Part 2: Jack Dyer's War On Parents
Local Chairman Channels Terry McAuliffe On Parent Involvement, Drags Republicans Into Fight Against The First Amendment. OPINION
A couple of weeks ago, I attended the Brew Jam in Beaverdam and made the rounds tasting the different offerings. Both camps on the School Board referendum were present, seeking converts. Notably, the NO side, which claims the other side will politicize the School Board, has commandeered the local Republican Unit booth manned by the Beaverdam Mag-chair and Chairman Jack Dyer. They say NO to parent involvement in opposition to the head of the Republican ticket in Virginia, Glenn Youngkin, who won on parent involvement, and also in opposition to the leader of the Republican Party, Donald Trump’s effort to seat parents on School Boards. Dyer, you may recall, recently had his hat handed to him, losing Hanover to John McGuire in the bid for the 10th District State Senate Primary. Dyer has gone full Terry McAuliffe.
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Moms staffed the Yes side tent. I noticed the moms were getting far more traffic, so I visited and asked about their funding sources, to which they answered they “had no funding from any organizations other than individual donations.” I then challenged the claim of ‘bi-partisan,’ and their response gave me no indication of deception. They struck me as average people, not political types. They expressed concerns about being blamed for injecting money into local elections by wanting a direct say in local government while the Republican Party Committee is dumping $60,000.00 into the contest. This money, allocated without prior notice to the Rank and File, also had no debate in the Committee. Using Party money to suppress citizens’ exercise of 1st Amendment political speech is a horrible message and about the most effective way to ensure alienating a vast swath of younger Hanoverians.
People understand voting is the principal exercise of their speech and conveys their consent to be governed. The Chairman has sent every signal that this concept is lost on him, and in my opinion, he runs the unit more like Fidel Castro than Ronald Reagan.
“You believe school systems should tell children what to do,” Youngkin said to McAuliffe. “I believe parents should be in charge of their kids’ education.”
In response, McAuliffe said, “I’m not going to let parents come into schools and actually take books out and make their own decisions,” adding, “I don’t think parents should be telling schools what they should teach.”
They asked if I supported their position. I said yes and no! How’s that for a political answer? I am not a part of either camp; I reject involving the Party in what should be a downstream contest at the expense of the mission to educate about the principles of the Republic, identify and vet candidates for office, and get them elected. It’s never a good look to suppress citizen involvement in self-governance at a foundational level. The Unit under Dyer appears to me to be more like the Marxists than the Marxists he and Mindy Ruggiero claim will take over the County with their misinformation, half-truth stats, and outright projections to suppress the 1st Amendment in Patrick Henry’s home county.
Under his direction, the Unit gave only $500 to Yael Levine (R) to defeat incumbent Faye Prichard, the only elected Democrat in the County. A strong signal they have written off her campaign.
I had some follow-up with this group and was asked to sit on a panel at their event at the Ashland Library last night, and I obliged. What have I got to lose in listening to both sides? I have not heard this side over the deafening blather of the NO’fers. No other members of the Republican Party, the party that bitches about voter apathy, showed up to offer views. I assume they feel these voters, the same whose judgment they claim is too dumb to be trusted with a vote and whose vast numbers will elect liberals, were too insignificant to bother with! A seeming admission the NO’fers don’t believe their own propaganda.
When asked about my views, I explained that I was a conservative member of the local Republican Party but not here in any official capacity; I was born here; my kids graduated here; my father, uncle, and aunt all graduated from Beaverdam School; and our family has lived here since 1916; I am a blogger and had written on the benefits of Elected SBs a decade ago and that this was not a new issue in Hanover. I explained Bob Bailey and his PAC Middle Resolutions had led a successful effort to retain the patronage system years ago. Middle Resolutions, BTW, supports the No’fers here while running campaigns for elected SBs in adjoining counties.
I further explained that I see the Vote as political speech and the First Amendment's highest expression. Our Country is founded on this principle. (You might recall that back in the 1700s, the party objecting to subjects voting and being happy with appointments such as Lord Dunmore were the cowardly Tories). One’s vote is one's civic duty- an obligation of citizenship. In a representative Republic, governance depends on the consent of the governed through their expressed speech, including voting. The enemies of free speech are many today and have infected the Republican Party in the home of Patrick Henry. When speech is suppressed, people become apathetic, and a hard-won right atrophies and is lost. Socialism prefers appointed apparatchiks.
No one in a free republic should fear the expression of liberty from a fellow citizen, no matter how divergent their opinion. These remarks were well received by both the other panelists and the audience.
