Former GOP lawmaker blisters Abbott for ‘pandering to idiots’ over military exercises
Christy Hoppe Email choppe@dallasnews.com
Published: April 30, 2015 5:36 pm
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Former Rep. Todd Smith, R-Euless, who served eight terms in the Texas House.A 16-year Republican veteran of the Legislature wrote Gov. Greg Abbott saying he is appalled that the governor has given credence to a fringe group that fears the U.S. military would stage a take-over of Texas.
Abbott has ordered the Texas state Guard to monitor a large-scale, eight-week military exercise this summer of special operation forces. Social media has pushed the conspiracy notion that the exercise, called Jade Helm 15, is a ruse to confiscate guns and declare martial law in hostile states.
After citizens raised concerns, Abbott said the state Guard will keep tabs on the operation to ensure Texans that “their safety, constitutional rights, private property rights and civil liberties will not be infringed.”
In his letter to the governor, Todd Smith of Euless, who retired from public office in 2013, said he is “horrified that I have to choose between the possibility that my Governor actually believes this stuff and the possibility that my Governor doesn’t have the backbone to stand up to those who do.”
He said he wrote because the thought that the U.S. military would be a threat to Texas is “embarrassing” and it is important “to rational governance that thinking Republicans call you out on it.”
“Is there ANYBODY who is going to stand up to this radical nonsense that is a cancer on our State and our Party?” Smith asked.
Smith is an attorney practicing in Euless and said in an interview that he was so disturbed by Abbott’s response that he laid in bed frustrated and unable to sleep.
He woke up this morning and decided to write Abbott the letter, which he also sent copies to the state House and Senate.
The governor’s office was not immediately available for comment.
