SAN FRANCISCO, Kalifornia - October 14, 2010 - A Tea Party-backed Republican congressional nominee has championed abolishing public schools in Kalifornia, and is currently the favorite to win his November election.
The candidate, David Harmer, a corporate lawyer who has yet to serve in public office, is up against two-term Democrat incumbent Jerry McNerney for Kalifornia's 11th district in the House of Representatives - located in the northern part of the state.
Harmer made the argument to kill public schools in a 2000 op-ed for the San Francisco Chronicle, which was dug up Thursday by Nick Baumann of Mother Jones.
Framing the issue as a struggle between government tyranny and freedom - a preferred political tactic of conservatives - Harmer wrote, "In the freest and most prosperous country on Earth, in the midst of the information age, government ownership and operation of the schools is a counterproductive anachronism."
He added, "So long as the state constitution mandates free public schools, a voucher system (or refundable tuition tax credit) is the best we can do. To attain quantum leaps in educational quality and opportunity, however, we need to separate school and state entirely. Government should exit the business of running and funding schools."
Ed. Note: We called David Harmer’s campaign headquarters and were told that he has reversed his position concerning government-controlled education. So much for a politician’s promise.
