Unanimous, strong endorsement of Judge Sara Maynard

Smith County Court at Law 2

March 2024 Republican Primary Election 

Appointed by the Smith County Commissioners Court to fill the bench vacancy, Sara Maynard has been serving as Smith County Court at Law 2 Judge since January of 2023. In that time, she has reduced the office budget and the backlog of cases.  This court handles family law matters, including protective orders, divorces, and child custody, as well as criminal misdemeanors and all extraditions for Smith County, and civil matters such as contract disputes, eminent domain, and personal injuries.

Judge Maynard served the prior four years as an assistant district attorney prosecuting both misdemeanor and felony cases in the juvenile court of Smith County.

She began her career by founding and managing her own business for over 20 years – a law firm dealing in civil, criminal, and family law.  Her business experience affords her the ability to make tough budgetary decisions while striving to do the job right – delivering the highest quality services at the very best price.  Judge Maynard also served as a prosecutor at Tyler Municipal Court for twelve years.

Additionally, Judge Maynard has a long record of service. She served as an appointed volunteer Emergency Services District 2 Commissioner and filled the role of secretary for the Board of Commissioners, working tirelessly to ensure accountability for tax dollars spent.  She and her husband Roy coached debate at Good Shepherd School, qualifying 20 students to the prestigious national tournament in 20 years.  As an attorney in private practice, she became one of less than a hundred attorneys Board Certified in Juvenile Law by the Texas Board of Legal Specialization.

Judge Maynard has a long history of community involvement, including the Smith County Republican Women’s Club, serving as Secretary for the Smith County Republican Club, as a founding board member for the new conservative Lindale Republican Club, as a Republican precinct chair, an election judge, and parliamentarian for the Smith County Republican Party. She is a long-time member of Grassroots America, served on their Local Government Watchdog Committee, and has taught parliamentary procedure to their Coalition leaders.

Judge Maynard’s record and practice have long demonstrated that she values the principles of limited government, individual liberty, and personal responsibility.  She is committed to the separation of powers, and believes that a judge must administer the law, rather than make new law. In observing her service as judge for the last several months, we are certain that we can count on Judge Sara Maynard to never “write law” from the bench. We therefore strongly urge Smith County voters to hire her at the ballot box in March 2024 to serve as Judge of the Smith County Court at Law 2 bench. 

JoAnn Fleming

Executive Director

For the Board of Directors, Grassroots America – We the People PAC™

Texas Uniform and Municipal Election! Election Day is this Saturday, May 6th. 
POLLS OPEN FROM 7 AM TO 7 PM

Endorsements/recommendations sent from people we trust:
Denton County Conservative Coalition endorsement list, click here.
Patriot Mobile Action to view endorsements, click here.
Collin Strong (Collin County) endorsements, click here.
Star Patriots PAC (no link available)

Star Patriots Endorsements:
Frisco ISD Place 4: Reed Bond | Frisco ISD Place 5: Susan Kershaw
Frisco Mayor: Mark Piland
Plano City Council Place 5: Shelby Williams

Star Patriots Recommendations:
Little Elm ISD Place 1: Jeff Burton | Place 3: Ken Beber
Prosper ISD Place 2: Aimee Boots | Place 5: Jim Herblin
Denton ISD Place 6: Terry Senne | Denton ISD Place 7: Carolyn Rachaner
Plano City Council Place 3: Colleen Aguilar-Epstein
Plano ISD: Place 4: Lydia Ortega | Place 5: Greg Jubenville | Place 7: Cody Weaver
Lewisville ISD Place 6: Mindy Bumgarner | Place 7: Ashley Jones
Flower Mound City Council: Brad Ruthrauff
McKinney ISD: Place 4: Brittany Hendrickson | Place: 5: Rachel Elliott

Joshua ISD (Johnson County) candidates for Place 1 Georgia Wright Head and for Place 2 Angela Tolliver are endorsed by JoAnn Fleming, Grassroots America.

San Antonio Family Association’s PAC endorsements for San Antonio/Bexar County, click here.

Brazoria County Republican Party candidate information, click here.

Grassroots America Information for Smith County ballot, click here.

More candidate information available at IVoterGuide, click here.

Don’t know about your local elections?

Find your county’s website, by clicking here and then scrolling down to the middle of that page to find County Sources. Click on your county to find your county’s posted election information for sample ballots, early voting/Election Day dates, times and locations.

What’s on the ballot?

Look for bond elections on your ballot! ALL bond elections raise taxes (no matter what the spin masters say) because bonds add more public debt, which is paid by taxpayers (not by Santa Clause or the tooth fairy).  When public debt is added, tax burdens are increased. If you are over 65 and your property tax on your homestead is frozen (not every taxing entity offers this), and a bond election passes, you still get a tax increase.  How?  The debt portion of your tax rate NEVER goes down!  As more debt is added, your annual taxes might stay about the same on your home, but they certainly will not go down as they would if the old debt was paid off and no new debt was added.

