PACs contribute to school board candidates, providing unfair advantage

It was a familiar scene in the mailboxes of Whitnall School District residents this year - a polished campaign advert emblazoned with conservative slogans and the fine print "paid for by 1776 Project PAC. Not authorized by any candidate or candidate's agent or committee." This year it was for Whitnall School Board candidates Sean Flynn and Rhonda Perry. Last year a similar flier was mailed out for candidate Cassie Rainer, who won the election in 2023 and is now Whitnall School Board Vice President.

The fine print on the mailer means that the PAC paid for it, but they never actually coordinated in any way with the candidate. This is what's known as independent expenditure. This means the group does not have to report the money it spends as a contribution to the candidate, and it is therefore not subject to the contribution limits established for that office. Depending on the size of the school district, that contribution limit can be fairly small. For a district the size of Whitnall, the contribution limit per candidate from a PAC would be $400 per candidate. Since 1776 wanted to support both Flynn and Perry, they would normally have been limited to $800. The cost of printing and postage for a single flier to all residents in a district that size could easily cost a few thousand dollars. So a traditional candidate contribution would not cover the total cost of the flier. But by using the independent expenditure method, they were easily able to cover the full cost of the mailers for Flynn and Perry without the candidates having to spend a single dime.

Of course the 1776 Project PAC isn't only endorsing Whitnall candidates this year. The group sent out fliers for 24 candidates across Wisconsin, spending about $49,000, according to a report by the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. The fliers for Waukesha candidates look much the same as the Whitnall candidates, with changes to names and text to reflect specific platforms.

And that's not where the 1776 Project PAC's spending stopped. They also sent out text messages to school district residents supporting these Wisconsin school board candidates, including Whitnall's Flynn and Perry. According to the same report by the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, 1776 spent more than $10,000 on these text messages.

What is the 1776 Project PAC anyway? It's a nationwide extremist group whose priorities include abolishing the teaching of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) and gender identity. Its foothold is strongest in Wisconsin, which is not surprising since it's funded by Wisconsin billionaire Richard Uihlein. It's made its way into a number of suburban school districts in Wisconsin, but with Whitnall, it would be the first Milwaukee County school district take-over if Flynn and/or Perry win in April 2023.

The problem with all of this PAC spending is that school boards are supposed to be non-partisan. When candidates accept unlimited, independent expenditure contributions from PACs and political parties, not only does it give them an unfair advantage, but it can also unfairly influence the candidates as well as the voters in the community. At Whitnall, Flynn and Perry's opponents, Sarah Blonsky and Quin Brunette, have not accepted campaign support or endorsements from any special interest groups or political parties. They have only accepted money from individual donors (which is subject to limitations) and spent thousands of dollars of their own money on their campaigns.

Let's stop the practice of allowing independent expenditure by PACs and political parties, at least at the local level. Maybe then we can level the playing field, keep extreme politics out of local races, and make school boards non-partisan again.