2 RRISD trustees urged to return 2021 donations from controversial PAC

Two Round Rock school district trustees are urging two fellow board members to return campaign donations from 2021 they received from the controversial Defend Texas Liberty PAC.

According to campaign finance reports, the political action committee donated $13,000 to Bone and $18,000 to Weston in December 2021. Neither was up for re-election at the time.

The chairman of the political action committee met with a white supremacist podcaster in October.

Board President Amber Landrum and Trustee Tiffanie Harrison called on their fellow board members to return the funds they received from the group.

Bone and Weston did not respond to requests for a comment.

The trustees are not the first public officials asked to return campaign money received from the PAC.

In October, Texas House Speaker Dade Phelan called on Republican lawmakers to distance themselves from Defend Texas Liberty and to donate any contributions they received from the PAC to charity after a news report that the group's chairman, Jonathan Stickland, held a meeting with Nick Fuentes, a white supremacist and admirer of Adolf Hitler.

Phelan condemned the meeting and the PAC's association with Fuentes after Stickland hosted Fuentes at the PAC's headquarters in Fort Worth, which was first reported by The Texas Tribune.

More: Dan Patrick: 'no reason' to return PAC money after group's leader meets white supremacist

In a statement to the American-Statesman on Tuesday, Landrum said she supports Bone and Weston returning the money or giving the funds to an organization whose values align with the district's.

"Personally, and as a district, we do not support any connection to organizations that represent or share such hateful beliefs," Landrum said.

Harrison said she is not surprised that Bone and Weston received donations from the PAC as their behavior is in line with the beliefs of the organization.

"Both trustees have shown a commitment to white supremacy, racism, homophobia, transphobia and xenophobia in their actions," Harrison said. "In order to affirm every Round Rock ISD student’s right to exist and feel safe and welcome in our community, it is imperative that trustees Bone and Weston return these donations and unequivocally denounce white supremacy."

Bone and Weston have been at odds with the other five board members over issues ranging from masks mandates in schools to the hiring of Hafedh Azaiez as superintendent in June 2021.

In April 2022, a Williamson County judge dismissed a lawsuit that Bone and Weston had filed against the other board members concerning proposed censure resolutions over them disrupting a meeting. A second censure resolution failed in August 2022. The motion was proposed after both trustees broke quorum during a June 16, 2022, meeting on the budget.

In June 2022, Bone also filed a lawsuit against Azaiez, alleging he had conducted unauthorized investigations into another board member using district funds. The case was disposed in September.

More: RRISD's Mary Bone to run for State Board of Education

This article originally appeared on Austin American-Statesman: 2 RRISD trustees urged to return donations from conservative PAC