Eliminating the Department of Education

 This is Heather Cox Richardson's November 16, 2024, Newsletter Regarding President-Elect Donald Trump's Pledge to Eliminate the US Department of Education. https://open.substack.com/pub/heathercoxrichardson/p/november-16-2024?r=zf7p&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web

One of President-elect Trump’s campaign pledges was to eliminate the Department of Education. He claimed that the department pushes “woke” ideology on America’s schoolchildren and that its employees “hate our children.” He promised to “return” education to the states. 

In fact, the Department of Education does not set curriculum; states and local governments do. The Department of Education collects statistics about schools to monitor student performance and promote practices based in evidence. It provides about 10% of funding for K–12 schools through federal grants of about $19.1 billion to high-poverty schools and of $15.5 billion to help cover the cost of educating students with disabilities.

It also oversees the $1.6 trillion federal student loan program, including setting the rules under which colleges and universities can participate. But what really upsets the radical right is that the Department of Education is in charge of prohibiting discrimination on the basis of race and sex in schools that get federal funding, a policy Congress set in 1975 with an act now known as the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA). This was before Congress created the department.

The Department of Education became a stand-alone department in May 1980 under Democratic president Jimmy Carter, when Congress split the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare into two departments: the Department of Health and Human Services and the Department of Education. 

A Republican-dominated Congress established the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare in 1953 under Republican president Dwight D. Eisenhower as part of a broad attempt to improve the nation’s schools and Americans’ well-being in the flourishing post–World War II economy. When the Soviet Union beat the United States into space by sending up the first  Sputnik satellite in 1957, lawmakers concerned that American children were falling behind put more money and effort into educating the country’s youth, especially in math and science. 

But support for federal oversight of education took a devastating hit after the Supreme Court, headed by Eisenhower appointee Chief Justice Earl Warren, declared racially segregated schools unconstitutional in the May 1954 Brown v. Board of Education decision. 

Immediately, white southern lawmakers launched a campaign of what they called “massive resistance” to integration. Some Virginia counties closed their public schools. Other school districts took funds from integrated public schools and used a grant system to redistribute those funds to segregated private schools. Then, Supreme Court decisions in 1962 and 1963 that declared prayer in schools unconstitutional cemented the decision of white evangelicals to leave the public schools, convinced that public schools were leading their children to perdition. 

In 1980, Republican Ronald Reagan ran on a promise to eliminate the new Department of Education.

After Reagan’s election, his secretary of education commissioned a study of the nation’s public schools, starting with the conviction that there was a “widespread public perception that something is seriously remiss in our educational system.” The resulting report, titled “A Nation at Risk,” announced that “the educational foundations of our society are presently being eroded by a rising tide of mediocrity that threatens our very future as a Nation and a people.”

Although a later study commissioned in 1990 by the Secretary of Energy found the data in the original report did not support the report’s conclusions, Reagan nonetheless used the report in his day to justify school privatization. He vowed after the report’s release that he would “continue to work in the months ahead for passage of tuition tax credits, vouchers, educational savings accounts, voluntary school prayer, and abolishing the Department of Education. Our agenda is to restore quality to education by increasing competition and by strengthening parental choice and local control.”

The rise of white evangelism and its marriage to Republican politics fed the right-wing conviction that public education no longer served “family values” and that parents had been cut out of their children’s education. Christians began to educate their children at home, believing that public schools were indoctrinating their children with secular values. 

When he took office in 2017, Trump rewarded those evangelicals who had supported his candidacy by putting right-wing evangelical activist Betsy DeVos in charge of the Education Department. She called for eliminating the department—until she used its funding power to try to keep schools open during the covid pandemic—and asked for massive cuts in education spending.

Rather than funding public schools, DeVos called instead for tax money to be spent on education vouchers, which distribute tax money to parents to spend for education as they see fit. This system starves the public schools and subsidizes wealthy families whose children are already in private schools. DeVos also rolled back civil rights protections for students of color and LGBTQ+ students but increased protections for students accused of sexual assault. 

In 2019, the 1619 Project, published by the New York Times Magazine on the 400th anniversary of the arrival of enslaved Africans at Jamestown in Virginia Colony, argued that the true history of the United States began in 1619, establishing the roots of the country in the enslavement of Black Americans. That, combined with the Black Lives Matter protests in 2020, prompted Trump to commission the 1776 Project, which rooted the country in its original patriotic ideals and insisted that any moments in which it had fallen away from those ideals were quickly corrected. He also moved to ban diversity training in federal agencies. 

