$390K - What Does It Look Like to Buy Julie Olthoff In The 11th Hour?

$390,000...That is all it took to earn buy Julie Olthoff's vote for the next 2 years. Just like any other situation where one purchases an object, the purchaser needs to know exactly what they are getting. This is what Bosma, Behning, and the well-monied House Republican Campaign Committee (HRCC) PAC lobbyists will get from Olthoff...

More destruction of PUBLIC Education - Olthoff has consistently aligned her vote with the school privatization lobby and why would she change over the next two years with so much money coming her way to guarantee she will vote the party line instead of what is best for her constituents. Christel DeHaan (think Christel Charters), Hoosiers For Quality Education(think religious zealots bent on publicly funding private religious education), and a PAC that passes money through for the Koch Bros - that is who is buying Olthoff. Get the picture?

She expanded charter school funding and opened the door for more charter schools to set up shop in Indiana on the taxpayers dime. She established policy that expanded the voucher system which siphons money right off the top of public education. She established policy that disregarded the will of the voters and marginalized the role of the Superintendent of Public Instruction, Glenda Ritz, by removing her constitutional authority to preside over the SBOE  - and she did this without even putting the issue to public question.

Well, the proof is in the pudding folks, and tonight we are serving pudding for dessert. 

Here is the campaign contribution report showing how Olthoff received $390,000 from the House Republican Campaign Committee in the 11th hour, literally just days before election day.

Here is a link to the campaign finance report showing where the House Republican Campaign Committee received their $$$$. I would attach an image, but it is over 110 pages long, so yeah...

http://campaignfinance.in.gov/PublicSite/SearchPages/FilingAmendmentSelect.aspx?FilingID=59939

Take a look at these records and follow the $$$ back to the original source, and you too will see how the school privatization lobby has created a wicked web of deception by purchasing politicians for play during assembly, then filtering the money multiple times to cover their tracks.

$340K - What Does It Look Like to Buy Ed Soliday In The 11th Hour?

$340,000...That is all it took to earn buy Ed Soliday's vote for the next 2 years. Just like any other situation where one purchases an object, the purchaser needs to know exactly what they are getting. This is what Bosma, Behning, and the well-monied House Republican Campaign Committee (HRCC) PAC lobbyists will get from Soliday...

More destruction of PUBLIC Education - Soliday has consistently aligned his vote with the school privatization lobby and why would he change over the next two years with so much money coming his way to guarantee he will vote the party line instead of what is best for his constituents. Christel DeHaan (think Christel Charters), Hoosiers For Quality Education(think religious zealots bent on publicly funding private religious education), and a PAC that passes money through for the Koch Bros - that is who is buying Soliday. Get the picture?

He established policy that allows more charter authorizers, and more charter schools to set up shop in Indiana on the taxpayers dime. He established policy that created the voucher system which siphons money right off the top of public education. He established policy that disregarded the will of the voters and marginalized the role of the Superintendent of Public Instruction, Glenda Ritz, by removing her constitutional authority to preside over the SBOE  - and he did this without even putting the issue to public question.

Well, the proof is in the pudding folks, and tonight we are serving pudding for dessert. 

Here is the campaign contribution report showing how Soliday received $340,000 from the House Republican Campaign Committee in the 11th hour, literally just days before election day.

Here is a link to the campaign finance report showing where the House Republican Campaign Committee received their $$$$. I would attach an image, but it is over 110 pages long, so yeah...

http://campaignfinance.in.gov/PublicSite/SearchPages/FilingAmendmentSelect.aspx?FilingID=59939

Take a look at these records and follow the $$$ back to the original source, and you too will see how the school privatization lobby has created a wicked web of deception by purchasing politicians for play during assembly, then filtering the money multiple times to cover their tracks.

Indiana Legislators That Voted To Rob Public Schools

Here are images of the final roll call votes from the Indiana State House and the Indiana State Senate for HB 1003 that passed in 2011 and HB 1005 that passed in 2016.

HB 1003 (2011) established the voucher system that siphons funding from public schools and sends it to private - mostly religious - schools. HB 1005 (2016) siphoned even more money from public schools and expanded the voucher program to become the largest in the country.

Should taxpayer dollars be going to support private religious institutions? I am certain that this is not what was meant in the 1st amendment where it mentions "separation of church and state". Before 2011, Indiana had never used public dollars to pay for private schools. 

FED UP YET?

HB 1003 (2011) Representatives Roll Call

HB 1003 (2011) Senate Roll Call

HB 1005 (2016) Representatives Roll Call

HB 1005 (2016)  Senate Roll Call

Time To March, Ritz Army!

