Friday, May 3, 2013

Voucher Entitlement Privateers ready to soak up Taxpayer money in the name of educating our kids. Hucksters $2.4 million Advertising Campaign Worked.

Money isn't a corrupting force in politics? So say the conservative activist Supreme Court Justices. Let’s be adults, and admit we know that’s not true, but hey, everything is relative nowadays.

Conservative voter’s should feel like suckers after reading the following in today's paper:
jsonline-Dan Bice: The American Federation for Children, one of the leading advocates for school choice in the country, brags in a recent brochure that it spent more than $325,000 - far more than the group has previously made public - to help elect state Sen. Rick Gudex …  Gudex won his seat by less than 600 votes.
Suckers…
Last week, the freshman lawmaker (said he was) drawing a line in the sand by vowing to oppose a state budget bill if it doesn't include an expansion of the state's school voucher program.

"The American Federation of Children got exactly what they wanted," said Mike McCabe, head of the left-leaning election watchdog group Wisconsin Democracy Campaign. "They want legislators who will go to the mat and make expanding the voucher program the bottom line."
It's that simple. School choice is simply an effort by private groups to dip into the bottomless pockets of taxpayers.

According to the brochure picture above (click to enlarge), these lobbyists spent $2.4 million in Wisconsin electing supporters. Ask yourself why anyone would spend that kind of money if they didn't expect to get a return on their investment.

The leading lobbyists of choice "coincidentally" are former Republican leaders from our state legislature! And they spout silly feel good slogans like my favorite “parents know what’s best.” They may know what their kids like when it comes to the toys they buy and the food they eat, but education? What do they know after 10 or 20 years out of school? They don’t. I didn't.

Voucher "entitlement" lobbyists spent $2.4 million to convince voters…about 600 voters in this case, to give their money away. Money Corrupts:
Just as interesting, McCabe said, is that the school choice organization is saying in its own material that it spent twice as much helping Gudex as it reported to state regulators. McCabe said his group is looking into filing an election complaint. A source familiar with the American Federation's political spending in Wisconsin called such a complaint "frivolous."
Frivolous? Not unless you admit your intentions:
Special-interest groups don't have to report their expenditures on so-called "issue ads" ... (which) educate the public on issues but not advocate the election of particular candidates. McCabe said it's clear that in its brochure is claiming that its issue ads helped elect Gudex and many other candidates. He said he considers that a violation of Wisconsin election laws. "They're saying candidates won, in part, because of our phony issue ads," McCabe said. "This shows what a sham this whole game is."

In a brochure documenting its political successes, the American Federation for Children says it spent nearly $2.4 million helping candidates in Wisconsin in 2012. Former Assembly Speaker Scott Jensen is a point man for the group in Wisconsin.
Remember when a jury found Scott Jensen guilty of 3 felony counts in the state Capitol caucus scandal, and those counts were dismissed by a conservative judge. Anybody still wanna to believe this voucher entitlement crook?  

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