Controversial Moms for Liberty group fields candidates for local school board races
Moms for Liberty, a far-right citizen-led group that opposes acknowledgment of LGBTQ+ people and issues in public schools, is against diversity education, advocates for book bans and endorses school board candidates, has been stepping up its appearances at public events and at school board meetings in the South Sound.
The group has also endorsed several school board candidates in Washington state for the Nov. 7 election.
Moms for Liberty says that it “is dedicated to fighting for the survival of America by unifying, educating and empowering parents to defend their parental rights at all levels of government.“
Other groups, such as Defense of Democracy, a now nationwide organization opposed to MFL that began in New York State, told McClatchy in an interview that MFL desires to defund and dismantle the public school system.
“They are attacking institutions,” said Karen Svoboda, the president and CEO for Defense of Democracy. “The public school system is a sacred institution that they absolutely have in their crosshairs and have under attack and are doing a lot of damage throughout the country, to our schools.”
The Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) also labels the controversial organization as extremist and anti-government.
“They also use their multiple social media platforms to target teachers and school officials, advocate for the abolition of the Department of Education, advance a conspiracy propaganda, and spread hateful imagery and rhetoric against the LGBTQ community,” the SPLC states on its website.
Rapid growth
The group has staffed information booths at several community events, including the Pierce County chapter’s appearance at Lakewood’s SummerFest at Fort Steilacoom Park July 20. They have also appeared at the Spring Fair in Puyallup, the Steilacoom 4th of July celebration, the Pierce County Fair and the Washington State Fair.
Begun in Florida in 2021, MFL grew out of opposition to public health regulations for COVID-19. Since then, the group has shifted its focus to race, gender and the broader lesbian and gay community.
Chapters have popped up all over the country, including at least 11 in Washington, up from five earlier this year. The group’s political clout has been quickly growing. In June, several Republican candidates for president, including Donald Trump and Ron DeSantis, appeared at the group’s national convention in Philadelphia.
In Kitsap County, the group has been aiding parents in anti-LGBTQ+ efforts there.
Appearances
Moms for Liberty’s public appearances have sparked the ire of Pierce County community activists who complained to the city of Lakewood after MLF’s appearance was approved at SummerFest. Lakewood refused to pull the approval because it came down to free speech, said city spokesperson Brynn Grimley.
“We can’t discriminate against a group because of their politics or we disagree with their message,” Grimley said in July.
MFL is one of nearly 200 community groups and vendors that appeared at the festival in what Grimley called an inclusive city.
“We hope people will focus on the other groups there,” she said.
Marty Lobdell, a retired Pierce College human sexuality professor, came across the MLF booth at SummerFest.
“The women in the booth told passers-by that kindergarten children were being taught sexual positions and shown pictures of people having sex,” he said.
Lobdell, who also taught part time in the Clover Park School District, called the group’s assertions a lie.
“I would love to see the Moms provide one verifiable case of any grade school child being taught sexual positions or viewing pictures of people having sex,” he said. “Unfortunately, once lies get out, they have a life of their own.”
Moms for Liberty
Moms for Liberty says they are just trying to protect children and assert parental rights.
In an interview last summer with The News Tribune, Pierce County chair Sarah Garriott said her group doesn’t support school clubs that are centered on race or sexual orientation. The group generally opposes programs that promote diversity, equity and inclusion, often referred to as DEI. Garriott said such school-supported clubs are divisive, rather than inclusive.
The group wants greater parental say over books available at school libraries. Garriott referenced books her group became aware of in at least one local school library that she said were of an obscene nature but didn’t provide titles.
Despite an anti-public schools stance, Moms for Liberty has stated its intent to take over school boards across the country by electing members from its ranks or endorsing candidates who align with its values.
In a Fox News appearance from March, Tina Descovich, another MFL co-founder, described organizations such as the American Federation of Teachers, a union that represents teachers, school staff and paraprofessionals, as “dangerous.” The federation has been highly critical of MFL in the past, and the two groups even clashed at a Philadelphia event in July.
“… One of the reasons we are very much under attack is that we are the first organization in decades that is pushing back against what we like to call the ‘K-12 cartel’ … ,” Descovich said.
Like other chapters across the country, the Pierce County chapter is waging a school district by school district effort to influence school boards. It endorses some candidates while quietly supporting others without obvious endorsements.
MFL is also finding its way into churches, such as Motion Church in Puyallup, to regularly talk about their agenda.
The outreach is part of the “We the People” Ministries, according to the Church’s website, and aims to build “communities that reflect the order and design of God.”
Garriott refused to comment on a Parents Night Out event earlier this year at the church at which she was a speaker on sexual education curriculum.