Look for school board trustee races (some school districts wait to hold school board elections in November). There are also races for city mayors, city council members, community college boards and special water district representatives.

So, what’s the big deal about these elections? They’re just local and I only care about what Washington DC does to us.

Glad you asked! The local officials you hire at the ballot box:

• pass Washington DC garbage down to the local level through the federal grant programs they love because this “free money” has federal strings;
• are responsible for the property tax bills you say are too high;
• can saddle you with more public debt through bond elections, increasing property taxes;
• spend your local property & sales tax dollars – either wisely or foolishly;
• set the tone for the culture of your community with sound, principled values or with WOKE, liberal, socialist values that harm children, grow government, and shred liberty. Local officials CAN stop smut in schools and public libraries and can stop drag queen perversions acted out in front of children. Yes, they can, but will they?

How Do I Know if Candidates are Republican or Democrat?

By law, city, school board, community college, and special purpose district races are non-partisan on the ballot; therefore, there will be no party designation listed there; however, you can find out which party primary they vote in, if they vote at all, or if they are only general election voters (which means there’s no way to tell what they are).

Has your County Republican Executive Committee posted candidates’ historical voting record information (public record) so that voters can at least determine if they are voting for a Republican, a Democrat, a swing voter (general election only) or a non-voter?  If they have not, you might ask why not.  Do you want to elect candidates who don’t vote at all or who vote for Democrats to be in charge of your schools and your tax bills?  If your local GOP is all for the RED TEAM in November, then why aren’t they informing voters about the voting records of local candidates?

Click here to find your county’s Republican Party Chairman to see if he/she published the voting history of the candidates for the May 6 elections in your county!

Click here for a GREAT example of what County Republicans can (and really should) do to help voters choose wisely in local elections!  Bravo Brazoria County Republicans! This is how you keep socialists and cultural Marxists from taking over local government – just simply provide voters with facts about how these candidates vote (or not)!

Grassroots America’s team ran a check on the voting history of candidates appearing on the Smith County ballot because it is our home base county.  Click here for Smith County election information.

Do your homework! Your vote might prevent a Leftist from gaining office!

For liberty in every Texas community,

JoAnn Fleming
Executive Director
Grassroots America – We the People PAC

What You Can Do to Stop Election Fraud by Beth Biesel

♦ Sign up to work as Election Judge, Clerk, Poll Watcher – leave no vacancies

♦ Canvas your Precincts to purge voter rolls of illegitimate voters

♦ Know the Texas Election Code, especially as a Poll Watcher

♦ Get extra Poll Watcher training – work in pairs

♦ Know and exercise your power as an Election Judge – same as District Court Judge

♦ Press hard on local elections: City, County, School Board

♦ Make the County Republican Party Chair do their job to protect elections for Republicans!

♦ Bring Resolutions to your County Party Executive Meetings for
-sequentially numbered ballots
-voiding mail ballots properly
-printing vote result tapes at Early Voting closing
-handing over true audit logs
-new and improved training by County GOPs
-demand to see lease agreements with Election Management System Vendors
-no joint initiatives with Democrats

♦ Ask your County Elections Department how many computer experts they have on staff – dig deeper to find out just who is running your elections

♦ Raise questions about the credibility of the SOS audit/fraudit

♦ Pressure Legislature to reinstate Felony charges in SB1

♦ Attend SOS hearings on SB1 and submit comments on the rule making process

♦ Demand that we get our original wish list –
• Voter Registration database with restricted input/output access
• Precinct only voting
• Paper Ballots, sequentially numbered, hand marked, watermarked
• Paper Poll Books for voters to sign
• Basic Optical Scanner/Vote Counter only to tally vote results
• Printed Vote Result Tapes – EV and ED
• Limited Early Voting with no gap between EV and Election Day
• Hand Counts allowed
• NO WIRELESS, NO LAN, NO CELLULAR, NO COMPUTERS
• 3rd Party Verification and Audit
• Unique identifiable seals on ballot boxes
• Vote Results delivered to Central Count on paper
• Vote Results tabulated from paper record with calculator
• Chain of Custody from start to finish
• Unofficial Results called into SOS and Media
• Poll Watcher protection: standing to sue, ability to use video surveillance, no oath requirement, no requirement to be trained by SOS
• Lawsuits can be filed in adjacent counties

♦ Ask AG Paxton and Division Chief for Election Integrity, Jonathan White, to prosecute high profile cases. Putting a few folks in jail will be a good deterrent for other potential bad actors. Did you know Jonathan White told the    House Elections committee that he did not need more $$, more staff, or more jurisdiction?

