- by Jon Paone
-
- Christian Coalition executive Director Ralph Reed has long claimed that it is more
important for his organization "who sits in the principal's office, not the oval office."
Judging by the recent school board elections in Merrimack, NH, and previously in Lake
County, FL, Reed may soon have neither.
-
- On May 14, 1996, in the largest turnout for a school board election in the history of the
city, the citizens of Merrimack voted decisively to end the divisive reign of the Christian
Coalition. Rosemarie Rung, running for an open school board seat, soundly defeated
religious right candidate Ginny Cadarette by an astounding 2-1 margin just two years after
religious political extremists had gained a 3-2 majority. Ms. Rung's victory ensured
Interfaith Alliance member Ken Coleman the chairmanship of the School Board.
-
- Cadarette ran on a platform that supported the board majority's efforts to initiate school
prayer, mandate the teaching of scientific creationism, prevent access to the Internet,
remove guidance and psychological counseling services from the public schools and
implement an anti-gay policy. Rung's campaign rejected the Christian Coalition's agenda
of peripheral "hot button issues" and voiced her determination to return to the "real
business of operating our schools wisely and efficiently."
-
- This is not the first time that a concerned community, caught flat-footed by the stealth
tactics of religious political extremists, has responded with a successful grassroots
campaign. Interfaith Alliance member Randy Wiseman of Lake County FL and a self
described "Republican and conservative Christian" set out to regain his local school
board from the control of the Christian Coalition.
-
- In the name of "family values", this school board had returned Head Start money to the
federal government unspent; attempted to ban the books of children's author Shel
Silverstein; mandated the teaching of creationism in science classes; and altered the
curriculum to reflect their view that all other countries and cultures are inferior those of
America. Jim Eustis, leader of a group of moderate Republicans, pointed out that all the
school board seems to "care about is homosexuals and pro-life."
-
- Wiseman, backed by an energized coalition of teachers, administrators, and parents,
running on a platform of real improvements in the quality of education, won the four-way
primary with 42% of the vote, while the Christian Coalition candidate earned a spot in the
runoff with 28%. In the runoff Wiseman won in a landslide as he garnered 70% of the
vote. Wiseman attributes his electoral success to his coalition's hard work of increasing
voter turnout, and his determination not to back down to the tactics or agenda of the
Christian Coalition.
-
- The pattern that seems to be developing in these and other communities is that the
Christian Coalition thrives in low turnout elections. They usually find these low turnout
atmospheres in school board and local races, where their candidates are unknown
challengers who never speak of their allegiance to the national political agenda of the
Christian Coalition.
-
- In the Fall of 1995, the Washington State Interfaith Alliance took the first steps towards
countering these deceptive and biblically suspect stealth tactics by publicly challenging all
local candidates to sign a pledge of "Fair Campaign Practices." The Alliance then
distributed to voters the results of who signed then pledge and who refused. All those who
refused to sign this pledge lost their election.
-
- Following her election this past month in Merrimack, Rosemarie Rung issued this warning
to communities around the country, "In Merrimack it took just two elections for them to
gain control by stealth tactics. We then suffered through two years of furious attacks on
our schools, and complete inattention to education. Never allow the merchants of fear and
hate to infiltrate your town."
