Can John Sharp protect his maroon empire?

[TexasTowelie]

A few months into the COVID-19 pandemic, John Sharp received a call from someone identifying himself as Ben Carson, then the U.S. secretary of housing and urban development. The caller said he wanted the Texas A&M System chancellor to help set up a trial testing whether a compound from the oleander plant could help combat the new virus.

Sharp didn’t buy it. He figured it was a prank call from Rick Perry, the former Texas governor and then U.S. secretary of energy who was Sharp’s college dormmate and friend before becoming a political rival.

“I said, ‘Yea, Perry. You’re full of shit,’” Sharp recounted in an interview with The Texas Tribune as he drove his black pickup truck on a warm day around College Station last year.

But it wasn’t a prank call. Carson was on the other end of the line. Sharp quickly realized his mistake.

Read more: https://www.texastribune.org/2023/10/02/john-sharp-tamu-chancellor/

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Full disclosure: I never liked John Sharp and he didn't represent my interests while I was a state employee and regional officer in the Texas Public Employee Association. When Sharp ran for governor I left the ballot blank and did not vote for any of the candidates. It doesn't come as a surprise that he has built up his own power base. His previous association with Gov. Perry is also a mark on Sharp's record. The sooner that John Sharp leaves his position of power as chancellor of Texas A&M, the better.

[czarjak]

1. John Sharp checks all the wrong boxes every time all the time.

Rich. White. Texan. Aggie. Republican. Politician. Pigs at the trough love being put in charge of the trough. Ask W or Greg. Oh, and, academia. Plenty of tax-payers’ dollars there too.

[TexasTowelie]

3. I saw the results of his work when I was a state employee and he was comptroller.

Sharp is the only Democrat that I didn't support in a statewide election and he was not a viable choice to take up the Democratic mantle after Ann Richards lost the governor's race in 1994. Sharp has always been a DINO to me.

[czarjak]

11. Old school Texas Democrats got ran out of town on a rail.

[viva la]

2. Oleander is extremely toxic.

"This plant is extremely toxic, and a single leaf may kill an adult."

So of course Ben Carson decides it can prevent/cure? covid?

[TexasTowelie]

4. When I was young, we had an oleander bush next to our house by the front porch.

I was 6 years old and can remember my mother telling me that the plant was poisonous. Between the oleander bush and the bougainvillea bush that would flatten the football, it was a tough time in our front yard as a kid. I'm able to go online to see the house and front yard since the new owners converted part of the house into a beauty shop, both bushes are now gone, but at least they kept some of the other trees that we planted while I was a kid. It was the oldest house in town (built 1914), but a bit neglected.

[viva la]

5. It's a pretty blossom...

I'm amazed it's still planted ornamentally. It could kill pets too, I assume.

It must be fun to look at the old house! I have to go check to see how much the house I grew up in is worth now that the area has gentrified.

[TexasTowelie]

6. My parents owned that house from 1971 to 1998.

However, there wasn't any reason to remain there after my father retired in 1985. It's 25 miles away from the nearest hospital and it doesn't rain very much in that part of south Texas so my mother could never grow the flower gardens that she hoped for. While my father had a garden and raised many different vegetables, as far as flowers were concerned it was pretty much limited to zinnias and snapdragons. They moved to Brenham and she kept busy in the garden until a few weeks before she passed away in October 2000.

[Bernardo de La Paz]

7. How does "maroon" figure into it? (Sorry, haven't read the article) . . nt

[TexasTowelie]

8. The school colors for Texas A&M University are maroon and white. nt

[Bernardo de La Paz]

9. Takes a Texan to know, but then this is the Texas group. Thanks!

[TexasTowelie]

10. Considering that I live four miles north of the campus now, I better know the colors.

Then I also see the Texas A&M logo everywhere. It has smaller font sizes of A and M on either side of a larger T. However, the joke at rival University of Texas is to draw an "E" on either side of the "A" and "M" so that the vandalized logo says "EAT ME" instead.

I always favored Texas over A&M in the rivalries even though I have two Aggie brother-in-laws (one deceased). I went to college in Georgetown which only 25 miles north of Austin and was even offered a scholarship at Texas, but chose Southwestern instead and lived in Austin for 13 yeas after graduation. Looking back I question the decision to attend Southwestern at times, because if I went to Texas I would have either become a chemical engineer or I would have washed out and been a drug addict. I have an addictive personality and the ease of finding drugs and the "wrong crowd" around the UT campus during the 1980s was astonishing. Making the transition away from living with my parents was easier at Southwestern because of the religious affiliation, small enrollment (1,000 students), and small town life (9,000) so maintaining a good reputation was important.