♦ Elect candidates you trust

Nov. 8^th General Election 2022
 VOTING Dates & Hours
Mon. thru Fri., Oct. 31-Nov. 4: 7 AM – 7 PM
ELECTION DAY | Tues. Nov. 8^th | 7 AM – 7 PM

Voting Information Any Texas County
Click here.

>Smith County Locations/Sample Ballots:
www.smith-county.com/government/departments/elections

Report Election Integrity Concerns (512) 991-0117
or www.Texas.protectthevote.com>

General Election November 8, 2022
Simple Voter Guide Message:

This is a November General Election. Your choice is a Republican candidate or a Democrat candidate. (Other minor factional parties are also on the ballot – Greens, Martians, etc.)

There is NO Straight Ticket Voting!  You must go down the ballot to vote in each race.  Party labels are next to each name.

There are occasional write-ins across this big state.  Check with local organizers if you have those on your ballot. Grassroots America conducts deep vetting for March Primaries where there is a choice between America First Conservatives and status quo-protecting, “leans-Democrat” Republicans.

Our Recommendations & Why

Reject the Left’s “in your face” tyranny and depravity-pushing, child-molesting agenda by voting against Texas Democrats! 

Races toward the end of the ballot are important! 
Do not skip them! 

Democrats do damage anywhere they gain a foothold.

FACT: Texas Democrats will not resist anything Biden wants to do to Texas.
All Democrats will embrace the DC Occupiers’ agenda.

Of course, based on their record in office (what they have done/not done), some Texas Republicans have badly let conservatives down.

We made that abundantly clear leading up to the March 2022 Republican Primary Election, but the Primary Election results yielded these November 8^th ballot choices, which comes down to this question: “Who will hurt Texas more?” 

Most Republicans will have the good sense to try to slow down the Left’s march across Texas.  We must hold Texas.  To lose Texas to the Left will most certainly unleash the hounds of hell on Texas.

America First Conservatives, look at this general election as our only a chance to hold Texas as we redouble our efforts to elect more America First Republicans in the 2024 Primary!

 Don’t boycott voting!
 Don’t vote for Donkeys!

The ongoing, evil-fueled attacks against President Trump and America First Republicans are proof that it is a savage fight we face against a hostile legacy media and a deeply entrenched political class. Don’t make our fight harder by giving any quarter to Democrats!

Voter Guide Clear Enough?

Pray for your community, Texas, and our nation. Ask God for deliverance.

JoAnn Fleming
Executive Director
Grassroots America – We the People PAC

Passed bonds = debt issued to finance local gov’t building projects. Taxpayers will repay the borrowed money plus interest.

What does the 2022 Texas Republican Party Platform,

written and approved by grassroots conservatives,

say about bond elections?

The following two platform planks address 1) an utter lack of transparency that yields inaccurate bond project costs (incomplete project price tag) on ballots, and 2) the history of low voter turnout that passes huge blocks of debt, raising taxes on families, those on fixed incomes, and small businesses.

Platform Plank #92. Bonds Create Bondage: We urge the Texas Legislature to amend the Texas Election Code to require bond issues be approved by a 2/3 majority of those voting and only if 20% of all registered voters in the district cast ballots. Taxpayer standing must be established to allow taxpayers to hold government entities accountable.

Platform Plank #239. Bond Elections: State and local bond election ballots shall be required to include the amount of debt currently outstanding, current debt service payments, current per capita debt obligations, the amount of new debt being proposed, estimated debt service for the new debt, and estimated per capita burden being proposed. The bond issue must obtain a 2/3 affirmative vote of at least 20% of registered voters in the voting jurisdiction. No public funds are to be spent influencing a bond election. We oppose bundling of items on bond election ballots and “rolling polling” for bond and tax rate increase elections.

Why is this important?

We need the Texas Legislature, Governor, Lt. Governor, and House Speaker to get on board with these reforms to make the cost of these debt-building bond elections CLEAR to voters.  Legislation should also be passed and signed into law that requires a turnout of 20% of registered voters and a subsequent 2/3 majority of the turnout to pass these behemoths.

Do you know if your county, city, ISD, community college, or special taxing district has a bond election on your Nov. 8 ballot?  Know what it’s for? Know the full price tag?

There’s a grand total of $21.1 Billion in projects on the Nov. 8 ballot.  This total does NOT include the price of financing (the interest)!  Can you imagine what the interest will be on $21.1 Billion?

Start your fact-finding mission by clicking here: Texas Bond Review Board; enter 11/8/22 in the space for Election Date (or click on calendar icon), then hit enter.

Now that you are looking at the sortable table of all bond elections on ballots across Texas, the easiest way to find the principal ONLY portion of a bond election for your ballot is to sort the table by county.  Click through the pages (see bottom left corner) or you may download to Excel and sort.

