To hear former Daily Journal columnist turned Democratic operative Patsy Brumfield tell it, she’s sitting at the sharp edge of hundreds of thousands of grass roots organized Mississippi parents ready to overthrow the way that education is funded in Mississippi. But the front group, innocuously called “Better Schools and Better Jobs” (BSBJ) appears to be nothing more that a Democratic front and slush fund run by and for largely out of state Democratic party and educational activists. Of course, this effort involves a lot of “friends of the media” so there’s been almost no background into BSBJ from Mississippi media whatsoever.
A look at their campaign finance shows money going large from and to major out of state Democratic party power players.
A big source of money is the Southern Education Foundation, on which former Secretary of State Dick Molpus serves. They’ve donated well in excess of $250,000.
The Markham Group has been paid over $100,000 in funds by BSBJ for Initiative 42 and they feature work on campaigns/events for Michelle Obama and Bill/Hillary Clinton on their site.
The Feldman Group are beltway-based Democratic Research consultants that feature a who’s who of Democrats on their client list including Bennie Thompson and Obama 2012. The Feldman Group has received thousands from BSBJ.
Here are links to just a couple of the BSBJ finance reports.
BSBJ – March 2014
BSBJ Oct 2014
Make no mistake. Better Schools Better Jobs is nothing more than an awkward and slightly better funded front for Democratic politics and their Initiative 42 should be looked at by voters under that exact lens.
If this were only about kids and parents and grass roots, the effort would be bi-partisan and it would try to be reaching some common ground versus seeking to get usurp legislative spending precedent to put billions in the hands of a local judge to allocate if they don’t like what happens under the Dome. This is about money and power and they’re trying to exert both from out of state folks who don’t give a rip about Mississippi kids attaining success (as long as they can get theirs on the way).
Magnolia Tribune
