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| Molly Spearman - the 'phony Republican' running for State Superintendent of Education |
Spearman talks a lot about accountability, but her idea of accountability is an accountability to bureaucrats for compliance with massive rules and regulations that result in a one-size-fits-all system -- a system that is mediocre at its very best and is failing at least half of all South Carolina students who enter high school.
A real Republican supports accountability to parents for results.
Molly Spearman should be seeking the Democrat nomination. That is the party she has long-supported. In the following expose, Fairfield County GOP Chairman, Kevin Thomas, has exposed the imposter and her fraudulent campaign.
Spearman or Prosperity? Pick one because they don’t go together!
“Republican” Superintendent of Education candidate Molly Spearman is running in the wrong Primary.
Do you know her Democratic history?
The only reason she is running in the Republican Primary instead of the Democratic Party is because she has a better chance of winning as a Republican in this Republican controlled state. All constitutional offices and six of the seven congressional seats are held by Republicans.
Here are some examples of her Democratic credentials. She has a long history of supporting Democratic candidates:
- 2014- Superintendent of Education Candidate Rep. Mike Anthony
Spearman got Anthony to drop out of the race to prevent a Democratic Primary, therefore encouraging Democrats to vote for her in the Republican Primary. She will also use the political machine of the SC Association of School Administrators to help her campaign in addition to the administrators she represents in each and every community in the state.
http://www.thestate.com/2014/03/05/3307045/election-2014.htmlSpearman donated to these Democratic candidates
- 2013-Superintendent of Education Candidate Rep. Mike Anthony-$200 when he was the only announced candidate facing Republican incumbent at the time, Dr. Mick Zais.
- 2012- Sen Nikki Setzler $100
- 2012- Rep. Gilda Cobb- Hunter $100
- 2010- Superintendent of Education Candidate Frank Holleman III $750
- 2010- Gubernatorial Candidate Jim Rex $500
- 2010- Gubernatorial Candidate Vincent Sheheen $750
- 2010- Rep. Mia Butler $100
- 2008- Rep. Gilda Cobb-Hunter $500
- 2004- Superintendent of Education & US Senate Inez candidate Inez Tenenbaum $1000
Spearman who worked for Democratic Superintendent of Education Inez Tenenbaum after donating to her campaign saw her salary increase 22% in 2003 and it ended up being $98,699 as the agencies top lobbyist, so much for keeping more money in the classroom. Spearman was also anti- Jim DeMint when Tenenbaum ran against DeMint for the US Senate saying “The target her opponent used was that South Carolina was last in education in the country and didn’t say anything positive, which harmed the image of the state. I’m sure it was on the minds of a lot of people. It wasn’t Inez’s fault- that’s just politics. They didn’t have much to get her on, so they used the state’s SAT status.”
- She did wise up politically and make a donation to Governor Haley of $200 in March of this year when she decided to run and realized her democratic contributions would be scrutinized.
Spearman is for Taxing SC “Heavily”
- When Spearman was a SC State Representative she said “I don’t have any problem with it (Video Poker) as long as we tax it heavily.”
Spearman is against School Choice
- When Governor Mark Sanford refused to accept federal stimulus money in 2009, Spearman, as the Executive Director of the South Carolina Association of School Administrators filed a lawsuit against the Governor.
In an Op-Ed by Adam Schaeffer, a policy analyst with the Cato Institute, said Spearman had either “a complete disregard for the basic fact and research findings”, of a school choice tax credit bill he testified before the South Carolina Legislature “or an ignorance of those facts, resulting in errors big and small” He says her research appears to have consisted of calling someone in the Florida Department of Education to ask them why they thought academic achievement in Florida has increased.” Spearman apparently missed the official government study, conducted by academic researcher David Figlio at Northwestern University, which found the tax credit school choice program significantly improved academic achievement of PUBLIC schools. This study is consistent with 17 other studies that find private school choice programs improve public school performance.
When the School Choice bill for special needs children passed the SC House for the first time in 2012, Spearman, while serving as the Director of the SC Association of School Administrators, said “This isn’t going to do anything to improve our education in this state. At a time when we can’t fulfil our state requirement for public schools, we’re diverting resources to places where there is no accountability, where we aren’t sure the type of education students will receive.” This is another example of a lobbyist and former government bureaucrat thinking they know what is best for a student more so than the parent.
In 2011, Spearman wrote an editorial in The State newspaper titled “SC can’t afford fool’s gold of private school subsidies.” In this editorial, she argued that private schools wouldn’t accept students that the credits would help.” Several schools in the state are accepting special needs students now after the bill passed last year.
In an AP article on June 27, 2011 entitled “SC School leaders want to seek federal money”, Spearman said “There are things you say in a campaign, but the picture opens up when you get in office. You have to leave the campaign behind.” She is admitting you say one thing in a campaign and you do things differently when you are get into office.
