Statements made regarding conservative skeptics of SB 1, the pending school choice legislation in the Pennsylvania legislature, at the 2011 Pa. Leadership Conference has those skeptics seeing blue.
An email blast sent by Lisa Esler of the Delaware County Patriots notes that critics of SB1 were not represented on a panel aimed at discussing the bill and that those on the panel were insulting to the critics and painted a false picture of their motives.
Mrs. Esler, in her email, said that Matt Kibbe of Freedomworks called the critics “bedwetters” while State Sen. Jeff Piccola (R-15), who is one of the authors of the bill, implied that racism was what was driving them.
The truth is that the Tea Party groups who are criticizing SB1 are for the most part strong supporters of school choice. Their objections to the bill are not that it helps kids from destitute families in failing school districts but that it fails to help struggling families in overrated suburban districts who may have a child stuck for a year with one of the many incompetent, union-protected teachers that fill those districts.
These Tea Party groups are filled with people who strongly supported helping destitute “inner-city” kids escape bad schools when it “wasn’t cool” so it is a rather serious smear to accuse them of racism.
Mrs. Esler also noted that unlike other panels, questions regarding SB1 were pre-screened.
The conference, held April 9, brought A-list conservative speakers to the Radisson Penn Harris Hotel and Conference Center in Camp Hill including Dr. Charles Krauthammer, Sen. Pat Toomey, columnist John Fund and activist Herman Cain.
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