The recent victory of Ras Baraka in the mayoral race in Newark was truly a people’s victory.
The central issue was the future of Newark’s schools, which have been under state control since 1995.
Baraka was opposed by a charter school supporter named Shavar Jeffries, who was bankrolled by out-of-state hedge fund managers, Democrats for Education Reform, and other Masters of the Universe.
Blogger Darcie Cimarusti, aka Mother Crusader, decided to deploy her extraordinary research skills to find out where the money came from.
Darcie was able to get the latest available financial disclosure forms that list the contributors to both candidates.
She determined that Jeffries outspent Baraka by 8-1.
Education Reform Now’s Super PAC kicked in $3, 050,000.
Michael Bloomberg added $400,000.
Other financial moguls brought the total to $4,779,040.
After she listed the financial filings, names and locations, she made the following startling point:
“I hate to belabor a point, but once again, not a soul from Newark. Instead, huge donations rolling in from Greenwich, CT; Boca Grande, FL; Denver, CO; and San Francisco, CA.”
But what about those unions. How many times have critics complained that the unions outspend everyone else?
New Jersey unions spent a grand total for Baraka of $31,450. Of that total, $450 came from the Newark Teachers Union.
The Working Families Alliance, which includes unions, spent $400,000 for Baraka.
The national AFT added $93,000 for Baraka.
The total spent for Baraka by unions and others: $604,211.
The total spent for Jeffries by his supporters on Wall Street, Greenwich, Ct.; Boca Grande, Florida; Denver; and San Francisco: $4,779,040.
Yup, Jeffries outspent Ras Baraka by 8-1.
What’s the point?
Baraka’s victory was a big setback for corporate reformers.
Democracy can beat Big Money.
Newark finally has a mayor who will fight for its people and its children, and who will stand up to the plutocrats instead of joining their club.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
Diane, I hope NPE will consider an endorsement of Ed Fitzgerald for Governor on Ohio. Kasich has been disastrous for public ed. We are really hurting. Fitzgerald has come out with a six point plan for ed which includes a stronger voice for teachers and an end to high-stakes testing.
Katie,
Is there a link for contributions? Diane Ravitch Blog readers are known for their generosity.
http://www.edfitzgeraldforohio.com/news/2014/fitzgerald-announces-six-education-principles/
This page discusses his 6 pt Ed plan. It’s a start 🙂
He came out here campaigning and I went up to him after and told him public school parents want to hear about funding, because that’s what public school parents say here.
No one requests teacher evaluations or A-F grades or charter schools or vouchers or additional data points to analyze schools. Every single engaged parent knows they cut funding.
I don’t know if he was receptive or not. I didn’t really get any “read” from him. If he could highlight how each specific public school has lost funding and added endless mandates, he could run on that all by itself. They know they’re replacing state support for public schools with bond issues and levies. All it’s going to do is make inequitable funding worse.
Money is easy to explain, and since that’s what they’re actually worried about, he’d have an advantage over vague notions of “choice” or “excellence” and the old reliable fallback: teacher and union-bashing. He doesn’t need to persuade pundits or newspaper editorial boards with ed reform theories. As far as I’m concerned, they’re completely captured anyway. He needs to address the issue parents actually understand and care about, which is not educational theory but funding.
I hate to rain on the parade. Newark is $93 million in the red. Christie has threatened a State takeover of the city’s finances. The One Newark Plan is alive and well. Anderson has announced the elimination of 500 positions in September. Randi was in Newark twice last week. She endorsed Baraka and she visited a school scheduled for closing that produced more student growth than the charter that is slated to replace it. Did Randi do anything for the teachers? Nothing. The AFT contribution to the Baraka campaign is a pittance compared to the millions Randi has accepted from Bill Gates. Maybe someone with time on his hands could run a total of those numbers. Coincidentally, Baraka confessed in the New Yorker article to supporting the elimination of tenure and other deformy platitudes. Baraka won a well deserved victory over the Essex County Democratic machine and hedge fund millions. People in Newark are fed up with outsiders coming in and calling the shots for their children and their city. They are living the daily reality of street shootings of young people, gangs, drug entrpreneurs and corruption. Winning an election is one thing. Governing a troubled city is quite another.
All of your points are valid and should be taken seriously. Particularly this one: “Coincidentally, Baraka confessed in the New Yorker article to supporting the elimination of tenure and other deformy platitudes.”
Really? I hope that was taken out of context or simply misunderstood. That’s a pretty horrifying “coincidence”.
Then again, I’ve worked for politicians who feel that they have to have at least “one position” where they clearly disagree with “the positions of (Fill In The Blank Interest Group) to demonstrate that they “aren’t in anyone’s pocket.” So maybe it falls into that category? We can only hope.
BUT—and this is a crucial point—if The Privatizers didn’t feel that it mattered who won the Newark mayoral election, would they have come up with all of those millions to keep it in the hands of a Cory Booker Wannabe?
Clearly, whoever holds that office DOES have a lot of power and influence and can delay, alter, or even end the “One Newark” plan in the months or years to come.
And, maybe more importantly, he can use the bully pulpit and help turn public opinion against it.
Again, it may not provide a “pulling of the plug” for these detestable privatization programs—particularly in the short term—but Baraka’s election WILL make things better in Newark in the long run, or, at a minimum, stop the bleeding and keep them from getting any worse. And that’s something to celebrate.
This election didn’t “end” anything; it was a beginning. And, if you truly are against the privatization of public schools, wouldn’t you be feeling much WORSE today if the other guy had won? (I know I would.)
Steve kornacki discused this on Up on msnbc. I still do not understand why they do not book educators to talk about education issues.
Hi Worried!
No one is interested in the views of educators except blog readers like you and me.
Don’t forget what the MS stands for in MSNBC…
You can only hope that Baraka can rise above all this. But Bob Braun is unfortunately probably correct, when he wrote that his isn’t over. The corporate machine will do whatever they have to stop Baraka (the way they did deBlasio).
You are on the money Allison. The Essex County powers that be and the North Ward boss are not going to relinquish their grip.
Don’t give up hope and do not stop fighting. This mayor race was one battle. The war will be long and it will be dirty but all wars are. Dig in and think of Ras Baraka as one of our generals in this war. Let’s hope he turns out to be a Patton.
This 8 to 1 spending almost exclusively by Outsiders reminds me of something Retired Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens discussed recently in regard to comments made by a current Justice who said local politics will not be affected by Outside money because most funding is local! He thought outside influences may be destroying our Democracy with huge amounts of money to buy votes. Is there some way to send this information to the Justices so they can see their beliefs may be incorrect?
Diane, THAT is so very ENCOURAGING! Thank you for sharing this information. Kas Winters
You forgot me! I gave Ras’s campaign $100 when he came to speak in Washington DC at Busboys and Poets! My outside contribution tipped the scale!