The Denton City Council voted 5-2 on Tuesday to approve a controversial nominee to the Denton Library Board.
Ellen Quinn Sullivan will serve a two-year term on the city’s library board, an advisory group that provides leadership for the library system and its three locations.
“I’m honored to get the chance to serve my community through the library board,” Sullivan said in a text message after the vote. “And I, for one, look forward to getting to know and working with people on the board who might not have the same worldview that I do. That’s how we all learn and grow! It’s time for people to be civil again.”
Over the weekend, a couple of social media posts warned Denton residents that Sullivan might ban books. Her critics couldn’t provide any public comments by the nominee that indicated she would remove materials from the library. Instead, they pointed to her son, Michael Quinn Sullivan, a conservative activist and publisher of Texas Scorecard, a right-leaning publication. He was also a key player in the now-dissolved Empower Texans, an advocacy group that endorsed and funded a number of Republican campaigns across the state.
Other critics said they questioned the nomination because Mayor Gerard Hudspeth, who nominated Ellen Sullivan after she applied for the post, had previously nominated another candidate who has challenged books in Denton ISD.
Sullivan told the Denton Record-Chronicle on Monday that she doesn’t believe in banning books, and wouldn’t be confrontational with her conservative point of view if she won a nomination to the board.
“I’m really very embarrassed that we’re even having to go through this. Because a person who lives a life well-lived shouldn’t have to go through this,” said council member Joe Holland, who said he has sat next to Sullivan at University of North Texas games for more than 10 years. During a work session on Tuesday afternoon, Holland said he has had dinner at the Sullivans’ Denton home and that she and her husband have dined at his home. He described Sullivan as “a lovely person.”
Mayor Pro Tem Paul Meltzer joined Holland in voting for Sullivan, saying he had talked to her and asked her pointed questions.
“We spoke specifically about a hypothetical situation of a gay young person wanting their identity affirmed in books that are in the library,” Meltzer said Tuesday. “We found common ground on that. We found common ground on seeing our libraries as mostly on the right track.”
Council member Jill Jester said she would vote yes, adding that she wouldn’t make assumptions about Sullivan based on the political opinions and activities of her relatives. Hudspeth and council member Brandon Chase McGee also voted in favor of the nomination.
Council members Brian Beck and Vicki Byrd cast the dissenting votes against Sullivan’s nomination. Byrd said the “chatter” around Sullivan gave her pause. Beck said he talked with the nominee and reviewed the materials submitted for the nomination. He told the council he had received feedback from the community about the nomination and wouldn’t support it.
By the beginning of the meeting, four people had left electronic comments on the nomination provided on the council agenda, and all asked the council to vote against it.
LUCINDA BREEDING-GONZALES can be reached at 940-566-6877 and [email protected].
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