Mary Lou Bruner

Mary Lou Bruner
Republican candidate for
Texas State Board of Education
Election date
May 24, 2016
Personal details
Born 1947
Political party Republican
Spouse(s) Anthony Bruner
Residence Smith County, East Texas
Alma mater BA: Texas Wesleyan University
MEd: Texas A&M University–Commerce
Known for Expressing controversial views while running for the Texas State Board of Education
Religion Christianity
Website www.mlb4sboe.com

Mary Lou Bruner (born 1947) is a Republican candidate for a seat on the Texas State Board of Education. Bruner, a public school teacher and counselor for 36 years, has expressed controversial views during her campaign, making derogatory statements about President Barack Obama, the science of evolution, Islam, and homosexuality. Bruner, who has been called the "looniest politician in Texas",[1] has been publicly ridiculed for her views. "I don't know why I'm getting so much attention" Bruner said in an interview. "I'm just saying what I believe."[2]

Personal life, education, and career

Mary Lou Bruner was born in 1947.[3] She is a lifelong educator in the public schools of Texas, devout member of the Christian faith, and loyal member of the Republican party. She is married to her husband Anthony, also a retired educator, and they live on their farm in northern Smith County, Texas, north of the city of Tyler, near the small town of Mineola in East Texas. They have two adult children and two grandchildren.[4]

Bruner has a BA in Elementary education and English from Texas Wesleyan University and a MEd in Special Ed. from East Texas State University (now Texas A&M University–Commerce). She has multiple Texas Teacher certifications in Educational Diagnostician, English, Language/Learning Disabilities, Early Childhood, Kindergarten, Elementary Education, Special Ed. Counselor, and All‐Level School Counselor.[5]

For 36 years, Bruner worked in Texas public schools as a teacher, counselor, and educational diagnostician, before retiring from education.[5]

Bruner began to be a vocal critic of the 15-member Texas State Board of Education (SBOE).[1] She addressed the school board in 2010 to share her concerns with the state's school textbooks. When addressing the board members, Bruner expressed alarm to Dallas Democrat Lawrence Allen, a practicing Muslim,[6] that countries in the Middle East were "using their influence to get what they want in the textbooks"[6] and buying Texas' school books, saying, "I think the Middle Easterners are buying the textbooks! They're buying everything else here."[3][6]

Race for the Texas State Board of Education

Lord, We ask You to show us where we as Christians and as a nation have fallen short of the mark allowing our government leaders to pass evil and ungodly laws which displease God. Please reveal to us where we as a nation went wrong, and what we should do now to get the USA back on course.
— Mary Lou Bruner, "Prayer for my website"[7][8][9]

Mary Lou Bruner decided to run for a place on the SBOE.[1] The seat that represents East Texas, District 9, is being vacated by the moderate Thomas Ratliff, first elected in 2010[lower-alpha 1] but who is not seeking a 2016 reelection.[9][10] Her opponents in the primary election are Republican Kevin Ellis of Lufkin, Texas, a chiropractor[3][11][12] and Republican Hank Hering of Lindale, Texas.[12] After more than 100,000 East Texas Republicans voted,[6] Bruner garnered 48 percent of the GOP vote,[11] falling short of the required 50 percent needed to win the election (Ellis garnered 31 percent) and now faces a run-off election.[3] She is expected to win the low-turnout run-off election and is also expected to win against the Democratic opponent in the upcoming general election, earning her the seat on the Texas State Board of Education.[3][8][11]

Once on the board, Bruner would have influence over what information is published in Texas school textbooks used by over five million K-12 students, as one of the Texas State Board of Education's primary responsibilities is to set curriculum standards for Texas public schools.[9][11] Because of the size of Texas' textbook market, learning materials developed for Texas are often used in other states as well.[1] The SBOE has faced school textbook controversy in the past when former board members tried to inject ideologically-driven information into science, history, and social studies textbooks that they believed was vital to be taught in Texas schools.[3][8][11][lower-alpha 2] With Bruner on the SBOE, citizens fear the far-right conservative would have an agenda to mount a similar attack on facts.[1][3][8][11][12] East Texas voters return to the polls on May 24, 2016.[11]