When Trump lost the 2020 election, his loyalists turned to undermining the public schools to destroy what they considered an illegitimate focus on race and gender that was corrupting children. In January 2021, Republican activists formed Moms for Liberty, which called itself a parental rights organization and began to demand the banning of LGBTQ+ books from school libraries. Right-wing activist Christopher Rufo engineered a national panic over the false idea that public school educators were teaching their students critical race theory, a theory taught as an elective in law school to explain why desegregation laws had not ended racial discrimination. 

After January 2021, 44 legislatures began to consider laws to ban the teaching of critical race theory or to limit how teachers could talk about racism and sexism, saying that existing curricula caused white children to feel guilty.

When the Biden administration expanded the protections enforced by the Department of Education to include LGBTQ+ students, Trump turned to focusing on the idea that transgender students were playing high-school sports despite the restrictions on that practice in the interest of “ensuring fairness in competition or preventing sports-related injury.” 

During the 2024 political campaign, Trump brought the longstanding theme of public schools as dangerous sites of indoctrination to a ridiculous conclusion, repeatedly insisting that public schools were performing gender-transition surgery on students. But that cartoonish exaggeration spoke to voters who had come to see the equal rights protected by the Department of Education as an assault on their own identity. That position leads directly to the idea of eliminating the Department of Education.

But that might not work out as right-wing Americans imagine. As Morning Joe economic analyst Steven Rattner notes, for all that Republicans embrace the attacks on public education, Republican-dominated states receive significantly more federal money for education than Democratic-dominated states do, although the Democratic states contribute significantly more tax dollars. 

There is a bigger game afoot, though, than the current attack on the Department of Education. As Thomas Jefferson recognized, education is fundamental to democracy, because only educated people can accurately evaluate the governmental policies that will truly benefit them.

In 1786, Jefferson wrote to a colleague about public education: “No other sure foundation can be devised for the preservation of freedom, and happiness…. Preach, my dear Sir, a crusade against ignorance; establish and improve the law for educating the common people. Let our countrymen know that the people alone can protect us against [the evils of “kings, nobles and priests”], and that the tax which will be paid for this purpose is not more than the thousandth part of what will be paid to kings, priests and nobles who will rise up among us if we leave the people in ignorance.”

Notes:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/education/2024/11/12/trump-close-education-department-proposal-explained/

https://www.chalkbeat.org/2024/11/15/trump-abolishing-education-department-may-hurt-students-with-disabilities/

https://www.washingtonpost.com/education/2023/09/26/home-schooling-vs-public-school-poll/

https://berkleycenter.georgetown.edu/responses/evangelical-homeschooling-and-the-development-of-family-values

https://www.npr.org/2020/11/19/936225974/the-legacy-of-education-secretary-betsy-devos

https://pulitzercenter.org/sites/default/files/full_issue_of_the_1619_project.pdf

https://glaad.org/moms-for-liberty-book-bans-anti-lgbtq/

https://www.edweek.org/policy-politics/map-where-critical-race-theory-is-under-attack/2021/06

https://www.chalkbeat.org/2023/4/6/23673209/trans-students-sports-participation-biden-title-ix/

https://www.newyorker.com/news/annals-of-inquiry/how-a-conservative-activist-invented-the-conflict-over-critical-race-theory

https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Jefferson/01-10-02-0162

https://www.reaganfoundation.org/media/130020/a-nation-at-risk-report.pdf

https://www.insidehighered.com/blogs/just-visiting/nation-risk-and-re-segregation-schools

X:

SteveRattner/status/1856816905379532870

DGComedy/status/1848389872165306824

Tom Nichols tells us we must stay engaged. He's right.

An aspiring fascist is the president-elect, again, of the United States. This is our political reality: Donald Trump is going to bring a claque of opportunists and kooks (led by the vice president–elect, a person who once compared Trump to Hitler) into government this winter, and even if senescence overtakes the president-elect, Trump’s minions will continue his assault on democracy, the rule of law, and the Constitution.

