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SALT LAKE CITY (AP) -- An infusion of out-of-state money is raising the profile and influence of the Utah political action committee Parents for Choice.
Organized five years ago, the advocacy group for private-school vouchers and tuition tax credits has given $64,000 to 21 state Legislature candidates this year. That amount is expected to grow leading up to the November general election.
The money comes largely from large big-business political donors from out of Utah, including the Wal-Mart heirs and the founders of Amway, a multilevel marketing company.
Venture capitalist Jordan Clements and telecommunications executive Doug Holmes founded Parents for Choice, because they thought Utah needed to reform its education system.
In 2002, the grass roots group had just $10,000 for donations to candidates. But in 2004 the group got $255,000 in seed money from the Michigan-based All Children Matter, a group with ties to Betsy and Dick Devos, who is an Amway heir.
That was followed by a $75,000 contribution for Gov. Jon Huntsman from Patrick Byrne, of Overstock.com.
Now the PAC has several spinoffs and growing influence over education policy with lawmakers and the governor's office.
Parents for Choice refuses to comment on the source of the organization's financing until after a September federal tax filing deadline for PAC disclosure forms.
"Nobody's going to comment," communications director Nancy Pomeroy said. When pressed about the sources of Parents for Choice's money, specifically All Children Matter, Pomeroy said: "I don't know what you're talking about."
Along with Florida, Louisiana, Ohio, Missouri, Virginia and Wisconsin, Utah is a key state for the school-choice movement, All Children Matter Director Greg Brock said.
"Our goal is to try to change the political climate in states where education reform is pretty active or being debated in a high-profile way," Brock said.
The strategy is to target moderate, public education friendly legislators, some of them school teachers. So far, it's worked. Lehi Republican Rep. David Cox lost his re-election at the Utah County Republican convention in April. Ken Sumsion, his opponent, got more than $3,500 from parents for Choice and its affiliates.
"That money made the biggest difference," Cox said. "They were researching my record a year ago to find any bills they could twist to make me look bad. I couldn't compete with the level of sophistication and expertise that was brought in."
(Copyright 2006 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.) APTV-06-25-06 1423MDT