Controversy

Public statements

Mary Lou Bruner has posted controversial statements to her personal Facebook page. During the race for the seat on the SBOE, the nonprofit watchdog group Texas Freedom Network (TFN) publicly warned that the SBOE has a history of mixing culture wars with public education and criticized many of candidate Bruner's public statements immediately prior to her primary election.[6][8][9][13][14] While her more sensitive posts were later deleted, TFN and journalists of numerous Texas and national publications made screen shots of the posts[8] and began reporting on them, questioning her fitness to hold public office.[12] When asked about her public statements, Bruner defended them, saying "I don't intend to apologize for my opinions because I still believe my statements were accurate."[9][10]

On Barack Obama

Bruner has stated that President Barack Obama was formerly a drug-using gay prostitute. In October 2015, she wrote, "Obama has a soft spot for homosexuals because of the years he spent as a male prostitute in his twenties. That is how he paid for his drugs."[3][8][11][12][15][16] "He has admitted he was addicted to drugs when he was young and he is sympathetic with homosexuals, but he hasn't come out of the closet about his own homosexual/bisexual background."[1][8][16] She continued, "He hasn't quite evolved that much! Since he supports gay marriage, he should be proud of his background as a homosexual/bisexual. He is against everything else Christians stand for, he might as well be for infidelity."[1][16] Bruner has also denigrated President Abraham Lincoln, calling him "dishonest", accusing Obama of taking a page out of Lincoln's "playbook".[12] Bruner has stated her belief that the president is a Muslim, referred to Obama as "Ahab the Arab," and said that the president "hates all white people and all wealthy people because to him wealthy means white."[2]

On Obamacare

Bruner is against the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act that she believes is part of the United Nations Earth Summit Agenda 21, believing that the UN has plotted to reduce the U.S. population by as much as 200 million[lower-alpha 3] by using "Obamacare to make people die a little sooner than they would have died."[8]

On liberals

Bruner has equated being a Democrat or a liberal with being a mass-murderer, writing, "all of the terrorist mass-murderers have described themselves as Democrats or liberals. Is there a pattern developing here?"[9][12]

On the assassination of John F. Kennedy

Bruner has stated that "many people" believe the Democrats were behind the assassination of Democratic President John F. Kennedy, whom she called "a conservative president".[11][8] In November 2015, she wrote that the Democrat Party carried out the assassination because they preferred "LBJ. The exact opposite of Kennedy – a socialist and an unethical politician."[1][3][8][11][12][lower-alpha 4]

On climate change

According to Bruner, climate change is a hoax. "Climate change has nothing to do with weather or climate," she stated. "It is all about system change from capitalism (free enterprise) to Socialism-Communism. The Climate Change HOAX was Karl Marx's idea. It took some time to 'condition' the people so they would believe such a ridiculous HOAX."[1][3][8]

On evolution, creationism, and the biblical account of Noah's Ark

Bruner has said that school shootings in the United States occur because students are being taught the science of evolution.[8][11][12] "Evolution is a religious philosophy," she wrote, "with propaganda supporting the religion of Atheism".[9] Like other Young Earth creationists, Bruner believes dinosaurs and mankind walked the Earth at the same time, however Bruner believes that scientists found proof of a young Earth but have colluded to hide the evidence.[1] "The dinosaurs on the ark may have been babies and not able to reproduce. It might make sense to take the small dinosaurs onto the ark instead of the ones bigger than a bus." She continued, "After the flood, the few remaining Behemoths and Leviathans may have become extinct because there was not enough vegetation on earth for them to survive to reproductive age ... When the flood waters subsided and rushed into the oceans, there was no vegetation on the earth because the earth had been covered with water."[1][8][9]

A television reporter asked Bruner on-camera to clarify her beliefs of the biblical account of Noah's Ark and whether it was filled with pairs of animals and if the entire world was covered with water. Bruner later wrote, "THE ANSWER IS STILL YES, I believe the Holy Bible. I believe there was a Great Flood. How do YOU explain fossils of seashells and other sea animals on tops of mountains all over the world? How do you explain the Grand Canyon? You are very naive if you believe a tiny river carved out the Grand Canyon. I believe it took a lot more water than that to carve out the Grand Canyon and other land and rock formations formed by water erosion. You can call me ignorant or intolerant or whatever you want, but I did not make fun of YOUR religion."[6][9]

