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November 02, 2011 01:31 AM UTC

The Real Big Money in DPS Races

  • 25 Comments
  • by: glasscup

After voting (today, at the last minute, ya ya..), I’ve been thinking a lot about the Denver school board races.

While I think the races have generally been pretty clean and positive there has been one thing that strikes me as really toxic. David Sirota and Emily Sirota have been calling in David’s national connections to try and cast the race as some sort of big-money takeover.

Like I said before, I think this is a really toxic thing, and I honestly wish I’d weighed in on it earlier.

The truth is that there is a REALLY big spender in the DPS board races. And it’s not a conspiracy or anything unusual. It’s not even objectionable. It’s the teachers union.

I want to be really clear that I don’t think there’s anything wrong with this and I’m not opposed to unions in any way. I just think that the Sirota’s are trying to ignore reality and poison the discussion around DPS with their rhetoric even further, and it’s important that the facts get fully out there.

I don’t think it’s been fully reported, so I went through the reports. All told, the teacher union spent $168,000 backing two candidates (Sirota and Jimenez) this election. That’s over $80,000 each, from one source, and when the final filings come in I assume it’ll be even more.

Here’s what I was able to pull together…

DCTA has spent $39,720.00 for Jimenez, according to his last report. I’d expect this to jump with in-kind paid canvassing.

http://tracer.sos.colorado.gov…

DCTA has spent $60,240.00 for Sirota, according to her last report. I’d also expect this number to jump.

http://tracer.sos.colorado.gov…



DCTA has poured $42,000 into “Delta 4.0”,
their independent expenditure campaign for Sirota and Jimenez. I got one of their mail pieces (which – anecdotally – spelled ‘students’ wrong…unfortunately I threw it away). Notably, this filing is for how much DCTA gave Delta 4.0 so far, as of the beginning of the month. So I would expect this number to jump significantly.

http://tracer.sos.colorado.gov…

The CEA (DCTA’s parent union for the state) has spent $20,000 from their PAC, the “Public Education Committee”. The spent this money on an “independent expenditure” for paid canvassing by Rocky Mountain Voter Outreach, the same firm that the reports show the DCTA hired for Jimenez and Sirota.

The PEC also donated $6,000 directly to Jimenez.

http://tracer.sos.colorado.gov…

All told, that’s $168,000 for Sirota and Jimenez. Other people contributed heavily to campaigns too, but there was real big money in these races, and it’s the $168,000 check the teacher unions wrote. I don’t have a problem with unions participating, but I do have a problem with a smear campaign that distorts the facts. Despite everything Sirota has said to try and add poison and vitriol to these campaigns, the big money in these races was still the teacher union.

Comments

25 thoughts on “The Real Big Money in DPS Races

      1. the opposition candidates have raised more money and are taking their money from some less than trustworthy sources, namely Oil and Gas barons.

        I’d rather vote for someone getting funded by the Teachers union than the Oil and Gas industry, as I’d trust teachers over drillers when it comes to our school board.

        1. That’s the clip where Emily does the same thing again – lying about her opponent’s position against vouchers, and suggesting Anne Rowe – who has been registered as a dem almost as long as Emily has been alive – is a republican. Disgraceful. Proves the point.  

  1. Your numbers look like a lot of money, but they only tell half the story. How much has Stand For Children and other 527s poured into the campaigns for their opponents?

    1. The Sirotas are spreading of this poison about big spending and ignoring these facts. I think – broadly – her vitriol has been really bad for dps. Not too surprising since she is allies with Guerin Green and Andrea Merida but still.

      As an aside, I’ve been really disappointed in your endorsement of all of this Nancy. It reflects badly on you.  

      1. There are hundreds of supporters on the Emily Sirota campaign, and to be honest, I’ve never run into Andrea Merida or Guerin Green there, even tonight as we watched the election results come in.

        The personal hatred for these two individuals is really getting old. Why do you give them so much power over you?  

        1. a reporter from Ed News from a tree, so maybe you two missed each other at the bar.

          I think some of us…well…those of us that are sane, don’t hate either of them. We just think they are vile bullies and an embarrassment to the Democratic Party.

