From my post earlier today (Show me the money - see below), there were several folks named in the LA Times story who didn't seem to have a close connection to California or the now-defunct ballot initiative that would have divided the electoral college votes of that electoral college vote-rich state. (There is a link to the full story in my post below.)
You may recall that with the California effort on the outs, spokespeople indicated the money was going to be re-directed to the Utah voucher campaign. In fact it was this in the original story that first caught my eye:
"Wilcox said the group was planning to donate to other conservative causes around the country, including one in Utah to create school vouchers."
One oddity from that news story that seemed really out of place was the Missouri attorney, Charles Hurth III who appears to be the conduit for the "large donor" who gave to the defunct ballot effort. Hurth lives and works in a small town in Missouri so it puzzles me why he would get involved in such an initiative so far away.
Missouri is, after all, a ballot initiative state much like Utah, so why would Hurth be so interested in an electoral college initiative only in California? Why not Missouri?
And, what else has Hurth been involved in?
Well, heavens be. I did a little research and found Hurth's name attached to the so-called "First Class Education" effort bankrolled by Utah's Patrick Byrne, the mercurial CEO of Overstock.com and funder of the Utah legislators' pro-private school voucher political issues committee (PIC) and major donor to PCE.
You can see some of the ties here and here as reported by San Francisco and national reporters.
Not only was the "First Class Education" effort by Byrne an utter failure, he wasted more than $1 million trying to foist it on states only to find that it cratered in every place where it was brought up -- including Utah and Missouri. You can read all about Byrne's mis-steps and mis-guided education reform package here.
SO, if the California money is to be re-directed to Utah, will that money be Hurth's? Or Byrne's, re-routed through Missouri and California? Or some other shadowy Libertarian who shuns the spotlight?
Byrne admits to being a Libertarian. Or at least he did here when he was in Florida (nice place to be in winter) flacking for his so-called education "reform". And that brings me back to speculating that Libertarians are funding PCE. They certainly were vocal last week in their support for vouchers, even if their logic was a little convoluted.
But until the donor or donors come forward big questions remain: Who is funding PCE? And, why don't they want to tell us?
If it is just Byrne, why doesn't he tell us? If it is Byrne, Hurth, Howie Rich from New York City, and other like-minded Libertarians, why aren't they proud of what they are doing?
Doesn't anyone supporting vouchers have enough conviction in the issue to say he/she/they are willing to put their funds where their convictions are??
Showing posts with label California. Show all posts
Showing posts with label California. Show all posts
Sunday, September 30, 2007
Show me the money
"Wilcox said the group was planning to donate to other conservative causes around the country, including one in Utah to create school vouchers."
That sentence from an article in the Los Angeles Times the other day caught my eye. The article itself was about a California ballot initiative effort that was folding due to lack of interest and financial support. Apparently the issue - to divide that state's electoral college votes by Congressional district - attracted only one large donor.
Of course, in keeping with the same loyalty to secrecy that Utah's Parents for Choice in Education has, the California ballot organizers would not say who the one large donor was. You can read the entire article here.
Secrecy aside, this reference to the movement of pro-voucher money into Utah isn't surprising. We should expect to see money move into the state. But, as I've said before, we know where the money is coming from for the Against Referendum 1 side. It is coming from Utah public school teachers and teachers across the nation.
What is so puzzling is why PCE and the pro-voucher groups are so reluctant to say who is donating to them.
Who contributed the $270,000 that the PCE Foundation and PCE, Inc. "donated" to the PCE political action committee, as reported in this Deseret News article?
It's obvious that PCE will be increasing its spending. They won't have far to go to raise money (I'll explain below). Even PCE spokesperson Leah Barker admitted they would be bringing in out-of-state organizers, and hiring an out-of-state consulting firm.
There is a "call" on this weblog for young people telling them they can earn $6,000 in Utah to work to try and pass the private school voucher law. Additionally, they get money for meals - and their transportation is paid! These out of state PCE "helpers" will expect to get their money, as will the blogger who wrote that he would land in Utah on September 30 (today). Bob Aagard has some information on the out-of-state blogger here.
So if we know that PCE is spending money on organizers, as well as on TV advertising, and we know some shadowy donor will no longer be funding a ballot issue in California but will be sending money to Utah, who is that donor? Or, is it a group of donors?
Hard to say. That is, until PCE comes clean and tells us who is funding their effort.
Of course, there is always an opportunity to speculate on where or who the money is coming from.
Here I found a list of the Top Ten donors to school voucher programs. They include the funders I wrote about before - Tim Draper from California and Dick DeVos from Michgan. Also included on this list is the Walton Family Foundation. (Did you know your Wal-Mart purchases helped fund the pro-voucher movement? I didn't!) Apparently there also are a few other deep-pocketed pro-voucher gurus from states as far from Utah as New Jersey, Wisconsin, and Texas.
Interestingly, these same names of individuals and foundations appear on the list of donors to the so-called "Alliance for School Choice." It's the "Alliance for School Choice" that founded the "All Children Matter" pro-voucher PAC that bases its operations in Virginia (where there are no limits on campaign donations) and Michigan.
