The pro-charter schools campaign is benefiting from nearly a million and a half million dollars in corporate "grassroots" campaigning. It's Grassroots, Fortune 500 style.
Trying to follow the dark money behind the committees favoring Question 2 on charter schools is like watching a game of three card monte on Boston Common. But in this case the dealers are New York billionaires and the marks are the citizens of Massachusetts.
A new report from Steve LeBlanc of AP shows that Dark Money Great Schools Massachusetts of New York has spent millions more than previously reported on TV ads, mostly in dark money. You the voter, the citizen, have no right to know where that money came from. Where's the outrage?
We can't tell why the wealthy individuals behind Great Schools Massachusetts are funding the pro-charters campaign - that's the essence of dark money after all. But social science offers us some theories - what's in it for the rich? Boardroom Progressives or self-serving Rich People's Movement?
Great Schools Massachusetts of New York is spending millions of dollars of dark money on television ads, but imagine how much more effective its efforts would be with a few memorable campaign tchotchkes.
The antagonists in the charter schools ballot issue, Question 2, are all over television with expensive ads. The Yes on 2 ads are being paid for by a handful of wealthy financiers hiding behind dark money fronts. The No on 2 ads are paid for by the contributions of thousands of unionized teachers.
Here is a collection of articles on dark money in Massachusetts: WARNING: not for those who are frightened by what unlimited dark money does to our democracy.
The whole point of dark money organizations like Families for Excellent Schools and Great Schools Massachusetts is that the true funders are hidden from the voters. Here's some of what we know, and some reasonable inferences.
