Eric Welch, the Republican candidate for school board in District 10, has been a staunch defender of Williamson Strong, a group that is hardly conservative or aligned with conservative values.
It’s worth noting that in the 2014 school board election, which Eric lost to Dr. Beth Burgos, Williamson Strong offered to provide him with campaign support.
And now Williamson Strong has endorsed Eric in the 2022 school board election, as have a number of liberals individually.
Even more revealing, Eric also was endorsed in 2014 by the Williamson County Democratic Party (WCDP).
It would be interesting to know Eric’s thoughts about why Williamson Strong and the local Democratic party endorsed him, especially since he is now running as a Republican.
What was it about his character, values and politics that appealed to these left-wing organizations?
- Is he pleased to have Williamson Strong’s endorsement, and does he share the organization’s values, mission and tactics?
OR
- Will he publicly repudiate Williamson Strong’s relentless efforts to demonize, intimidate, shame and silence conservatives in our community?
These are questions he ought to answer before the August 4 election because voters deserve full disclosure and transparency.
Recently Eric told Williamson Home Page (4/26/2022) that if re-elected,
“I’ll continue to listen to all sides and be open-minded to differing points-of-view….”
- Glad to hear that, Eric, but my experience with you didn’t quite align with your statement.
Several years ago I asked KC Haugh, who at the time was running for school board in my district, a question on his Facebook page. KC waffled when someone else inquired about his views concerning males using women’s bathrooms in WCS and vice versa. I asked KC to clarify his stance publicly on this important security and privacy issue.
KC replied he would not be in favor integrating male/female facilities, which answered my question. He then changed the subject by asking some accusatory questions about my supposed involvement in a previous campaign.
It was clear to me that he was operating off a false narrative, which had primarily been circulated by Williamson Strong and its twin Williamson Secrets, so I explained the facts to him.
As indicated in the screen shots below, my original question and response to KC’s questions triggered Eric Welch, who had lost his school board race a couple years earlier.
(Apologies for failing to catch auto-correct’s changing of Susan Curlee’s last name to “Curless” before one of my comments posted on FB.)
- With the exception of the Williamson Strong crowd, I suspect most residents of our county desire more civility from a school board member than Eric displayed.
As a school board member, Eric should set a positive example for our students and be respectful to ALL members of our community, whether or not he agrees with them, as well as be responsive to their concerns.
In fairness, Eric later apologized (sort of) for some of his remarks, but after initially agreeing to meet with me he didn’t respond when I tried to make the arrangements.
One of the takeaways from this exchange is that Eric apparently believes one has to be a parent and do volunteer work at a Williamson County public school to qualify for the privilege of asking a question of a school board candidate.
Both of my children (now grown) went to public and private schools in Williamson County, and my wife and I did plenty of volunteer work there. But that’s irrelevant.
The biggest takeaway, however, is that Eric believes it’s a “ridiculous falsehood” and a “malicious lie” that Williamson Strong is part of a national “scheme,” as he terms it, claiming that I “have no proof of this, as none exists.”
I beg to differ.
We’ll examine the facts about Williamson Strong in Part 2 and discover there’s an undeniable connection with unions and the “Strong Schools, Strong Communities” national movement.
Don Beehler
Guest Writer
