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. 🧵 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.

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…

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.”

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.

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 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)!!

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 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…

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 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.

Last year Republicans tried to gerrymander me out of the House.

Last week the people re-elected me to a third term.

Today I filed my first bill of the new session: a ban on partisan gerrymandering. Greg Abbott and his allies divided our community for partisan gain.

But we fought back and sent a clear message that gerrymandering won’t silence our voices.

Now we need to ensure this never happens again to another community in our state.

https://twitter.com/jamestalarico/status/1590165810667929600

The families of Uvalde drove 160 miles to the Texas Capitol to demand gun safety legislation.

@GregAbbott_TX had “a scheduling conflict” but thousands of Texans showed up to stand with them.

Ni uno más. Not one more. On the steps of the Capitol, this woman—who lost her 10-year-old granddaughter—spoke directly to Abbott:

“You disgracefully uttered these words: ‘the tragedy in Uvalde could’ve been worse.’ No, Governor, the tragedy in Uvalde should have never happened in the first place.”

Greg Abbott took money from juvenile justice facilities to fund his border stunts.

Now kids are locked in windowless cells for 23 hours a day and peeing in water bottles.

I’m demanding @GregAbbott_TX call a special session to fix this. We need a governor, not a stuntman. Under Republican rule, the Texas juvenile prison system has been plagued by underfunding and a disturbing history of sexual abuse.

Now the system is nearing total collapse.

Thanks to journalist @jsmccullou we’re learning the horrific details…

texastribune.org/2022/08/02/tex…

“I’ve been given 5 minutes to speak to my party. So I want to talk about hard truths.

The Democratic Party is the only thing standing between this country and fascism.

Yet the most our national party leaders can muster is spineless talking points & soulless fundraising emails.” But the buck stops with the leader of our party—the leader of our country—President @JoeBiden.

Mr. President, you saved our nation once by defeating Trump, now we need you to restore its soul by defeating Trumpism.

Lately it feels like hope is slipping away.

But we just celebrated #Pride in the small conservative town of Taylor, Texas.

Hope is a stubborn thing. Hope is hard to find right now.

Things are bad—especially here in Texas. Roe, Uvalde, and relentless attacks on trans kids, migrant families, and working Texans.

But #Pride shows us how to shine in the dark.

This is Stephen Balch.

He’s a conspiracy theorist who called Biden’s election a “literal coup” and pushes White Replacement Theory.

The Texas State Board of Education just picked him to revise our social studies standards. The Big Lie is coming to a textbook near you.

@TXSBOE Balch is a former professor who claims the 2020 election was stolen.

He urged Trump to “lead his followers into America’s streets” and “stretch institutional bonds."

He shouldn’t be anywhere near our social studies standards.

bit.ly/3o0KWEg

My Democratic colleagues and I are leaving the state to break quorum and kill the Texas voter suppression bill.

We’re flying to DC to demand Congress pass the For The People Act and save our democracy.

Good trouble. #txlege Special session is over. #txlege

A month ago, we broke quorum to kill the Texas voter suppression bill.

A week ago, Gov. Abbott defunded the entire legislative branch in retaliation.

Today, we’re suing Abbott in the Texas Supreme Court.

Texas is the frontline in the fight for democracy. #txlege Let me explain…

The legislative session is over!

We accomplished so much in the last 140 days, but it was only possible because of my incredible team.

Please help me thank them for their service. #txlege We still have a special session on the horizon, but I want to take a moment to celebrate our team’s 10 biggest accomplishments...

1. We passed one of the only police reform bills this entire session.

https://twitter.com/jamestalarico/status/1382866477536186368?s=21

Today I killed HB 3979—the bill that attempted to teach our students a whitewashed version of American history—with a Point of Order.

If kids are old enough to experience racism, then they're old enough to learn about it. #txlege I started by asking the bill author why Senate Republicans removed language requiring social studies educators to teach students that white supremacy is morally wrong from the House version of the bill...

WE DID IT!! We capped the out-of-pocket cost of insulin in Texas!

Our bill is headed to the Governor’s desk for a signature! #txlege

https://twitter.com/jamestalarico/status/1379454925143441408

Thank you to all the people impacted by type 1 diabetes across the country who reached out to me after I shared my story.

And thank you to @loiskolkhorst, @EddieLucioIII, and @FourPriceTX for helping us get this bill passed.

Our planet’s survival depends on young people.

I’m authoring legislation to teach climate change as part of the core curriculum in our public schools. #EarthDay The time to stop climate denialism is before it even starts.

House Bill 4157 will ensure every public school student in Texas has a strong science-based understanding of human-caused climate change and its consequences.

Happy 4/20! I’ve filed legislation to legalize cannabis, expunge past marijuana convictions, and use the new tax revenue to fund early childhood education. #txlege This is a popular bipartisan idea.

According to the @TexasTribune’s latest polling, 60% of Texans support the full legalization of marijuana.

Only 13% said it should be completely illegal.

Two years ago, Javier Ambler was killed by police officers for a reality TV show.

Today the House passed my bill banning police departments from contracting with reality TV programs.

We voted to name the bill Javier Ambler’s Law. #txlege In 2019, Javier Ambler—a father of two—was pulled over by Williamson County Sheriff’s deputies for not dimming his headlights.

The deputies were followed by a camera crew for Live PD, a reality TV show that relies on violent police encounters to boost their ratings.