Alabama Republican Party State Executive Committee approves rule change banning AEA, NEA contributions for certain candidates
On Saturday, the Alabama Republican Party State Executive Committee voted to pass a rule change barring candidates for State Board of Education, county school superintendent, and county board of education from accepting donations from either the National Education Association (NEA) or its Alabama affiliate, the Alabama Education Association (AEA). The rule change, which does not retroactively apply to past election cycles, will apply to the 2024 elections. The rule change was sponsored by Alabama Republican Party Chairman John Wahl. “One of my goals with this Standing Rule Amendment is making sure our school board and superintendent candidates are not dependent on any special interest group,” said Wahl. “With that in mind, I have already committed that the Party will step in and replace any funding lost should it become necessary. The Alabama Republican Party is in an extremely strong position financially, and we will have our candidate’s backs.” Since Wahl was the author of the proposed bylaws change, he handed over his Chairman’s gavel to Alabama Republican Party Vice Chair Joan Reynolds for this debate while leading efforts on the floor to pass his bylaws change. The Wahl amendment was weakened somewhat in an agreed-on change when the words “and coordinate with” were removed. This effectively means that the candidate could still coordinate with AEA efforts to smear their opponent on an issue such as a school tax increase that both support. The original wording would have made both activities grounds for removal from the ballot. Hale County Commissioner Don Wallace offered an amendment to the rule change that would have also applied to candidates for the Alabama Legislature. State Representative Ron Bolton (R-Northport) objected to Wallace’s amendment and asked that it be tabled. State Auditor Andrew Sorrell said there would be time to consider extending this to other offices in future meetings, but with the 2024 election cycle beginning this fall, this was a time sensitive matter. Sorrell is the Bylaws Committee Chairman for the Alabama Republican Party and the State Auditor. Wallace replied that the State Legislature just passed the largest school budget in state history and voted down school choice legislation, and were likely to consider an even bigger $10 billion education budget next year. Wahl said Governor Kay Ivey has pledged that the state will pass one of the strongest school choice laws in the nation next session. The members of the executive voted to take consideration of the Wallace amendment. They also voted to table a second amendment which would have applied to all Republican candidates – no matter what the office. Jefferson County Republican Party Chairman Chris Brown made the argument that while he advises all of his clients and candidates never to take AEA dollars, the GOP has disqualified candidates from the ballot for several different reasons, and by putting this in the bylaws, it could make those efforts to disqualify future candidates more difficult. He then introduced a resolution to table the Wahl bylaws change. In what appeared to be a stunning rebuke of Chairman Wahl, the Executive Committee voted to table the proposed bylaws change. The State Executive Committee then moved on and passed a number of other bylaws changes – including making the bylaws and rules committees permanent committees and establishing that the state executive committee will pick the delegates to the Republican National Convention. After the other bylaws changes had passed, Sorrell said that in respect for all of the hard work that Chairman Wahl put into his AEA bylaws change, he asked the Committee to reconsider its earlier vote. The Committee then voted to pass the bylaws change. “The Party is strongly committed to protecting our children from indoctrination in the classroom by left-wing groups like the NEA and its affiliated organizations,” Wahl explained. “Parents should decide what their children learn about divisive concepts, not education unions that have lost touch with the values of the American people. Transgender ideology and other woke policies have no place in our schools, period. So many of our parents and local teachers want to see change in our education system, but how can we expect our superintendents and school board members to stand up against teaching these woke concepts if they are afraid of the money and financial power coming from liberal unions responsible for pushing this type of curriculum? It’s a blatant conflict of interest and something that needs to be addressed. Our elected school representatives must be responsible to Alabama parents, not special interest groups. This will stop this conflict of interest and is no different than the state’s prohibition on members of the Alabama Public Service Commission accepting donations from the utilities they regulate. The bottom line is it’s time to get woke agendas out of our curriculum and out of our classrooms.” This rule change only applies to Republicans. The AEA may still donate to candidates for school board, superintendent, or State Board of Education, but candidates who accept AEA contributions will have to run as Democrats or as independents. Republican state legislators, as well as statewide and county officeholders (outside of the school boards and school superintendents), may still take AEA and NEA contributions. The roughly 475 members Alabama Republican State Executive Committee is the largest state committee in the country. All 67 counties are represented on the state executive committee. It meets at least twice a year, holding meetings in both the summer and the winter. All 67 counties have a county Republican Party where members of that county party elect a chairman. The 67 county chairmen all are members of the state executive committee. There are members of the state executive committee elected by the Republican primary voters of each county. Additionally, the state party awards counties bonus members based on its GOP election performance. The bonus member spots are then filled by the members of the county parties (in most cases, the county party executive committee). To connect with the author of this story or to comment, email brandonmreporter@gmail.com.