Time To March, Ritz Army - Complacency Is Not An Option

According to the WISH-TV/Ball State Hoosier Survey, Glenda Ritz has a seven point lead over her Republican challenger for Superintendent of Public Instruction.  The poll has Ritz with a 45% to 38% lead.  The poll does not indicate a "margin of error", so this lead may be a bit deceiving.  

This election is an important election statewide, for our children and our PUBLIC schools.  Their are races up and down the ballot that we must all pay attention to locally and statewide, as well as nationally.  We cannot let our guard down for one second and relax, thinking our PUBLIC school supportive candidates are safe from defeat.  Hoosier Voices founder Philip D. Arnold sums it up pretty clearly in a statement about this recent poll.  

Mr. Arnold says, "Ritz Army, we cannot be complacent. Polls don't matter much. VOTES matter. November 8, we must March once again to show Pence and his ponies that we have just begun to fight to take back our PUBLIC schools. Spread the word about the positive strides Glenda Ritz has made in her four years in spite of the GOP partisan politics and attempts to strip our 1.3Million votes. Make you Voices heard once again and vote to re-elect Ritz, give her a Democratic Governor in John Gregg, a pro-public education legislature by electing those supportive of our PUBLIC schools, and vote out those who have passed legislation destructive to public school goals."

After the election of Glenda Ritz in 2012, it became more evident that there were certain players out to "destroy" our traditional public schools in favor of the privatization lobby across the state.  These "Partisan Hacks" have made it a mission to spend their money electing POLITICIANS like Mike Pence, Tony Bennett, Eric Holcomb, and Jennifer McCormick to further advance their goals of shutting down our public schools in favor of the corporate run charter/private school industry to pad their wallets.  You need look no further than their campaign finance reports to see the heavy hitting players in this political game of chess to take tax dollars earmarked for our public schools to fund their corporate buddies in the charter/private school world.  Look for example at Fred Klipsch's Hoosiers for Quality Education and the money they are putting into funding the campaigns of Jennifer McCormick, Speaker of the House Brian Bosma, Senate Presendent Pro Tempore David Long, and others who are determined to do their bidding to wipe out public education as we know it in favor of the charter/private school elite.

We must actively participate to help candidates like John Gregg and Glenda Ritz win the "top of the state ballot" races, while electing local candidates in Senate and House races to take the politicians out of the game and out of our public schools.  We need to support candidates like Speaker Bosma's challenger, Dana Black, and Senator Long's challenger, Juli Dominguez, and a wave of other public education supportive candidates to take away the GOP stronghold on this state and return common sense education policy back to our teachers and public education friendly legislators.  Click the link below to see other PUBLIC school supportive candidates across the state who need our support.

Indiana's PUBLIC Education Friendly Candidates

It is imperative that we make our voices heard once again.  1.3 Million voters put Glenda Ritz in office in 2012 to stop the flawed Mitch Daniels/Tony Bennet reform practices.  Those same voters, forgot that Mike Pence (like the current GOP Gubernatorial candidate) was just another reform puppet to the corporate privatization regime.  We must remember this November that, in order to stop the push of flawed and failed reforms and sloppy destructive legislation, we must give Superintendent Ritz a Governor in John Gregg and legislators who will work WITH her and FOR our public school children and teachers.  This election is so important to the progress of our schools, the mental well being of our over tested children, and the retention of our excellent public school teachers.

Put these 1.3 Million votes to use as a strong voice to the partisan politicians who want to hoist themselves up on the backs of our children and tell them "ENOUGH IS ENOUGH".  Glenda Ritz came into the race in 2012 as a teacher, an educational leader with the knowledge and desire to help our children.  Her challenger claims the same; however, looking at her campaign contributors and her wavering stance on the Superintendent's position she appears like more of a politician ready to pounce to advance herself above being a local school superintendent into a career ready political hack like the rest of her pack.  It's time once again for the Ritz Army to march.  March into your polling place, make your voice heard and make your vote count.  It's time, Ritz Army, to stand up for what you want to do and GO DO IT!

While Indiana partisan hacks play politics, Glenda has developed a plan. Logic and Leadership are Hoosier values that Glenda brings to Indiana and to the Superintendent's office.

Thank you Superintendent Ritz for all you do to ELIMINATE ISTEP!

In Glenda's first 4 years as SPI, she has bridged the aisle between Republicans and Democrats to do what is right for Hoosier students. Let us not forget - she is JUST GETTING STARTED!