On Islam

Bruner has repeatedly belittled Islam, saying "Islam is not a religion. Islam is an inhumane totalitarian political ideology with radical religious rules and laws and barbaric punishments for breaking the religious rules. If Islam is a religion, it is a cult religion." Bruner also conflates Islam with terrorism, saying, "The USA should ban Islam and stop all immigration from Muslim countries because Islam's stated goal is to conquer the USA and kill the infidels (nonbelievers)."[9]

On the Civil War

Bruner has made conspiracy theorist statements regarding the U.S. Civil War. "Slavery is not the Reason for the Civil War," she wrote in 2014. "Historians waited until all of the people who were alive during the Civil War and the Restoration were dead of old age. Then historians wrote the history books to tell the story they way they wanted it told."[3]

On rap music

"The songs that they sing in the rap music," she told a radio show during her campaign, "it's not correct grammar."[6]

On Pre-K education

Most Americans support federally funded pre-kindergarten, as early childhood education has benefited young children with increased academic and social skills.[17] Bruner, however, sees a homosexual conspiracy: "GLBTQ agenda is one of the big reasons liberals want 3-year-old and 4-year-old children to attend public school Pre-K programs" she stated in April 2016, going on to say that Pre-K is "teaching them a homosexual marriage is just as good as a marriage with a father and a mother", claiming that children receiving this "indoctrination" will "become confused about their sexuality" and "told their parents are bigoted because they do not accept Islam and gay marriage."[17]

On sex education

"Many of the (sexual education) books which teachers read to your small children are not allowed in jails and prisons because of the bad effect the books have on the prisoners. These books stimulate children to experiment with sex."[8]

On Common Core education

The rewrite of the No Child Left Behind Act passed both houses of Congress by huge margins, but Bruner nonetheless prefers to reject the Every Student Succeeds Act because of her firm opposition to what she calls the "top-down multicultural" federal Common Core State Standards Initiative.[4][9] "I stand for truth in education, not political correctness. I believe schools should teach the knowledge and skills that made the USA the leader of the world. I believe the children belong to the parents not the federal government." She claims to want students "to be independent minded, productive citizens", claiming that it is "liberals" who "want to eliminate time-proven methods such as phonics, grammar, and spelling rules, and cursive handwriting."[4][9]

Response

Support

Mary Lou Bruner has attracted support from a former chairman of the Texas Board of Education. Don McLeroy spent twelve years on the board, the last two as chairman, spending a large part of that time sowing doubt about the theory of evolution—until he was ousted in 2010 by Thomas Ratliff.[8][10][6] "I think she'll be a great asset," McLeroy said. "She testified all the time when I was on the board."[6] Regardless, McLeroy urges Bruner to be "circumspect" in what she says and writes. "Back when I was on the board there were no tweets by Don McLeroy ... There's so much more that you can find about people today than there was back then."[6]

Criticism

Journalists and political commentators have heavily criticized Mary Lou Bruner for her outspoken comments, calling her the "looniest politician in Texas",[1] and publicly ridiculing her for her views.[18][19] Commentator and late night comedian John Oliver mocked the woman by reading aloud her theory that Noah took the small dinosaurs onto the ark. Oliver continued, saying the SBOE "is not known for having the least controversial personnel in the country, but she seems extreme even for them. ... Crack a science book, lady."[20]

References

Notes

  1. ↑ When Thomas Ratliff was first elected in 2010, he ousted the less-moderate former chairman of the SBOE Don McLeroy.[6]
  2. ↑ Former conservative board members have drawn national derision by rejecting evolution and claiming that the U.S. Constitution says nothing about the separation of church and state.[11] Some textbooks approved by the former board were later criticized for inaccuracies and biases; for example, one textbook removed reference to slavery, referring to the U.S. slave trade as the "Atlantic triangular trade."[8]
  3. ↑ The U.S. population is currently about 323 million, and Bruner believes that the UN wants to reduce the U.S. population to 125 million.[8]
  4. ↑ Bruner continued, "It does seem like this might have been the master plan: They sneaked the bad guy (LBJ) into the administration on the coat-tail of a good guy (JFK). Then they got rid of the good guy; in the end, they got a socialist president which is what they originally wanted."[8]

Citations

Sources

External links

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