In the cesspools of Austin, Texas and Washington, DC, there are snakes who are trying very hard to hide their past failures to uphold the Constitution of Texas and the Constitution of the United States!

The names are easy to state, the lies they spew are a bit harder for most people to see clearly.  Make no mistake, there are many who are lying openly even though their comments are on record for all to see and they cannot erase enough of them to make their campaign statements stand.

One of these people is Mr. Barry Smitherman.  Mr. Smitherman is running for, of all things, Attorney General in the state of Texas!  Mr. Smitherman was the Chair of the Public Utility Commission in Texas when the 79^th Texas Legislature passed House Bill 2129 (HB2129).  HB 2129 was the bill that initiated the “Smart Grid and Advanced Meters”.  In this bill there was a clause that clearly stated that there were to be “Customer-Option Programs”, included in the section that this applied to was “a Transmission and Distribution Utility, a Municipality and an Electric Cooperative”!

 Here is the exact wording in the bill:

SECTION 6.  Chapter 31, Utilities Code, is amended by adding

Section 31.005 to read as follows:

        Sec. 31.005.  CUSTOMER-OPTION PROGRAMS.  (a)  This section

applies to:

               (1)  a municipally owned electric utility;                            

               (2)  an electric cooperative;                                         

               (3)  an electric utility;                                             

               (4)  a power marketer;                                                

               (5)  a retail electric provider; and                                  

               (6)  a transmission and distribution utility.                         

        (b)  An entity to which this section applies shall consider

establishing customer-option programs that encourage the reduction

of air contaminant emissions, such as:

               (1)  an appliance retirement and recycling program;                   

               (2)  a solar water heating market transformation

program;           

               (3)  an air conditioning tune-up program;                             

               (4)  a program that allows the use of on-site energy

storage as an eligible efficiency measure in existing programs;

               (5)  a program that encourages the deployment of

advanced electricity meters;

               (6)  a program that encourages the installation of cool

roofing materials;

               (7)  a program that establishes lighting limits;                      

               (8)  a distributed energy generation technology

program; and         

               (9)  a program that encourages the use of

high-efficiency building distribution transformers and variable

air volume fan controls.

One of his fervent followers, Michael “David Bellow” Jr., is making statements on his blog which distorts Smitherman’s opponents involvement with the advanced meters (smart meters) while trying to dispel Mr. Smitherman’s involvement in ignoring Texans Rights and assisting  the TDUs and all other entities listed in HB 2129 (see above) in breaching the intent of the law. 

The other bill Bellow points to trying to prove his misrepresentations is HB 3693 passed in 2007, however what he fails to notice is that neither legislature (2005 or 2007) created a law mandating deployment of the advanced meters, nor did they create a law that took away the “Customer-Option Programs”.

The portion on HB 3693 he points to is: Section 20(i) of HB 3693 states: “Subject to the restrictions in Subsection (h), it is the intent of the legislature that net metering and advanced meter information networks be deployed as rapidly as possible to allow customers to better manage energy use and control costs, and to facilitate demand response initiatives."

No matter how you look at it, Mr. Smitherman was thrilled to help usurp Texans’ Rights by assisting and then bragging about the Smart Grid and the Smart Meters attached to it.  He was so proud of what he was accomplishing here in Texas that he went to the Obama White House to let them know how wonderful it was along with this wonderful group Pecan Street. 

Oh, and one last bit of fact, Mr. Smitherman now sits on the Railroad Commission, and for those who are not aware of this little fact, the Railroad Commission in TX okayed the rollout of the Natural Gas Smart Meters too…they have and still are being deployed in Texas.  But if we are to believe David Bellow, Mr. Smtherman is not responsible for anything but doing his job.  If his job is to trample Texans’ rights, then he has been doing a great job?

So now tell me, is this really who you want for your next Attorney General?  Clearly he could care less about your rights or your safety.  It seems to me that we must decide on another choice!

Take a peak for yourself:

http://www.texastribune.org/2011/05/19/texas-smart-grid-experts-head-to-the-white-house/

Wondering Who Pecan Street is and who they work with as MEMBER COMPANIES? 

http://www.pecanstreet.org/about/staff-information/

http://www.pecanstreet.org/about/member-companies/

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YM8n6biRHi0     

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hWhhAk_YB14     

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=duXH_3CNY_A     

http://www.rrc.state.tx.us/commissioners/smitherman/

Thelma Taormina is the Founder of We The People Are The 9-12 Association, Inc. 
The Association’s website is http://912membersusa.com