You know what they say about women that get things done?! Glenda has faced partisan political opposition head on and still gets things done for Hoosier students. We know there is a better way to measure school accountability than this bogus A-F grading system that is tied to the broken ISTEP test, and at the same time we see how Glenda has done her job in spite of these challenges handed to her.

For 4 years, Glenda has been making it happen with Career & Technical Education in Indiana and she has created positive change for ALL students by ensuring an education system of high quality that provides equity for academic achievement. "The more students can connect their everyday learning to meaningful, real world applications, the more likely they are to value higher levels of learning and persist toward their goals.” - SPI Glenda Ritz. We couldn't agree with you more Glenda and we see the value in all you have done to change CTE for the better in Indiana.  

The time is NOW to share the results of Glenda's leadership with others and re-elect her for another 4 years as Superintendent of PUBLIC Instruction.

CLICK HERE TO VISIT RITZ4ED

WELL, WELL, WEDNESDAY - Who is Dr. Jennifer McCormick, Really?

Over the past several months Hoosier Voices correspondents have researched across the state to find out just who Dr. Jennifer McCormick really is.  We have found interesting comparisons between Tony Bennett and Dr. McCormick.  We shared a series of "He Said-She Said" memes produced by a group called Hoosiers Against Jennifer McCormick showcasing some of the similarities between the two.  The Latest of these memes just came out after McCormick stated her belief that the Superintendent of Public Instruction should be an appointed, not an elected position.

Click here to see the entire series of memes.

Guest blogger, Ben Yoder, wrote a post for us and included a letter he had penned a letter to Dr. McCormick.  We published his post back in June.  In his letter Mr. Yoder found he had many questions about her policies, her interaction with kids, and the buddies she was "rubbing elbows" with.  He concluded with one complimentary observation.  He told her, " I like those boots you wear with most of your outfits.  Classy, yet sassy. Bravo"

Click here to read the post Jennifer McCormick - Faux In Boots

Near the end of September, Jennifer McCormick finally released her education plan, which left some of us confused.  Is she just naive enough to think that after hundreds of thousands of dollars of school reform PAC contributions, her campaign donors will just change their ideological agenda, or is she just that downright deceptive to think she can lie to our faces and have us believe it?

After attempting to decipher the goals and intentions of her plan We posted a blog outlining some questions about the plan and discussed the struggles we had with the manner and location of its original "public" presentation - the headquarters of Hoosiers for Quality Education.  This drew concerns for many reasons.  We grew more concerned with her acceptance of campaign contributions from the "privatization", "school choice", and voucher expansion crowd who strongly supported Tony Bennett through his tenure 2008-2012 and his losing campaign in 2012.  These same contributors have poured large sums of money into campaigns of candidates across the state who are known to have legislative power and pull, who support the very goals of "privatization", "school choice", and voucher expansion.  This lead us to once again draw comparisons between the former Superintendent, Tony Bennett, and his protege, Jennifer McCormick.

Click to read "The McCormick Plan? - or is it  Bennett Plan 2.0

The sources of her campaign contributions brought us back to one of our posts from February 2015 where we asked, WHO ARE THESE "Hoosiers for Quality Education"?  From there we combed through campaign finance reports and found more interesting correlations.  We discovered that candidates from June 2015 to October 2016 who were receiving the majority of H4QE donations were definitely way below the money they were pouring into the McCormick campaign.  McCormick has received $60,000 from the Hoosiers for Quality Education Pack alone ($20,000 more since our most recent post went live yesterday). Their next highest recipients were Speaker of the House, Brian Bosma and Pete Miller who each received $17,500

Click here to view 3rd quarter finance report.

Looking through campaign finance reports from other former Bennett donors we were able to find that, in the past several months, McCormick won another large amount from Christel DeHaan, founder of the network of Christel House charter schools.  DeHaan, whose Christel House Academy was the school whose grade changing fiasco brought Tony Bennett down from his post in Florida, has given the McCormick campaign $125,000 others contributors with Tony Bennett ties include...

Fred Klipsch - CEO/Chairman/Founder Hoosiers for Quality Education $10,000

Betsy Wiley - Head of the Indiana Institute for Quality Education - $1,250

Kevin Brinegar - President of the Indiana Chamber of Commerce - $750

Robert Enlow - CEO of EdChoice - $1,000

Tosha Salyers - Former Bennett Staffer now at H4QE - $50.00

Dr. Jennifer McCormick wants to "distance herself" from comparisons to Tony Bennett by saying, "I am not Tony Bennett, I stand on my own proven leadership".  It's pretty interesting that Betsy Wiley said, "It's important for Jennifer to make it clear...that she is her own person."