And, it's that very same "All Children Matter" PAC that spent so much money on state legislative races in Utah and elsewhere as reported by Brock Vergakis of the Associated Press here.
Or is PCE being funded by rich Libertarians? The 2006 property rights and tax cap issues on the ballot from Maine to Idaho to California and Arizona were funded by one wealthy donor, Howie Rich from New York City. You can learn all about Howie and his causes here where there is a blow-by-blow analysis of Howie's failed efforts last year.
But, another one of Howie Rich from New York City's causes is private school vouchers, as he heads another pro-voucher front group "Parents in Charge" Foundation, or Inc. or LEAD - whichever name he's calling it today.
Howie Rich from New York City has single handedly been funding a private school voucher scheme in South Carolina, as reported by this Daily Kos weblog. (Well, actually, according to that reporter, Howie was trying to buy the whole STATE of South Carolina. Frightening, but true.)
So, is Howie Rich from New York City funding the Utah private voucher school effort? After all, Howie Rich spent from $9 to $11 MILLION on the failed tax cap measures alone.
Since Howie is a rich and devoted Libertarian, it could be him. The Utah Libertarian Party issued a release last week encouraging support for an unaccountable private school voucher program. In it they wrote:
"Allowing parents to use some of the wealth extorted from taxpayers to place their children in voluntarily-attended learning environments will help decentralize the dangerous, gun-run school system..."
"Wealth extorted from taxpayers"? "The dangerous gun-run school system"? I think they are alluding to Utah's system of public schools, but I can't be sure.
Of course, the Libertarian Party is given to extremes. Party members are so committed to supporting the individual over government that they support legalizing drugs and prostitution, and even call for the repeal of laws and amendments that ban gay marriage. Lest you think I jest, you can find the Libertarian Party platform here.
Now, if the good folks at PCE want to run from the tenants of the Libertarian Party, including its devotion to legal drugs, legal prostitution, and gay marriage, then that is fine. Understandable, even.
Just tell us who your donors really are. Inquiring minds want to know.
That sentence from an article in the Los Angeles Times the other day caught my eye. The article itself was about a California ballot initiative effort that was folding due to lack of interest and financial support. Apparently the issue - to divide that state's electoral college votes by Congressional district - attracted only one large donor.
Of course, in keeping with the same loyalty to secrecy that Utah's Parents for Choice in Education has, the California ballot organizers would not say who the one large donor was. You can read the entire article here.
Secrecy aside, this reference to the movement of pro-voucher money into Utah isn't surprising. We should expect to see money move into the state. But, as I've said before, we know where the money is coming from for the Against Referendum 1 side. It is coming from Utah public school teachers and teachers across the nation.
What is so puzzling is why PCE and the pro-voucher groups are so reluctant to say who is donating to them.
Who contributed the $270,000 that the PCE Foundation and PCE, Inc. "donated" to the PCE political action committee, as reported in this Deseret News article?
It's obvious that PCE will be increasing its spending. They won't have far to go to raise money (I'll explain below). Even PCE spokesperson Leah Barker admitted they would be bringing in out-of-state organizers, and hiring an out-of-state consulting firm.
There is a "call" on this weblog for young people telling them they can earn $6,000 in Utah to work to try and pass the private school voucher law. Additionally, they get money for meals - and their transportation is paid! These out of state PCE "helpers" will expect to get their money, as will the blogger who wrote that he would land in Utah on September 30 (today). Bob Aagard has some information on the out-of-state blogger here.
So if we know that PCE is spending money on organizers, as well as on TV advertising, and we know some shadowy donor will no longer be funding a ballot issue in California but will be sending money to Utah, who is that donor? Or, is it a group of donors?
Hard to say. That is, until PCE comes clean and tells us who is funding their effort.
Of course, there is always an opportunity to speculate on where or who the money is coming from.
Here I found a list of the Top Ten donors to school voucher programs. They include the funders I wrote about before - Tim Draper from California and Dick DeVos from Michgan. Also included on this list is the Walton Family Foundation. (Did you know your Wal-Mart purchases helped fund the pro-voucher movement? I didn't!) Apparently there also are a few other deep-pocketed pro-voucher gurus from states as far from Utah as New Jersey, Wisconsin, and Texas.
Interestingly, these same names of individuals and foundations appear on the list of donors to the so-called "Alliance for School Choice." It's the "Alliance for School Choice" that founded the "All Children Matter" pro-voucher PAC that bases its operations in Virginia (where there are no limits on campaign donations) and Michigan.
And, it's that very same "All Children Matter" PAC that spent so much money on state legislative races in Utah and elsewhere as reported by Brock Vergakis of the Associated Press here.
Or is PCE being funded by rich Libertarians? The 2006 property rights and tax cap issues on the ballot from Maine to Idaho to California and Arizona were funded by one wealthy donor, Howie Rich from New York City. You can learn all about Howie and his causes here where there is a blow-by-blow analysis of Howie's failed efforts last year.
But, another one of Howie Rich from New York City's causes is private school vouchers, as he heads another pro-voucher front group "Parents in Charge" Foundation, or Inc. or LEAD - whichever name he's calling it today.