The urge to cast blame will be overwhelming, because there is so much of it to go around. When the history of this dark moment is written, those responsible will include not only Trump voters but also easily gulled Americans who didn’t vote or who voted for independent or third-party candidates because of their own selfish peeves.

Trump’s opponents will also blame Russia and other malign powers. Without a doubt, America’s enemies—some of whom dearly hoped for a Trump win—made efforts to flood the public square with propaganda. According to federal and state government reports, several bomb threatsthat appeared to originate from Russian email domains were aimed at areas with minority voters. But as always, the power to stop Trump rested with American voters at the ballot box, and blaming others is a pointless exercise.

So now what?

The first order of business is to redouble every effort to preserve American democracy. If I may invoke Winston Churchill, this is not the end or the beginning of the end; it is the end of the beginning.

For a decade, Trump has been trying to destroy America’s constitutional order. His election in 2016 was something like a prank gone very wrong, and he likely never expected to win. But once in office, he and his administration became a rocket sled of corruption, chaos, and sedition. Trump’s lawlessness finally caught up with him after he was forced from office by the electorate. He knew that his only hope was to return to the presidency and destroy the last instruments of accountability.

Paradoxically, however, Trump’s reckless venality is a reason for hope. Trump has the soul of a fascist but the mind of a disordered child. He will likely be surrounded by terrible but incompetent people. All of them can be beaten: in court, in Congress, in statehouses around the nation, and in the public arena. America is a federal republic, and the states—at least those in the union that will still care about democracy—have ways to protect their citizens from a rogue president. Nothing is inevitable, and democracy will not fall overnight.

Do not misunderstand me. I am not counseling complacency: Trump’s reelection is a national emergency. If we have learned anything from the past several years, it’s that feel-good, performative politics can’t win elections, but if there was ever a time to exercise the American right of free assembly, it is now—not least because Trump is determined to end such rights and silence his opponents. 

Americans must stay engaged and make their voices heard at every turn. They should find and support organizations and institutions committed to American democracy, and especially those determined to fight Trump in the courts. They must encourage candidates in the coming 2026 elections who will oppose Trump’s plans and challenge his legislative enablers.

After Barack Obama was elected president in 2008, then–Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell vowed to make Obama a one-term president, and obstructed him at every turn. McConnell, of course, cared only about seizing power for his party, and later, he could not muster that same bravado when faced with Trump’s assaults on the government. Patriotic Americans and their representatives might now make a similar commitment, but for better aims: Although they cannot remove Trump from office, they can declare their determination to prevent Trump from implementing the ghastly policies he committed himself to while campaigning.

The kinds of actions that will stop Trump from destroying America in 2025 are the same ones that stopped many of his plans the first time around. They are not flashy, and they will require sustained attention, because the next battles for democracy will be fought by lawyers and legislators, in Washington and in every state capitol. They will be fought by citizens banding together in associations and movements to rouse others from the sleepwalk that has led America into this moment.

Trump’s victory is a grim day for the United States and for democracies around the world. You have every right to be appalled, saddened, shocked, and frightened. Soon, however, you should dust yourself off, square your shoulders, and take a deep breath. Americans who care about democracy have work to do.

______________________________________

This is republished from The Atlantic Newsletter. You can subscribe here: https://www.theatlantic.com/newsletters/

Benton County Republican Party Pre-Endorsement Interview with Jerrod Sessler, December 2023

 

Members of the Benton County Republican Party Executive Committee
interview Jerrod Sessler, December 2023.

Before the Benton County Republican Party (BCRP) decided to endorse Jerrod Sessler for WA4 over the incumbent, Dan Newhouse, Annette Parrish Rose and Jerry Martin, of the Executive Committee interviewed him. This was just prior to their December 7, 2023, membership meeting. The interview covered a wide-ranging list of topics and lasted for approximately one hour.

The BCRP left the interview up on their BCRP Website. The result presents Sessler at his most candid, outside his rallies with like-minded Trump supporters.

Legitimacy of 2020 Election

Sessler makes it clear in his answers that he considers President Biden to be an “illegitimate” President. He also believes Biden is corrupt, and refers to payments to Biden from the Chinese, who allegedly rewarded him for promoting solar energy.  Sessler referred to a WH Press Conference about promoting solar power in Africa, and on Ghana's solar industry, as an example, pointing out [correctly] that China leads in solar panel production.