Once you find your county and any bond elections inside your county, go to your taxing entity website (city, county, ISD, special taxing entity) to see if they report how much interest will be charged to borrow this money and how many years it will take for taxpayers to pay it off.  Don’t find that key information?  Then start calling your elected officials to get the information before you vote.

Here’s our local example of information left off the ballot,

left off mailers sent to voters by those pushing the courthouse project,

and misinformation about the over-65 voter impact.

We think you might learn from this analysis! 

The Smith County Courthouse & Parking Structure

Bond Directly involves YOUR wallet!

You should know the facts before you vote!

Do you buy a vehicle or a house without knowing the full price tag?  Didn’t think so – especially when fuel, electricity, grocery prices, and property tax bills are soaring, and inflation is eating your income!

Before you vote, know these additional facts, and if you believe a new courthouse is a “good investment,” at least you will know the full price tag when you vote and will be ready to have this added to your property tax bill.

Your ballot says: “The Issuance of $179,000,000 Tax Bonds for a New County Courthouse and Parking Structure and Levying the Tax in
Payment for Such Bonds.”

The actual price tag is >$303,840,445. *

What’s the $125 MILLION difference? The INTEREST charged on the bond debt. All bond projects require interest (debt service) payments over the life (years) of the borrowed principal. Taxpayers are always on the hook for the entire amount – principal PLUS interest. Your elected officials just don’t include that extra amount on the ballot! They could, but because they are not required to do it, they do not! Instead, most taxing entities “low ball it” by talking in terms of “just a few pennies on your tax rate” or “it will only be the cost of two cups of Starbucks coffee a day.” *[Source: Specialized Public Finance, Inc. report to Smith County Commissioners dated 8/01/2022]

FACT: Over-65 Homestead Exemptions with frozen ceilings on property taxes are indeed impacted by major long-term debt. Each time voters approve a “Let’s borrow millions” bond project, property tax debt burdens for ALL taxpayers go up.  Your over-65 property tax ceiling is frozen – not the floor! Adding debt ensures taxes for the over-65s will not go down.  

Wait! What? Taxes for over-65s won’t go down because this new long-term debt will highly likely never be paid off the rest of your natural life! Also, when the property is passed on to children/grandchildren under 65, the exemption is removed, and property taxes are raised.  If instead of passing your homestead down to heirs, you sell it, property taxes owed on the homestead by new owners will jump up way past your ceiling!  In a recession, when interest rates are also soaring, this could pose a considerable problem selling a home.

I hope this helps you become better informed before you vote!  If you still believe the extra taxes and extra debt are worth adding to your property tax bill during a recession, that is your choice!

Mind how you go,

JoAnn Fleming
Executive Director
Grassroots America – We the People PAC

Grassroots America was asked by several leaders in our statewide Texas Conservative Grassroots Coalition if we would conduct job interviews with the candidates for Vice-Chair of the Republican Party of Texas. Believing this job interview project would yield important information for RPT Convention Delegates who will vote on the Vice Chair, our Board of Directors approved the non-budgeted expenditures for hiring a professional videographer, a professional stage set-up, and renting a facility.

No candidate, campaign staffer, questioner, Coalition leader, or Board Member saw the questions before the event. Executive Director JoAnn Fleming has a very strict code for maintaining question security for all candidates in every race. This is not a game.

Elected leadership is serious business – most especially when liberty is under constant assault. If there was ever a time when conservatives needed to raise standards for themselves as well as their opponents, that time is NOW.

We were not looking for bumper sticker sound bites. The questions were designed to bring out the candidates’ core principles, values, skill sets, and intent for the office they are seeking.

We appreciate the participation of all three candidates – Alma Jackson, Dana Myers, and Adrienne Pena-Garza. We thank our selected forum masters – Mom Caucus Members Trayce Bradford and Dana Harris. Thanks to Grassroots America Board Member Sue Evenwel for stepping in for JoAnn for the “on camera” introductions and acting as interview timekeeper.

We present to you the candidates via video answering for themselves. To assist you with the content, we are providing the list of questions asked to each candidate. All were asked the same questions in the same order.

We will not interpret the responses. We will not answer for the candidates. We will not respond to sandbox comments. Delegates have factual information now from which to make a wise choice. It is up to each delegate to make that decision.

Liberty principles and Christian values found in God’s Word matter more to us than the social media sandbox chatter ever will. The ability of our Texas Conservative Grassroots Coalition to unite around these principles and values, fight for, and uphold these time-tested standards is our focus. These principles and values are more important than any single political personality. People come and go. Timeless principles and Truth endure when we make those our compass.

Always Joshua 1:9,

JoAnn Fleming
Executive Director
Grassroots America – We the People PAC