A political action committee that wants to give parents tax credits or government vouchers to send their kids to private schools is playing a dominant financial role in GOP politics and legislative races this year.
New PAC filings due Tuesday show that Parents for Choice in Education has plowed about $60,000 into the state Republican Party over the past month and donated just more than $112,000 to legislative candidates, mostly Republicans.
"We support people and organizations that support our vision ... we support Utah parents and their right to choose the education that's best for their children," said Nancy Pomeroy, spokeswoman for PCE. "In order to get your vision out there, it takes some funds."
The Utah Education Association's PAC, often pitted against PCE in the school-choice debate, has spent about $64,000 on candidates this election year. Overall, it has received around $65,000, mainly in small donations from members, spent $128,000, and has a $232,000 balance, its PAC report states.
"I don't think money is the only factor ... we have thousands of members," said Vik Arnold, UEA government relations and political action director. The group opposes vouchers or tuition tax credits. "We think we're in good shape. I don't think we'll see the entire story on contributions and expenditures until after the election."
Overall, Parents for Choice took in nearly $363,000 this election year and has a $39,000 balance, its report states. Since mid-September, its main donors are listed as $20,000 from Park City resident and Overstock.com CEO Patrick Byrne, $50,000 from the Michigan-based school choice advocacy group All Children Matter, and $10,000 from D&E Development of Farmington.
Democrats, some of whom are supported by the 18,000-member teachers union, last week complained that Republican opponents were sending out several campaign mailers costing thousands of dollars. Some decried the mailers as negative campaign tactics that depicted half truths about the candidates' records, and said they were the work of Parents for Choice in Education.
Rep. Carol Spackman Moss, D-Holladay, was among those complaining. She had received about $2,000 in help from the UEA last August.
Her opponent, Sandy Thackeray, received more than $3,200 from Parents for Choice in October. The spending was for printing and postage, the PAC report states.
The fliers state they were funded by the Republican Party.
Parents for Choice has given some $60,000 to the Utah Republican Party since Sept. 16.
Thackeray last week said has received donations from the state Republican Party, in addition to Parents for Choice in Education, but added she is not beholden to donors.
GOP executive director Jeff Hartley on Tuesday said it takes direction from no one on how to spend. "We have a hard and fast rule: No one tells us where to spend our money," he said.
The money PCE gave over the last few weeks will go to pay for mailers for candidates and a statewide get-out-the-vote effort, he said.
Over last week and this week, the state GOP will mail out 300,000 pieces of mail for candidates, he said. In some heavily-Democratic areas, the Republican Party won't mail out a flier for one of their candidates because having the name "Republican" on the piece actually hurts their candidate. "In that case, we'll give a donation to the candidate and he sends out his own mailer," Hartley said.
As the Utah Education Association may criticize the state GOP and PCE, Hartley said: "I'm calling the UEA out. They recruit and support Republican legislative candidates in our (GOP) convention and our primary, but if their candidate wins our party's nomination, they abandon them. ... The UEA then only supports Democrats financially.
"We see Parents for Choice as an ally of ours," said Hartley. "The UEA is not looking to help any Republican candidates" even if they have voted for UEA positions in the past, he said.
The UEA spent about $30,000 on GOP primary races, Arnold said. It also gave about $5,000 to the Democratic Party and about $1,500 to the Republican Party.
More recent spending has been mostly on Democratic candidates.
Arnold says it has not pulled backing from any Republicans, though in one race, the UEA now has a dual endorsement for both the Democrat and the Republican they supported in the primary.
"Look at the entire picture," Arnold said of election year support. "You'll find it's a lot closer" to even for the parties.
PAC report reviews shows that PCE has given $58,600 to the Utah Republican Party, $50,000 of that money coming since Oct. 9th.
Including donations to Republican county parties and to the PACs run by the Senate and House leadership, PCE has given more than $71,000 to GOP groups this year.
The PAC gave $3,000 to Stuart Reid, a Democrat running for the Senate in Weber County. He is the only Democrat to get PCE money.
PCE has given cash to candidates, paid for printing of materials and paid for T-shirts. It has paid thousands of dollars to the Skybox restaurant at The Gateway, where selected candidates held volunteer meetings/dinners.
In some legislative races, PCE funding has been dominant. It gave Rep. Jim Ferrin, R-Orem, more than $8,000, by far the largest single contributor to his campaign outside of Ferrin's own donations. Ferrin lost a June 27 GOP primary race and won't be in the 2007 Legislature, but he once sponsored a school-voucher bill for parents who send their children to private schools.
Besides giving the Republican Party and GOP candidates together nearly $185,000 this year, the PAC has also paid for polling in legislative districts.
Both PACs say they'll continue working to get their word out before the Tuesday election.
E-mail: bbjr@desnews.com; jtcook@desnews.com