Beware, Republican Legislative Candidates

After Tuesday's defeat of four DeSoto County Republicans at the hand of anti-public education forces, one has to wonder why House Speaker Philip Gunn (R-Clinton) allowed his caucus members (two of whom are committee chairmen) to be attacked like they were and ultimately defeated.

As a reminder, DeSoto County Republican Reps. Forrest Hamilton, Wanda Jennings, Pat Nelson, and Gene Alday were all victims of a PAC that has been promoting the anti-public education agenda of Philip Gunn and the Bomgar Caucus.

In speech after speech, Gunn puts county, city, and community leaders on notice that if they do not send a Republican to the Capitol in January, they will get no seat at the table when it comes to leadership and decision-making. The question becomes what good it does to send a Republican to the Capitol when the Republican Speaker of the House kicks the chair out from under his own membership and does nothing to pick them up. Gunn publicly defends his position of changing the state flag, but he does very little to defend his fellow Republican legislators who disagree with him on education issues.

If this is how the Republican leadership treats its members, Republican candidates running for the House of Representatives touting their close relationship to Speaker Gunn should understand that Gunn will use you and lose you just like he has done his soon-to-be former colleagues from DeSoto County. Remember that you can either support public education or be a Republican, but you cannot do both. If you try to do both, Speaker Gunn will not have your back when the attack ads from other Republicans start flying.

Announcing the Bomgar Caucus

With the dust clearing from Tuesday's primary elections, we know one of the biggest losers of the night was public education.

Empower PAC, a group promoting charter schools and for-profit education spent tens of thousands of dollars against incumbent legislators - and they won. Big time. Empower was able to defeat DeSoto County Republicans Forrest Hamilton, Wanda Jennings, Pat Nelson, and Gene Alday. They also went after Republican Rep. Ray Rogers of Rankin County but were unsuccessful.

While Empower was sending checks to its anti-public education candidates, House Speaker Philip Gunn (R-Clinton) sat idly by while members of his own Republican caucus took hit after hit only to fall last night. Since Gunn is doing Empower's bidding, it seems that good riddance is the best Gunn will offer his soon-to-depart colleagues from DeSoto County.

Dan Eubanks, the candidate who defeated Gene Alday, produced the video below with his brother, Dave. Dave Eubanks challenged incumbent Republican Sen. Chris Massey of DeSoto County but was unsuccessful.

Empower, which claims to seek better schooling options for marginalized children, funded the Eubanks campaign to the tune of about $21,000. Those funds must have assisted in Eubanks's widely-circulated song about "Mississippi values" featuring a disgusting racist caricature around the 1:27 mark. Then again, maybe the racist video was part of a calculated political strategy cooked up by Empower's out-of-state benefactors in order to peel GOP primary voters away from incumbent Gene Alday, who infamously said, "... all the blacks are getting food stamps and what I call 'welfare crazy checks.'"

Joel Bomgar, the financial muscle behind this plot to defeat public education supporters, won a solid victory in his race for House District 58 in Madison County. Using his personal fortune, Bomgar spent what it took in order to capture this seat.

With Bomgar and his Empower-bought supporters heading to the Capitol in January, Mississippi's public education supporters should be terrified. There are now five more Republicans who will join a caucus already doing their best to undermine public education across Mississippi. With the Bomgar Caucus ready to fight public education, the statement still stands: You can either support public education or be a Republican, but you cannot do both.

(Some of) The Republican Caucus Fights Back

The battle for the heart and soul of the House Republican Caucus continues this week with a fundraiser for House District 58 candidate Bruce Bartley of Madison County. Bartley is in a heated primary with fellow Republican Joel Bomgaars (the actual spelling of his family name.)

The fundraiser for Bartley is being promoted by Ridgeland's Republican mayor, Gene McGee, and is co-sponsored by a number of current House Republicans including DeSoto County Reps. Forrest Hamilton and Wanda Jennings. In his letter to supporters, Mayor McGee sounds the alarm on the importance of this particular House seat. McGee notes that there are extremist factions within the Republican Party that seek to foster disunity among Republican voters.

You may recall Bomgaars's name from a recent post written about his involvement in funding campaigns against Republican House members who have historically supported public education like Reps. Hamilton and Jennings. Bomgaar has already spent a hefty sum supporting House Speaker Philip Gunn's agenda to dismantle Mississippi's public education system. Bomgaar and his allies have already spent tens of thousands of dollars supporting Republicans who have voted against public education such as Reps. Joey Hood of Ackerman and Randy Boyd of Mantachie.

Joel Bomgaars and House Speaker Philip Gunn (R-Clinton)

In fact, Speaker Philip Gunn is such a big fan of anti-public education candidate Joel Bomgaar that the Speaker tried to reward Bomgaar's efforts by appointing him to the state Board of Education. The state senate rejected Bomgaar's nomination, likely on the basis that since Bomgaar does not support public education that it would be a disservice to have him serve on this board which provides leadership and oversight of our public education system.

This brings us to the contrast that Mayor McGee noted in his letter. He is correct that there are divisions in the Republican Party, and the fact of the matter is that one candidate for House District 58 appears ready to stand up to the crazy. The other candidate is adding fuel to the extremist fire, and his name is Joel Bomgaar.

Empowering Opponents of Public Education

In the Haley Barbour years, Mississippi Republicans at least voiced some support for public education. Even then-Lt. Governor Phil Bryant campaigned on the promise that he would always fully fund the Mississippi Adequate Education Program (MAEP.) As anyone who has observed the Republicans' shameless tactics to undermine Initiative 42 can tell you, Republican support for public schools has come completely unraveled over the past several years. What's changed?

