Northwest Austin Republican Women

"Education is Our Focus" Austin, TX March 29, 2011

Dates to Remember in April

Inside This Issue
4/4 - NWARW Regular Monthly Meeting
 Dates to Remember

 April Lunch Menu & RSVP 4/4 - TCRP Executive Committee Meeting

 Dr. Marsha Farney to address 4/8 - NWARW Executive Board Meeting

April meeting
4/15 - Tax Day (go to a Tea Party!)
 Update on HD 48, Voter I.D
4/21 - 175th Anniversary of the Battle of
 NFRW Political Briefing San Jacinto
 Letter from the President 4/24 - Easter Sunday
 Recommended Reading

APRIL
April Lunch Menu & RSVP: Sun Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat

Our April meeting is on Monday, April 4 1 2

at Dave & Buster's, 9333 Research Blvd;
3 4 5 6 7 8 9
check-in is 11:15, meeting at 11:45.
10 11 12 13 14 15 16
Speaker: Dr. Marsha Farney, State Board 17 18 19 20 21 22 23
of Education Member, Dist. 10
24 25 26 27 28 29 30
Menu: Sweet Apple Pecan Salad with
Grilled Chicken

Cost: $16

RSVP: Contact Cherri Spradling, 821-

3696 or by email at
cherri.spradling@austintitle.com by
THURSDAY, March 31
 Newly-elected Republican Dr. Marsha Farney to
address NWARW in April
Marsha Farney, Ph.D., began her career as an educator in 1991 and was elected to the
State Board of Education in 2010. She currently serves on the board's Committee on
Instruction.

Farney holds certifications that allow her to teach first through eighth grade and English for
elementary and middle school. She also holds counseling and principal certifications. Farney
received both a bachelor’s and master’s degree from Texas A&M University-Commerce. She
holds a Ph.D. in curriculum and instruction from The University of Texas at Austin.

Farney, of Georgetown, has educational experience at every level in the public school system.
She taught elementary school in both the North Lamar and Paris Independent School Districts.
While employed with North Lamar ISD, she received Teacher of the Year award for Everett
Elementary and Elementary Teacher of the Year for North Lamar ISD in 1996. Farney worked
as a middle school counselor in Pflugerville ISD and a high school counselor in Paris ISD. She
has also taught in the College of Education at Texas A & M University – Commerce, supervised
student teachers, trained mentor teachers, and served as a liaison between the university and
two school districts.

Farney has been a presenter at several professional conferences including the Texas
Association for the Improvement of Reading, the Midwest History of Education Conference and
the Texas Association of Alternative Education in Austin. Her published works include
Promoting the Progress of Education: The History of Georgetown Public Schools, 1850-1966
and The American Schools Respond to World War II: A Survey of the American School Board
Journal Articles from January 1942 – December 1945. American Educational History Journal,
vol. 29, 2002.

Farney is a member of the Association of Supervision and Curriculum Development, the Texas
Reading Association and the International Reading Association.

Farney, an active member of her community, currently serves as a board member of the
Chisholm Trail Community Foundation; Seton Women’s Development Board for Seton
Williamson Hospital; and is a volunteer for the Williamson County Historical Museum. She
previously served on the Bastrop Education Foundation Board, the Education, Business and
Industry Coalition in Lamar County, and the Lamar County Reading Council.

As a member of the State Board of Education, Farney represents the counties of Austin,
Bastrop, Burleson, Colorado, DeWitt, Fayette, Gonzales, Lavaca, Lee, Milam, Waller, Washington
and Williamson as well as parts of Brazoria, Fort Bend and Travis counties.

Although State Board of Education members are normally elected to a four-year term of office,
all seats will be up for election in November 2012 due to redistricting.
 Update on House District 48 Election Contest
Statement from Dan Neil: "With the select committee’s ruling that we did not meet the burden of proof to
overturn the election results in HD-48, I have decided the best course of action is to withdraw my election
contest. I owe a tremendous debt of gratitude to al...l my supporters who worked hard on a campaign that
was ultimately decided by the narrowest of margins. Their prayers and support have made this entire
experience worthwhile even if the end result is not what we sought. I would also like to thank Master
Hartnett and the Committee for their hard work on this issue. And I want to wish Donna Howard well as
she continues to represent District 48, which is a special place to live, work and raise a family."

Update on Voter Identification - Senate Bill 14

On Wednesday, March 23, the Texas House of Representatives met to debate Senate Bill 14, the photo
voter identification legislation. Democrats did their best to lengthen debate, calling points of order that
were all overruled and filing numerous amendments to drag out debate. In the end, the Republican
supermajority passed the bill, with one Democrat voting with them, and the final vote was 101-48. The
next step is for the House and Senate to choose conference committee members, so the differences in the
versions passed in each Chamber can be reconciled. We are nearing the finish line on this issue!

Political Briefing from the National Federation of Republican Women (NFRW)

The NFRW is proud to support Congressman Devin Nunes' (R-CA) Public Employee Pension Transparency
Act (H.R. 567) to bring about a better understanding of the future insolvency of state and local retirement
plans to American taxpayers.

Background: Currently, 7 million retirees receive benefits from state and local governments. In addition,
27 million Americans have been promised benefits. Research shows the the state pension, health care and
other retirement benefit plans are currently underfunded by $1 trillion. Other research suggests the plans
could be underfunded by as much as $3.23 trillion. Under the current disclosure guidelines, there is a lack
of understanding about the value of state and local pension plan assets and liabilities which in turn hinders
taxpayers from understanding the financial obligations of their government.