So, while McCormick tries to portray herself as "her own person" and convince PUBLIC school supporters that she is not a "clone" of Tony Bennett, doing the math and watching her supporters one must question what they all expect to get from her if she defeats Glenda Ritz.  Jennifer McCormick can rub elbows with Brian Bosma, wear her "sassy" boots, and call Glenda Ritz a "politician", but she cannot distance herself far enough away from the Tony Bennett reformers to comfort us here at Hoosier Voices.  She came out swinging in the Superintendent's debate, but her punches fell short to those of us who truly believe in our traditional PUBLIC schools, their teachers, the students they serve, and our ELECTED Superintendent of PUBLIC Instruction.  We need a leader like Glenda Ritz who will stand up to the legislators, fight for our children, and move obstacles to accomplish PUBLIC education goals for Hoosier children.  The position IS STILL ELECTED.  1.3Million voters put Glenda Ritz in office and have watched as a Governor and GOP controlled legislature attempted to stifle her at every move.  We have been watching and waiting for four years to re-elect Glenda Ritz and give her a Governor and Legislature that will work WITH her to stop the destructive reform policies and money draining vouchers that have plagued our schools too long.  Sorry, Jennifer, but you are much closer to being a Tony Bennett clone than being anywhere near the fighter for public school children that SUPERINTENDENT Ritz has been and WILL CONTINUE to be.

TUESDAY TATTLER : WHO ARE THESE "Hoosiers for Quality Education"? PART 2

Who are "Hoosiers for Quality Education"?  Hoosier Voices originally asked this question in February 2015 when we noticed them using "Hoosier Voices" as a section on their website.

They are NOT Hoosier Voices for PUBLIC Education and they most definitely are NOT true supporters of Indiana's children of traditional public education.  We all know too much about their Senior Advisor and Consultant, Tony Bennett.  One can only wonder what he is advising them to do.  However, we can assume that he is very much in support of all the legislative maneuvers to continue the destruction he left behind and the attacks on Superintendent Ritz.  Tony Bennett spent years attacking Indiana's teachers and putting undue pressures on Hoosier students.  He set out to destroy our PUBLIC schools in favor of privatization and the padding of the wallets of the rich cronies of the GOP.  For example, the CEO/Chairman and Founder of Hoosiers for Quality Education (and the Institute for Quality Education), Fred Klipsch.  Let's look at the campaign contributions of Mr. Klipsch and his PAC to see the control H4QE has over the writing and passage of legislative detrimental to Indiana's PUBLIC schools and their hopes to elect a Bennet puppett, Dr. Jennifer McCormick, to replace Glenda Ritz as Superintendent of PUBLIC Instruction.

Below you will find the current campaign finance reports for contributions from the Hoosiers For Quality Education PAC.  Here you will see some very familiar names (names of legislators who have lead attacks against PUBLIC education and Glenda Ritz).  Take a close look, compare this report of contributions to the lists of Roll Call votes on damaging legislation and make the correlation we have made.  H4QE supports charters, vouchers, privatization, and their wealthy stakeholders.  They do not support Hoosier Voices or the very PUBLIC school children we all seek to protect and serve.

Contributions from Hoosiers for Quality Education to Indiana Candidates from June, 2015 to October 15, 2016

Click here to go to the actual campaign finance report

When you do the breakdown of their contributions you can get an idea of their motives.  You can also get a good glimpse of which candidates they are certain will do their bidding if elected.  They hit heavy on contributions to Speaker of the House Brian Bosma, Senate President Pro Tempore David Long, Education committee chairs Behning and Kruse, Chair of House Ways and Means Committee Tim Brown, along with others favorable to their privatization agenda. As you can see they have also poured heftily into the McCormick campaign to unseat Glenda Ritz. Dr. McCormick tries very hard to convince educators, PUBLIC education advocates, and PUBLIC school families that she is not a clone of Tony Bennett and his ideals.  However, when you look at her supporters you can see pretty clearly who is lining her campaign coffers to get her to follow their plans. Take a look at the totals for the "BIG WINNERS" of the H4QE Campaign contribution race and see just where they plan to get their mission accomplished.

McCormick for State Superintendent - $40,000
Brian Bosma - $17,500
Pete Miller - $17,500
David Long - $15,000
Senate Majority Campaign Committee - $15,000
House Republican Campaign Committee - $12,500
Indiana Republican State Committee - $10,000
Eric Holcomb (for Governor) - $10,000
Blake Doriot - $6,500
Tim Brown - $2,000
Bob Behning - $2,000
Dennis Kruse - $1,500

Interesting amounts and recipients, don't you think?



