Claim: Public Instruction Superintendent Tony Thurmond embracing “dark money” from teachers unions

Public policy commentator Eric Green argues for State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tony Thurmond’s resignation after recent donations (totaling $1.2 million) from three teachers unions. Why aren’t Democrats opposing Big Money’s stain on a fair election system?

In just three days in early May, California’s teachers unions opened the vault and moved $1.2 million into Tony Thurmond’s campaign for Superintendent of Public Instruction.

Thurmond has earned their favor. In nearly four years as the incumbent, he has advanced the unions’ demands to end charter schools, and endorsed teacher strikes — which, in every case, led to school closures and, where the strikes were successful, pressure for higher taxes, greater public debt, and expanded union control over teacher discipline. In every case, it’s poor families who, trapped in failing school districts and facing higher taxes, will bear the burden.

The recent cash gusher came from just three sources. The California School Employees Association and the California Teachers Association each gave Thurmond $500,000. The California Federation of Teachers gave him Tony $200,000. The contributions were tracked on California Policy Center’s Twitter bot, “Union Watch” (@CalUnionWatch).

Lance Christensen, Thurmond’s only real opponent in the race, has brought in a total of just $21,201. (Full disclosure: Christensen is a colleague at the California Policy Center.)

This article originally appeared in the California Policy Center. Read the whole thing here.

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Image by Chris Heimburger