More on right wing school privatization organizations supporting Democratic candidates

by David Safier

AzBlueMeanie and others reported on the support for Democratic LD3 candidate Maria Garcia by the American Federation for Children (AFC), an ALEC-connected pro-privatization, pro-voucher group. This tactic of using right wing "education reform" money to push a Democrat sympathetic to their cause in a Democratic district is a nationwide phenomenon.

Take Wisconsin. The AFC pushed five Democratic legislative candidates in five heavily Democratic district primaries. One was the incumbent Milwaukee legislator, Jason Fields, who sponsored a voucher bill for special education students (The "bi-partisan" bill was defeated but will probably appear again next legislative session). The AFC spent $15,000 to $30,000 per candidate.

The good news is, all five AFC-supported candidates lost their primaries, including the incumbent Jason Fields. But expect this tactic to be a regular part of our political landscape. Spending tens of thousands of dollars on legislative races amounts to little more than a rounding error for these heavily funded groups (AFC is bankrolled by Betsy DeVos, whose husband founded Amway), but it can be a significant chunk of change in small-money races.