Role of Government

Asked about the role of government, he questioned whether the federal government had any role, and implied the existing government was “tyrannical.” Asked about the need for national defense, he went back to the Civil War and said the primary reason for that war was to preserve unity of the states, rather than slavery, and used this to justify the military having a "domestic role." He criticized today's military, saying it needed reform due to its “woke agenda.”

Capitalism

Sessler believes capitalism is by nature “selfish” and argues that for it to function properly and fairly, it must be “balanced by Christian values."

Taxes

Asked about the American tax system, Sessler said he favors the "Fair Tax System," with all taxes being paid "at the retail sale.” Further, he favors taxes being paid only at the state level, with states being responsible for funding the federal government.

Immigration

Sessler believes the problem with America’s immigration system is that the Executive Branch has too much power to shape it using policies geared to their particular constituency. He is critical of progressives, who promise “free stuff” to anyone coming through the border, including “cell phones.” He said there were currently no real limits on immigration or on immigrants. He brought up Henry Kissinger as someone who "immigrated from Germany and became Secretary of State.” [Kissinger emigrated to the United States in 1938 as a Jewish refugee fleeing Nazi persecution]

Education

Asked about the education of children in the US, Sessler said he favors abolishing the Department of Education, and leaving the determination of K-12 educational curriculum to parents in each state and school system.

Healthcare

Asked about Americans’ right to healthcare, Sessler recounted his bout with cancer, which he recalled as being "24 years ago,” and credited his diet, life style, and prayer with his recovery. He said people who don’t take care of themselves shouldn’t have their health care paid for by the government.

Energy

Sessler believes renewable energy alternatives are inherently inefficient and unreliable because they are, “Unthrottable” [I believe he meant non-dispatchable]. He referred to Leland Olds as a visionary, who realized that cheap energy would promote “human fruition.” [Olds was denied a third term as Chairman of the Federal Power Commission because some consider him too close to the Communist Party]

Sessler favors fossil energy and opposes the US “dictating” that Third World countries use renewable energy sources [see previous comment on Ghana]

Sessler said Washington State is a poor choice for wind energy because "it doesn’t have enough wind." He favors gas, and “micro nuclear” energy. Sessler opposes breaching the LSRDs and expressed his opinion that salmon recovery is “hogwash.”

Agriculture

Asked about agriculture in Washington, Sessler said he is a farmer. He said he had a variety of farm animals, "Including; cows," on "70 acres near the river.” He says he favors a “farm to table” agricultural system. Sessler said farmers are over regulated, especially when it comes to labor. He was critical of lodging requirements for farm workers.

Sessler said, “Environmentalists don’t want us to use water,” claiming that, "we have plenty of it." He blames "non-profits in Seattle," and "Olympia" for misleading us on water availability.

Transportation

Sessler talked about inflation when asked about the future of transportation in Washington. He said it cost him $277 to fill up his truck between north CD4 and Benton City. He suggested maybe we needed a "recess" that drive fuel costs down, but said there's too much money in circulation to make that work. He predicted a "recess" in 2024.

Environment

When asked what we should be doing to improve our environment, Sessler said, "Just enjoy it." He said America was the most environmentally friendly country in the world. He suggested that people should, "Create a spreadsheet to compare America to other countries on environmental categories; it's really quite interesting."

Sessler claimed that concerns over our carbon footprint is a marketing term to make us believe that fossil fuels are a problem. He said, "There is no such thing as fossil fuels."  He claimed it's a lie to make us believe that fossil fuels come from dinosaurs that existed millions of years ago. "The core of our Earth generates petroleum products. We have an endless supply," we can drill and frack, and with "our own human recipes" create what we need for our "fruition."

Sessler said that, "Carbon levels today are only .04%," and that's close to the minimum we need to grow things. "That's why we need so much fertilizer." He said that, "50 years ago it was something like 14 or 15 times higher…a radical difference that meant we needed less fertilizer."

Sessler claims being anti-carbon is "looney," and blames the "tyrannical government" for trying to trick us in order to take our tax dollars.

Sessler concluded his views on environmental issues by saying, "As christians, we need to be good stewards of the Earth."

Role in Congress

Asked his role as a congressman, he said to be, "A firebrand for conservative values."

