The announcement is very similar to what might work in a gubernatorial or congressional election. One narrator, speaking in a stern tone contrasted against a backdrop of disturbing sound effects, explains why a candidate “doesn’t fight for us. “
The announcer changes to a tone of approval, accompanied by lively and forceful music, while explaining how the candidate “fights for us”.
The crusade announcement, which recently aired on Polk County cable channels, is not about a state or congressional race. The 30-minute ad exploded Polk County School Board member Lisa Miller, who is a momentary term, and promoted her opponent, Jill Sessions.
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Viewers who pay close attention may notice the small print that appears at the bottom of the screen in the last seconds of the ad: “Paid voter communication paid for by parent-educators for academic excellence,” as well as a copy in Tampa.
As voters prepare for Polk County’s only nomination in the Nov. 8 general election, the announcement is further proof of the foreign aid to the county that Sessions has won in his bid to oust Miller.
A Virginia-based political group, the American Principles Project, created a video ahead of August’s number one election that accused Miller and the other incumbents of training “trans ideology” and “critical anti-American racial theory,” amid photographs of a drag. He reigns reading to young people and a crowd burning an American flag.
The ad promoted Sessions and 3 other candidates, two of whom won their August election. Sessions finished at one point in a 3-way race, as Miller failed to achieve the majority he needed for a runoff.
Educators and Parents for Academic Excellence, the policy committee’s latest announcement, is not only founded outside of Polk County, but is funded almost entirely through outside sources. As of Wednesday, only one of its 32 taxpayers had a deal in Polk County: the law firm Lakeland Burnetti, P. A.
Most of CAP’s cash – $170,000 from $271,000 in contributions – comes from 3 policy committees. Citizens Alliance for Florida’s Economy, a Stuart-based PAC, transferred $100,000 to educators and parents on Oct. 18, according to Florida Division of Elections records.
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The president of Citizens Alliance for Florida’s Economy is Anthony Pedicini, a longtime Republican political operative in Florida. Pedicini has served as an advisor to former U. S. Rep. Dennis Ross of Lakeland and former U. S. Representative Tom Rooney of Okeechobee, among others.
Leadership for Florida’s Future, a policy committee in Jensen Beach, Martin County, donated $40,000 to the educator and parent PAC in August. The chairman of this committee is Michael Millner, co-founder of the Political Accounting Group, a major player in Republican politics in Florida.
Another committee, the Florida Federation for Children, in Alexandria, Virginia, donated $30,000 to the Parent-Educator PAC on Oct. 7, according to state records. The president of the Florida Federation for Children is listed as John Kirtley of Tampa, the founder and president of Step Up for Students, a nonprofit that oversees state-funded scholarships such as Florida Tax Credit Scholarship, which allows low-income students and other students to attend personal schools.
Critics call scholarships “good” and say the recipient schools meet the same educational needs as public schools.
Other Educators and Parents for School Excellence participants come with Florida Medical Association, Ajax Paving Industries of Florida, Friends of Tampa General Hospital, Mosaic Global Sales, Teco Energy and Florida Beer Wholesalers. CAP won seven individual donations, adding $500 from Kim McDougal of Tallahassee, a school lobbyist for the law firm GrayRobinson.
The PAC chair of educators and parents is indexed in state records as Donna Ares Kurppe of Thonotosassa. Kurppe is a former Hillsborough County public director, according to previous news reports.
Kurppe responded to a voicemail left Tuesday.
Educators and Parents for School Excellence spent nearly all of its cash ($249,000 out of $263,000 in reported expenses) provided through Strategic Image Management, a Tampa company also known as SIM WINS.
Pedicini, a former adviser to Dennis Ross and others, founded Strategic Image Management in 2009, according to the company’s website. The company’s clients are the Florida Republican Party, former Florida House Speaker and Education Commissioner Richard Corcoran and the Florida Chamber of Commerce. .
The list also includes Polk County Commissioner (and former state representative) Neil Combee, former Polk County Commissioner Todd Dantzler, Winter Haven City Commissioner Brad Dantzler and former Lakeland Mayor Gow Fields.
Strategic Image Management operates out of bankruptcy in Tampa’s Ybor City, with the same address indexed in state records for Wendy White, PAC’s registered agent for educators and parents.
Sessions said Miller benefited from letters sent through an outside political organization before the August election, though he doesn’t know who sent them. Miller said she paid to send letters to a subset of “super voters” before the August election, but she didn’t know of others sent on her behalf.
Miller won in the runoff election of a statewide educators’ union. The defense fund of the Tallahassee-based Florida Education Association sent letters to Polk County in Miller.
The cards feature photographs of Miller with academics and the statement: “Taking care of our youth is not a matter of politics, it’s personal. “
Stephanie Yocum, president of the Polk Education Association, said the local union’s political committee had exhausted its available budget at the elementary school when it supported Miller. He said the PEA had asked the state organization to lend a hand in its political efforts. the general election.
