Monday, May 30, 2011

Castor & Brown: The Anti-Public Education Slate?


Great story in today's Inquirer about how top Repub fatcats in Montco are turning their backs on Bruce Castor and giving instead to the Shapiro-What'sHerName ticket. Looks like Bob Asher is again dealing the self-righteous Castor a nice, public smackdown. Couldn't happen to a nicer guy.

Meanwhile, a more interesting story may be buried in the final paragraphs of the Inquirer article:

Since declaring her candidacy in the fall, [Jenny Brown] has received more than $90,000 from charter-school magnate Vahan Gureghian.

That and subsequent contributions totalling $33,333 from three founding executives of the Susquehanna International Group in Bala Cynwyd account for the largest checks cut to any candidate in the race.

Their combined gifts make up 75 percent of all the money the Castor-Brown campaign has raised since October

So fully three-quarters of all the funding for the Repub County Commissioner candidates is coming from sources that are committed to killing public education in Pennsylvania? The same sources that have backed the Corbett administration as it tried to place school districts across the state in a stranglehold? The same sources that have pushed for a voucher system that could further cripple cash-starved PA schools? And, in the case of Gureghian, a guy who has engaged in secret non-public negotiations to take over all elementary education in Pottstown?

Somehow, I think that this issue might resonate with voters a lot more than whether or not the candidates back Obama's Israel policy.

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