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.