Why does Konni Burton think that doctors want to murder their patients?

My Fellow Tarrant County Physician:

One candidate who wants to be our next state senator from Tarrant County says physicians want to
murder our patients. This is an outrage! Its character assassination of an entire profession. She must be
stopped, and we have the power to stop her.
In my role as district chair of TEXPAC, I am writing about an election in Tarrant County that is
extremely important to us and our patients. The race is for State Senate District 10. Libby Willis and
Konni Burton are the major candidates. TEXPAC has endorsed Libby Willis, and we must do all we can
to make sure she wins.
After we had already endorsed Libby Willis for many good reasons, Burton confrmed that we
absolutely made the right decision. Heres an exact quote from Burtons recent campaign mailer: As
State Senator, Konni will fght to protect the elderly and disabled patients from doctors who
want to administer life-ending procedures.
Do you know one single doctor who proposes to do such a thing? In my house, we would call that
murder. By this statement alone, Burton proves she is totally out of touch with the reality of medical
care. By this statement alone, Burton proves she is not ft to hold public offce. Our state faces many
diffcult and important challenges. It speaks volumes about Burtons character that she would choose to
fabricate offensive threats such as this that serve no purpose, insult physicians, and cause real harm to
the patient-physician relationship.
Burton also tells people that the Texas Medical Association supports Obamacare. False. TMA was the
largest state medical association in the country that fought passage of the Affordable Care Act.
If Burton will make outrageous, malicious, and totally false statements like this just to get
elected, can you imagine what she would do if she became one of just 31 State Senators in
Austin? She must be stopped, and we have the power to stop her.
A committee of your fellow Tarrant County Medical Society physicians and Alliance members recently
interviewed both Burton and Libby Willis. During Burtons interview, we asked her about alternatives to
Medicaid expansion to provide indigent health care in Texas. She responded by throwing a tantrum.
She actually yelled at us. It was astonishing. At the conclusion of our interviews, the most conservative
person in the committee stood up and said, We cannot allow this person to be elected. We have to
endorse Libby Willis. We unanimously recommended that the TEXPAC Board of Directors
endorse Libby Willis, and the TEXPAC Board unanimously accepted our recommendation.
All of this happened before she called us murderers.
Regardless of your political persuasion, I beseech you to do everything you can to help elect Libby
Willis as the next senator in SD 10. She is a reasonable, mature, and intelligent person who understands
and supports issues important to us as both physicians and citizens of Tarrant County. On the other
hand, Burton has demonstrated repeatedly that she is an enemy of the physicians of Texas, of our
profession, and of our patients.
Allergy, Asthma and Clinical Immunology
FORT WORTH ALLERGY AND ASTHMA ASSOCIATES
5929 Lovell Avenue Fort Worth, Texas 76107
(817) 315-2550 FAX (817) 732-4660
Normand F. Tremblay, M.D., P.A. Robert J. Rogers, M.D., P.A. Susan Rudd Bailey, M.D., P.A.

Diplomates of the American Board of Pediatrics and the American Board of Allergy and Immunology

Dear Friends in the Family of Medicine,
Texas physicians are in dire need of responsible legislators in Austin. On May 27, we in
Tarrant County will have the opportunity to choose a very responsible person, Dr. Mark
Shelton, as the Republican candidate for Senate District 10, which covers most of the
county.
Dr. Shelton is a pediatric infectious disease specialist who has treated children at Cook
Childrens Medical Center for 28 years. He is a champion of childrens health issues, is
totally supportive of childhood immunizations, and is an advocate for high-quality medical
education in our state. He has served as a state representative for District 97 in Tarrant
County, and he understands how to govern. I encourage you to visit his campaign website,
drmarkshelton.com, for more information. The Texas Medical Association PAC (TEXPAC)
has endorsed Dr. Shelton in this campaign.
We always want to help get one of our own elected, but this race has become about much
more than electing a physician to the Texas Senate. It is now about standing up for the
integrity of our profession.
Konni Burton, the opponent, has aligned herself with extremist groups that are attacking
Texas physicians and, in a very real sense, our patients. These groups have convinced
Tea Party legislators to vote against us on bills ranging from improving immunization
practices to stopping the theft of our contracts by regulation of silent PPOs. When calling
on these legislators during TEXPAC lobbying efforts, I have a strong sense of being viewed
as an enemy. In general, their approach to governing is simply to say, No.
I have little doubt that Ms. Burton will follow in the footsteps of these Just Say No
legislators. Endorsements by many of these legislators are listed on her campaign website.
In fact, more than one-third of her recent campaign funding has been provided by just one
extremist group from Austin that is trying to buy this seat out from under the people of
Tarrant County.
This threat is real. I am asking you to get out and vote for Dr. Mark Shelton and take your
spouse, your friends, and your neighbors. Medicine must step up in this race, or the
damage done to medicine in the next legislative session may be irreparable.
The runoff election is Tuesday, May 27. Early voting (which I strongly recommend) is from
Monday, May 19, through Friday, May 23, 7 am-7 pm. If you are registered to vote, you
may vote in the Republican runoff unless you voted in the Democratic primary in March. It is
not necessary to have voted in the primary to vote in the runoff.

Thank you for your time, and please remember to vote for Dr. Mark Shelton!