Personal

Asked about himself, Sessler said he was an "abused child," who grew to be successful, had been married for 27 years, home schooled his two kids, and created a successful business. He decided to go into politics when Obama was reelected in 2012. He feels we are "facing a holy war, of good versus evil."

IS IT POSSIBLE FOR NEWHOUSE TO WIN RE-ELECTION IN 2024?

Dan Newhouse (L) versus Jerrold Sessler (R)

Introduction

The Washington State Republican Party (WAGOP) like the Benton County Republican Party and party faithful up and down the 4th Congressional District are out to get Dan Newhouse, ever since he had an attack of conscience and voted to impeach Donald Trump for Trump leading the seditious attack on the Capital, and American democracy. WAGOP and our Benton County Republicans have endorsed his opponent, Jerrod Sessler, a carpetbagger from Burien Washington, and a MAGA extremist, who ran unsuccessfully in 2021.

Sessler was the top vote-getter in the 2024 CD-4 Primary, and he and Newhouse, who came in second, will meet in the General Election in November. A lot of people are predicting that Newhouse will lose his seat to Sessler. Moderate Republicans and Democrats both, will be more than sorry to see this happen. Let's see how it can be prevented.

Background

Going into the 2024 General Election, Washington's Fourth Congressional District (CD-4) has 421,357 registered voters. Voters consistently vote for Republican candidates 65% of the time. Washington has a "top two" primary.

No democratic candidate made it through the primary, so two Republican Party candidates are running for the same office. One candidate, Jerrod Sessler, polled ~33% of the votes cast in the Primary, and the other, incumbent Dan Newhouse, polled ~23% of the votes cast in the Primary. A third Republican candidate, Tiffany Smiley, polled ~19% of the votes cast and thus didn't make it through the "top two" Primary.

Who is Smiley?

Smiley is an advocate for veterans, and a former triage nurse. In a previous campaign for Senate, Smiley said that she supports a law in her state guaranteeing the right to an abortion up to fetal viability. Smiley has said, “I’m pro-life, but I oppose a federal abortion ban.”

Smiley has not endorsed either candidate, Sessler, or Newhouse, in the race. Thus, there's a question about how votes for Smiley will be split in the General Election.

Analysis

A starting point for redistributing Smiley's votes is to assume that none of her votes go to Newhouse. Another possibility is that women who voted for Smiley because of her more moderate views on abortion, and because Sessler is "fiercely" anti-abortion, will switch their vote to Newhouse. Let's call that 20% of the Smiley vote. Finally, we can take an optimistic view and assume that together with women and more moderate Republicans, 35% of Smiley's votes go to Newhouse, leaving 65% to Sessler.

We have to account for the fact that there's a write-in candidate in the running. She's filed as preferring the Democratic Party. Her name won't appear on the ballot. But whatever write-in votes go to her will favor Sessler, since that'd otherwise go for the least onerous candidate, as they have in previous all-Republican elections, for example, 2014 and 2016 when Newhouse faced Clint Didier. 

 Let's start by assuming the turnout for the General election in this Presidential election year is typical, at ~80%. Then calculate the number of democratic voters that would have to vote for Newhouse to ensure his victory (data is drawn from the Washington State Secretary of State website).

1. Determine Total Voter Turnout:

There are ~422,000 registered voters, and 80% turnout is expected for the Presidential election year.

The total number of voters expected to participate in the General Election is:

Total voters = 0.8 × 422,000 = 337,600

2. Republican Voter Distribution:

The district consistently votes Republican 65% of the time, so 65% of the total expected voters will likely vote for one of the Republican candidates, Sessler or Newhouse, so:

• Republican votes = 0.65 × 337,600 = 219,440
• The remaining voters are typically Democratic
• Democratic voters = 337,600 − 219,440 = 118,160 

3. Primary Results and Vote Redistribution:

Newhouse received ~23% of the Primary votes, and Sessler received ~33%, and Smiley received ~19%.

