The announcement last week of the $600,000 grant from the Barr Foundation to the Boston Globe was presented as a public spirited philanthropy offering the Globe the means to research our education system’s failures and report back on how to fix them. It is not. It is the dawn of philanthro-interest group journalism. That’s a…
Category: dark money
Masslive Misfires on Editorial on Massachusetts Parents United of Arkansas
Back on June 10 Masslive.com ran an editorial titled Meet the Newest Education Union: Parents which turned out not to be about education or unions at all but about the WalMart-heir front Massachusetts Parents United of Arkansas. Helpful as always I sent an op-ed to Masslive setting the record straight but they paid no attention….
Prof. Cunningham’s Testimony on H.3553 An Act requiring major policy makers to disclose donations to entities engaging in political activity
On May 15 it was my privilege to testify before the Joint Committee on Election Laws in favor of H. 3553 An Act requiring major policy makers to disclose donations to entities engaging in political activity, filed by Rep. Marjorie Decker. It would make big bucks state policy makers like Paul Sagan and Mark E….
A Letter to Massachusetts Education Reporters
On May 1 I wrote a letter to several education writers on the topic of why they should be reporting on the financial backing of groups like Massachusetts Parents United or Democrats for Education Reform. Citizens have the right to be informed and only the media can do that. I’m sharing that letter here in…
Massachusetts Parents United: Grassroots or AstroTurf?
One of the claims of Massachusetts Parents United is that it is a grassroots organization dedicated to serving the needs of parents and children. But corporate-sponsored school privatization organizations like MassParents have come and gone, so how can we tell if the group is grassroots or AstroTurf? There’s a way. Professor Daniel Katz used a…
Massachusetts Parents United: Old Wine in an Expensive Bottle
Massachusetts Parents United claims to be “the independent voice of parents.” But it’s entirely dependent on funding from the Walton Family’s (tax deductible) political operations. When I wrote Massachusetts Parents United: Old Wine in an Empty Bottle in July 2017 there were some clues about its funding but not much detail, and what detail there…
Keri Rodrigues Goes Coastal with Plans for National Parents Union
Keri Rodrigues of Massachusetts Parents United, the highly subsidized-by-the-Walton-family front in the education privatization business, is pitching a new organization called the National Parents Union. It’s got elements that should appeal to the WalMart heirs – hidden money, infiltration of the Democratic Party, pro-charters, privatization of public goods, and virulently anti-union. But there are problems….
UnKoch* My Boston Globe
It appears that our once-upon-a-time paper of record The Boston Globe is supplementing revenues by publishing pro-corporate content masquerading as news and paid for by the Koch Brothers. Since corporate puffery isn’t one of my favored literary genres I didn’t pay much attention when I noticed the Bold Types interviews off to the side of…
“Education Reform by WalMart”?
“Education Reform by WalMart” isn’t going to win any awards for marketing slogans so instead the Waltons weaponize their philanthropic dollars by underwriting fronts like Massachusetts Parents United, Educators for Excellence, and Democrats for Education Reform Massachusetts. Here are the latest dollar figures. How about $500,000 to Massachusetts Parents United? Remember their creation story, where…
DFER Massachusetts’ Policy Luncheon: Pay No Attention to the Man Behind the Curtain!
Democrats for Education Reform Massachusetts had a policy conference Wednesday to tout a report it did comparing schools in Boston and Lawrence. It’s a great case study on how wealthy philanthrocapitalists are able to set the agenda on issues. It was timely too because in the morning I was re-reading a book chapter by Aaron…