Robert J. Rogers, MD
Chair, Medical Legislation Committee
Tarrant County Medical Society

Paid for by Texas Medical Association Political Action Committee, 401 W. 15th St., Austin, TX 78701
Allergy, Asthma and Clinical Immunology
FORT WORTH ALLERGY AND ASTHMA ASSOCIATES
5929 Lovell Avenue Fort Worth, Texas 76107
(817) 315-2550 FAX (817) 732-4660
Normand F. Tremblay, M.D., P.A. Robert J. Rogers, M.D., P.A. Susan Rudd Bailey, M.D., P.A.

Diplomates of the American Board of Pediatrics and the American Board of Allergy and Immunology

Dear Friends in the Family of Medicine,
Texas physicians are in dire need of responsible legislators in Austin. On May 27, we in
Tarrant County will have the opportunity to choose a very responsible person, Dr. Mark
Shelton, as the Republican candidate for Senate District 10, which covers most of the
county.
Dr. Shelton is a pediatric infectious disease specialist who has treated children at Cook
Childrens Medical Center for 28 years. He is a champion of childrens health issues, is
totally supportive of childhood immunizations, and is an advocate for high-quality medical
education in our state. He has served as a state representative for District 97 in Tarrant
County, and he understands how to govern. I encourage you to visit his campaign website,
drmarkshelton.com, for more information. The Texas Medical Association PAC (TEXPAC)
has endorsed Dr. Shelton in this campaign.
We always want to help get one of our own elected, but this race has become about much
more than electing a physician to the Texas Senate. It is now about standing up for the
integrity of our profession.
Konni Burton, the opponent, has aligned herself with extremist groups that are attacking
Texas physicians and, in a very real sense, our patients. These groups have convinced
Tea Party legislators to vote against us on bills ranging from improving immunization
practices to stopping the theft of our contracts by regulation of silent PPOs. When calling
on these legislators during TEXPAC lobbying efforts, I have a strong sense of being viewed
as an enemy. In general, their approach to governing is simply to say, No.
I have little doubt that Ms. Burton will follow in the footsteps of these Just Say No
legislators. Endorsements by many of these legislators are listed on her campaign website.
In fact, more than one-third of her recent campaign funding has been provided by just one
extremist group from Austin that is trying to buy this seat out from under the people of
Tarrant County.
This threat is real. I am asking you to get out and vote for Dr. Mark Shelton and take your
spouse, your friends, and your neighbors. Medicine must step up in this race, or the
damage done to medicine in the next legislative session may be irreparable.
The runoff election is Tuesday, May 27. Early voting (which I strongly recommend) is from
Monday, May 19, through Friday, May 23, 7 am-7 pm. If you are registered to vote, you
may vote in the Republican runoff unless you voted in the Democratic primary in March. It is
not necessary to have voted in the primary to vote in the runoff.

Thank you for your time, and please remember to vote for Dr. Mark Shelton!


Robert J. Rogers, MD
Chair, Medical Legislation Committee
Tarrant County Medical Society

Paid for by Texas Medical Association Political Action Committee, 401 W. 15th St., Austin, TX 78701
Paid for by Texas Medical Association Political Action Committee, 401 W. 15th St., Austin, TX 78701
Heres how you can make sure Libby Willis wins this election:
Vote for Libby Willis on Nov. 4. We need to vote, and we need to encourage our family,
friends, colleagues, staff, and patients to vote, too. TEXPAC has prepared cards you can hand out
in your offces. Call (817) 732-2825 to order as many as you want.
Vote EARLY for Libby Willis. If you vote early, you will avoid many of the last-minute get-out-
the-vote calls. You can also vote at any location in the county during early voting. Early voting
runs from Oct. 20 through Oct. 31.
Talk about this race as often as you can. I fnd very few people who are engaged in this
race, and we need to do all we can to raise awareness. Libby Willis is a mature, intelligent, and
responsible person who is prepared to help solve problems in Austin. Burton is not ft to hold
offce.
Give money to Libby Willis campaign. This race is projected to be the most expensive state
senate race in Texas history. TEXPAC is making a substantial donation to Libby Willis. Each of us
here in Tarrant County needs to do the same.
Give again to Libby Willis campaign. Burton is being fnanced by a very small group of very
wealthy Austin insiders. It will take lots of fundraising by the Willis campaign to counter that
advantage.
Help get out the vote for Libby Willis. I have worked in a few campaigns, and I dont
know anyone who truly enjoys block-walking and phone-banking. However, they are crucial
components of winning campaigns. TEXPAC will organize some events here in Tarrant County,
but you can also call the campaign offce staff directly, and they will be happy to fnd a job for
you.
Attend the Libby Willis reception and fundraiser at my house on Oct. 13. This will be a
great opportunity for you to meet Libby, see what kind of a person she is, and learn how strongly
she supports medicine. She will tell you she doesnt think physicians are murderers.
Thank you for reading this note. I apologize for writing so much, but this race cannot be one that you
let others worry about. Physicians and our families must be politically active. Our state and federal
lawmakers have the ability to make our lives, and the lives of our patients, diffcult. It is painfully
obvious that Burton, the one who says were murderers, will be that kind of legislator.
Public offcials can also be extremely helpful. Lets work together to elect Libby Willis, who will
defnitely be one of the helpful ones. We have the power to make that happen.
Regards,
Robert J. Rogers, MD
Paid for by Texas Medical Association Political Action Committee, 401 W. 15th St., Austin, TX 78701