On February 26th, almost a week into early voting, Texas Alliance for Life decided to release its full list of endorsements.
The organization, headed by Joe Pojman, has been a front group for Joe Straus and his troop of pro-choice Republicans. Pojman is most notorious for testifying against the dismemberment abortion ban during the 85th Legislative Session.
TAL’s support of Straus’ cronies should be no surprise. In the 2016 election cycle Straus was their largest donor, shelling out $30,000 to the group from his campaign and House Leadership Fund. Straus’ lackeys were among their top contributors, with liberal Republican Jason Villalba (R-Dallas), who has called President Trump an “orange, buffoonish, ignorant ape”, giving them $27,000.
TAL’s endorsements include exactly 0 members of the House Freedom Caucus, the most pro-life alliance in the Texas House. In fact, TAL and Pojman endorsed against four members of the House Freedom Caucus, in spite of the fact that most of the Caucus members earned what would be considered an A on the TAL scorecard.
During this past legislative session, State Rep. Tony Tinderholt (R-Arlington) proposed HB 948, which would have ended abortion in Texas. That bill was killed in Byron Cook’s State Affairs committee, another pro-choice Republican that Pojman fawns over.
Of the 11 representatives who authored or co-authored this bill, TAL and Pojman endorsed one. They endorsed against 5 of them.
As opposed to endorsing actual pro-life champions, Pojman has again decided to endorse and give cover to the likes of State Rep. JD Sheffield (R-Gatesville), who has confessed on the House floor that he supports Roe v. Wade, and easy access to abortions. Almost all the Representatives who voted against the dismemberment ban received TAL’s blessing.
Allegedly, TAL’s endorsements are based on the scorecard that they put together for the previous legislative session. However, their scorecard does not include a list of record votes that they used, or the criterium for which they rate each representative.
Texas Alliance for Lie is a backwards organization, led by a backwards man in Joe Pojman. If there was any more proof needed that TAL is simply a front group for Democrats and Republicans who vote like them, their 2018 primary endorsements should do it.
