912 TN Endorsements

J. Lee Douglas, 912 TN President, has published his endorsements for the 2016 Williamson County School Board elections.

J. Lee Douglas at School Board Meeting Public Comment 1/20/15

Recall that 912 played a major role recruiting, coordinating, and supporting candidates in 2014. 912 TN President J. Lee Douglas, who later did a petition for the removal of Dr. Looney, saw the election of 2014 as an opportunity to “take” the school board. 912 had been diligently vetting and supporting school board and county commission candidates for several election cycles. Every single one of the winning challengers was endorsed by the 912 TN President, and five out of six (Dan Cash is the exception) were members of 912. 912 and their allies’ (including the Republican Women of Williamson County or RWWC) efforts were very successful in 2014.

Douglas indicated in a December 2015 Tennessean article that he planned to be involved with expanding the number and strength of 912’s representation on the WCSB. He had already endorsed Joey Czarneski, who is running against incumbent Anne McGraw in District 4.

This year, 912 TN has endorsed the opposite candidates in every case from those endorsed by the Williamson Business PAC and WillCo Rising PAC. Again, 912 TN’s endorsements completely mirror the Williamson County Homeschool Coalition’s endorsements.

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912 TN is not a registered PAC.

A note on our reporting: We plan to post the endorsements of active PACs (and other groups) in the county. We will note information that seems relevant, including but not limited to the type of group, their past and current involvement in school board and other politics, and the decision-makers of the group.

You may recall that the Tennessee Registry of Election Finance fined Williamson Strong for posting the 2014 endorsements of W-PACE, the PAC affiliated with the local teachers’ association. They considered that reporting on our Facebook page to be an endorsement (and thus a financial contribution) by Williamson Strong. We also reported on the endorsements made by the 912 organization. The Registry position on this is blatantly ridiculous—not to mention unconstitutional—and we are simply going to follow the law as they have applied it to every other group. There are a great number of news outlets (including every major print publication in the state) and blogs that report on endorsements by other groups; however, we found zero incidents (other than our case) in which the Registry concluded that noting whom another group endorsed is in itself an endorsement and therefore a contribution.

For more information about each district’s candidates, visit our Updated 2016 WCSB Election Roundup.