They're Baaaaaack - Slitherin on A$troturf

American Majority Training
City of Burlington
Public (IRONICALLY!) Works Building

Some folks never cease to amaze. Last year, the We Vote Burlington Tea Party supported candidates for School board, Julie Koldeway and Norma Miller, not only refused to participate in a debate so the citizenry could hear their positions, when they also refused to be interviewed by the Standard Press, they were offered an opportunity to respond in writing to written questions, they again refused. One wonders who trained them both to use the tactic of obfuscation. Well this year We Vote has decided to sponsor a debate (March 11, 7pm – BHS auditorium) , wow, just wow.

When I first wrote about American Majority and the WeVoBees, I ended with "These are the national people that are behind the local people that are after your local schools and your money. And you can bet they'll be back!" Well . . .

After the last school board election I did a little research which raises some questions about the current We Vote supported candidates and those of the past two elections that the citizens of Burlington should be aware of. I found a big-money national group called American Majority that seeks to help Tea Party candidates take control of your local school board and its budget as documented here: http://americanmajority.org/majority-2/its-time-for-new-leaders-in-our-education-system/

This is an excerpt from the American Majority Website about the 2012 board election: “One of the groups that joined the New Leaders Project is We Vote Burlington. Activists in a local group led by Bonnie Ketterhagen attended an American Majority training and decided to bring some change to their own school board. They recruited two new candidates for the school board elections, trained them using American Majority’s campaign resources, and helped them to victory in the spring of 2012.”  END They are referring of course to Phil Ketterhagen and Roger Koldeway.

I also found a post on their website about the board election last spring: http://americanmajority.org/blog-2/it-begins-here-24-conservative-victories-in-wisconsin/

EXCERPT: Something big happened in Wisconsin yesterday. Twenty four American Majority-trained conservative candidates advanced out of their primaries to the general election in April. That makes more than 250 candidates trained by our American Majority Wisconsin staff since opening our Mequon office in October 2010. Advancers in Tuesday’s election include 10 school board candidates . . ." END

Julie Koldeway and Norma Miller were among those trained candidates, as documented here by American Majority’s Wisconsin Executive Director, Matt Batzel: http://www.rightwisconsin.com/perspectives/199773521.html

Recently, I've be aware that American Majority has been holding training sessions across our corner of the Badgered State and I found the following entry about this year’s election on their website: http://americanmajority.org/blog-2/all-66-american-majority-trained-new-leaders-advance-to-april/

Excerpt: “Mequon,WI- Over the last several months, American Majority Wisconsin staff has been training new local leaders across the state who then decided to take the challenge and run for office. After yesterday’s primary election, all 66 of these American Majority trained leaders have advanced to the general election on April 1.

American Majority works to build a farm team of new leaders at all levels of government. Our trained new leaders in the Spring 2014 election include representatives at all levels of local governmental offices.  The farm team builds from the most local level of government where citizens often feel the most impact.  These leaders are also the folks who will hopefully take the next step to run for higher office down the road, creating a pipeline of conservative public service.”

So, an important question for the candidates; Have any of you received training from outside groups and was such training confined to campaign tactics, or did it include politically ideological doctrine as well?

An even more important question for the citizens of the Burlington Area School District; Do you want your local community’s schools to be used as a practice squad to raise up a “farm team” of extremist politicians marching to advance a hidden political agenda that is national in scope, plutocratic in nature and fundamentally anti-public education?

I don’t, we need reasonable, independent minds running our local schools!

Forewarned is forearmed. American Majority and their sibling astroturf Tea Party organs like American Legislative Exchange Council, Freedom Works, Americans for Plutocracy and Sam Adams Alliance, among others have a national agenda to undermine public education and replace it with private, for-profit schools. This has long been the goal of would be plutocrats like the Koch Brothers, The DeVos' (Amway) and the Walton's (Walmart). What do you think of the prospect of your tax dollars being used to convert your local schools into vulture school profit centers for far-removed corporations and your children and grandchildren into their perpetual revenue streams?

And if you think citizens will save tax money under this system, you've got another thing coming. The privateers will take the money now used to support our local educational infrastructure and spirit that wealth right out of our community and our state and off to Arkansas, Wall Street and the Cayman Islands! For more information on American Majority and who's behind it please go here: http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/American_Majority