Don’t Be Fooled – Tea Party Enthusiasts on Republican Ballot
The Tea Party wing of the Republican Party, which brought us the recent government shutdown, has a plan to groom and run extreme, zealously conservative candidates in local races. It’s a strategy in play in Tredyffrin, and we need your help to stop it!
On the November 5 ballot both Republican school board candidates from Tredyffrin are Tea Party devotees: Pete Connors is running in Region 1 against our Kevin Buraks, incumbent and current school board President. In Region 2, Republican Rich Brake is is running for re-election, challenged by our Scott Dorsey. Both Republican candidates are being marketed to voters as mainstream individuals, but their political footprints tell an entirely different story.
Public Federal Election Commission records show Pete Connors made significant financial contributions to a string of Tea Party favorites–Michele Bachmann, Rick Santorum, Marco Rubio, Allen West, and Herman Cain. As “selfies” on his Facebook page, he posted photos of himself with Congresswoman Bachmann at a Glenn Beck rally, and he Facebook “likes” Senator Ted Cruz, the shutdown leader.
More relevant to Pete’s fitness to serve as a school director are his views on a number of issues, including his support for school vouchers and other public policies that drain funding from public schools, his disdain for unions and teachers, and his rejection of established science.
A recent letter to the editor details how Pete’s views are aligned with the climate change deniers. Pete holds strongly anti-union views as well. At the League of Women Voters School Board Forum on October 19, Pete said he was not “anti-union;” he just thought unions were “irrelevant because if you have good management, unions aren’t necessary.”
Mr. Connors’ wife, Doren, is an active member of Valley Forge Patriots and a Republican committeeperson in Precinct E-5. Her quote in a Main Line Suburban news article about attending Tea Party rallies with her husband and daughter suggests support for the Tea Party is a family affair.
Tea Partier Rich Brake currently represents Region 2 on the School Board. He snuck in under the radar in 2009 and is running for re-election this year. Brake is a public member of various Tea Party organizations and a frequent writer and speaker in Tea Party circles. On Tredyffrin’s “Community Matters” blog, Pattye Benson wrote a comprehensive article on Brake’s Tea Party associations.
Here is Rich Brake’s member page from the Valley Forge Patriots-Tea Party Conservatives site, and here is Brake reaching out to the Chester County Patriots to offer a “helping hand of partnership.”
Nationally, the Republican Tea Party movement has hatched “birthers,” climate change deniers, and other extremists with fanciful reasoning. The Tea Party views of these local Republican candidates should concern us because they can negatively impact educational policy in our school district. We do not need a Texas-type school board here.
There are many solid reasons for voting for Kevin Buraks and Scott Dorsey for the Tredyffrin/Easttown school board. Included among them should be keeping our school district in the hands of moderates. Without hidden agendas, Kevin and Scott are simply focused on keeping the quality of education great, while managing in a fiscally-responsible way.
See For Yourself
Earlier this month, the League of Women Voters hosted back-to-back debates with both the school board and township supervisor candidates. As a reminder, both debates were recorded and are available for on-demand viewing through Tredyffrin public access television. This link gets you directly to the School Board Debate, and this to the Board of Supervisor Debate.
Likewise, the debate was covered by reports in the Main Line Suburban Life newspaper. The direct link to the School Board story is here, and the Supervisor debate is reported here. In addition, here is a balanced article in the Daily Local paper.
WE NEED YOU TO COME OUT AND VOTE! Visit our “Ballots & Locations” page to find out where you vote and what offices you’ll be voting for next Tuesday, November 5th. Remember, when Democrats vote, Democrats win!
