McLeroy Nomination To Chair State Board Of Education Is Dead

The Senate won’t be holding a vote on Texas Governor Rick Perry’s nomination of Dr. Don McLeroy as Chair of the State Board of Education. In fact, McLeroy won’t even get a vote in the Nominations Committee.

State Sen. Mike Jackson (R-La Porte), who chairs the Nominations Committee today, told the Statesman McLeroy had such opposition in the Senate that he wouldn’t waste the committee’s time voting out a nomination that was destined for doom in the full chamber:

There are too many other important issues to take up on the floor to waste time on a doomed confirmation, Jackson said.
After a contentious confirmation hearing last week, Jackson said he would take the temperature of his colleagues before determining whether to give McLeroy a committee vote.

Following this news, Speculation is that Governor Perry will appoint former State Rep. Ken Mercer (R-San Antonio) to chair the panel. Mercer was elected to the State Board of Education in 2008 after being defeated in a contested state legislative race in 2004 and again in the same district in 2006.