The Last Gasp of the Westlake Smear Cartel

What we lost in court, we reclaimed in public trust.

After more than a year of legal battles, the appellate court has ruled in favor of Westlake Smear Cartel CEO Kim Taylor, reversing the trial court's earlier decisions in our favor. As a result, Ivana and I have decided not to pursue an appeal of Trustee Kelly Marwill’s December ruling and will move to resolve the legal case now and focus on removing her from office when the seat comes up in 2027.

Let me say this clearly: it was all worth it. Every hour. Every dollar. Every sleepless night. We didn’t take on this fight to clear my name about something that never even happened 20 years ago. Because there was nothing to clear. The case that started it all was secretly filed two decades ago by someone with ulterior motives. It was never served to me, never heard by a judge, and I didn’t even know the lies existed until April 2024. The baseless and untrue allegations were thrown out of court and dismissed. But that didn’t stop Marwill's opposition research team led by Kim Taylor from digging it up, altering it, and using it just days before the election to smear me and humiliate my family. 

Ivana and I stood up not just for ourselves and our children, but for every decent person who’s been targeted, humiliated, or silenced by what we now openly call the Westlake Smear Cartel.

Year after year, this group of political misfits has attacked parents and candidates with lies, distortions, and anonymous posts. They’ve hurt good people to prop up their own. They don’t lead. They ambush.

And yes, nearly every current trustee (except for Catherine Walker and John Troy) has either directly benefited from the WSC dirty deeds or conveniently looked the other way. Complicit. That includes Heather Sheffield, who was finally held accountable this past May, losing in a landslide to Catherine Walker, who earned 65% of the vote. That wasn’t just a win. That was a community-wide rejection of the culture of cancel. In its place: a culture of consequences. More are coming. Next year at the ballot box, three incumbent trustees will face their own consequences for poor leadership of our district into its current financial calamity. 

Our attorney Jack Stick warned us from day one that we had maybe a 1 in 3 chance of winning in Travis County court. When it comes to defamation, the law sets an almost impossibly high bar for those of us that become "public figures." It’s not enough to prove someone lied about you. In a defamation case, to get your case escalated to an actual jury trial you have to prove they acted with malice. Knowing the legal and financial risks, Ivana and I went ahead believing in the values we raise our children by—that there is never a wrong time to do the right thing. To us, this legal effort was an investment in the peace and harmony of our community and its future.

Both Kim Taylor and Kelly Marwill lied in their unsworn testimony, playing dumb—pretending they didn’t know what they posted about me could be false. But it didn’t fall from heaven. They searched for it, edited out every truth, and distributed it days before the election.  By legal standards, playing dumb is a valid defense. But in the court of public opinion, we all know better.  Let’s not pretend this was exoneration.

Their defense? Yes, we did it—but it was "free speech." Not right, just legal.

Trustee Marwill outsourced the ugliest parts of her campaign to others, letting Taylor handle the dirty work while she maintained just enough distance to keep her hands "clean." But proximity matters. In legal filings, Marwill admitted she used anonymous, unverified information she "found" on the internet about me—and instead of questioning its validity or using common sense, she blasted it out to voters just days before the election in a professional political drive by.

If a student did what Trustee Marwill did, they’d be expelled. Yet she sits on our school board (until 2027). She’ll no doubt declare victory, spike the football, and maybe even pat herself on the back. That’s her right. But let’s be honest: this wasn’t a win to be proud of. If your campaign strategy requires publicly attacking another family, manipulating 20 year old lies, and winning by 103 votes—what exactly did you win? Certainly not the respect of a community that’s waking up.

But we didn’t fight this for a courtroom win (although it would have been nice). We fought to expose the rot. And we did.

Since our lawsuit, the Westlake Smear Cartel has gone eerily silent. The anonymous accounts disappeared. The slime machine shut down. And the results speak for themselves:

✅ Catherine Walker was elected. 

✅ Heather Sheffield was ousted. 

✅ The RESTORE Act nearly passed in its first legislative session.

Ivana and I want to express our deepest gratitude to the many people who supported us—quietly and loudly. Your encouragement reminded us that this was about more than us. It was about protecting this community. The highest compliment of all? So many of you told us: "Thank you for standing up when I couldn’t."

When I run again for election, you can be 1000% sure that my wife and I will never stand by and watch a parent or candidate (no matter their political beliefs) take this underhanded, despicable shit from the WSC or any group of losers. Our community and children need real leaders with morals, ethics and a constitution of character—not smear cartel lowlifes and liars.

Yes—it was worth it. Every bit. And we’ll do it again if we have to.

All around us we can smell the beginning of the end of cancel culture in America. It’s the beginning of a new standard—a culture of consequence.

To those behind the smears: you’re on notice. We know who you are. So does the community. And to the families and citizens who are tired of it—stand tall.

You’re not alone.

We may not have won in court. 

But we won where it counts. 

In the light.

—

Aaron Silva

Candidate for Truth, Community, and the Future of Eanes ISD