A political advertisement was sent to voters supporting Amendment 80 that included a quote from Kevin Vick, the head of the Colorado Education Association. Vick does not support the amendment, which, if passed, would enshrine school choice in the state’s constitution. (Mobile screen capture of text message via Megan Schrader/The Denver Post)
A political advertisement sent to voters last week falsely implied that the head of Colorado’s largest teachers union supports Amendment 80, which, if passed in next month’s election, would enshrine families’ right to school choice in the state constitution.
The advertisement, which was sent via text message, doesn’t explicitly say Kevin Vick, president of the Colorado Education Association, supports the measure. But it features Vick’s photo, an audio recording and a quote from him saying, “School choice has worked very well for students for years.”
The text message encouraged Coloradans to vote in favor of Amendment 80 in the Nov. 5 election. It did not include a disclosure of who paid for it — which has spurred former state Rep. Bri Buentello to file a campaign finance complaint with the Colorado Secretary of State’s Office.
Vick said he was surprised by the text message, but felt that it was reflective of the amendment, which the teachers union opposes and has previously called “an unnecessary, duplicative and misleading proposal.”
“We feel that (the amendment is) hiding its true purpose, which is to put private schools in the constitution,” Vick said.
Colorado parents can already request that their children attend any public K-12 school in the state for free, even in a different district from which they live, under state law.
Advance Colorado, which petitioned to get the amendment on the ballot, wants to “cement” school choice in the state constitution so that it’s always available to families, said Michael Fields, president of the conservative advocacy group, in a statement.
The measure needs 55% of support to pass because it would amend the Colorado Constitution.
“Any statute can be changed by politicians at the Capitol whenever they want,” he said. “We’ve already seen bills introduced to go after charter schools. By putting school choice in the constitution, it will always be up to the people instead of politicians.”
Fields said that Advance Colorado was not behind the pro-Amendment 80 text that featured Vick.
Last week, Buentello, who is now chair of the Pueblo Democratic Party, filed a campaign finance complaint against Colorado Dawn IEC over the political ad because it didn’t disclose who paid for it. In the complaint, Buentello said she suspected the independent expenditure committee, which she said has spent hundreds of thousands of dollars for mail and text messages, was behind advertisement.
Buentello said she filed the complaint because the text “was a blatantly dishonest ad that didn’t even bother with a disclaimer on who paid for it — their campaign tactics are as deceptive as the measure itself.”
The Colorado Secretary of State’s Office found that the text potentially violated state campaign finance law by not including a disclaimer, “but that one or more of …read more
Source:: The Denver Post – Politics
