In Part 1 of this series, we examined how incumbent Eric Welch, the Republican school board candidate in District 10, has been a staunch defender of Williamson Strong, a group that is openly hostile toward conservatism.
As one of many examples of their contempt for conservatives, check out this screen shot from May 23, 2021, when the Williamson Strong co-founders announced on their site that they were “passing the baton” to others.
https://www.williamsonstrong.org/post/relaunching-williamson-strong
After wishing the new leadership the best of luck and pledging to support “Williamson Strong’s continuing mission,” they couldn’t resist taking a parting shot at what they called the school board’s 2014 “takeover by political extremists…,” ominously warning that “a handful of whom still hold their seats.”
- Next they graciously offer to connect the dots for us, with this knee-slapping assurance: “the goal is not to sway anyone to one side or the other.”
SIDE NOTE: The “Kim” referenced here is Kim Henke, who serves on the Williamson County Election Commission. That’s right, she helps oversee the voting process and election integrity in Williamson County. For quite a while she served concurrently on the election commission and in leadership with Williamson Strong, though now she and the other co-founders claim to just be “supporting” Williamson Strong’s mission, whatever that means.
Nothing has really changed over the years with Kim’s views of conservatives and traditional values. In this Sept. 18, 2014, email to then-WCS superintendent Mike Looney, she laments the new conservative school board members’ “politically-charged agenda items,” which she identifies as “Chairman selection, Common Core, curriculum, textbook selection, Christian values, Christmas, etc.”
- Wow. Christian values and even Christmas are “politically-charged” to Kim. Bah humbug.
In Part 2, we established that there is an undeniable connection between Williamson Strong, which has endorsed Eric for school board, and the union-affiliated “Strong Schools, Strong Communities” national movement.
- This is the same group that purchased thousands of Facebook “likes” to make it appear that Williamson Strong had far more support in Williamson County than really exists.
The false-likes scheme was exposed when the organization’s Facebook page miraculously skyrocketed to nearly 5,000 “likes” in a week, and the city with the most engaged Williamson Strong Facebook fans turned out to be Istanbul, Turkey.
“When we first started the page, we bought advertising (translation: click farms) on the Facebook page to promote it and got a lot of ‘likes’ from Turkey, of all places,” Williamson Strong co-founder Jim Cheney told Brentwood Home Page (072814) when the truth became impossible to hide. “It certainly doesn’t help credibility, but it wasn’t intentional.”
I can’t imagine it would be intentional to publicly list Williamson Strong’s “most engaged” as coming from Istanbul, but those are the risks an organization takes when it tries to buy its way to being liked.
Jim must have hated to admit this, but the alternative was to try to sell the public into believing there was a large contingent of Turks on the other side of the world who were enthusiastic about what Williamson Strong is doing here in Williamson County.
Notice how, before the truth came out, Williamson Strong co-founder Jennifer Smith proudly touted in a June 25 post, “Our Facebook page is close to 5,000 ‘likes’ in under a week.”
When Sibyl Bass Reagan, co-founder of Sumner County’s Strong Schools, expressed support for Williamson Strong in a Facebook comment, Jennifer wrote, “We are learning by your great example.”
Yes, there’s a lot that can be learned from the “great example” of Strong Schools in Sumner County, especially from another one of the organization’s co-founders, Andy Spears, who also is head of the Tennessee Education Report.
Andy is just a regular “grassroots” guy and a very busy fellow, looking out for the best interests of students, parents, teachers and administrators—and doing his part to unify our schools—by writing articles such as, “When Are Teacher Strikes Coming to Tennessee?” (Tennessee Education Report):
“Teachers in West Virginia, Arizona, Oklahoma, Kentucky, and Los Angeles have experienced some level of success in recent strikes. Teachers in Virginia were on strike today. These strikes have earned the support of parents and community members and have yielded tangible results both in terms of new investments in schools and increased political power for teachers.”
- What better way to make our schools Strong than through teacher strikes, new taxes and increased political power?
When one of the comments pointed out that teacher strikes are illegal in Tennessee, Andy replied, “Yes, striking is technically illegal.”
