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James Talarico Profile picture
@jamestalarico
Oct 5 • 14 tweets • 4 min read Twitter logo Read on Twitter
Meet Tim Dunn & Farris Wilks—two billionaires from West Texas.

They bought Paxton’s acquittal for $3 million. Now they’re pushing a private school voucher scam.

Their ultimate goal is even more ambitious: transforming Texas into an authoritarian, Christian Nationalist state. 🧵 Image
Dunn & Wilks are oil and gas oligarchs.

They’re also both Christian pastors.

These two billionaire-pastors are spending their fortune enacting an extreme Christian nationalist worldview in the second-largest state in the country.

And no one is talking about it.
Dunn & Wilks have bought the top politicians in Texas with $100+ million in contributions.

And it’s not just politicians. They fund a sprawling network of PACs, think tanks, and media outlets.

Every right-wing policy that's come out of Texas lately goes back to them. Image
When they’re not buying politicians, Dunn & Wilks both preach at far-right churches.

They push a theology of power, control, and domination — not universal love.

Now their toxic theology is becoming law in Texas. Image
Just this week, a Dunn & Wilks operative espoused the racist Great Replacement Theory.

She followed it up with a claim that white people are being “genocided.”

This is the Dunn & Wilks worldview. Image
How significant is their influence?

Every Republican State Senator and over half of Republican House members in Texas have taken money from Dunn & Wilks.

For some Republicans, nearly HALF of their total campaign contributions are from these two billionaires.
And our statewide officials are in their pockets too.

Greg Abbott takes free trips on Wilks' private plane.

Dan Patrick acquitted Ken Paxton after taking $3 million from the Dunn & Wilks PAC fighting the impeachment.

texastribune.org/2023/07/18/ken…
Dunn & Wilks have zero tolerance for opposition.

Their PAC—Defend Texas Liberty—recruits far-right candidates to primary Republicans who don't do their bidding.

It's a win-win: they beat the moderate incumbent or force them to take extreme positions.
Dunn & Wilks also control influential legal, policy, & advocacy organizations.

One of those orgs argued in court that pharmacies shouldn't sell birth control.

The lawyer who argued that case later became a federal judge.

He banned the abortion pill.

texasmonthly.com/news-politics/…
And they've even created their own right-wing media bubble.

Dunn & Wilks fund Texas Scorecard, the top far-right publication.

Wilks owns the Daily Wire and bankrolls PragerU, a right-wing "education" platform they’re trying to force into our schools.

theguardian.com/us-news/2023/s…
Now they’re taking on their most ambitious project: replacing public schools with Christian schools.

Abbott just called a special session to pass Dunn & Wilks’ voucher scam.

Republican Sen Bob Deuell said: “They want to destroy the public school system”

houstonchronicle.com/opinion/editor…
Dunn & Wilks are executing their plan to dismantle public education:

✔️Fund manufactured controversies to discredit public schools

✔️Pass private school voucher scam to defund public schools

✔️Close public schools and shift our entire system to private, Christian education Image
There’s been a lot of bad news out of Texas lately.

Paxton’s acquittal, private school vouchers, no-exceptions abortion bans, CRT hysteria, weakened gun laws, Christian nationalism…

It’s all connected to a couple billionaire mega-donors.
Texas is too big and too great to be sold to the highest bidder.

We cannot let two billionaires turn our beloved state into a Christofascist theocracy.

Help us stop them: secure.ngpvan.com/vfcmI0-wrkux-F…

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More from @jamestalarico

James Talarico Profile picture
Sep 23
Two billionaire mega-donors bought Ken Paxton’s acquittal.

Now those same billionaires are funding the effort to privatize our public schools with a voucher scam.

Follow the money. 🧵 #txlege #tribfest23
Just weeks before he presided over the Paxton impeachment trial in the Texas Senate, Lt. Governor Dan Patrick received a $3 million dollar check.

It came from Paxton’s two billionaire benefactors: Tim Dunn and Farris Wilks.

texastribune.org/2023/07/18/ken…
These billionaires bought Ken Paxton's acquittal.

According to the Republican Speaker of the Texas House:

"The fix was in from the start."

beaumontenterprise.com/opinions/colum…
Read 8 tweets
James Talarico Profile picture
Jul 25
Greg Abbott's voucher scam would divert taxpayer dollars out of public schools and into private schools.

But private schools aren't accountable to taxpayers—no transparency, no oversight, no standards.

Watch how they struggle to answer my basic questions about accountability…
“You said you don’t want to take the STAAR test.

Public schools don’t want to take the STAAR test either.

But they have to because there are strings attached to public money.”
“Could a child be denied admission because of behavior problems?

Could a child be denied admission because of academic performance?

Could a child be denied admission because they’re not a cultural fit?”
Read 8 tweets
James Talarico Profile picture
May 3
Texas Republicans are trying to force public schools to display the Ten Commandments in every classroom.

I told the bill author: “This bill is not only un-constitutional and un-American, it’s deeply un-Christian.” #txlege
The bill author says she’s a champion of “parental rights.” So I asked her if state-sponsored religious indoctrination violates the rights of parents.

This was her response.
Would you be comfortable with adding language to receive parental consent from all the students and parents in the classroom before putting it up?”
Read 11 tweets
James Talarico Profile picture
Apr 28
In high school, I played Danny Zuko in our production of Grease!

Today the House passed a school finance package that includes my bill funding fine arts education.

This is the first time in Texas history we’re dedicating funding specifically for the arts in our schools! #txlege ImageImage
I filed a bill to create a fine arts allotment in our school finance formula.

Currently, schools struggle to come up with $ for the arts—relying on booster clubs and private donations.

Today Rep. Ken King added the language from my bill to his school finance package (HB 100)!!
If the Texas Senate passes this bill, school districts will receive per-student funding SPECIFICALLY for fine arts.

This means hundreds of millions of dollars in new funding for music, dance, art, and theater programs!

It’s a game changer.
Read 4 tweets
James Talarico Profile picture
Feb 27
Billionaire mega-donors are trying to destroy Texas public schools with a private voucher scam.

They say it’s what parents want. But thousands of parents just showed up at the Texas Capitol to defend our schools.

These PTA moms have a message: Come and Take It. #txlege Image
Texans love our public schools.

Public schools are enshrined in our Texas Constitution, and there’s nothing more Texan than Friday night lights.

That’s why voucher scammers are spending millions of dollars to demonize our schools…
These billionaire mega-donors have a simple strategy:

1) Demonize, then 2) Dismantle public education.

They've paid politicians to attack our teachers, our librarians, and even our students.

Now they're paying politicians to defund and close our schools with a voucher scam. Image
Read 14 tweets
James Talarico Profile picture
Jan 24
When I was a public school teacher, I struggled to make ends meet.

40% of Texas teachers work a second job. Thousands are leaving the profession to find work that can pay the bills.

Today I’m introducing legislation to give every teacher in Texas a $15,000 pay raise. #txlege ImageImage
We can do this.

Texas has a $47 billion budget surplus. That’s billion with a b!

We can give every teacher a $15,000 raise, give all support staff a 25% raise, and still have more than HALF the surplus left over.
Hoarding this surplus while teachers and students are suffering is immoral.

But it’s also bad business. You don’t stick your money under a mattress—you put it to work by making smart investments.

And the smartest investment we can make is in the next generation.
Read 14 tweets

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