Rep. Ray Garofalo
State Representative Ray Garofalo says he’s out as House Education Chairman. The Legislative Black Caucus asked for Garofalo’s removal after he said there was good with slavery to go along with the bad and ugly. La-Politics-dot-com publisher Jeremy Alford says House Speaker Clay Schexnayder did not give any indication this move would occur.
“The Black Caucus decided to withhold its support of the leadership’s tax package and that seems to be what kind of got the gears moving on this.”
Alford says there was pressure to make a move with Garofalo as House Education Chair because the Black Caucus threatened not to support the Republicans’ tax reform plans. But he says now that Garofalo is out, they still might not support it.
“The vote on the decriminalization I think was just indicative of how the attitudes are changing and I think it was indicative of the groundwork laid by the decriminalization question.”
Garofalo made his controversial comment about slavery on April 26th. Alford says since then racial tensions have been high when that committee meets and Garofalo has tried to keep a low profile…
“Trying to serve as a quasi chair during this period, he would come in and out of rooms, he would leave when conversations turned to racial topics and then would try to come back in.”
No word on who will replace Garofalo as House Education Chairman.
Here is Garofalo’s statement. Schexnayder says he has no comment at this time.
BATON ROUGE, May 17 – After meeting with House Speaker Clay Schexnayder on Monday and being asked by the Speaker to step down as Chairman of the House Committee on Education for the remainder of this session, State Representative Ray Garofalo of Meraux, Louisiana refused and informed the Speaker he believes that his bill (HB 564) is more important to the students and families in Louisiana than the tax reform bills that the Speaker is pushing as part of his agenda. Upon hearing this the Speaker removed Garofalo as the committee chair.
Garofalo’s bill would prohibit divisive concepts from being taught in Louisiana schools which are part of what is commonly referred to as “Critical Race Theory” which promotes a pro-racist perspective on historical education basing everything on the color of one’s skin.
“It is the Speaker’s prerogative to choose who he wants to chair a committee” says Garofalo. “I have no problem with his exercising his authority, but I will not sacrifice my principles in doing what I know is right. My legislation is about protecting our children, not erasing or rewriting history as Critical Race Theory seeks to do.”
Garofalo also wants to clarify incorrect information that has been circulating. It has been reported the Black Democratic Caucus in the House wanted Garofalo removed as Education Chairman supposedly due to some comment he made about the historical perspective of slavery. The fact is that members of the Black Caucus have told me they wanted me removed because of my bill (HB 564) and it had nothing to do with my comment” says Garofalo.
Garofalo says he’s heard the various theories behind why the Speaker sacrificed him over the Black Caucus – mostly surrounding getting the Black Caucus support for tax reform legislation the Speaker is pushing. Garofalo adds “I understand the importance of the tax reform bill the Speaking is trying to push, but all I can tell you is I’m trying to do the right thing when it comes to our children.
Critical Race Theory is a cancer they are trying to inject into the bloodstream of school districts all over our nation. It poisons the education system by creating division based on race, going against everything we’ve worked for over the past 60 years to create equality among Americans.”
Garofalo says what might best describe this entire situation, which has intentionally been blown out of proportion to mislead the public, can be best understood in the letter he is sending to his fellow members of the Louisiana House of Representatives:
Members: It has been nearly three weeks since I presented HB 564 in committee. Since that presentation, I have been the subject of much speculation and my chairmanship has been questioned daily. As a chairman, you must have the support of leadership to accomplish your duties and responsibilities, and the barrage of speculation and failure of leadership to support my position significantly reduced my ability to carry out those responsibilities. Now, after three long weeks, the Speaker has removed me as chairman of Education. I want to be clear; I did NOT voluntarily step down as chairman.
Each time that I have met with the Speaker regarding this issue, I requested a plan of action regarding the situation. Consistently, I was not given a plan. Nevertheless, I have followed the Speaker’s instructions hoping that he had a plan toward resolution of the issue, but unfortunately the daily questions persisted. Finally, today he asked me to “step aside” for the remainder of this session and I refused, resulting my removal.
Let me be crystal clear… I didn’t do anything incorrect, immoral, or offensive. I filed a bill that would ban critical race theory – a cancer that is dividing our nation based on skin color. I used a term that is commonly used to describe the “totality” of any group of information to describe what should be taught about slavery. Clearly I was referring to teaching “everything” and I was NOT taking a position regarding any aspect of slavery.
My ability to function successfully as a legislator was being held hostage by a group of legislators who threatened to withhold votes on tax reform legislation. While the tax reform bills are important, they are no more important than the fight to ensure a discrimination-free
environment for Louisiana students.
At least now I’m able to get back to work fighting for our students and teachers – and believe me, there is still a lot of fight left in me.
Statement Regarding HB 564
I believe that it is important for me to issue a statement regarding the events surrounding my testimony, and the objective of, HB 564.
I am disappointed that the opponents of this bill would respond to and embrace unfounded accusations against anyone without first investigating the facts surrounding said accusations. Attacking my personal character shows their efforts at a misinformation campaign for the sole purpose of distracting from the primary focus and point of the bill – to provide a discrimination free learning environment that provides equal opportunity for all students, regardless of race or background and to prevent our education system from being used to promote a political agenda within our schools. Almost daily we are starting to see in the news how this has become a major problem in school districts across our nation, including Louisiana – and it is spreading.
I understand that politics can be a battle, but I truly believe that we are all working to improve our state for every resident, and that we as a body can and should rationally discuss the issues and work together (maybe not always agreeing) toward a common goal.
I am being accused of thoughts and motivation that most of you know are NOT true. Even for those who I have not worked with for a significant length of time, the video from the presentation is clear evidence of the false accusations and smears.
Even more disturbing to me is that I always strive to help all members with any issue they are pursuing, even if it is not related to my committee or an issue I agree with. I would have hoped that every member was reasonable enough to watch the presentation in question and, even with the most critical view, realize that the phrase that I used, good-bad-ugly, was clearly and unequivocally used to demonstrate that everything or anything about a given issue should be included in a presentation or discussion, and that I was not referring to, or advocating, any position on that particular issue.
When you watch the video, you see that I used the same phrase other times to describe the types of facts that may, and should, be taught according to the bill (as is clearly evident in the discussion and video) which supports that I used the phrase specifically for that reason… To generically describe the “types” of facts that could, and should, be taught to Louisiana students – not to take a position on whether any of the facts have merit.
Regarding the merits of the bill, it would provide a learning environment for everyone associated with our education system that is free of discrimination. An equal opportunity environment that doesn’t pick winners and losers based on the color of their skin, sex or background. Is that not what we want for our children?
According to the direct language of the bill, it would NOT prevent discussion of any history or issues, and in fact supports and encourages discussion among students.
I sincerely hope that the mischaracterization of my thoughts, intent, goals, and character is due to a lack of research, and that anyone who has questions will ultimately perform further research to
discover the truth. Let me assure you, this entire event has only strengthened me and made me more determined to fight for the truth.
As I always offer, if you would like to discuss this further, please contact me at any time.
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