When it comes to school bullying, Alabama fails the test
In the next seven minutes, a child in the U.S. will be bullied. Meanwhile, only 11 percent of the child’s peers will stop and intervene. Worse, only four in 100 adults might do the same. Most do nothing. According to the National Education Association, more than 160,000 children miss school every day out of fear of being bullied, which is why — as back-to-school season is upon us — personal finance website WalletHub conducted an in-depth analysis of 2016’s States with the Biggest Bullying Problems. Turns out, Alabama is among the Top 10 states with the worst bullying problems, having the eighth-worst bullying ranking in America. Bullying prevalence and prevention in Alabama (1=Biggest, 23=Avg.): 7th: percentage of high school students involved in physical fight at school 10th: percentage of high school students who missed school out of fear of being bullied 5th: percentage of high school students who attempted suicide 24th: Cost of truancy for schools due to bullying 22nd: Student-to-counselor ratio 10th: State anti-bullying laws and policies 2nd: State anti-cyberbullying laws requiring school policy In order to identify the states with the biggest bullying problems, WalletHub’s analysts compared 45 states and the District of Columbia across three key dimensions: 1) bullying prevalence, 2) bullying impact and treatment and 3) anti-bullying laws, across 17 key metrics, ranging from “bullying-incident rate” to “truancy costs for schools” to “percentage of high school students bullied online.” Here’s a look at how the rest of the country compares to Alabama: Source: WalletHub
Hillary Clinton has more cash; Donald Trump forgives loans
Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton and her party entered July with nearly $11 million more on hand than her Republican counterpart’s operations, a strong showing of fundraising as both campaigns dive into the general election. Republican nominee Donald Trump also zeroed-out more than $47 million in personal loans he’s made to his own campaign since last year. Trump and the Republican Party, which officially selected Trump as its White House contender Tuesday, had $41 million cash on hand compared with Clinton and the Democrats’ $52 million. New campaign finance reports released Wednesday reveal the state of the 2016 money race as candidates and their supportive groups turn their attention to the November election. Fundraising has historically been a key metric in a campaign’s financial health, with funds paying campaign staffers and pricey TV ads. Despite being outraised by Clinton, Trump had more appeal among small donors. He raised more than $12.1 million from contributors giving $200 or less, since making his first-ever appeal for online contributions on June 21. That small-donor harvest was about double Clinton’s, despite Trump’s late start. Trump’s haul comes after a disappointing May report, during which the billionaire’s campaign finished with only $1.3 million to spend. With Trump and Clinton now becoming the official nominees, they’ll be able to make use not only of their campaign funds but also much of the money raised by their respective parties. On the GOP side, the Republican Party made up about half — or roughly $21 million — of the available cash on hand. For the Democrats, Clinton’s own fundraising accounted for most of the money left in the bank at the beginning of July. She had $44 million to spend. Clinton is expected to be formally nominated next week at the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia. As with the 2012 election, “super” political action committees are adding to the financial might of both candidates. Outside political groups backing Clinton reported a money advantage over similar committees behind Trump. Priorities USA, the main super PAC helping Clinton, had more than $40 million in the bank at the beginning of July after spending nearly $24 million last month, the bulk on advertising targeted at swing-state voters. It received $1 million each from the National Education Association teachers union and Working for Working Americans, the super PAC of the United Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners. On the GOP side, the National Rifle Association’s political fund, which has been airing ads backing Trump and opposing Clinton, reported $13 million cash on hand at the beginning of July after raising $1.3 million last month. The NRA group also gave $60,000 to the Republican Party last month, including $45,000 for its convention in