Many Republicans have probably just started showing their true colors. For years, they would voice support for MAEP while voting to under-fund it. There were a few who really did support public education - mainly from districts with strong public schools, such as Lafayette, DeSoto, Madison, and Rankin counties. Their reversal seems to have been dictated by outside pressure rather than personal philosophy or the interests of their constituents.

Thanks to financial disclosures posted on the Secretary of State's website, we can start to get a picture of who is applying that pressure. A campaign finance report for an anti-public education political action committee, Empower PAC, shows some disturbing information about our elected officials' stances on public education. We already know that Republicans are not supporters of public education, and the information in this report further backs that up.

Between January 1 to April 30, 2015, this PAC received nearly $365,000 in donations from anti-public education forces such as state House candidate Joel Bomgaars of Madison and the Mississippi Federation for Children PAC, an ALEC-aligned organization, which is oddly based in Virginia. Who is the Federation for Children, you might ask?

The national organization is chaired by former Michigan Republican Party Chair Betsy DeVos. Her husband, Richard, unsuccessfully ran for governor of Michigan in 2006, as a Republican, while spending $35 million of his own money on the race. For Mississippi's purposes, the Chairman of the Mississippi Federation for Children PAC is Greg Brock, a person who is listed with a Washington, DC, address. To give you a sense of his feelings on public education, he led an unsuccessful school voucher initiative in 2000. The DeVos family, as well as billionaires Alice and Jim Walton of Walmart, have poured a tremendous amount of money into anti-public education efforts in recent years. That money is now seeping into Mississippi politics.

Republican candidates for statewide and legislative offices are indirect recipients of the DeVos and Walton money to undermine Mississippi's public education system. If you recall from this year's legislative session, state Rep. Forrest Hamilton spoke from the House Well claiming that he was to be the target of forces who want to hurt public education while Speaker Gunn demanded to know the source of this speculation. Hamilton was right. Hamilton's Republican primary opponent, Dana Criswell, has received at least $11,000 from Empower PAC. Steve Hopkins, who is challenging fellow DeSoto County Republican Rep. Wanda Jennings, has received at least $11,000. Mind you that Hamilton and Jennings both oppose legislation advocating vouchers and charter schools. Longtime Republican Rep. Ray Rogers of Rankin County voted against charter schools in 2013, and now he is a target of Empower. Rogers's opponent, Randall Stephens, has received over $11,000 to take on this race.

Not all incumbents are targets, however.

• Lafayette County Republicans like Senate Education Committee Chairman Gray Tollison and House Education Committee member Brad Mayo both received $2,500 from Empower PAC.
• House Education Committee Chairman John Moore received $2,000.
• Republican Rep. Carolyn Crawford (who serves on the House Education Committee) received $5,000.
• Republican Rep. Joey Hood received $2,000.
• Republican Rep. Randy Boyd (who serves on the House Education Committee) received $2,500.
• Republican Rep. Charles Busby (who serves on the House Education Committee and was the floor manager of the charter school bill) received $2,500.
• Republican Lt. Governor Tate Reeves (who is a product of the Rankin County school system) received $5,000.

The evidence is abundantly clear that Republicans do not care about public education; it's been said before and will be said again. You can be a Republican or you can support public education, but you cannot do both.

Republican Infighting Continues

Possible "pole dancer" and state Rep. Forrest Hamilton (R-Olive Branch) took to social media to blow up at his fellow Republicans for pushing the idea that he has poor attendance in the legislature in an attempt to discredit him prior to the August primary. Hamilton and other DeSoto County Republicans face primary challengers from conservative challengers in August. Taking a quick trip back in time, Hamilton and most of the DeSoto County delegation voted against charter school legislation during the 2012 and 2013 sessions - making them enemies of Tea Party groups and the Phil Bryant agenda.

Rep. Forrest Hamilton

It was speculated during the 2015 Legislative Session that Tea Party groups and Joel Bomgar (who is running to succeed retiring Republican Rep. Rita Martinson of Madison) were planning to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars to defeat Republicans like Hamilton in the Republican Primary. If you recall, Speaker Philip Gunn (R-Clinton) may have broken House rules by stopping the remarks of Rep. Steve Holland (D-Plantersville) when Holland spoke from the House Well that this mystery money was planning to be spent against candidates who support public education. From the Speaker's stand, Gunn demanded Holland reveal the source of the rumor. Always quick on his feet, Holland demanded that Gunn step down from the Speaker's stand to ask a question of a fellow member. Gunn refused.

Hamilton's frustrations are emblematic of how Republicans operate: get with the program or get out of the way.

Joel Bomgar nomination goes down in flames. ***CORRECTED***

***CORRECTION*** - In the daze that has been the last week, I had it in my head that Joel Bomgar was Phil Bryant's choice for the Ed Board.  I was mistaken.  Bomgar's nomination belonged to Speaker Philip Gunn.

Bomgar was Gov. Phil Bryant's Speaker Philip Gunn's choice to join the State Board of Education.  Of course, in keeping with Bryant's out of touch, right-wing extremist nature, (I just flat goofed that) Bomgar was a product of home schooling himself and is pursuing that option for his children also.

You know it's bad when the vastly Republican Mississippi Senate thinks you're too far to the right.

For what it's worth, I hear that Bomgar is shopping for houses in the Gluckstadt area, and plans to make a run for the state House in 2015.