As we pointed out in our original post through a quote from (Public School supporter, now Democratic Candidate for State Senate District 13) Justin Kuhnle,


"Hoosiers for Quality Education was formally known as a 501(c) group, Hoosiers for Economic Growth, who as of 2013, has contributed over $2.3 million dollars in 7 years to 99.4% of Republican candidates.  In that time frame, one lobbyist of interest emerges -- Lindsey Brown.  While your group claims in one point to have only spent $274k in the 2014 election, what's troubling, that according to filing, expenditures totaled $338k.  What's equally troubling that according to the filings with the Secretary of State's page in Indiana, your group is past due in it's Business Entity Reports.  Now, according to some filings, your chairman is Fred Klipsch, who entertains interesting ties to certain groups (Koch Bros. to name one specific.) Wait, isn't he also Pence's treasurer?  One particular agenda item of this group is "projects that explore how the principles of free enterprise and classical liberalism promote a more peaceful and prosperous society" and are issued for education grants.  What's lost on these groups, is free market, as an economic idea, is lost due to risk mitigation to be used at the expense of the taxpayers, with a potential ultimate goal of increasing standardized testing (with projections of 14 hours 30 minutes this year alone for 3rd graders -- thank you GOP mandated at the state level to let CTN/McGraw do their will unabridged) and when standardized tests don't completely destroy public education, privatization will.  So in the end, without releasing all your little secrets, Hoosiers for Quality Education, you are promoting this agenda under the guise of a new, "cheerier" name. "



In closing the original post we promised to call out those who claim one thing and then act contradictory to their statements and goals.  This post is a continuance of our mission to point out the discrepancies of this particular group and who they truly are.  Now we must continue to alert true "friends" and "supporters" of Indiana's PUBLIC schools as to who these characters are and what their ultimate purposes include.  We must stand up to, not only our legislators and Governor, but also to these "false support" groups and make sure our PUBLIC schools and our children are no longer harmed by their desire to make money for their friends and cronies across the country.


WE ARE HOOSIER VOICES FOR PUBLIC EDUCATION. THERE IS NO OTHER!!

The Partisan Hacks Bent on Destroying Public Schools

They will blatantly ignore your vote and the fundamentals of the Indiana Constitution, too!

In 2015, Mike Pence and other partisan hack legislators attempted to throw a coup de force against Superintendent of Public Instruction (SPI) Glenda Ritz by passing Senate Bill 1 (click here for the link to the bill).

Did your representative vote to strip Glenda Ritz of her power as SPI? Click here to find out!

For the first time since the adoption of the Constitution of the State of Indiana in 1851, and the immediately following election of the first SPI, the Governor and his ideologically driven group of cronies removed the SPI as the chair of the State Board of Education (SBOE) effective on inauguration day 2017. Sound blatantly partisan yet?

Let's do some Math here...

2015 - 1851 = 164

164 YEARS

You read that right! For 164 years (click here for a history of the SPI and SBOE), voters in the State of Indiana elected the SPI and then that duly elected SPI served as the chair of the SBOE. 

Now, some of you may already know where I am going with this line of reasoning, and I ask you to keep reading because this issue is particularly important during this election and everyone needs to pull together and get this message out to fellow Hoosiers. Please, forgive my candor here as well, but...

What the heck changed all of the sudden? 

#1 - Gerrymandering (watch the video - push play)

#2 - And these wealthy religious zealots started buying Indiana politicians

Fred Klipsch

Koch Bros

  

#3 - And these PACS started buying off Indiana politicians

#4 - This Self Aggrandizing 'Winner' Became Governor

Mike Pence

Are you FED UP yet? 

Are you fed up with partisan ideologues playing petty politics...

• with your vote?
• with public education?
• with our Hoosier kids future?

Well, I am! And it is high time we stood up to these partisan hacks that think they can buy elections in our state, use our kids as a commodity, and destroy the uniquely American democratic foundation that our public schools provide.

Vote with candidates that can't be bought and sold by well-monied ideological interests!

Become aware and vote for candidates that support public education!

#RememberInNovember

Indiana Legislators Who Voted to Remove the Power of the Superintendent of Public Instruction

Here are images of the final roll call votes from the Indiana State House and the Indiana State Senate for SB 1 in 2015.

This bill removed the power of the State Superintendent of Public Instruction (SPI) to chair the State Board of Education (SBOE).  Since the adoption of the Indiana Constitution in 1851, the duly elected SPI has presided over the SBOE. 

FED UP YET?