[I plan on following closely the Lost Nation school board election pitting Bob Wiser against Ralph Binny. I wonder what Michael Barone predicts in this one, Wiser has a 2 to 1 lead among registered voters who are private snow plow owners and has a lifetime 93% voting record from the right-leaning Center for School Board Excellence, but Binny has received an endorsement from the local Casey's coffee club. ]
Political group targets school boards
GOPAC's move to aid Republican candidates raises concerns about partisan influence.
By BRIAN SPANNAGELREGISTER STAFF WRITER
August 1, 2005
A national organization known for grooming Republicans for congressional and state legislative offices is pointing its efforts at Iowa's school boards.GOPAC, a Washington, D.C.-based political action committee, will offer training and possibly campaign contributions beginning this month to Iowa school board candidates who are registered Republicans, executive director John Morgan said. Thursday is the last day in Iowa to file school board nomination papers, and elections will be held statewide on Sept. 13.
"We are trying to open this to Republicans, which is an unusual step because school boards are typically nonpartisan," Morgan said.Iowa school board officials expressed concern that Republican-affiliated money and advice would inject political influence into a nonpartisan system. Some fear that could ultimately put political agendas ahead of children's education.School board elections are held annually in Iowa, and candidates run independently of political parties.
GOPAC plans to spend tens of thousands of dollars in the three states - Iowa, Pennsylvania and Colorado - it has targeted for the first phase of its School Board Excellence Project. Morgan said his group wants to make the education system more accountable.The National Federation for Republican Women, a Virginia-based political organization with a mission similar to GOPAC, has formed a partnership with GOPAC for the program.A seminar to teach Republican candidates about campaign basics is scheduled for Aug. 13 in Des Moines, and Morgan said he is looking into Iowa campaign finance laws to determine what financial aid GOPAC can give to candidates in close races. The program should be in full swing nationwide by 2006. Morgan said GOPAC will be recruiting school board candidates by that time.
Lisa Bartusek, a spokeswoman for the Iowa School Board Association, said her group opposes partisan politics entering school board races because "it can change the tenor of the election and how school boards work together.""The nonpartisan structure, we believe, lets school board members work as a team," she said, adding that this is the first time in recent history a partisan group has sought to directly influence school board elections.Officials at the Iowa Democratic Party and Iowa Republican Party said it is interesting for a national group to focus on school board elections. Neither party has spent resources on school board elections, and neither plans to do so.
"People should elect school board members based on the person who will best represent their children and Iowa's schools, not their political parties," said Erin Seidler, press secretary for the Iowa Democratic Party.Iowa has about 2,100 members on 367 school boards. Many incumbents run unopposed, but it's unclear whether that is a sign of community satisfaction or apathy, Bartusek said."It's laughable to think there is no politics in education," Morgan said. He said GOPAC's efforts will raise awareness for school board elections and attract more qualified candidates to run for office.Des Moines school board President Connie Boesen said that in her experience, members' political affiliations stay independent of their board decisions and that GOPAC is setting a bad precedent by meshing the two.
"We don't race for what is right for a party. We race for what is right for kids," she said. "If you are going to subsidize campaigns for certain viewpoints, then you have to be careful of them."Boesen, who doesn't support either party influencing school board races, said candidates have plenty of resources available to them without the help of a national organization, including guidance from former board members.Charlie Smithson, executive director of the Iowa Ethics and Campaign Finance Disclosure Board, said that while it is uncommon for partisan groups to get involved in nonpartisan races, it is not prohibited as long as they follow the state's disclosure laws.
"I think it is a relatively new phenomenon, but I think it is going to happen more often," he said.