In the General Election, the votes from Smiley will be redistributed in one of three ways:

1. 0% of Smiley's votes will go to Newhouse
2. 20% of Smiley votes will go to Newhouse
3. 35% of Smiley's votes will go to Newhouse

From Primary results, Smiley would receive ~19% of the votes, or  0.19 × 337,600 = 64,144

Then based on the above assumptions regarding vote redistribution:

1. Newhouse receives 0.00 x 64,144 = 00,000 [Sessler receives all 64,144 - 0 = 64,144]
2. Newhouse receives 0.20 x 64,144 = 12,829 [Sessler receives 64,144 - 12,829 = 51,315]
3. Newhouse receives 0.35 × 64,144 = 22,450 [Sessler receives 64,144 - 22,450 = 41,694]

4. General Election Vote Estimates:

Newhouse alone received ~23% of the votes in the Primary, which translates to the following General Election votes: 0.23 × 337,600 = 77,648

Adding the redistributed votes from Smiley for the three cases: Total votes for Newhouse, would be:

1. 77,648 + 00,000 = 77,648
2. 77,648 + 12,829 = 90,477
3. 77,648 + 22,450 = 100,098

Sessler received ~33% in the Primary, thus in the General = 0.33 × 337,600 = 111,408

Adding the redistributed votes from Smiley, Sessler's vote total would be:

1. 111,408 + 64,144 =175,552
2. 111,408 + 51,315 = 162,723
3. 111,408 + 41,694 = 153,102

5. How Many Democratic Voters Are Needed for Newhouse to win?

The vote gap between Newhouse and Sessler for each of the three scenarios is shown in the table below.

%	Newhouse	Sessler	Vote Gap
0	77,648	175,752	97,904
20	90,477	162,723	72,246
35	100,098	153,102	53,004

Since there are 118,160 Democratic voters in CD-4, the percentage of Democratic voters who need to vote for Newhouse to ensure victory ranges from:

1. 97,904 / 118,160 = .82 or 82%
2. 72,246 / 118,160 = .61 or 61%
3. 53,004 / 118,160 = .45 or 45%

In the last three CD-4 elections in which Democratic candidates ran, they received from 70,710 to 102,667 votes. That translates to 60% to 87% of the computed democratic voter population.

Conclusion

It is possible for Newhouse to win reelection, but only with strong democratic support and some redistributed votes from Smiley Primary voters.

A large vote for the write-in candidate will boost Jerrod Sessler's odds of unseating Dan Newhouse, thus aligning our district with the most extreme members of the House Freedom Caucus, that includes members like Jim Jordan, Matt Gaetz, Lauren Boebert, Paul Gosar, and Andy Biggs, and before she got tossed for an expletive-laced tirade against Boebert, Marjorie Taylor Green. Sessler would fit right in.

Suspension of Reality: A post from the blog, Certain Information

 The following take down of Jerrod Sessler, a Congressional candidate for Washington's 4th Congressional District, is taken from the blog, Certain Information. Photos were added.

 

Suspension of Reality

Sit back and enjoy the ride on the crazy train because this is going to be a doozy.

How does one approach the topic of Jerrod Sessler? Who is he? In short, he's a failed congressional candidate in the crowded 2022 primary. He could have faded into obscurity after being trounced and having spent a small fortune of his own money on the election to finish in 4th place. However, Jerrod is keeping himself busy. He's decided to run again for Congress in 2024. He has maintained an active social media presence. He's started a charity. He's involved himself with the Benton County Republican Party. 

Good stuff!

But let's look a little closer, shall we?

Jerrod's bio includes strong reliance on his "former-NASCAR driver" status and his "engineering degree." Both of those claims may be objectively true, but when I hear NASCAR I think of Jeff Gordon and Dale Earnhardt, not a defunct regional series. Hey, he's trying to appeal to the red-blooded Americans. Creating his own campaign-branded fire suit seems over the top, but hey, it's campaigning.

The engineering degree is quite simple. Jerrod claims to have "Manufacturing & Mechanical Engineering Degrees." Per Ballotpedia, his BA is from Kennedy Western University (Go Mighty Whatevers!). KWU is a defunct, non-accredited distance learning "university" that faced allegations of being a diploma mill and government scrutiny. It no longer exists. Does this mean Jerrod doesn't know the difference between hydraulics and pneumatics? I don't know. Would an engineering firm hire someone with a degree from a defunct, non-accredited, distance learning diploma mill? I don't know. We report. You decide.

As mentioned above, Jerrod launched his fledgling campaign with major cash infusions from his own coffers. He used those personal funds to send out misleading press releases claiming a lead in fundraising as a proxy for broad support from actual voters and donors. The same press release notes that his laughable campaign commercial has "garnered millions of views across platforms already." I find that unlikely, given that here we are nearly two years later and what would seem to be the main video content platform, YouTube, shows 16 thousand views on that particular video: If there are at least 1,984,000 views on another platform I will retract and apologize profusely.

