Yesterday while poll greeting we had a conversation with current Texas State Representative Reggie Smith just outside of the Sherman courthouse. He asked why Grayson County Conservatives was endorsing Shelley Luther and not him.
Now, there are many answers to that question from various perspectives all through the GCC board and our membership. However, in my opinion, there is a specific period that defined the battle we see today playing out in Texas House District 62. So, here is one constituents answer to that question.
When Abbott began closing private businesses, forcing masks, isolating the elderly, allocating $300 million to a privacy-invading contact tracing program, and other acts through decrees and without calling a special session, two relevant events occurred almost simultaneously:
- Shelley Luther stood up and showed that one individual saying “no” could effectively fight back against government overreach
- At the same time, Reggie Smith cowered and showed that an elected official with a bully pulpit could be completely useless and silent in the face of such overreach
While Shelley Luther was headed to jail for the crime of keeping her private business open so that her employees could feed their kids, Reggie was hiding from his responsibilities and deleting messages off of his Facebook page.
I know that is what he was doing because he deleted my questions too. He then started hiding my posts and finally blocked me permanently. All of my posts were respectful but apparently asked the questions that Reggie did not want to answer. I was finally blocked on Facebook by Reggie after posting this:
The bottom line is that when the people of Grayson and surrounding counties needed support from their state representative, Representative Reggie Smith was missing in action.
Reggie’s Legislative Priorities are not Aligned with HD62
Reggie did nothing to curtail executive overreach when he was back in legislative session in 2021. Going into the 87th session, Republicans in Grayson County voted on their top priorities and at the absolute top of this list was the priority to curtail the executive power of Texas during a declared emergency. This was an important issue for HD62, but not for Reggie.
In fact, Reggie vote FOR expanding executive power, completely counter to his districts priority.
HB 3 – Reggie voted FOR expanding executive power.
With the help of Reggie’s vote, this bill passed the Texas House but failed to pass the Texas Senate. If passed, this bill would have:
- Legalized the harassment of businesses in Texas,
- Given the Texas governor the power to legislate as his decrees would have the power of law,
- Enabled arbitrary rules from agencies like the CDC to be enforced with the power of law,
- Made it lawful for the governor to close businesses, mandate masks, and limit medical procedures,
- Created a board of cherry-picked legislators to decide when a declared emergency is over
More on this power grab can be found here: HB3 – The Bill that Won’t Die
Another thing that was important for Reggie during the 87th legislative session was creating more room to hide from his constituents. We know this because he voted twice against amendments that would have improved the transparency of legislative sessions.
HR 4, AMENDMENT 7 – Reggie voted AGAINST transparency.
In the House Rules, each committee was able to prohibit “television, radio or Internet broadcasts, other than official broadcasts, of any of its proceedings.” If passed, Amendment 7 would have removed that provision, promoting transparency for committee proceedings.
HR 4 Amendment 10 – Reggie voted AGAINST transparency.
Amendment 10 would have required committee chairs to set a bill that has had a public hearing for a record vote upon the request of the author or sponsor of the legislation.
Reggie Smith voted to allow Democrats to head committees and he voted to install Dade Phelan, a known RINO, as House Speaker. Both of these actions gave him and other RINOs the cover they needed to ignore most of the Republican priorities as they could expect the Phelan and the Democrat chairs to block or delay. This was the ultimate fate of any real legislation that sought to reel in executive overreach. Reggie had a hand in killing the bills when he voted for Phelan and Democrat Chairs.
The Silence on Mandatory Vaccines as a Condition of Employment is Deafening
On perhaps one of the most important issues of our time, Reggie has been publicly silent about his position and done little to help the people of his district fight mandatory vaccines as a condition of employment.
While Tyson and Texas Instruments rolled out mandatory vaccine initiatives in Reggie’s backyard he remained silent, and even when a member of GCC inquired about the mandates he claimed to not have a firm position on the matter at the time.
As the fight against these mandates grew, Reggie kept himself on the sideline and did not sign a popular petition calling for a 4th special session to address mandatory vaccines as a condition of employment. Under pressure, Reggie refused to sign a petition when many of his peers had signed. This tells me that he is not the least bit serious about protecting an individual’s absolute right to medical freedom.
Here is the list of Texas State Representatives and Senators that have signed this public statement: https://texasgop.org/txlege/fourday4th/
$50K and Strings Attached
Perhaps the money provides the key to Reggie’s silence. When the campaign financial reports were released on January 31, 2022 Reggie had about $90k in campaign donations. Shortly after that disclosure, Reggie received a significant donation of $25K and this donation was matched by House Speaker Dade Phelan. This donation came from an organization called TexPAC which is directly associated with Texmed.
This donation opens up a whole batch of questions. But the answers are probably more apparent when one considers that Texmed supports a couple issues that are completely at odds with the conservatives in HD62:
- Vaccine Requirements as a Condition of Employment
- Transgender Surgeries for Youth and Children
This donation provided a 50%+ boost to Reggie’s campaign so we can be sure that the priorities of Texmed and Phelan will be addressed accordingly even if that is counter to the needs of HD62.
The net effect is 33% of Reggie’s war chest comes from an organization that promotes vaccine requirements and pediatric genital mutilation.
Reggie Continues to Stand Down
Reggie has spent his career in Austin finding ways to hide and avoid accountability. This is not the type of “leader” that is needed in one of the most conservative districts in Texas. We need a leader that will push for conservative priorities; and in today’s world we require a representative that will push back hard against the incoming tyranny masquerading as emergency actions.
During the period of 1776, Thomas Jefferson famously said:
“When tyranny becomes law, rebellion becomes duty.”
Thomas Jefferson
Reggie Smith did not rise to his duty as a representative, so now the duty falls on the people in House District 62 to elect a Texas House Representative that will actually stand up for the priorities of the people in this district. This election is important. and should not be about returning a nice guy to Austin, or voting for a friend just because he’s your buddy. It is about your duty to put someone in office that will stand for conservative values and against big government overreach.
Let me close this post with another big picture quote:
“Liberty once lost is lost forever. When the People once surrender their share in the Legislature, and their Right of defending the Limitations upon the Government, and of resisting every Encroachment upon them, they can never regain it.”
John Adams to Abigail Adams in 1775
Ask yourself if you believe Reggie will fight for your liberty when he has squandered every opportunity over the last two years to do so. The answer is obvious and documented: no, he will not.
Shelley Luther is the candidate for HD62 that will stand up for Texans, the Republican priorities and against government overreach whether it is initiated at the state or the federal level. As a private individual who unjustly went to jail, was stripped searched, treated like a common criminal, and faced the possibility of 180 days in jail, she has proven that she will hold the line when it comes to individual rights.
Imagine what Shelley will accomplish for your liberty when she holds an elected office. With a proven fighter in office, the future will be bright for Grayson and HD62 residents!
Grayson County Conservatives 