In a video of the event viewed by The News Tribune and McClatchy, the unidentified emcee says to Garriott, “You are a hate group, officially” to audience applause and laughter.
Before the panel discussion, the Motion Church emcee referred to those who question parental rights as “the enemy” and said government is ordained by God.
McClatchy contacted Motion Church for an interview request, but did not get a response.
In an email to McClatchy, MFL co-founder Tiffany Justice denied criticisms from other groups that they are trying to dismantle the school system and said that MFL was started by two former school board members.
“We empower all parents to get involved in their child’s education,” Justice said. “Many parents didn’t know how to get involved or advocate for their children during the pandemic. We are educating and empowering parents because their involvement and support is a huge determinate of their child’s ability to learn and succeed in school.”
Statewide efforts
Loni Rogers is a Snohomish County-based activist who works to inform the public about Moms for Liberty in attempt to thwart their influence.
“We’re working with local progressive groups to kind of get the information out about which candidates might be less progressive, and might be somebody that we would be concerned about being on a school board,” she said.
Moms for Liberty didn’t start with fielding candidates, Rogers said.
“Initially, I think it was a lot of just showing up at school boards and lodging their complaints and concerns,” Rogers said. “And now it’s started to move more into getting people who have similar ideology onto the school boards so that they can affect the changes that they want to make.”
Whether Moms for Liberty endorses a candidate or works behind the scenes to fund raise varies from candidate to candidate, Rogers said.
“I think the people that are kind of following their movement are less inclined to be subversive about it,” she said of candidates.
Some use coded language in their campaign materials, she said; words like “woke” and “divisive politics.”
Local races
In the Dieringer School District, school board candidate Mark Pampe has been endorsed by MFL, according to his statement in the Pierce County voter’s pamphlet. He says schools are focusing on social issues over academics.
“While it is the parents’ job to teach their values to their children, state-written social policies are actively pushing their state values onto your children through their schools,” he wrote.
Pampe did not respond to a request for comment from The News Tribune. His opponent is incumbent Megan Bearor.
Linda Wojciechowski, who is running for a seat on the University Place school board, was also endorsed by MFL, but that endorsement disappeared off the group’s website in October, according to an internet archive.
Wojciechowski did not respond to repeated requests for comment from The News Tribune and McClatchy. Her opponent is Washington State Senator T’wina Nobles.
Two other MFL-endorsed candidates are also running in the Sumner-Bonney Lake School District: Paul Monsen and Denis Caron.
Monsen’s website lists “protecting parental rights / Family values” as the first priority on his list of others, including “strong core based academics” and “safety.”
Neither candidate responded to a request for comment by McClatchy.
Caron’s opponent is school board director Kevin Lewis and Monsen is running against Bill Gaines.
Endorsed
In the Clover Park School District, candidate Noa Bunting has been endorsed by MFL. Bunting is running against former Bethel School District teacher Janet Caldwell.
“I went to maybe two to three of their meetings, and they were seemed like decent people,” Bunting said Saturday in an interview with The News Tribune. “I shared my message. They liked it.”
Bunting, 24, said he sought MFL’s endorsement.
“And then one day after I applied for the endorsement, the SPLC came out saying that they (MLF) were a hate group,” Bunting said with some exasperation. He said the designation is unwarranted.
“I would not accept the endorsement or support of any group that actually was a hate group,” he said.
Bunting, who is an administrative law paralegal specialist with the U.S. Army at Joint Base Lewis-McChord, said he generally supports MLF’s causes.
“This is a group of people concerned about school board races, they have a good national profile,” he said “They do good work.”
While Bunting is comfortable with the Pierce County chapter’s activism, he acknowledged some MLF chapters go too far. He said he supports the general concepts of DEI in schools, including clubs based on racial identity and sexual orientation.
“I don’t have any issues with the LGBT community,” he said. “A lot of my close friends are part of it. I wouldn’t want to fight against that, as a director of a school board.”
Bunting does align with MLF’s involvement in the monitoring of, and perhaps removal of, books in school libraries. He said his only concern are with books that are sexually explicit and offer no educational value. He said it’s too early to formulate how any review or removal process would operate.
He cited Maia Kobabe’s “Gender Queer” as an example of a book he would have removed, although he hadn’t read the graphic novel. The book tops the list of most challenged and banned books in the U.S.
On its endorsement kit for candidates, MFL warns school board race winners they are likely to receive an invitation from a school board association offering training.
“Many of these Associations foster the same woke propaganda Moms for Liberty is fighting against,” MFL cautions. “Instead, consider seeking training from groups that align with your values.”
This story was originally published October 30, 2023 at 5:00 AM with the headline "Controversial Moms for Liberty group fields candidates for local school board races."
