“State legislator files ethics complaint against school board member over charter school ad.”

“State legislator files ethics complaint against school board member over charter school ad.” Marietta Daily Journal (GA), 4/21/2012  

AUSTELL — State Rep. David Wilkerson (D-Austell) filed an ethics complaint against David Morgan this week, alleging that the Cobb school board vice chair didn’t report the cost of an ad attacking him for voting against the proposed charter school constitutional amendment.

Morgan, who is a lobbyist for American Federation for Children [see below], a political action committee advocating school choice, is also a Democrat who lives in Austell.

In his complaint with the state ethics commission, Wilkerson points to a March 24 ad Morgan ran in the Journal that attacks Wilkerson for voting against House Resolution 1162, which would give the state power to create charter schools over the objection of local school boards.

Morgan’s PAC advocated in favor of the amendment, which voters will decide upon in November. When Wilkerson voted against it, Morgan’s PAC ran an ad claiming Wilkerson had turned his back on children and voted against restoring charter schools...

“Mr. Morgan is in violation of reporting lobbying expenditures intended to both influence pending legislation as well as the election of a candidate,” Wilkerson writes...

From SourceWatch:

The American Federation for Children is a committee of mostly right-wing groups who want to advance the privatization of public schools and the expansion of voucher programs and charter schools... The American Federation for Children was a "Trustee" level sponsor of 2011 American Legislative Exchange Council Annual Conference, which in 2010, equated to $5,000. "The American Federation for Children was launched in January 2010, when America’s leading private school choice organizations worked together to create a lasting and sustainable structure for the advancement of school choice through the creation of the Federation. This organization traces its roots to the founders of the modern school choice movement, most notably the late John T. Walton, a visionary philanthropist and education reformer. Led by national education reform pioneer Betsy DeVos, the American Federation for Children works at the national, state, and local levels to advance our mission..." AFC works alongside the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) to draft and support model legislation promoting "school choice" and tax reform for schools.