Colorado voters “give the middle finger” to Koch Brothers education reforms

[angka]

Source: Colorado Independent

Voters in three school board districts sent a powerful message Tuesday night to conservative billionaire brothers David and Charles Koch, Americans for Prosperity and affiliated organizations: Hands off Colorado’s school boards.

In the Loveland-based Thompson School District and in the state’s largest district, Jefferson County, conservative majorities were tossed out in favor of those supported by teachers, parents and students. In Douglas County, the 7-0 conservative majority shifted to a 4-3 conservative majority.

Americans for Prosperity and other groups, such as the Independence Institute-affiliated Jeffco Kids First and Colorado Independent Action, poured hundreds of thousands of dollars, with difficult-to-track disclosure, into either opposing the Jeffco recall or encouraging county residents in Jefferson and Douglas counties to voice their support for the conservative majority school boards.

The marquee race of the night was in Jefferson County, and the conservative majority of Ken Witt, Julie Williams and John Newkirk conceded their defeat less than an hour after the polls closed.

Read more: http://www.coloradoindependent.com/156049/colorado-voters-give-the-middle-finger-to-koch-brothers-education-reforms

[louis-t]

1. Screw the bastards.

No huge corporation has any business controlling schools, school boards, or curriculum.

[Jack Rabbit]

2. K/R

I'm glad this is up to point out that not all the election news from Tuesday night was bad. This, IMHO, was the best news of all from Tuesday night night.

Normally, a fellow living in the Sacramento Valley isn't going to give a rat's ass about a school board recall in Colorado, but this had national implications as it was also about a cabal of wealthy right wing activists trying to impose right wing revisionist history on America's schoolchildren. They were defeated.

The people of Colorado did this without any help from the DNC. I am not suggesting the DNC should have been involved and I don't think they should have. If anything, this reflects how a broken federal government affects local politics because of the involvement of wealthy racist aristocratic elitists on Park Avenue try to tell people thousands of miles away how to raise their kids by pouring into a school board race unlimited amounts of cash "with difficult-to-track disclosure" thanks to a decision made by a corrupt majority of right wing shysters who just happen to sitting of the United States Supreme Court.

Never mind, for the moment, about the need to replace right wing shysters on SCOTUS with genuine jurists who understand and respect the US Constitution. What we really need is to organize a network of organizations to counter the influence of sinister right wing with too much money telling people in cash-strapped communities across the country how to run their lives.

Next time the Koch brothers want to complain about people from the outside coming into an American community with truckloads of cash and armies of lawyers trying to impose alien values on a local population that's just fine running its own affairs, tell them to look in the mirror.

[gademocrat7]

3. K&R