As many friends know, I'm the superintendent of a medium sized school district south of OKC, but I also ran for public office just a short time ago. Many friends believe I have a fair amount of knowledge concerning our public schools, but not much when it comes to politics - and they would be right, as I was handily defeated during the last primary election. I learned much about the dark side of politics, though, thanks to my campaign for office. I was a member of the teacher caucus (40 teachers and other public school supporters) who ran for office this last season. Of the 40 public school supporters who ran, only 3 or 4 were elected, so the "uprising" of the caucus was stopped dead in its tracks. Of course, there are many reasons this overall loss for public schools occurred, including the fact that public school opponents had much more money with which to campaign, were polished politicians, and supported out-of-state corporate interests (which typically provides dark money to chosen candidates).
I'd like to relate a personal story that illustrates my newly discovered political enlightenment. Sherrie (my better half) can corroborate these facts along with many personal friends and public school officials. About five years ago, many public school officials came to the realization that to improve our schools, we should make sure the present state superintendent lost the next election for that position (which occurred in 2014). Many public school supporters believed they should support a candidate other than the present state superintendent, in order to attain that goal - so many supporters personally donated huge sums of money in the effort to oust the state superintendent.
Specifically, many public school supporters were committed to the present State Superintendent Joy Hofmeister as well as being committed to public schools in general. Supporters attended numerous fundraisers set up for Mrs. Hofmeister in order to provide the much needed financial support. Many supporters also suffered personal retribution when it became known they supported Hofmeister over Janet Barresi in the republican primary of 2014.
Joy Hofmeister,with the support of many public school officials, won the 2014 primary in a land-slide victory, then won in a much closer general election to John Cox, the democratic nominee. It was about this time, that several public school supporters, emboldened by the ousting of Barresi, began to consider running for office to help our public schools. I decided to run for a 2016 position sometime after Hofmeister was elected in 2014. My decision to run was the same as all public school candidates - for our public schools, teachers, and students. The self-sacrifice we all knew would be great, but the result if we won would be an improvement for our public schools, teachers, and students. Many public school candidates were relentlessly attacked by Washington D.C. dark money groups, such as the American Federation for Children, in an effort to assist "voucher candidates". Personally, I visited with Mrs. Hofmeister and asked her if she could support me in my future race for the District 42 House seat. At that time, Joy Hofmeister replied that she could not support any candidate until after the primary election at the end of June. indicating I must win the primary for her support. have to win the primary for her support. A couple weeks after my request for support and well before the primary, a pledge of support appeared in a few publications, including the local newspaper. The pledge of support was from Joy Hofmeister - to an opposition candidate (a suspected voucher supporter) for the District 42 House seat. I immediately called Mrs. Hofmeister to ask her why she endorsed any candidate before the primary, as she told me that only after the primary could she endorse or provide support for anyone. Her response was that since he (or his consultant) had told her that I had dropped out of the race, she felt obligated to support him. BTW, I never dropped out. Since she reasoned her endorsement to the fact that I had dropped out of the race, surely, she could right the wrong with a simple endorsement of my candidacy? I asked her at the end of our meeting for just such a statement, but she said nothing. In the news endorsement for the corporate conservative, Mrs. Hofmeister lamented that only "he" supports public schools and teachers, while other candidates do not. I believe news stories appearing since the spring of 2016 attest to whom Joy Hofmeister owes allegience. I'll give everyone a hint - none were members of the teacher caucus, but in fact included dark money groups and candidates who are controlled by a consultant now charged with a felony.
I learned the following lessons by running for public office during the summer of 2016:
1) "Loyalty" doesn't mean the same thing for all people. What is ethical behavior for politicians is certainly unethical for many non-politicians.
2) Many politicians are loyal to a party (democrat or republican) rather than to a political philosophy (conservative or liberal). In other words, there are liberal republicans (corporate conservatives) and conservative democrats (traditional conservatives).
These are but 2 of the lessons I learned while running for office. I'll list many more over the next several months, but in the interest of time, and the fact that I'm beginning to irritate some, I'll stop this blog.. P.S. if you'll click on the colored words, it will take you to a verification article or site. It's something I just learned about blogging, as I'm quite technologically illiterate - but I learn fast..
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