          But I’m sure they appreciate your loyalty.

          Another Sirota supporter, Cherry Creek News and North Denver News publisher Guerin Green, followed this reporter out of the restaurant, saying, “It’s a good thing this isn’t 100 years ago. You’d be hanging from a tree.”

            1. The Sirotas don’t have many fans here. That’s all.

              Many of us think they’re full of themselves and don’t reflect the views of most people in Colorado.

              Apparently, voters feel the same way.

              Period.

              1. and have criticised him publicly about it. I rarely listen to the guy because he unfairly bashed Bennet one minute, then begged him to be on his show the next. I think David Sirota is a genius, and contributes a lot of interesting dialogue, but find some of his rantings to be over the top. He is a very nice guy in person, and means well. I give him a lot of credit for his passion.

                I don’t judge anyone by their spouse. Each person is a unique human being. My spouse is my exact opposite in almost every way you can imagine. I would not want to be judged by him, nor he by me. Doesn’t Emily Sirota deserve the same?  

              2. and have criticised him publicly about it. I rarely listen to the guy because he unfairly bashed Bennet one minute, then begged him to be on his show the next. I think David Sirota is a genius, and contributes a lot of interesting dialogue, but find some of his rantings to be over the top. He is a very nice guy in person, and means well. I give him a lot of credit for his passion.

                I don’t judge anyone by their spouse. Each person is a unique human being. My spouse is my exact opposite in almost every way you can imagine. I would not want to be judged by him, nor he by me. Doesn’t Emily Sirota deserve the same?  

                  1. [I am cross-posting this from my post on Nancy’s diary because it may actually be more relevant and timely here.]

                    First, a disclosure. I don’t live in Denver anymore. I can’t vote there. I’ve never met any of the school board candidates (including Rowe and Sirota). Never contributed to any. Didn’t follow it that closely.  Yadda yadda.

                    I sort of followed David Sirota’s comments about the race only because I sort of follow David Sirota. I read him on Salon, etc.

                    Sirota is a good writer and I often enjoy reading him. But my impression is that Sirota is a guy who a lot of progressives (of which I count myself as one) don’t like. He is a grenade-thrower and, let’s face it, a guy who is paid to be provocative. So far so good. But he throws grenades at the wrong folks too often, it seems. Hickenlooper becomes “King Hickenlooper.” (Wrong target, bud.) Bennet is bought and paid for because he accepts contributions from PACs (just like Sirota’s favored candidate did, until he stopped).  (Wrong target, bud.)

                    Sirota shills for his spouse – I’d do the same! But in Sirota’s world it becomes a war of good and evil with his wife’s opponent consorting with devils funded by George W. Bush. In Sirota’s world, a true statement conveying that his wife hasn’t ever had kids in DPS becomes a completely unfair attack on his toddler son. No, it isn’t. And a true statement that they relatively recently became moved into the district becomes a personal attack on their ability to own a home. No, it isn’t.

                    Going on Laurence O’Donnell didn’t help. Seeming to make this a national referendum didn’t help. Etc. I’m not sure this ever would have been close, but my impression is that Sirota didn’t help Sirota here.

            2. … if this is “gang warfare,” the folks who escalated matters from tough politics to fighting dirty were Guerin “outing & lynching” Green, Andrea “illiterate but a liar about DeFeNsE too” Merida, and Emily “if I lie enough about Rowe & vouchers maybe people will believe it” Sirota.

              These folks consistently have played Bush/Rove-level dirty, simply because I thinnk they convinced themselves that the stakes were so high, and their opponents so awful, that their noble ends justified their dishonest & mean-spirited means.

              So while I’m not a fan of election winners relitigating their gripes against election losers, Sirota & co. have fully earned the eternal enmity of everyone here — and of the DPS board.

  2. Your numbers look like a lot of money, but they only tell half the story. How much has Stand For Children and other 527s poured into the campaigns for their opponents?

  3. I think you forgot to say the part where Anne Rowe received $197,000 in contributions and Jennifer Carson-Draper received $177,000. That is 100K more than Sirota and Jimenez. Look it up. It’s on the same site you just pointed to.

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