Mary Lou Bruner | |
|---|---|
| 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 |
| Political party | Republican |
| Spouse | Anthony Bruner |
| Website | www |
Mary Lou Bruner is an American retired educator and former political candidate. Bruner was a public school teacher and counselor for 36 years before retiring and becoming an activist. She attracted national attention during her 2016 campaign for the Republican nomination for an East Texas seat on the Texas State Board of Education because of her controversial and extreme views on topics including President Barack Obama, the science of evolution, Islam, and homosexuality. She has expressed her belief that Obama was a gay prostitute, that Islam's goal is to conquer the US, that pre-K programs encourage children into homosexual marriage, and that being a Democrat equates to being a mass-murderer. Bruner, who has been called the "looniest politician in Texas,"[1] has been publicly ridiculed for her views. Bruner said in an interview: "I don't know why I'm getting so much attention. I'm just saying what I believe."[2]
Bruner advanced to a runoff election, but lost in May 2016.
Bruner has a bachelor's degree from Texas Wesleyan University and a Master of Education degree in special education from East Texas State University (now Texas A&M University–Commerce).[3][4]
Bruner worked in Texas public schools for 36 years, including 20 as a teacher and diagnostician for learning-disabled students in Brownsboro Independent School District.[5][6] She retired in 2009.[4]
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,[7] that countries in the Middle East were "using their influence to get what they want in the textbooks"[7] and buying Texas' school books, saying, "I think the Middle Easterners are buying the textbooks! They're buying everything else here."[7]
In 2016, Bruner ran for the seat on the Texas State Board of Education representing District 9, a district covering 180 small school districts across 31 rural counties "stretching from Rockwall County east of Dallas to the Arkansas border and from the Oklahoma state line to the middle of East Texas."[5] The deeply conservative region is dominated by conservative Christians and Tea Party activists.[2] The seat was being vacated by the moderate Thomas Ratliff, first elected in 2010[a] but who was not seeking a 2016 reelection.[8]
Bruner's opponents in the primary election were Republican Keven Ellis of Lufkin, a chiropractor who is the president of the Lufkin school board.[9][10][11]
More than 107,000 East Texas Republicans voted for Bruner in the primary election,[7][4] or about 48 percent of the vote, falling short of the required 50 percent Bruner needed to win the election outright. Ellis received 31 percent and Hering 20 percent. Bruner and Ellis then advanced to a May 24 runoff election.[9][12]
The SBOE sets curriculum standards for Texas public schools and exerts considerable influence over the selection and content of Texas school textbooks used by over five million K-12 students.[8][9] 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.[13][9][b] With Bruner on the SBOE, citizens feared the far-right conservative would have an agenda to mount a similar attack on facts.[1][13][9][10]
Just prior to the runoff election at a meeting of East Texas superintendents, Bruner gave a speech to the educators, during which she repeatedly made inaccurate statements about Texas education that forced her audience to fact-check her on the spot. Bruner tried asserting that 50 percent of Texas students are in a special education program, that only one in six public school graduates can read with fluency and comprehension, and that one school district started the year with 91 full-time substitute teachers. At each of these statements, different audience members interrupted Bruner's speech to inform her that her statements were not factual. After an audience member stood up and suggested to Bruner that she visit with superintendents in the area, to which Bruner replied that she had, the local county superintendent stood up and informed Bruner that she had never attempted to meet with her.[4]
In the runoff election of May 24, 2016, Bruner was defeated by a wide margin by Ellis.[11] Bruner was 68 years old at the time of her failed runoff election.[2]
Bruner has advanced a number of "extreme views on politics and education" via her personal Facebook page.[2] The New York Times noted that Bruner's views matched an "anti-Obama and conspiracy friendly antigovernment mind-set" common in conservative East Texas.[2] As a candidate, Bruner pushed "the boundary of the far right" as her "anti-Obama, anti-Islam, anti-evolution and anti-gay Facebook posts have generated national headlines and turned an obscure school board election into a glimpse of the outer limits of Texas politics."[2] NBC News described Bruner's posts as ranging "from biblical to bizarre" and dating back several years.[14]
During the race for the seat on the SBOE, the nonprofit watchdog group Texas Freedom Network (TFN), which first brought Bruner's posts to public attention,[14] warned that the SBOE has a history of mixing culture wars with public education and criticized many of Bruner's public statements immediately prior to her primary election.[7][13][8][15][16] While some of Bruner's posts were later deleted, TFN and journalists of numerous Texas and national publications made screen shots of the posts[13] and began reporting on them, questioning her fitness to hold public office.[10] 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."[8] After Bruner's defeat, TFN president Kathy Miller issued a statement saying: "Texas escaped an education train wreck tonight. If Bruner had ultimately won election to the board, she would have instantly become the most embarrassingly uninformed and divisive member on a board that already too often puts politics ahead of making sure our kids get a sound education."[14]
Among Bruner's controversial views and statements:
Bruner attracted support from Don McLeroy, a former SBOE member who spent twelve years on the board, the last two as chairman. McLeroy was known for sowing doubt about the theory of evolution—until he was ousted in 2010 by Thomas Ratliff.[13][7] McLeroy said: "I think she'll be a great asset. She testified all the time when I was on the board."[7] 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."[7]
Bruner's comments attracted "widespread ridicule"[8] and criticism, with one commentator calling her the "looniest politician in Texas."[1] Comedian and television host John Oliver read aloud Bruner's statement that Noah took the small dinosaurs onto the ark and said that the Texas 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."[21]
Bruner and her husband Anthony live in rural Smith County near Mineola.[22]