Yocum said some teachers and other school personnel in Polk County voluntarily give a contribution to the PEA’s political fund.
The Florida Education Association Defense Fund has reported more than $2. 1 million in contributions during the existing election cycle, adding approximately $1. 8 million from the FEA itself. Other participants come with the National Education Association, founded in Washington, D. C. , as well as Public Education Advocacy. Fund and Floridans for Tax Fairness, founded in Tallahassee.
The FEA Advocacy Fund also reported 17 donations of $50 each this cycle from individuals, all in the Jacksonville area.
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Aubrey Jewett, a political science professor at the University of Central Florida, said injecting gigantic amounts of cash into school board races is “a recent trend. “
Conservative Republican groups, he said, have pointed to onboard elections as key battles in the “culture wars” over issues such as mask mandates and other COVID-19 precautions, LGBTQ politics and critical racial theory.
Under state policy, neither Polk County Public Schools nor any other Florida district includes in its CRT curriculum, a college-level test on how race intersects with public policy and the law. But critics recommend that schools or individual teachers are introducing elements of it into teaching.
The focus on those contentious issues comes under the umbrella label of “parental rights,” Jewett said. He said the approach helped Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin, a Republican, win the state’s gubernatorial race in 2021.
“It showed many Republicans across the country that this was a winning factor and, since then, school board races in many states have been hotly contested,” Jewett said in an email.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis aggressively championed the “parental rights” movement, first passing the law in this year’s legislative consultation and then passing a list of Florida school board nominees in this year’s election, something no fancy Florida governor had done before.
The candidate DeSantis endorsed in Polk County, Rick Nolte, narrowly ousted the current Sarah Fortney in the August election.
DeSantis also launched an “educational program” and invited school board applicants to sign a pledge that includes elements like “reject closures,” “educate, indoctrinate,” and 3 mentioning “parental rights. “
At the same time, policy committees and so-called black cash teams are more active in supporting conservative school board candidates, Jewett said. Public documents.
“The end result is that those outdoor conservative teams with little or no connection to a local school district are spending a lot of money to tip the election to their favorite candidate in an effort to take over the school board,” Jewett wrote. “Since school board races are generally low-information races with relatively small amounts spent on advertising, injecting giant sums to buy more classified ads can have a large influence on the race. “
Jewett said Democrats and progressive teams have used a strategy in some prosecutorial races. After George Floyd’s killing in 2020, teams subsidized by billionaire George Soros promoted local prosecutor applicants who promised a liberal criminal justice agenda, Jewett said.
Although federal regulations prohibit political teams from coordinating with candidates, state law allows such communication.
, as educators and parents for educational excellence, cannot coordinate with applicants, a point raised through Sessions in reaction to a television commercial.
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“Candidates do not interact with political action committees,” Sessions said in an email. This was his only response, besides pointing to letters sent through the Education Committee on Miller’s behalf.
Miller, who is registered as a non-party voter, lamented the potential influence Polk County’s outside money could have on the race for the school board.
“I think other people are very involved with cash from abroad,” Miller said. “The only PAC cash, and I earned conservative PAC cash, the only PAC cash I’ve ever earned, for which I’ve conducted local interviews. “
Miller cited contributions from the Tallahassee Realtors Political Action Committee, hard working groups such as a Tampa-based electricians’ union and the Tallahassee-based PAC of local homebuilders.
Miller also objected to the content of the TV ad, which he called “ridiculous. “
The ad features footage of Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd adding one of the session states next to him. Miller said he heard from the electorate who saw the ad and assumed Judd backed Sessions, when in fact he endorsed either candidate.
The announcement also cites controversy over attempts to remove some books from Polk County school library shelves. The narrator says, “When Sheriff Grady Judd looked for our children in misplaced reading cloth in our schools, Lisa Miller said no. “
The school district won applications last year to limit student access to 16 titles, some of them pornographic. The list included acclaimed books by Toni Morrison and Khaled Hosseini, as well as titles such as “Two Boys Kissing” and “It’s Perfectly Normal. “
Polk County Public Schools created two committees to review books and, after discussions and meetings, recommended keeping all titles in school libraries. parents would have to give permission before their children can see any of the 16 books in dispute, and Judd has spoken out in favor of this approach.
Superintendent Frederick Heid and the school board discussed this option before deciding on an “opt-out” policy that allows parents to block their children’s access to all library books.
Miller said the ad’s claim that she sought to “take parents” is belied through her long history as a parent advocate before her election and her dealings with local parents.
“I hope classified ads paid for with black money don’t have as much influence as other people expect,” Miller said.
Gary White can be reached at gary. white@theledger. com or 863-802-7518. Follow @garywhite13 on Twitter.