Another early blunder was his search for campaign staff on Craigslist: The highlight here is this line:

"Sadly, due to our current woke-sheep culture, female candidates, although welcome, will need to demonstrate their commitment to the mission in writing and with references to protect the candidate from future false claims that could damage his reputation."

Oh, man. This prompted articles in the TCH and Yakima paper behind paywalls, but you can enjoy this write-up.

Of note, this incident could have been a violation of RCW 49.60.180 (Unfair Practices of Employers) which states it is an unfair business practice to “print, or circulate, or cause to be printed or circulated any statement, advertisement, or publication, or to use any form of application for employment, or to make any inquiry in connection with prospective employment, which expresses any limitation, specification, or discrimination as to age, sex…”. Mr. Sessler’s campaign subsequently deleted the ad and apologized.

Two years later and Sessler is back at it. I hope his bank account can take another hit because despite setting a goal of "breaking the all-time record of monthly recurring donations for a congressional candidate," Jerrod has raised a whopping $1,800 as of the March 31 filing. All this, while still reporting his own donations as campaign debt presumably to be repaid if he hits the fundraising lottery: Not sure this is the guy we want reigning in our national debt if his own campaign is out $500k.

Then, just last week, Jerrod Sessler was suspended from Twitter: Why might that have happened to such an upstanding citizen? Certainly, the vast-left wing staffers at Twitter must be responsible! Oh wait, this is Elon Musk's Twitter and even Jerrod has routinely praised Elon on Twitter. Yet, despite being a Christian and a family man, Jerrod seems to have broken an "abusive behavior" rule: Pity. I'm sure the world is missing out on top-notch political commentary from him: It's like Shakespeare losing his quill. Well, yet he who is without sin cast the first stone. It's not as if Sessler has any history of shenanigans...

Oh, except for when he allegedly made a threat to a county employee that he would get his gun and "deal with" him resulting in a stern rebuke from the three Republican county commissioners. He also got into a verbal altercation with Christopher Gergen, Loren Culp's campaign manager after a debate in Yakima that resulted in court proceedings. Can't say I fault Jerrod for that one though. The dude is suspect.

Everyone has bad days. What can we deduce from Sessler's other activities?

First, there is the confusing tale of where exactly is Jerrod from. (Note: all of the following information is public record, but some names and addresses are removed just to avoid accusations of doxing.) Jerrod claims to be a proud Prosserian. He built and moved into his Prosser home sometime around the 2018 purchase of the land and the 2022 construction [To date, no permanent building has been constructed; see photo below]. The timing is interesting as Sessler registered to vote at his future home even before he actually lived there all of which caused Kennewick City Councilman John Trumbo to challenge Sessler's voter status. While it was dismissed, Sessler ironically claims "election integrity" is one of his key issues. The property in question was purchased by RQ Bradley LLC in 2018 [Jerrod Sessler is the Governing Agent for RQ Bradley]. Approved building on the property occurred in 2022.

84009 West Old Inland Empire Highway, RQ Bradley LLC

So is Jerrod from Prosser or a carpet bagger from the westside who saw an opportunity to run for Congress? [Sessler was born in California in 1969 and move to Seattle in 1974] Records show he sold his Burien home in November of 2021: Quite the entrepreneur, Sessler has had nine different registered businesses where he is/was the governor including his congressional campaign LLC. Most were most recently registered to a Seattle or Burien address. Yet, even Hometask, his enduring Prosser business was registered at a Burien address as recently as 2021.

Lawsuits can be a part of life, especially in the business world. The courts are there to settle disagreements, so being sued is not in and of itself a sign of wrongdoing. Having said that, let's look at some cases.

In 2009, Jerrod was sued as part of his HomeTask business:

He had received a loan of up to $1.8 million of which $450,000 was actually dispersed:

No payments were received thus prompting the lawsuit:

Ultimately, the court ruled in favor of the Plaintiff and Sessler was on the hook for over $500,000 on the judgment:

In 2010, Sessler was also sued by Wells Fargo Bank:

This lawsuit was due to non-payment on a line of credit:

This matter was settled out of court and dismissed in August 2010.

