Wednesday, May 16, 2012

Can a Democrat support charter schools? | Politics Northwest | The Seattle Times

Can a Democrat support charter schools? | Politics Northwest | The Seattle Times:


Can a Democrat support charter schools?

What is a Democrat? No, really. Can one be a Democrat and favor charter schools?
No, says, Nicholas Carlson, chairman of the 1st Legislative District Democrats, in a pointed email to Guy Palumbo, a Democratic businessman running, gasp, against a fellow Democrat, state Sen. Rosemary McAuliffe.

Here is an excerpt from the email, first reported on the Washington State Wire:
"Finally -- and I cannot stress the importance of this enough -- anybody who supports charter schools in the 1st Legislative District is a Republican, not a Democrat. This is an extremely sensitive issue to us because the Northshore School District, which dominates the legislative district, is one of the outstanding examples of public education in Washington. Only a Republican would want to destroy it. As far as we are concerned, your views are incompatible with the Democratic platform.

"Accordingly, I demand that you cease campaigning as a Democrat immediately. Failure to comply will result in a coordinated and very damaging response using all the tools at our disposal.''
So is Carlson going rogue, or is there a secret litmus test disqualifying supporters of charter s

CORPORATE PARTY?