Does your legislator work for you or for a privatizer? 2020, Part 2

As promised, we have been updating the list below as we make our way through this election season. The next report will happen after the election as that is how the filing deadlines work. 

But we're closing in on $1 million from privatizers to our state candidates in one way or another (I mean, we've got PACs giving to PACs). 

To catch yourselves up, read this blog entry first. 

A few things to dig in on in this post: Hoosiers for Great Public Schools, Reed Hastings, John Arnold, and RISE Indy. But first, the chart. 

Hoosiers for Great Public Schools

Recall from the previous post, Hoosiers for Great Public Schools is "a PAC created by former mayor of Indianapolis, Bart Peterson in May 2020. Bart Peterson is currently president and CEO of Christel House International. PAC was registered by Caryl Auslander on April 30, 2020. She is director of Advanced Energy Economy. Her consulting firm is Torchbearer Public Affairs. She was formerly vice president of Education and Workforce Development Policy, and Federal Relations for the Indiana Chamber." 

They only have two major donors (so far) totaling $400,000: Reed Hastings (Netflix) and John Arnold (turned his Enron millions into billions as a hedge fund manager). The PAC has dished out $451,000 so far this election cycle, with $200,000 going to another newbie PAC called RISE Indy. 

What is RISE Indy? 

Per the Indianapolis Recorder, RISE Indy is a PAC that wants to "bypass controversy." Well, it didn't take too long to get controversial and the article highlighted why. Its board of directors include Al Hubbard (recall him from the last post) and Bart Peterson (who created the PAC Hoosiers for Great Public Schools). A quick search of contributions shows that Hoosiers for Great Public Schools PAC gave $200,000 of money (from Reed Hastings and John Arnold) to the RISE Indy PAC. In addiction Alice Walton has donated $200,000. Yes, that's on top of the $225,000 she has donated to Hoosiers for Quality Education PAC. And Mike Bloomberg donated $100,000 as well. In total RISE Indy has almost $700,000 in its coffers. 

And if you're wondering what Great Public Schools for Indy is in the table below, that organization shares the same address as RISE Indy, and its registered agent is Jasmin Shaheed-Young, the founder and CEO of that group (and formerly the VP of a national real estate and construction company). 

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Where is this money going? Some is going to candidates running in the IPS school board race. Yes. School board races are being funded by PAC money to the tune of over $200,000. ​RISE Indy alone has contributed $100,000 so far to school board candidates. (You can do your own digging here.) 

For more on this matter, read our state-level organization's blog post that speaks about the graphic below. 

Who to vote for and a pro-public education PAC

Now for a bit of a yay for the people. ICPE–Monroe County took our yard sign donations and donated it to a PAC. A pro-public education PAC run by Indiana Coalition for Public Education--Hoosiers for Public Education. $1,800 is heading to honest-to-goodness pro-public education candidates that have been properly vetted and endorsed by the folks operating the PAC. ​No corporations were involved. No hedge funds either. And we hope to continue these donations because this fight to protect public education, our children, and public school teachers is never over. 

In the end, lots of money may not buy lots of votes. Being an educated voter is powerful. Unsure of who to vote for? Check out the endorsements from Hoosiers for Public Education.

Join us.
Donate.
Vote for Public Education. 

- Keri Miksza

Indiana Coalition for Public Education–Monroe County (ICPE–Monroe County) advocates for all children to have high quality, equitable, well-funded schools that are subject to democratic oversight by their communities.

​We are a nonpartisan and nonprofit group of parents, grandparents, caregivers, teachers, and other community members of Monroe County and surrounding areas.