By Thomas Warren III, Editor-in-Chief

Josh Winegarner is calling for his opponent to be honest with the voters of Texas’ 13th Congressional District, but voters are still waiting on Winegarner to be honest about his own record.

In a new ad released through Winegarner’s YouTube account on Tuesday, the lobbyist-turned-political candidate blasted former White House physician and retired U.S. Navy rear admiral Ronny Jackson for having “lied to us repeatedly.” Winegarner goes on to briefly describe some of Jackson’s supposed lies, including claims regarding Jackson’s residency, and more. In summary, Winegarner signs off from his ad by saying voters in the area deserve the truth about the candidates running.

“I approve this message because we value honesty, integrity, and the Christian faith, and you deserve the truth,” Winegarner says.

As a local voter in Texas’ 13th Congressional District, I can say I agree with Winegarner that voters do deserve the truth. However, where my agreement diverges from Winegarner’s comments is in regards to my belief that both candidates should be open and honest with the voters about their records. And, to this point, Winegarner has dodged questions on his record at every turn.

Disclosures filed by Winegarner’s employer, the Texas Cattle Feeders Association, show, in 2017, he lobbied to members of the U.S. House of Representatives and the U.S. Senate in opposition of country-of-origin labeling. In fact, to be more specific, the disclosures said the lobbying was aimed “to keep Trump administration from bringing back country-of-origin labeling.”

Once confronted with these filings, which were first published in the Texas Scorecard, Winegarner lied during an interview with KFYO in Lubbock, saying the story was “completely misleading and untrue,” despite documentation. He later released a video made by a supporter attempting to dispute the authenticity of the story, and when he was offered the chance to pen an op-ed in The Pioneer explaining how the story was untrue, he never responded.

When Winegarner was confronted about his record, he was given multiple opportunities by multiple entities to address the issues. He could have even released a press release owning up to his record. However, instead of doing any of that, Winegarner was more concerned about condemning Ronny Jackson for a television ad which was not even authorized or paid for by his campaign.

I guess Winegarner only believes Ronny Jackson should be honest with voters and a need for honesty and transparency by the candidates does not apply to himself.

It is truly shameful that while Winegarner’s employer dumps money into a super PAC to attack his opponent, and while Amarillo Matters and a Waco-based PAC spend money to trash the military career of Jackson and prop up Winegarner, the candidate seems to be more interested in keeping his mouth shut with hopes that his special interest dollars will be enough to buy him a seat in Congress without ever having to answer for his own record.

If Josh Winegarner wants to be taken seriously, he should heed his own advice and come clean to voters about his record. This time, however, he should leave his political spin at home and simply admit the disclosures his employer filed with the federal government are true. It’s right there in black and white. All Winegarner has to do is confirm he lobbied as was disclosed in 2017.

Maybe we will eventually hear some honesty come from the mouth of Josh Winegarner. However, I don’t expect that day will come before Election Day.