RALEIGH Conservative businessmen Bob Luddy and Art Pope were the largest contributors in fall's Wake County school board elections, which ushered in a majority pledged to eliminate the district's diversity policy.
Final campaign finance reports show more than $340,000 in hard and soft money was spent during a contentious contest for control of North Carolina's largest school district. The majority - about $190,000 - boosted the fortunes of the four Republican-backed candidates who won.
Combined, Luddy and Pope provided $38,000 either to individual candidates or to the Wake County Republican Party's efforts in one of the most expensive campaigns in school district history. But Pope downplayed the influence he and Luddy had in the newcomers' victories.
"They were not elected by Bob Luddy or by myself," said Pope, a former Republican state legislator and head of a family-owned chain of retail stores. "They were elected by the overwhelming majority of the voters in their districts."
Wake County Republican Party Chairman Claude Pope Jr., a distant cousin of Art Pope, said campaign cash alone didn't guarantee political success in the school board race.
"As much money as you can spend, it won't help unless you have good candidates and a good issue," said Claude Pope, who has vowed to revive Republican fortunes by concentrating on local elections.
Opponents of the new school board majority said the reports show that Luddy and Art Pope, two influential critics of public education policy, are behind the new direction for Wake schools.
"It seems to confirm that Mr. Pope and Mr. Luddy played a really active role in electing the school board, and you'd think that their views would carry a lot of influence," said Chris Fitzsimon, executive director of N.C. Policy Watch, a liberal think tank.
The dividing lines
The nominally nonpartisan school board election broke largely along party lines, with most Republicans backing the four candidates who advocated neighborhood schools while many Democrats backed candidates who supported maintaining the district's diversity policy.
The winners in the four suburban districts on the ballot tapped into parental discontent about a broad range of issues: mandatory year-round schools, busing for diversity and the weekly early dismissals that detractors called "Wacky Wednesdays."
Supporters of the diversity policy didn't have any donors who provided as much money as Luddy and Art Pope.
Luddy, president of a company that manufactures kitchen ventilation systems and the founder of a charter school and private schools, donated $23,000 last year, campaign records show. Of that amount, $18,000 went to school board candidates and the Wake Schools Community Alliance, a parents' group critical of the diversity policy, while $5,000 went to the Wake Republican Party.
Luddy said he gave money to candidates he thought would improve Wake's graduation rate. He called it "laughable" to think he's influencing school board members because of his campaign contributions.
"I don't think a contributor in any way can dictate what a politician will do," Luddy said. "The reason we contribute is to get the best candidates and hope they're successful."
Art Pope, who founded the John Locke Foundation, a conservative think tank, pointed out that he didn't give any money directly to school board candidates.
Pope provided $15,015 to the Wake GOP, which spent nearly all of the money it collected last year on campaign mailers that supported the four school board newcomers and other Republican candidates.
Pope said he's annually one of the largest donors to the state and county GOP.
A claim of influence
School board candidate Rita Rakestraw, who lost her election bid last year to Chris Malone, said Luddy's and Pope's money helped swing the election for the four Republican-backed newcomers.
"It is alarming that Mr. Luddy and Mr. Pope can influence the outcome of the election," Rakestraw said. "These two men gave an extraordinary amount of money to candidates who are willing to resegregate our schools and focus solely on parents' convenience, not student achievement." . . . .
Here's the take at NC Policy Watch about Pope and Luddy and the latest on the move to resegregate, the privatize the schools.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.ncpolicywatch.com/cms/2010/02/09/rigid-ideology-meets-more-reality/
My daughter had a terrible incident w her bi racial child 5yrs old on tues july 21,2020
ReplyDeleteAt the Thales Academy in waxhaw He was dismissed from his first day of kindergarden 3 hours onto the school day
2 verbal reasons why over a brief phone conversation
Asking that we pick him up immediately from school property.
When arriving to get him
I proceeded (i am his grandmother) to enter the building to check him out in thr office and identify who i was.
And pick up supporting incident report and or paperwork as to why he being dismissed.
But instead a blonde woman came running towards the doors to stop me from entering
She then opened the door halfway handed his backpack n lunchbox thru the door and placed it on tbe pavement .And then lead my grandson through the same half opened door
To me
I asked if i could have a moment to speak to someone
About events leading up to the decision to expell him from school.
I was abrubly rudely told its in his backback
And she shut the door
You can contact me
At lindabrooks109@gmail.com
My name is Danielle Devito