Stand for Children Spent Heavily in Last Week of School Board Races

Newly filed campaign finance disclosures show that Stand For Children Independent Expenditure Committee spent another $26,561.92 in support of pro-charter candidates in the last week of the August Metro School Board election.

The biggest target in the spending appears to be Amy Frogge, as the committee spent just over $10,000 on phone calls in support of Thom Druffel. Frogge won easily with 64 percent of the vote, despite being outspent dramatically by Druffel and the PACs supporting him.

Here's how Stand's IE committee spent their money in the final days: $4,454.19 supporting Miranda Christy's race against Christiane Buggs, $3,210.95 supporting Jane Grimes-Meneely's race against Jill Speering, $4,501.34 supporting Jackson Miller's race against Will Pinkston, and $14,395.44 for Druffel. All of Stand's candidates lost. The money spent in the final week of the election is in addition to more than $230,000 spent by the IE committee and Stand for Children Tennessee's PAC in July.

The closest Stand got to a victory was in the District 7 race, where Pinkston beat Miller by just 36 votes. Stand's IE committee spent $1,685.70 specifically on opposition phone calls against Pinkston in the last week.

After a complaint was filed with the Tennessee Registry of Election Finance, the board sent a show cause letter to the losing candidates, Stand for Children Tennessee PAC and Stand for Children Independent Expenditure Committee, threatening record fines for spending improprieties. A hearing is scheduled for this morning at 10:30 a.m., but attorneys for the candidates have asked for a continuance.

Stand Nashville director Dan O'Donnell's meeting with Druffel during a blackout period and O'Donnell's emails with Martha O'Bryan CEO Marsha Edwards were among the violations outlined in the show cause letter. 

Despite the fact that Stand for Children Tennessee and Stand for Children Independent Expenditure Committee are both part of the same national organization, and they share an address at 1207 18th Ave. S., the two Stands maintain that they did not coordinate their activities during the election. During the third quarter disclosure period, which covers August and September, Stand's national office funneled $131,106.92 to the IE committee for spending in Tennessee races.