3 Champaign school board candidates accused of pursuing extremist agenda

Mar. 28—Programming note:

Tune in at 9 a.m. Wednesday to WDWS 1400-AM/93.9-FM for our first live, two-hour radio forum — featuring Champaign incumbent mayor Deb Feinen and challengers Don Gerard and Azark Cobbs. Hosts: Brian Barnhart and Jeff D'Alessio.

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CHAMPAIGN — The nonpartisan Champaign school board election has taken an overtly partisan turn, with a messaging campaign from the state Democratic Party linking three candidates with "an extremist political agenda."

Two of the three, Jeff Brownfield and Mark Thies, said they saw the texts that have been circulating after several people forwarded them, and they have no idea why they've been targeted as extremist. The third, Mark Holm, speculated that "obviously, stuff I said struck a nerve."

The text campaign appears to have originated with the Democratic Party of Illinois, which is encouraging voters to reject Brownfield, Thies and Holm in favor of Jamar Brown, Elizabeth Holder, Amy Armstrong and A.J. Zwettler.

"Extremist conservatives are running for local school and library boards," the party said. "Many of them support harmful measures including banning books, blocking full-spectrum sex education, teaching revisionist history and ignoring public health."

The organization also contended that the education of children is at stake "with the financial backing of conservative dark money."

What dark money, Brownfield and Thies wondered.

Brownfield said he's raised about $140 in total contributions, and Thies said he's raised about $400, with both candidates saying the contributions came from friends and family. Both said beyond that, they've paid for campaign expenses out of their own pockets.

A March 23 news release posted by the Democratic Party of Illinois said the organization was releasing details of its "unprecedented effort to prevent extremist conservatives from implementing regressive platforms on school and library boards throughout the state."

The group said it identified 84 recommended and 74 opposed candidates in school and library board races across the state, after doing an extensive analysis of over 500 districts.

"Opposed candidates include those affiliated with extreme national conservative groups as well as those aiming to implement anti-equality, anti-truth agendas in their districts," the release states.

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The organization also said its unprecedented plan would include mail and digital advertising sent to a base of Democratic voters in target districts, "reaching hundreds of thousands of individuals and households in Illinois."

Holm said he's being slandered, and he's consulted attorneys to see if any are willing to take on the state Democratic party.

"I'm pro-family, pro-teacher, pro-community, and they don't like that," he said.

Brownfield said he was surprised and frustrated after seeing the shared texts, because he doesn't know why he's being accused of being extremist.

"It would be nice if they'd at least say what I'm extremist about," he said.

He's talked extensively with parents of all skin colors and socio-economic backgrounds, Brownfield said, and none of them had concerns about their children being educated alongside kids of other races and economic status. What they were concerned about was the possibility that their kids would be forced to change schools, he said.

Thies said the messages disappointed him.

"I thought the school board was supposed to be nonpartisan," he said.

Brownfield and Thies both said they support making sure students are being taught foundational skills in reading, writing, math and science.

Thies also said he's addressed the topic of banning books multiple times, and made it clear that he's opposed.

"We would have to trust that we have professional librarians that are going to select age-appropriate books," he said.

And ultimately, Thies said, it's up to parents to make sure their kids are reading materials they'd consider age-appropriate — though, he also said, "these kids have access to phones and can get anything they want, so let's not be naive here."

About the text-message campaign encouraging voters to reject him, Thies said, "it's really all false rumors about my platform and my goals. I've had one agenda, to make Unit 4 stronger, because I've always believed strong schools make strong communities."

Brownfield said the district needs to support its teachers, hire more and better teachers and pay teachers enough to retain them.

There's no reason any political party should be involved in the school board race, he said.

Holm said he supports community involvement, and he also isn't in favor of banning books. He does think reading materials in schools should be age-appropriate, he said.