I will follow up on the other panelist’s remarks in another post. One comment by Glenn Millican stood out: our Republic is founded on protecting the minority, not gender, sex, or race, but minority opinion. The NO Campaign commandeered the Republican Committee and has not allowed floor time during meetings (politicizing appointees) to other views. This is because it is too weak to withstand debate and the leadership holds free-speech principles in contempt.
The people attending the Library event and supporting this referendum are Democrats, Republicans, and Independent voters. Like they say, they find the constant lies promoted by the No campaign ludicrous. The Panel pointed out the big three of the NO’fer’s lies. They are the same three I have also pointed out on Social Media.
1.) The ridiculous assertion that hand-picking political appointees by elected supervisors belonging to R or D insulates the school board from politics. Especially when Rob Monolo (R), Beaverdam Supervisor, interviewed the most recent appointee in private.
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2. ) The absurd claim that Hanover test scores depend on appointments. This is so easily refuted by checking the ranking of the other 9 or 10 appointed SBs in Virginia; a caveman could do it! If appointments affect testing, they should all be doing equally as well as Hanover, but they are primarily at the bottom of the ranking. On the other hand, Hanover is not in the top 20 of Virginia School Systems. If Appointments magically improve test scores, all 20 should have appointed School Boards, but they are all elected. They think you are too stupid to catch them in these lies and want you to trust them, but they don't trust you.
3.) The lie that tax authority comes with elections. It is impossible under the State Constitution. I pointed this out to Mindy Ruggiero, and she continues to use it as a scare tactic. There are 136 elected school boards in Virginia; not one triggered the State Legislature to change the Constitution. She just moved the goalpost to “it’s possible.” As I said on a thread in Hanover Patriots, “It’s also possible Elvis could come back from the dead and convince the Legislature to change the State anthem to Nothin’ But A Hound Dawg. Attempting to wrest control of taxes from the legislature would be like trying to take a junkyard dog’s bone. You won’t get your hand back.
Summation:
The guy claiming to be “grassroots” in his failed state senate bid is raising 60 grand to put down a grassroots effort of citizens to be involved in their government.
Every talking point the NO’fers offer is fear-based and easily fact-checked as false. Every single one. They know it; it’s why they now are backed into the rhetorical and subjective corner of “if it ain’t broke...” which is also a lie. In an upcoming blog post, I will show the numerous failures of the Appointees in allowing all the things said to come with parents running for the school board.
Take Away.
The NO campaign is negative, fear-based, unethical, rife with conflicts of interest like Supervisors wanting exclusive power of appointment entering the debate, and based on falsehoods.
It claims Appointments equal grade excellence. School Boards have nothing to do with grade achievements. They deal primarily with structural issues. They are stealing thunder from teachers. A simple rankings check demonstrates NO CORRELATION between grades and the method of seating a school board.
The No’fers Campaign claims Elections will politicize the School Board. On this point, I give Rob Monolo a big shout-out for proving that the Political Patronage system of appointing SBs is old-fashioned cronyism. He passed over several qualified candidates, including a former Principal, and went with his pal. His vetting process was mere theater- five minutes or so. The local Republican unit is politicizing the issue by making it number one, injecting big money, and forming a PAC.
The Taxation Lie. Did anyone check if the other 136 elected School Boards have taxing authority? Not on the Republican Committee, apparently.
The NO’fers claim appointments will protect the County from cultural Marxism, but the Appointees have allowed it in. The NO’fers employ the methodology of the Left in making false claims, false equivalencies, and projections that model Saul Alinsky’s Rules for Radicals.
The claim that Parents running for School Board will hand the School Board to the Left is specious as the Board is currently 3-3 with a swing vote Left at the hand of the BOS. Dyer regularly pitches the Republican Unit to attend the SB meetings to sway them back to the Right! The County is solidly Republican- this should be a non-issue- Republican voters will elect Republicans to the SB. Republican Supervisors failed to do this (too busy approving development?), and both repeatedly hired liberal Superintendents.
The No’fer campaign, having all their points refuted, now employs the silly slogan “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” (a mom running for School Board in an adjacent County offered this slogan to Dyer when he couldn’t convince her on the nonsense talking points- she told me of the encounter). They really mean that if it ain’t fixed, break it!
HCC is an opinion blog. I employ satire, commentary, and fact to entertain and convey my opinions on religious, cultural, and political issues. I expect you to know the difference. Thanks for reading. Please subscribe.
Hanover High School State Rankings
Hanover Elementary School State Rankings
Middle Resolutions plays both sides of the street:
https://www.middleresolution.org/2023/09/15/excellent-school-board-candidates-in-the-running/
https://www.politico.com/news/2022/09/19/conservative-school-board-fundraising-florida-00057325