Also in 2010, Sessler was sued by FIA Card Services, a credit card company, for approximately $40,000.  The case was closed and dismissed in October 2012.

Further, Jerrod has some deep thoughts on property taxes and the various regulations that drive them up. He sympathizes with "the turtles and the owls," but wants to "radically reduce property taxes." How radical of a reduction? Well, maybe all the way to zero given that he failed/declined to pay his own property taxes on the above mentioned property.

Meanwhile, back on the campaign trail...

As of the most recent reporting, Sessler appears to have trimmed back his massive spending spree that racked up his half-million-dollar campaign debt and only has one employee on the books thus far for the 2024 cycle. That individual is Illinois-based Christina Gerding:

All told, the Sessler campaign has paid Gerding $23,900 from November 2021 through March 2023. Who exactly is Christina Gerding?

Well, in 2021 she was charged with three counts pertaining to the January 6th debacle when she and her husband illegally entered the Capitol. (Unsure if, being a female, she provided a written commitment or references to protect the candidate from false allegations). This past January, both pled guilty and they await sentencing on May 16 (facing up to six months in prison and up to a $5,000 fine). We shall see if she maintains her volunteer coordinator duties for the Sessler campaign from the pokey.

Would any of this surprise or turn off Mr. Sessler? Unlikely. Famously, Jerrod was there in D.C. during the January 6th storming of the Capitol calling it just a "rally" and they were "set up." Sessler frequently blames the Capitol police and the FBI. Not, you know, the Proud Boys.

Jerrod Sessler, US Capital, January 6, 2021

 

This is an issue near and dear to Sessler's heart. In August of 2021 (months before Gerding was first paid by his campaign), he released a video from D.C. where he interviews a recently released detainee and exploits an interaction with the Capitol police for attention. Apparently, Sessler believes Gerding to be innocent and a victim of an Antifa/Deep State/Capitol police conspiracy and worthy of sympathy. Providing a remote job for an eastern Washington congressional campaign to an Illinois-based person charged with multiple federal crimes was the least he could do.

Whew. What else?

Well, there is that charity that Jerrod started, the Eastern Washington Help Line. The mission is to create a "community of freedom loving [sic] patriots who reach out to help each other rather than looking to big government for a handout with strings attached." A bit obscure of a mission but can't fault anyone for looking to strengthen community bonds and assist people without the use of the state. Nothing wrong with a new, fresh 501(c)4 out there. Nope, nothing wrong with that. Oh, but there is the minor issue that neither the Internal Revenue Service nor the Washington Secretary of State appears to have any record of an Eastern Washington Help Line.

Finally, Jerrod has apparently assumed a leadership role within the Benton County Republican Party as the chair of the PCO Training and Candidate Support Committee. I can't think of anyone else more qualified.

Indeed we do, Jerrod. Indeed we do.

Oregon Republicans Off the Ballot in 2024

https://www.politico.com/news/2024/02/01/oregon-supreme-court-gop-walkout-00139079?cid=politico_threads

The Oregon Supreme Court said Thursday that 10 Republican state senators who staged a record-long walkout last year to stall bills on abortion, transgender health care and gun rights cannot run for reelection.

The decision upholds the secretary of state’s decision to disqualify the senators from the ballot under a voter-approved measure aimed at stopping such boycotts. Measure 113, passed by voters in 2022, amended the state constitution to bar lawmakers from reelection if they have more than 10 unexcused absences.

Last year’s boycott lasted six weeks — the longest in state history — and paralyzed the legislative session, stalling hundreds of bills.

We call it the Constitution

I recently re-watched portions of the 2015 film, “Bridge of Spies,” starring Tom Hanks and Mark Rylance. In the film, Tom Hanks' character attorney, James Donovan, lectures an FBI agent, who claims that when it comes to the Soviet Spy, Rudolf Abel, portrayed by Rylance, “There’s no rule book.”

Donovan responds, 

“I'm Irish, you're German. But what makes us both Americans? Just one thing…: the rule book. We call it the Constitution, and we agree to the rules, and that's what makes us Americans. It's all that makes us Americans, so don't tell me there's no rule book — and don't nod at me like that, you son of a bitch.”

I wish Donovan were around to lecture Donald Trump and his cronies, and Republican congressional members, who continue to dismiss January 6 as a simple protest — expletive  included.