Howie Rich from New York City has single handedly been funding a private school voucher scheme in South Carolina, as reported by this Daily Kos weblog. (Well, actually, according to that reporter, Howie was trying to buy the whole STATE of South Carolina. Frightening, but true.)
So, is Howie Rich from New York City funding the Utah private voucher school effort? After all, Howie Rich spent from $9 to $11 MILLION on the failed tax cap measures alone.
Since Howie is a rich and devoted Libertarian, it could be him. The Utah Libertarian Party issued a release last week encouraging support for an unaccountable private school voucher program. In it they wrote:
"Allowing parents to use some of the wealth extorted from taxpayers to place their children in voluntarily-attended learning environments will help decentralize the dangerous, gun-run school system..."
"Wealth extorted from taxpayers"? "The dangerous gun-run school system"? I think they are alluding to Utah's system of public schools, but I can't be sure.
Of course, the Libertarian Party is given to extremes. Party members are so committed to supporting the individual over government that they support legalizing drugs and prostitution, and even call for the repeal of laws and amendments that ban gay marriage. Lest you think I jest, you can find the Libertarian Party platform here.
Now, if the good folks at PCE want to run from the tenants of the Libertarian Party, including its devotion to legal drugs, legal prostitution, and gay marriage, then that is fine. Understandable, even.
Just tell us who your donors really are. Inquiring minds want to know.
Thursday, September 27, 2007
Teachers with small dollars vs the millionaires
Yes, let's talk about who funds either side of the current education voucher ballot issue in Utah.
The pro-voucher group(s) don't want to talk about who is funding it(them). That's why Parents for Choice in Education (PCE) received the lion's share of its contributions from two artificially-created entities, the PCE "Foundation" and PCE, INC. (a corporation). Two-thirds of PCE's funding - as last reported - came from these two entities.
See, under Utah's laws, neither a foundation nor a corporation has to report its donors. So, ANONYMOUS people (or an ANONYMOUS person) is funding Utah's pro-voucher movement. You can read more about it here.
But while they hide behind a veil of secrecy as to their donors,they attack public school teachers and the teachers' organization for financially supporting the anti-voucher side.
Why attack public school teachers? My Mom? My Mom's friends? Mrs. Rainman, my favorite 6th grade teacher? Why are they being assaulted?
Maybe because the pro-voucher groups don't want you to know who's funding them. It's a big secret. But I know who is funding the anti-voucher side: Mom and her friends.
So, let's look at who has funded the pro-voucher side before.
I looked back at the 2000 elections in California and Michigan. Both of those states had private school vouchers on the ballot. Guess what? It was millionaires who funded the pro-private school voucher side.
In case you want to check it out, check out this news article. In California, Tim Draper put $24 MILLION of his own money into the pro-voucher campaign, and in Michigan it was Dick DeVos, the Amway heir, who put in at least $5 million.
In fact, in Michigan, the PRO-voucher side spent TWICE what the public school supporters spent, as reported here.
So, come on, a few dollars each from teachers in Utah and throughout the country and you want to complain that TEACHERS are spending too much? Among the teaching ranks there aren't a lot of millionaires who can single-handedly fund a campaign.
But I sure am interested to know what millionaire is hiding behind the skirts of the PCE "Foundation" and PCE, Inc.
The pro-voucher group(s) don't want to talk about who is funding it(them). That's why Parents for Choice in Education (PCE) received the lion's share of its contributions from two artificially-created entities, the PCE "Foundation" and PCE, INC. (a corporation). Two-thirds of PCE's funding - as last reported - came from these two entities.
See, under Utah's laws, neither a foundation nor a corporation has to report its donors. So, ANONYMOUS people (or an ANONYMOUS person) is funding Utah's pro-voucher movement. You can read more about it here.
But while they hide behind a veil of secrecy as to their donors,they attack public school teachers and the teachers' organization for financially supporting the anti-voucher side.
Why attack public school teachers? My Mom? My Mom's friends? Mrs. Rainman, my favorite 6th grade teacher? Why are they being assaulted?
Maybe because the pro-voucher groups don't want you to know who's funding them. It's a big secret. But I know who is funding the anti-voucher side: Mom and her friends.
So, let's look at who has funded the pro-voucher side before.
I looked back at the 2000 elections in California and Michigan. Both of those states had private school vouchers on the ballot. Guess what? It was millionaires who funded the pro-private school voucher side.
In case you want to check it out, check out this news article. In California, Tim Draper put $24 MILLION of his own money into the pro-voucher campaign, and in Michigan it was Dick DeVos, the Amway heir, who put in at least $5 million.
In fact, in Michigan, the PRO-voucher side spent TWICE what the public school supporters spent, as reported here.
So, come on, a few dollars each from teachers in Utah and throughout the country and you want to complain that TEACHERS are spending too much? Among the teaching ranks there aren't a lot of millionaires who can single-handedly fund a campaign.
But I sure am interested to know what millionaire is hiding behind the skirts of the PCE "Foundation" and PCE, Inc.
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