- Why let a little technicality like statutory law get in the way?
Oh, and according to the Tennessee Star, Strong Schools co-founder Andy Spears has links to a left-wing organization that received funding from George Soros.
It’s worth repeating this quote, referenced in Part 2, from an April 7, 2019, article in Tennessee Star about Strong Schools in Sumner County and Williamson Strong:
“While ‘strong schools’ organizations present as developing organically out of a local need to support schools, particularly with a view toward additional funding, an internet search will reveal that the moniker is used in various places around the country, and using similar messaging.”
As we noted in Part 2, Eric claims it’s a “ridiculous falsehood” and “malicious lie” that Williamson Strong is part of “some grand national scheme.”
- He also says that no proof exists of this. If that’s the case, how does Eric explain all the evidence that clearly demonstrates otherwise?
In reviewing his Facebook comments to me (below), it’s worth pointing out a couple of things and asking an important question.
FIRST, beyond Eric’s adamant denial that Williamson Strong is anything other than a local parent group—and the evidence presented in Part 2 and Part 3 which shows his claim does not comport with reality—I’m struck by how he seems to think that participation in extracurricular/volunteer school activities is the criteria for someone to ask a policy question of a candidate (see Part 1).
Eric appears to have the misguided belief that the only people who could possibly be concerned about the children in our community, and what they are taught, are WCS parents and/or volunteers. Taxpayers who don’t currently have children in WCS should have no say about public school policies or what is taught there. That is flat-out wrong.
SECOND, Eric is puzzled about how I came to the conclusion that he doesn’t listen to parents, and he seems genuinely mystified as to the identify of these “so-called parents.” As the District 10 incumbent in the 2014 race, his loss to Dr. Beth Burgos should provide an important clue to their identify—they are voters in his district. If she hadn’t relocated out of state, Beth Burgos likely would still have the school board seat he currently occupies.
- If Eric is so respectful and responsive to parents with all points of view, and such a good listener, why does he think he lost that race?
THIRD, as we approach a very important election, a key question for District 10 voters is:
Can we find common ground and solutions to the problems our schools face with a person like Eric Welch in leadership?
While his involvement in WCS activities is commendable, I suspect most parents are more interested in the policies their school board member supports, his or her values and what their children learn in class, than whether a school board candidate worked the concession stands, attended band recitals or cheered on a team.
- What I have not heard from Eric is a distancing of himself from the many leftest endorsements he’s received, including conservative-bashing Williamson Strong and, in 2014, the Williamson County Democratic Party.
I would be embarrassed to be a Republican candidate with so many endorsements from liberals who apparently like his voting record and share his ideology, but Eric doesn’t seem to mind a bit.
- In fact, he seems downright comfortable with the left.
I also would be embarrassed if I were the GOP officials who certified his candidacy as a Republican.
Unless, of course, they support mask mandates and hiring diversity consultants. Perhaps they agree with WCS using curriculum that many consider to be age-inappropriate and psychologically harmful—and which a new lawsuit, filed by a nationally recognized constitutional attorney, alleges is in violation of Tennessee laws prohibiting the teaching of Critical Race Theory and Common Core.
Maybe these GOP officials secretly gloat over Williamson Strong’s ad hominem attacks on true conservatives in our community. But that’s a topic for another time.
Based on the evidence presented in this three-part series, it seems inescapable that Eric is either woefully ignorant of the facts surrounding Williamson Strong, or for years has been knowingly dishonest in his claims about Williamson Strong.
Either way, it’s not a good situation for our community.
- Perhaps Eric feels he owes Williamson Strong his allegiance for the group’s offer to help with his 2014 campaign and endorsement of him in the 2022 race.
- Perhaps he’s a victim and is being manipulated by outside influences to promote a leftest agenda in our schools without really grasping the consequences of his actions.
- Or perhaps—given his political views, school board voting record and endorsements—Eric Welch is a RINO and far more ideologically aligned with the left’s beliefs, values and mission than he wants Republican voters to know.
Don Beehler
Guest Post
