National proponents of school vouchers are determined to make their mark in Georgia this year. How do I know? They are playing with big dollars, in our primary.
Torrey O. Johnson, Graham Balch, Shawn James, Kenneth Samuel, David Wilkerson, Rep. Tom Weldon, Josh Clark and Sen. John Wiles- all are candidates for the Georgia legislature, and all benefit from independent expenditures for direct mail funded by an organization called, “American Federation for Children Action Fund-Georgia Independent,” an entity registered as an independent committee with the Georgia State Ethics Committee. So far, the group reports spending $27,910.24 on Johnson, Balch, James and Samuel and $10, 517.84 on Wilkerson, Weldon, Wiles and Clark. But, based on the amount of national money being funneled through this committee, look for that total to increase.
Johnson, Balch, Samuel and Wilkerson are all Democrats challenging incumbent Democrats. (Don’t you love when that happens?) Shawn James is a Democrat running for an open seat in HD75 against Kristy Dubuisson and Yasmin Neal. Rep. Tom Weldon and Sen. John Wiles are incumbent Republicans who face challengers in the primary, and Josh Clark is a Republican with primary opposition for an open seat in HD98.
Because I knew you’d ask, this independent committee registered with the State Ethics Commission in mid-May, and since then has received two contributions of $40K each and one contribution of $23K, all from The American Federation for Children Action Fund, a pro-voucher group based in Washington, D.C.
Groups that make independent expenditures are not allowed to coordinate with the candidates their efforts benefit, but you can be sure of this: they chose to support candidates they believe will support the mission of the organization. In fact, the group’s website invites contributions to several entities, including their PAC if you like to “support school choice candidates.” If you still have any doubt about their agenda, check out the interactive map. So, either these candidates support school vouchers, or AFC needs a new research director.
By the way, in addition to my personal opposition to vouchers, I believe that this cycle, when we are furloughing teachers, vouchers as a concept are political Kryptonite in Georgia. So, let me invite the Democrats who have been blessed with the mail to stand up and tell us their position on school vouchers.*
Georgia leadership includes Cobb School Board member, David Morgan as a “Government Affairs Associate” and Jamie Self as a “Government Affairs Advisor.”
(I should acknowledge that I must have some sort of illness that causes me to sit inside on a Friday afternoon and do this kind of research. Before you judge, you have it, too because you are reading this.)
*Graham Balch phoned to say that he is opposed to vouchers and that the American Federation for Children knows that he is opposed to vouchers. He says that he does support merit pay and that his position on education reform is exactly the same as President Obama’s. I told him he could send me a statement, and I would add it to the post, but he was at an event, so this will have to do for now.
Leave a Reply