New York Republicans Create "Stop Common Core" Ballot Line

From Liz Benjamin at State of Politics:

According to a Facebook post last night by GOP consultant Vince Casale, there’s an effort underway to create a statewide “StopCommonCore” ballot line for the November elections.

To create an independent line, state law requires the collection of a minimum of 15,000 signatures on an official designating petition.

“Once created, you will have the opportunity to vote for candidates who have expressed their opposition to Common Core and will fight to end these untested and unfair standards put on our children,” Casale wrote.

“Voting on the ‘StopCommonCore’ line will also send a strong message to Albany that the parents and taxpayers of New York want action NOW!”

Casale directed interested parties to a website that has more details about this effort, as well as a downloadable petition.

Though the main objective here is ostensibly to elect candidates who have pledged to support repeal of the Common Core if they’re successful at the ballot box, it just so happens that all the candidates in question are Republicans.

Back in May, state GOP Executive Director Jason Weingartner sent a memo to the party’s 62 county chairs informing them of a plan to develop a second ballot line for the statewide slate.

At the time, one county chair told the NY Post the line would most likely be education-based and have something to do with the Common Core, in hopes of harnessing some of the grassroots anger the curriculum has caused.

This is essentially a Republican ballot line, so not only will these candidates be anti-Common Core, they'll most likely be anti-traditional public schools/pro-charter school and anti-union.

In short, just like Democrats like Barack Obama and Andrew M. Cuomo.

If you're looking to protest Common Core and you're a supporter of traditional public schools and unions, better to vote Zephyr Teachout in the Democratic Primary and Howie Hawkins, the Green Party candidate, in the general election.

Still, I'm happy to publicize anti-Common Core efforts from any part of the political spectrum.

The larger the protests and opposition to the Core grow, the sooner we can stick a stake through the heart of the Common Core and bury it in the crossroads of four different corners of the state.