Sounds like someone took a page from the Paul Dorr playbook. Google "Copperhead Consulting Paul Dorr" and see what is at work to divide and destroy Nederland. These claims of NISD Admin stalling are pure political techniques...tried over and over again. People of Nederland need to get one thing straight, CARE is being pupeteered by a man that wants to tear down the public education system! He comes to a district to create chaos, misstrust and hatred among the community and leaves. In fact, you might be well served to ask to see the names of the people actively working to kill the school progress in Nederland by funding the CARE organization. Just as I would encourage you to look for the facts in this Bond, I would encourage you to look at the strategies that we can expect. Below is an excerpt from just one of those easy Google searches. Sound familiar...? So, when you get the postcards a day or two ahead of the vote, hear the radio ads, see "ghost author" letters to the editor, have another attack on the administration...and so on, remember that the person running the show has personally advocated home schooling and the dissolution of the public education system. See through this mess and support the Bond. www.nederlandbond.com
Dorr, an anti-abortion activist from Ocheyedan, Iowa, is well known in levy campaign circles. He has vowed to end public education using any means necessary. He claims to have organized the defeat of more than 20 levy elections in Iowa, South Dakota and Minnesota, including recent campaigns in the Lyle, Orono, Blooming Prairie and Howard Lake-Waverly districts. His smear campaigns include twisted facts and innuendo. When he leaves town, he leaves underfunded schools and a divided and bruised community.
Dorr has a pattern to his campaigns. He is hired by a local voter, drawing a fee of between $5,000 and $15,000, which is well below what he spends on the campaign.
He arrives about four weeks before Election Day. Dorr’s first move is to tie up the school administration by asking for many hard-to-find public documents, including contracts with employees, architects, financial advisors and administrators. He also requests current and past budgets, budget projections, enrollment data and information about facilities, among other documents.
He then publishes a newsletter in which he twists facts about the district and takes information out of context. This is mailed to every voter in the district, usually about four days before Election Day so inexperienced pro-levy campaign volunteers can’t respond.
He also employs a smear campaign. He will imply that district officials accepted bribes. He will question whether school employees are involved in the campaign. He will hire questionable experts to challenge pro-levy data. He once famously accused an Iowa judge of bestiality.
He will air television ads featuring his children while implying they are district students.
He will join public meetings promoted by the local “vote no†organization in which he will hide misinformation by starting a statement with “I’m not saying this is happening here, but …â€
He will question every absentee ballot and question election judges’ relationship with school officials.
Those who have undergone a Dorr campaign say his ugliest tactic is to polarize the district. His disinformation campaign inflames those who already distrust schools, making the vote not about the levy but about schools themselves. After a Dorr campaign, divisions that existed in the community before the election widen, leaving resentment and raw emotions. In most communities, these feelings are slow to heal.
