Charles Barron, the most anti-charter-school candidate in the Towns race, launches 'Parents for Barron'
Charles Barron. Courtesy Daniel Ross/thirteen.org
5:49 pm Mar. 22, 20123
In his second bid to unseat longtime Representative Ed Towns, Councilman Charles Barron has started a new group called "Parents for Charles Barron 2012," which touts his advocacy on behalf of public schools.
"We are mothers, fathers, grandparents and caretakers of children who range from babies to college students," says an unsigned release posted on Barron's campaign website.
The effort includes its own separate site, parentsforbarron.com, which so far contains three testimonials from public school parents, praising Barron's "integrity" and promoting his work to save P.S. 114.
Barron is hoping to distinguish himself as the most staunch supporter of public schools in the three-way race, and has criticized Towns' other primary challenger, Assemblyman Hakeem Jeffries, for supporting charter schools.
Jeffries' coalition includes a number of charter-school advocates, although he has at times sided with public-school supporters against the pro-charter education reformers. He was the named plaintiff on a lawsuit to deny Cathie Black a waiver to serve as schools chancellor, and was also involved in the effort to keep P.S. 114 open. (To wit: this Wall Street Journal story on the city's decision not to close the school quotes Jeffries, and makes no mention of Barron's work on the issue.)
The Parents for Barron site also includes a countdown clock to Election Day, which, as of this writing, stands at 96 days, 6 hours, and about 11 minutes.
Here's the full release:
New Organization “Parents for Charles Barron 2012″ Launches
March 17, 2012
Why We Support Charles Barron by Parents for Charles Barron 2012
We are mothers, fathers, grandparents and caretakers of children who range from babies to college students.
We support Charles Barron for Congress because Charles has proven to us that he will fight and ensure our children receive a well-rounded quality education, Early Intervention Support, daycare, after-school care, extra-curricular activities and low college tuition.
We support Charles Barron because when our children did not have a safe, well-kept park to play in, he advocated for us and secured funding for a brand new park for our children.
We support Charles Barron because when the NYC Department of Education was closing PS 114, Charles stood with us and fought alongside us in stopping the closing of PS 114.
We support Charles Barron because he support Public Education not privatization of our public schools.
We support Charles Barron because he is not bought and paid for by corporate interests intent on dividing our communities, disenfranchising residents, forcing small businesses to close and privatizing our public schools.
We support Charles Barron because when our elders need help, he is there for them.
We support Charles Barron for Congress because he has proven to us with his dedication and hard work that he is a tireless advocate and activist for us, our children, our elders and our community.
We support Charles Barron because he is the People’s Candidate.
Vote on June 26 for Charles Barron for Congress.
Typical of Charles Barron to run for Congress on an issue that has nothing to do with Congress. Public and charter school policies are made at the state and local levels, but then Barron has never let that get in the way of hearing his own voice. He really should listen to the old saying, "better to be quiet and let everyone think you're a fool than opening you your mouth and proving you're one".
Haha! Barron would be awesome to have as the D face in D.C.
He is an honest D who says what all Ds think.
The U.S. has spent 23 Billion dollars on wars in Iraq, Afghanistan & Libya that had NOTHING to do with making those countries safe for their citizens, only safe for U.S. corporations to come in and steal their oil and other resources.
Our children deserve quality public schools in our own neighborhoods, not charter schools a long subway ride away. We deserve for our tax dollars to be spent on our own neighborhoods and civilian-oriented education and housing, not for corporate military profiteers. Jeffries gets a lot of donations from hedge fund managers, charter school employees and real-estate lawyers, that shows you who will profit from his campaign.
Barron will bring our tax dollars home, not give them to Board of Education consultants, hedge fund investors in charter schools, real estate lawyers dismantling rent stabilization and gentrifying us out of the neighborhood and begging Ratner to use some of his tax breaks to build a teensy bit of affordable housing, pretty please.