Photo credit: Complete Colorado

Today, Complete Colorado uncovered the funding behind the Jeffco recall effort and, not surprisingly, the National Education Association (NEA), aka the teachers union, funded most of it. Throughout the campaign, three moms insisted that this was a parent-led effort. Unfortunately, they were big fat liars. From the Complete Colorado report:

“In a United States Department of Labor annual LM-2 report filed Nov. 25^th, the NEA reports a $150,000 donation to Jeffco United on Aug. 27 for the purpose of a “ballot measure campaign.”

In short, the NEA funded at least $150,000 of the $250,000 campaign, or 60% of the campaign so far. That’s hilarious because that’s exactly the opposite of what the recall backers told the Jeffco community. In fact, one of the most strident (read: biggest liars) was Wendy McCord, who lied to 9News anchor Gary Shapiro when she told him that the recall effort was “not about the teachers association”.

Watch McCord perjure herself in the court of public opinion below:

From the video:

Shapiro: Chalkbeat Colorado reports that the teachers union has given a lot of money to your side to try to get these guys recalled. Is it fair to call this a union-backed effort to recall these board members?

McCord: I’m really glad you asked that because it is not at all fair to say that. I’m a mom. I have three kids in Jeffco. The other two who signed the petitions with me, they’re parents. The majority of our volunteers are parents, community members, people who have kids in schools, people who really want to make a difference. This is not about the teachers association (our note: it’s a union, why can’t she say the word union?). This is about our community making a difference.

It must be super embarrassing for her family to watch their mom, wife, etc. lie to an entire community on television. And, the difference that these so-called volunteers made? Jeffco is now talking about incurring additional debt as well as asking for a tax increase to pay for even more debt.

All of this really works out well since teacher union dues are taken out of paychecks, so the more teachers are paid, the more the union profits. Consider the recall an expensive fundraiser for the Jefferson County Education Association and NEA going into a presidential election year. Last year, the NEA spent $41 million on political activities. In 2016, the sky’s the limit.