Molly Spearman is a pro-stimulus “educrat” who supports increased spending in South Carolina
Fact: Spearman and the SC Association of School Administrators sued the State of South Carolina and Governor Mark Sanford to accept the $700 million in federal stimulus
Fact: Spearman applauded the judge’s ruling the South Carolina must accept the stimulus money. “Thank goodness for the people of South Carolina. He’s (Sanford) realizing that he’s going to lose and there’s no reason to try and delay this any longer.”
Fact: Spearman has attacked Superintendent of Education Mick Zais for not accepting federal education money. “We really feel that some very bad decisions are being made without the input of people who are on the ground in the districts.”
Fact: Under Spearman’s leadership, SCASA received $29,070 in taxpayers’ dollars in one month for consulting services from Superintendent Jim Rex’s Department of Education.
Molly Spearman’s timeline
- Democrat SC State Representative 1993-1995
- 1995 Switched from Democratic Party to the Republican Party (To make sure she got re-elected)
- “Republican” SC State Representative 1995-1999
- Lobbyist for the South Carolina Department of Education 1999-2004
When South Carolina Radio host Rocky “Rocky D” Disabato sued the SC Association of School Administrators for not turning over documents after submitting a FOIA, Spearman said “We feel strongly that our First Amendment rights as an association is to join together and be heard freely without harassment of FOIA is our protection.” Rocky D requested the documents because the SCASA receives taxpayer money through membership and professional development training with the school districts. Attorney General Alan Wilson submitted a brief supporting Rocky D’s case. The case was named the case of the month in October 2012 by the South Carolina Supreme Court. Mrs Spearman does not believe in transparency as she will not honor FOIA requests. The case is still in the courts.
- 2005-Present- Executive Director of the South Carolina Association of School Administrators
Fairfield County GOP Superintendent of Education Candidate Forum
Question - Common Core is an attempt by D.C. special interest groups and the federal government to herd children into one-size-fits-all national standards. States were coerced by the federal government into adopting the Standards resulting in an illegal federal takeover of education. The Common Core Standards have never been field-tested; were approved without a cost analysis; remove parental and local control; contain academically inferior content; include massive unfunded mandates and will lead to significant threats to student and family privacy. More than twenty states have legislation pending to repeal Common Core. This is the definition of Common Core from South Carolina Parents Involved in Education. What is your position on Common Core? Are you for or against it?
At the 22:35 mark on the YouTube video.
Spearman’s answer- “I’m supporting Sen. Mike Fair’s compromise bill S300, I know some folks believe Common Core should be replace immediately. The fact is you have to govern and we have many school districts, my own school district has already implemented common core and in order to keep learning going on in the classroom, I think Sen. Fair has come up with a good solution. His amendment would, does say that no data would be sent back to Washington, that should not be sent. It calls for the test to be changed and that decision to be opened up. I support that and the decision to use ACD and it gives better education and it also calls for a review for the standards every 5 years, it currently being 10. I believe that SC teachers should review the standards and we could go from there with those.
Question- Mrs Spearman- You served as a Democrat in the state house before you switched to the Republican Party and then served in the SC Dept. of Education under Democrat Superintendent of Education Inez Tennenbaum. You now serve as the Director of the SC Association of School Administrators, which some would argue is in affect a teachers union. With that background how do you expect to convince Republicans and especially conservatives to vote for you in the Republican Primary in June?
At the 30:37 mark on the YouTube video.
Spearman’s answer- “Well I grew up in Saluda County and I don’t know about you folks in the audience, back then, if you lived in South Carolina back them, Governor Edwards was our first Republican Governor, followed by Carol Campbell and even Strom Thurmond was a Democrat. That was what happened in my family, we were Democrats. I was elected, went to the statehouse and I saw that as things worked out, I aligned more closely with the Republican Party and I was very welcomed and encouraged to switch and I did that. Speaker David Wilkens, Lt. Gov Bob Peeler and a number of great Republicans were there to welcome me into the party that day and many others have switched since then and I am more aligned with them. In ’98 I rode the bus with Gov. David Beasley all across the state introducing candidates and I introduced David Eckstrom who was a Republican candidate for Superintendent of Education at the time, he did not win. I got a phone call from Inez Tenenbaum who did win. She was a Democrat, she said I want you to come work for me, I said Inez I didn’t even vote for you, I don’t know you. But she asked me to come and work for her, just like of the President of the United States I think invites someone to work on their staff, it’s our call to duty, so I did.”
When legislation was proposed to limit severance packages for district superintendents of education to one year she objected. Here is the story http://earlcapps.blogspot.com/2011/02/reining-in-school-superintendent.html
Here are the links with the google docs to back up these claims
I am not endorsing anyone in this race, but I cannot stand by and let the Democratic practices and history of a phony Republican go unnoticed by the Republican voters.Kevin S ThomasChairmanFairfield County Republican Party
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