Cleveland this week. Rebuilding America Now, a super PAC supporting Trump, raised about $2.2 million in June, nearly all of which came from real estate developer Geoffrey H. Palmer. The majority of that money, about $1.4 million, went toward television ads attacking Clinton. Great America PAC, another group airing ads supporting Trump, brought in about $2.6 million in total. Make America Number 1 reported about $1.1 million in cash on hand at the beginning of this month, but it took in only $97.86 in revenue — a $25 donation and $72.86 in bank interest. The group was formerly a super PAC backing Texas GOP Sen. Ted Cruz‘s presidential bid, and also benefited from nearly $14 million in contributions from hedge fund billionaire Robert Mercer. Conservative-leaning American Crossroads received its biggest single donation last month, $1 million, from a trust linked to Joseph Craft of Tulsa, Oklahoma. Craft is the president and chief executive of Alliance Resource Management GP LLC, which oversees coal production. Democratic donor Tom Steyer, a former hedge-fund manager and climate-change activist, poured $7 million into the coffers of the Clinton-aligned NextGen Climate Action Committee. So far this election cycle, Steyer has given $18 million to the group. NextGen separately reported more than $9.4 million left to spend. Super PACs like Priorities USA and American Crossroads benefit from the 2010 U.S. Supreme Court decision in the Citizens United case. The decision allowed corporations and unions to contribute in unlimited ways to political races, so long as that money comes through super PACs that are not directly coordinated with the candidates. ___ Keep track on how much Clinton and Trump are spending on television advertising, and where they’re spending it, via AP’s interactive ad tracker. https://elections.ap.org/content/ad-spending ___ Republished with permission of the Associated Press.
Former Alabama officials accusing feds of education “takeover”
A group of former leaders within the Alabama Education Association, the state’s largest classroom teachers’ union group, penned a letter this month accusing its national counterpart, the National Education Association, with overstepping its authority after being brought in to clean up AEA’s financial affairs earlier this year. The AEA not-so-subtly hinted at legal action against the national group for reaching beyond its proper role as consultants and making moves moves that “encroach upon the powers of the AEA Board or Delegate Assembly.” The NEA stepped in after the state group’s expenditures outpaced its income last year, creating a deficit of about $8.5 million according to state tax records. The accounting problems, however, did not call for a more thoroughgoing personnel sweep of the kind NEA was proposing, read a July 2 signed by several AEA past presidents and board members. “Don’t force us to fight an organization we love, respect and support,” the missive said. “This is an ‘internal family issue,’ but the House is severely Divided. We all know that a House Divided cannot stand. It is going to take many years to repair the damage already done.” “If anyone thinks that an out-of-state stranger can do a better job for the AEA than its members, elected officers, constitutional administrative officers and the Board of Directors, he or she is sadly mistaken,” the letter continued. “The Trustee has no authority to hire, fire, promote or demote, restructure the AEA staff or encroach upon the powers of the AEA Board or Delegate Assembly.” The letter was dismissed, however, but the woman who currently sits atop the state education association, AEA president Sheila Hocutt Remington, called the letter “inaccurate” in a statement that accused past members of “clinging” to the ways of yesteryear. “AEA is successful because it has been a member-driven association for more than 150 years,” her prepared statement said. “While some people will always be uncomfortable with change and will cling to vestiges of the past, AEA and its membership is focused on what matters most – preparing students for a new school year that will begin throughout Alabama next week.” In an interview with the Montgomery Advertiser, former AEA Associate Executive Secretary Joe Reed, who signed the letter blasting the NEA, said there is nothing wrong with today’s AEA that cannot be fixed internally. “There’s nothing wrong with the structure,” Reed said. “There might have been errors made in some quarters, but the NEA audit picked that up and straightened that out, and kept it going.”
