When we read the list of plaintiffs involved in the ACLU lawsuit against Douglas County over their school voucher program, two names stuck out. The first name was Kevin Leung, a failed school board candidate in Douglas County. When he ran as a Republican he was a committed reformist, we're told. Having been defeated, now Leung is Barry Lynn's BFF?

We find this especially odd given the specific education platform he ran on. From his school board campaign web site:

  • Protect our children's right to a quality education
  • Effective guardian of your hard-earned tax dollars
  • Focus on technology improvement
  • Focus on advancing our students' competitiveness in the world
  • Focus on children's best interest; not beholden to any special interests
  • More school choices for parents and students (Peak emphasis)

Being the ACLU's lackey in a lawsuit against an elected body of your peers might violate the promise to "not be beholden to any special interest." Leung aggressively postured himself as an advocate of school choice. Now, having been tossed to the dust bin of history, Leung is crawling out of the trash, placing his bruised ego ahead of what's good for kids.

One way to describe running on reform and then suing the people who actually institute that reform is: sore loser. Perhaps a better one, considering the level to which he took his revenge is: traitor.

The second name that stuck out was James LaRue, and it wasn't so much his name as his title that struck us. From what we hear, LaRue has been tossing around his affiliation with the Douglas County public library system as the director without authorization. Perhaps the ACLU thought having a librarian as the lead plaintiff would pack the kind of punch that Rollie Heath thought having a 4th grade class stand behind him during his tax hike press conference would have. 

Instead, all it does is throw the Douglas County library system into the middle of a highly contentious political issue in Douglas County. We're sure that's not where they want to be, but thanks to LaRue they're now stuck. 

Between a traitor and a public employee misusing his position for politics, this lawsuit has not put its best foot forward. But since it's such a horrendous assault on education reform, the ACLU didn't really have any good feet to put forward. We can't wait to watch it collapse like Rollie's tax hike.

(Photo from Kevin Leung campaign Facebook page)