House parties are cropping up around the West Bend School District as a method to "divide and conquer" for the passage of the upcoming spring referendum. You may receive an invitation such as this:
We, ___________________, your neighbor at _______________, are hosting a "house party." On Tues., Jan. 20 at 7 p.m. we invite our neighbors to discuss the school bond referendum proposed for a vote in April. As we hope for the best for our children, community and ourselves, we are encouraging you to come and voice your opinion and questions.
This will be a short gathering (less than 1 hr.). You will find out more about this issue and what the proposals are. We really hope you can join us.
If possible, please let us know if you will attend. Call with any questions to ____________________________.
Thank you for your consideration and interest. Hope to see you on Tuesday.
________________________________________________________________________
By all means, attend and be vocal. Just say NO.
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5 comments:
Are you implying that the school board has something to do with this? If they did, it would be considered active advocacy for a "yes" vote and therefore illegal. If you don't have any evidence as such, then perhaps you should clarify your headline. Perhaps you could identify which group is organizing the house parties. After all, we wouldn't want anyone coming dangerously close to breaking the law.
John,
I am simply questioning the origin of the house parties, and hoping others are, too.
I changed the header to make everyone's Sunday a little happier.
Like I told Kris, though... my blog, my opinion, my words.
I do know the names of people who are organizing, but not ready to divulge more information until facts are clear.
Do you think that citizens should always ask about who is behind issue advocacy like this? What good comes from asking who is funding or organizing things like this?
Yes, in fact, I do feel that it is important to know who is behind and/or funding issue advocacy. It keeps administration noses clean. I believe in accountability.
Wisconsin State Law states:
11.05 Registration of political committees, groups and individuals.
11.05(1)
(1) Committees and groups. Except as provided in s. 9.10 (2) (d), every committee other than a personal campaign committee, and every political group subject to registration under s. 11.23 which makes or accepts contributions, incurs obligations or makes disbursements in a calendar year in an aggregate amount in excess of $25 shall file a statement with the appropriate filing officer giving the information required by sub. (3). In the case of any committee other than a personal campaign committee, the statement shall be filed by the treasurer. A personal campaign committee shall register under sub. (2g) or (2r).
In a previous West Bend referendum, a national and state group called Americans For Prosperity sponsored automated telephone calls to influence opinion. At my link above, you can see how this group came "dangerously close" to the sort of "vote no" advocacy that would require their registration that you describe. I believe AFP has sponsored similar robocalls into other Wisconsin communities as well. Should we citizens ask where AFP's money is coming from and who controls their meetings?
At another blog that links to your story, the blogger comes dangerously close to suggesting that such private home meetings need to be monitored by an unnamed authority to insure that the information is correct. Do you agree?
Wouldn't it be super-crazy if the aforementioned blogger was also involved in the very same robocalls? It would be like he was in favor of free speech when it favored him, but opposed free speech for others!
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