What does the legislation do? State and local pension plans will report two sets of information to the
Secretary of Treasury which will be made available to the public on a website. The first set of numbers will
detail current public liabilities based on existing accounting methods-methods largely determined by the
pension plan itself. The methods and assumptions used in this first set of numbers will also be reported.
The second set of numbers will detail the current pension liabilities but will do so using uniform guidelines.
Those guidelines will include more realistic discount rates, as well as controls to assure assets are counted
using a reasonable estimate of fair market value.

State and local governments that refuse to report their public pension liabilities will be denied the ability to
issue federally tax-exempt bonds. Federal subsidies of state and local debt would remain unavailable until
those entities comply with public pension transparency rules. Congress would preempt any calls for a
federal bailout by making a clear policy statement that the American taxpayer will not bailout state and
local governments that have recklessly promised unaffordable benefits to their workers.

-Information courtesy of "Public Pension Reform: Transparency and No Bailouts" Office of Congressman Devin
Nunes

Read the bill at www.thomas.gov

Letter from the President
Since our last meeting, there have been some major events shaking up the world. The Japanese are
dealing with a catastrophe unmatched in memorable history. The earthquake that struck Japan was so
powerful that the Earth's axis was affected, and we lost 1.26 milliseconds of daylight as a result.
Thousands are still missing in the wake of the earthquake and tsumami, and radiation leaks from
damaged nuclear power plants threaten the health of the survivors. For information and assistance
related to the catastrophic events in Japan, including help locating friends and family in devastated
areas, contact the U.S. Department of State's Bureau of Consular Affairs. For information on how you
can help the people of Japan visit the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID).

Meanwhile, the United States has entered into a military conflict in Libya; as I drove to work this
morning, I heard that 2000 Marines are headed to north Africa, on a course not dissimilar to that their
predecessors once took, when the first Marines fought the Barbary pirates in Tripoli. There are many
questions about this conflict that have not been answered; President Obama's address to the nation on
March 28 seems to have created more confusion than it allayed. In response to the speech,
Congressman Michael McCaul (TX-10), who represents some of our members, said "The President
must provide Congress and the American people greater details about our military commitment to
Libya and beyond: how many of our men and women in uniform will be dedicated to this operation,
how much will it cost, how will we pay for it, and what event or events, such as the removal of Gadhafi
from power, will mark the end of our military involvement." You can read the Congressman's full
response by clicking here.

These are trying times, and it seems that these larger affairs demand our full attention. Our attention
cannot be wholly consumed by the events of the world, since there are still issues we face here at
home. Here in Texas, we are facing a severe budget problem at the state level, and the debate on the
budget, Rainy Day Fund, and more starts in earnest this Thursday and Friday. There are city council
and school board elections taking place on May 14. There is no such thing as "down time" when you're
involved in politics, and I would argue that as citizens of this country who have the right to vote and
who pay taxes, we are all involved in politics.

As Republican Women, we walk on paths blazed by busy women who might have spent their time
doing other things. Elizabeth Cady Stanton, told by even her husband that she had better things to do,
took her seven children with her when she campaigned for women's suffrage. During her time, her
major issue took a back seat during the Civil War, Reconstruction, the assassination of three United
States presidents (Lincoln, Garfield, and McKinley), and more. Elizabeth did not live to see the fruits of
her labor, yet she never tired or faltered. She and other early Republican women were successful
because they did not let the world's preoccupation with other matters deter them.

We have a duty to our daughters and granddaughters to continue to stand up for liberty, no matter
how the world shakes. What happens in Austin, at the Capitol or the county courthouse or city hall,
has long-ranging consequences that can be damaging for generations. Thank you for all you do for the
Republican Party, for Texas, and for the United States.

- Michele Samuelson
 NWARW Officers 2011 Interested in joining Northwest
Austin Republican Women?
Michele Samuelson, President Women AND men are welcome!
Susan Friedrich, 1st VP/Membership
Melinda Field, 2nd VP/Programs Dues are:
$24 for Active Membership
Pat Dollar, Recording Secretary $12 for Associate Membership
Tina Wheelock, Corresponding Secretary $36 for Supporting Membership
Cherri Spradling, Treasurer/PAC Treasurer
Your dues may be paid at the check-in
table at one of our meetings, or by
sending a check payable to NWARW PAC
to Cherri Spradling, 12501 Phoebe Court,
NWARW Committee Chairmen 2011 Austin TX 78727-5126.

Gloria Heyl & Virginia Heyl, Awards

Murlene Johnston, By-Laws
Joyce Melugin, Campaign Activities
Our next Executive Board
Kathie Holliman, Fundraising
Meeting will be on
Billie Jean Zinter, Legislative
Carolyn Isbell & Elaine Lehmann, Hospitality Friday, April 8, at 1:00pm
Carol Gontko, Telephone at the home of Pat Dollar

4204 Bluffridge Dr.

Click here for a map

"Those who are too smart to engage in politics are
punished by being governed by those who are All members are welcome to attend!
dumber." - Plato

Recommended Reading - Women's History Month (March)

Women and the Republican Party 1854-1924 by Melanie Susan Gustafson

Melanie Susan Gustafson examines women’s partisan history as part of the

larger history of women’s political culture. Contesting the accepted notion that
women were uninvolved in political parties before they formally got the vote,
Gustafson reveals the length and depth of women’s partisan activism between
the founding of the Republican party, whose abolitionist agenda captured the
loyalty of many women, and the passage of the Nineteenth Amendment.

Women and the Republican Party, 1854-1924 presents the complex interplay of
partisan and nonpartisan activity, the fierce debates among women about the
best way to make their influence felt, and the ebb and flow of enthusiasm for
women’s participation within the Republican party. She also profiles the leading
women Republicans and activists, both familiar (Susan B. Anthony, Elizabeth
Cady Stanton, Jane Addams, Mary Church Terrell) and less well known (Anna
Dickinson, Victoria Woodhull, Judith Ellen Foster, Mary Ann Shadd Cary).