Former Rep. Tom Malinowski’s newest campaign doesn’t involve Congress.
Instead, he is using his once-mighty campaign committee as a weapon to wield in the culture wars over public education.
Malinowski has filed papers with the Federal Election Commission to convert his re-election vehicle to a political action committee, Districts for Democracy, to counter efforts by conservative groups that want to restrict what is taught in public schools.
“School board elections are supposed to be nonpartisan,” Malinowski told NJ Advance Media. “They’re supposed to be what’s best for the kids and the schools. Instead, we have people importing Florida-style, Texas-style culture war politics and in the process making dishonest accusations against our teachers, accusing them of sexually grooming youngsters and teaching pornography in elementary school, none of which is true.”
Conservative groups such as Moms for Liberty and the New Jersey Project were active in last fall’s elections, reporting mixed results.
Malinowski — who was the top fundraiser among New Jersey congressional candidates in the midterm election, bringing in $9 million — said he would use his network to raise money to recruit candidates for boards of education to push back against efforts to restrict what can be taught or could be read in the public schools rather than leave it to the teachers.
He told the story of speaking before a Union County high school history class. When he was done, the teacher took him aside and told him that a parent pulled a child from the class because the lessons focused on the civil rights movement of the 1960s. The parent claimed the child was being taught critical race theory, Malinowski said.
“The goal here is to push back against the culture wars coming to New Jersey public schools,” Malinowski said. He bemoaned what he called political groups “stirring up resentment and anger against public school teachers and principals, trying to ban books, in a way I think could signifcantly hurt the quality of public education in our state.”
“I’m hoping to raise some support for the moms and dads and the kids who are fighting back,” he said. “A second-grade teacher does not sign up to be vilified in her community.”
Malinowski said his new group wasn’t going to blanket the airwaves with attack ads, but could help candidates by helping to fund newspaper ads, leaflets and other materials, and by acquiring voter data for the campaigns.
“It doesn’t cost a lot money but it does cost some,” he said.
Michael Gottesman, founder of the New Jersey Public Education Coalition, welcomed news of the new PAC.
“The other side has hundreds of millions of dollars being donated to them in the state of New Jersey,” he said, adding that his organization, a group of educators and citizens seeking to protect public schools from what they consider right-wing extremism, could never raise that kind of money on their own.
“We’ve been able to somewhat level the playing field by engaging people in the conversation, and educating them, and getting them to collaborate, but when you have millions of dollars on the other side, pushing out to media and getting people on national TV shows, there’s a limit to what you can do without the necessary funding,” Gottesman said.
But Gregory Quinlan, president and founder of the Center for Garden State Families, said board members have been beholden to teachers unions for yeara.
“Tom Malinowski’s rewriting history,” Quinlan said. “New Jersey school boards have been occupied by the education industrial complex in New Jersey for decades. Many of those who have held the lion’s share of school board seats in the past have had a vested interest in their own pocketbooks.”
“Malinowski’s money won’t change the outcomes that much. The seats we gained, and changed were done with no money or on a shoestring. Proving when it comes to a child’s education, parents aren’t interested in woke agendas, but focused on educating their child to succeed in life.”
Malinowski said he would help recruit and train candidates, and would focus on issues such as the learning loss from the coronavirus-forced school shutdowns and the mental health crisis facing teenagers. As chair of the National Governors Association, Gov. Phil Murphy made addressing youth mental health his signature initiative.
Malinowski said his group also would publicize efforts by board members to limit the curriculum and reading lists.
“Candidates who have been elected on these platforms need to be held accountable,” he said. “We want to shine a spotlight on what’s happening.”
A message seeking comment from Moms for Liberty of Morris County was not immediately returned Wednesday.
Malinowski lost his re-election bid last fall to Tom Kean Jr., R-7th Dist., in New Jersey’s hottest congressional race. He said he has not decided whether to run in 2024.
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Jonathan D. Salant may be reached at jsalant@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him at @JDSalant.
Tina Kelley may be reached at tkelley@njadvancemedia.com.
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