sharon Hall – Two-term member of the Texas Legislature’s TEA Party Caucus Advisory Committee*
Terri Hall – Founder/Director, Texans Uniting for Reform & Freedom (TURF)*
Robin Lennon – Co-Founder/President, Kingwood TEA Party and two-term member of the Texas Legislature’s TEA Party Caucus Advisory Committee*
Julie McCarty – President, NE Tarrant TEA Party*
Pamela Prince – Dallas County grassroots leader
Kathleen Wazny – President, Robson Ranch Republican Club*
Maggie Wright – Past President (2011), a founding member of the Texas Patriots Tea Party (Burleson)*
*Titles included for identification purposes for the women approving this statement

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Where applicable, a political advertisement paid for by Grassroots America – We the People PAC, PO Box 130012 Tyler, TX 75713.

To read the David Dewhurst campaign's response, click here.