Ashby and LISD Officials Blast Beck Campaign Flyer

Lufkin School Board President Trent Ashby and school district officials are blasting a political flyer that accused Ashby of raising taxes to give the superintendent a big pay raise.

Ashby is running against incumbent Marva Beck in the GOP Primary race for State Representative in District 57.  The campaign flyer from Beck’s campaign says with help from a tax increase Ashby voted for, LISD Supt. Roy Knight makes almost $200, 000 a year, more than Governor Rick Perry makes.

Beck says "Lufkin parents and taxpayers ought to be outraged at how their

tax dollars are spent,” and “poor choices like these only hurt the school children of Lufkin.”

Supt. Knight says the flyer is extremely dishonest.  He says Ashby did vote for a small tax increase, but it was so the district could pay back revenue bonds that were approved by more than 70 percent of LISD voters. Knight says not approving the increase would have put the district in default on the  bond payments.

Speaking for himself, Ashby says this negative campaign flyer "is full of false accusations, misstatements, and over-the-top half-truths.  Other than signaling a floundering campaign, these kind of desperate campaign tactics highlight a glaring difference between myself and my opponent.”

via School officials lash back at state rep's campaign claims - The Lufkin Daily News: Local & State.

Marva Beck represents House District 57, which has been redrawn to include Angelina, Houston and San Augustine Counties.  Those counties were drawn out of State Rep. James White's House District 12, which means White isn't Lufkin's State Rep. anymore.

Beck's District Office is in Centerville, on the other side of Interstate 45.  To be re-elected, Beck has to appeal to voters in an area nearly a hundred miles from where she lives, most of whom know nothing about her.  But they're learning.