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When Democrats funded campaign ads to boost far-right fringe candidates in next week’s Republican primary it must have seemed like a very clever idea. After all, the underhanded ploy worked 12 years ago when Democrats and union allies purchased ads promoting nutty political newcomer Dan Maes over primary opponent U.S. Rep. Scott McInnis in the race for governor. Unfortunately, the scheme wasn’t discovered until after Maes won the primary. As Democrats anticipated, Maes bombed in the general and their candidate won.
But it’s not going to work this time. The scales have fallen from our eyes. The cat is out of the bag. The beans have been spilled. The jig is up. And now Democrats just look shady and a little desperate.
When it comes to deviousness, it’s important not to get caught and if caught, to change up the plan next time around. Or they could just spend the money devising effective policies for their candidates for combatting rising inflation, vagrancy, and crime. Nah.
Speaking of ineffective intrigue, the once successful teacher union playbook for removing reform-minded school board members is showing diminishing returns. The disrupt-protest-litigate-recall ploy worked in 2015 in Jefferson County. Reform members were swept from office. The same tactic was tried earlier this year against the Douglas County School Board. Some teachers and students took a day off to ski, I mean protest, before the controversy died down.
In Woodland Park, they didn’t get that far. After a decade without real school board elections, during which exiting board members appointed their successors, four education reform members took the majority in 2021. The district has experienced declining enrollment for decades as parents sought other options for their kids.
Reform candidates opposed mask mandates, and supported school choice, higher teacher pay, and greater transparency. Of the five-member school board, only one incumbent remained after the election. That’s what’s called a mandate.
Reform candidates with similar campaign platforms won majorities in several Colorado Springs districts, Greeley, Douglas County, and Mesa County, and took seats in Adams 12 and Brighton.
Following the union playbook that worked so well in Jeffco, the Woodland Park Education Association looked into launching a recall only a month after the new board was elected.
Erin O’Connell spouse of Laura O’Connell, a district teacher and union officer, sued the board for being insufficiently specific about an agenda item and for meeting illegally outside of the public. A Teller County district judge ordered the board to be clearer in future meeting agendas but rejected the second allegation.
The union organized a protest at one meeting with the usual heckling, signs, vigorous hand waving, and matching shirts. The disgruntled have since dwindled to half a dozen at meetings, however, and the jazz hands have gone still. Less than half of the district’s teachers and staff are union members. Maintaining any level of angst has been a struggle.
The union made relentless Colorado Open Records Act (CORA) requests for the Woodland Park School District ostensibly to ferret out infractions. Turnabout is fair play and a community member began CORAing the cabal. Because union personnel had used the district’s server, the requests could not be denied. From these requests, the Woodland Park community learned about the extent of WPEA collaboration with neighboring Pikes Peak Education Association and the Colorado Education Association to disrupt the school board.
Board Vice President Dave Illingworth told me he was initially surprised by the vicious opposition from the union, “We now understand that the effort to create turmoil is part of their playbook.” Despite the union’s shenanigans, the board has accomplished its goals to increase teacher pay, approve the district’s first charter school, eliminate the mask mandate, and enhance parental involvement.
While it’s possible the recall effort could succeed, it’s not looking good; the union has a small window of time to get a lot of signatures. All that energy and money spent by the union and it appears all they will have to show for it is the matching shirts. Truly, the jig is up.
Krista L. Kafer is a weekly Denver Post columnist. Follow her on Twitter: @kristakafer.
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