Cookie Cutter Opposition

This posting is a follow up to my efforts to support the Northshore School District’s Levy and Bond elections.  It calls upon an Open Letter published in the Federal Way Mirror.  I followed up with some research on the King County Elections Division’s website to verify the information.

It seems that three Bellevue residents, Ms. Laurie Lyford, Ms. Renay Bennett and Mr. Tom Henningsgard, took it upon themselves to submit to King County Elections letters of opposition to most of the school district levies in King County that will be voted on by Feb. 11th.  They used what I will call a “cookie cutter” approach, by crafting a template onto which they could drop relevant local data.  That would give a reasonable reader the impression that the authors are local, when they are not.

All of the opposition statements revolve around the same anti-union diatribe and accuse unions of making levies necessary.  It carefully avoids any mention of the need for levies because of the legislature’s failure to fully fund education, as stated in the Washington State Supreme Court’s McCleary decision.

I have asked elections officials for clarification of the legality of these deceptive statements and will share anything useful I may learn.

For now, I can only record my astonishment that three individuals would impose their opinions on community decisions in which they have no part and no stake.  And if, as suggested, these publications may have something to do with the Freedom Foundation, I can only hope FF will come forward and acknowledge that role.