If you are a Republican in Douglas County and you haven’t voted yet, chances are you may have received a text yesterday asking whether the GOP-endorsed Elevate Slate, Randy Mills, Grant Nelson, Ryan Abresch, and Debora Scheffel, was really pro-school choice. The text, then, sent two links, one to an article that Marianne Goodland wrote about the candidates’ positions on vouchers, and another for a website called DouglasSwampSlate.com.
Douglas Swamp Slate appears to be a take on Donald Trump’s “Drain the Swamp” catchphrase from the 2016 presidential election. There’s just one problem. The American Federation of Teachers is the primary donor to Douglas Schools for Douglas Kids, the independent expenditure committee that supports the CommUnity slate. AFT actually endorsed Hillary Clinton, not President Trump, in 2016. It’s so great that the AFT is so concerned about all those Trump voters out there. That’s sarcasm.
Additionally, the AFT is the last group that should question anyone’s allegiance to school choice. This summer, there was a major dust-up as AFT President Randi Weingarten told teachers at an AFT conference that, “This use of privatization, coupled with disinvestment, are only slightly more polite cousins of segregation.”
Them’s some fighting words in the school choice community, which prides itself on serving the most vulnerable populations.
Between the lies and hypocrisy spread by the union-backed IEC and its deliberate targeting of Republican voters, this is obviously meant to suppress Republican turnout on the second-to-last and last day of the election. Republicans, consider yourself warned. Do not let union hijinks discourage you from voting this year.