Well Funded Conservative Group’s Secret Game Plan for Williamson County Schools

“Ugly stuff” planned in private: how one of the richest donors in Tennessee plans to take down Dr. Looney

PART I

A self-styled “vocal and determined group of conservatives” is strategically planning to dismantle the leadership of the Williamson County Schools.

In emails discovered Thursday, the group’s public and back-room plans became clearer.

Debbie Deaver, one of the group’s cheer leaders, states the group is in “desperate need” of professional communications help. Deaver created confusion in the District in May when she authored an email with a subject line “Participate in Williamson County Schools Survey” that had no affiliation or support by the district. Further controversy ensued when it became clear the recipients of the email had been harvested from private PTO lists, and yet Mrs. Deaver had no children in Williamson County Schools at the time; Deaver simply responded “I feel like I am a Williamson County parent”.

Debbie Deaver,
Vice President Republic Women of Tennessee

The master plan to take down Dr. Looney is currently being drafted by Kent R. Davis, a retired engineer in Franklin, who is one of the top 15 political donors in Tennessee. In 2012, Davis donated over three times what the average Tennessee family earns, and probably even more than the limit on individual donations to federal elections.

Davis is clear to the group that their plans to take down Dr. Looney must remain secret until after the election when they expect to have 3-6 new School Board members, but states he is currently thinking about how he will make the case that Dr. Looney is a “top down micro-manager that does not trust his principals, managers, and others” and plans to author materials to this effect.

It is unclear if Davis plans to privatize Williamson County Schools or is connected with the Koch brothers, but he has written recently than that in his view “government programs always expand until unaffordable”.

Writing Tuesday in eery tones, Davis also instructs the group that the “ugly stuff should be done privately and kept out of the press”. Davis is also considering how to involve Breitbart, the infamous conservative action group that was involved in the scandals of Anthony Weiner, Shirley Sherrod, the ACORN group, and the Friends of Hamas.

The core of the activist group includes Rep. Glen Casada, the 6 candidates for the School Board including Susan Curlee and Beth Burgos, Debbie Deaver, Tiffany and Chris Borgelt (an executive for a local company that outsources jobs offshore), as well as Jean Barwick executive director for the Williamson County Republican Party.

The group has enlisted the help of Don Beehler, founder of ABC&D communications and former correspondent for the Daily Herald, to provide professional media and public relations services. Interestingly, Don believes that “character really does count and how we relate to others really does matter” but also that there are often “back-door ways to get ongoing coverage”.

Don Beehler,
Media Spokesperson

Source Letter

PART II: Who is the philanthropic mastermind after Dr. Looney?

Sources

1. Williamson Herald July 3, 2014: Letter to the Editor from Tiffany Borgelt. http://www.williamsonherald.com/opinion/article_5ef3549c-02d9-11e4-ad3f-001a4bcf6878.html accessed July 18, 2014
2. The Tennessean May 22, 2014, Maria Giordano: Williamson Schools: ‘Political’ survey not from us http://www.tennessean.com/story/news/local/williamson/schools/2014/05/20/williamson-county-schools-sponsoring-survey/9324993/ accessed July 18, 2014
3. News Channel 5 May 20, 2014: Email prompts Williamson County Schools to Call Parents http://www.newschannel5.com/story/25569715/email-prompts-williamson-county-schools-to-call-parents accessed July 18, 204
4. Campaign Money Kent Davis Political Campaign Contributions 2000-2014 http://www.campaignmoney.com/political/contributions/kent-davis.asp?cycle=14 accessed July 18, 2014
5. Obama for America Obama Victory Fund 2012 PO Box 8102 Chicago IL 60680 contribution from Kent Davis Democrat $250; Federal Election Commission Page 37670 of 312709.
6. Times Free Press October 8, 2013 High court takes up donation limit. http://www.timesfreepress.com/news/2013/oct/08/high-court-takes-donation-limit/ accessed July 18, 2014
7. List of States by Household Income, Wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_U.S._states_by_income accessed July 18, 2014
8. The Tennessean (A Gannett Company) February 21, 2012 Letter to the editor from Kent R. Davis: Food programs grew out of America’s abundance http://www.courier-journal.com/article/DN/20120223/WILLIAMSON07/302230003/Letter-editor-Food-programs-grew-out-America-s-abundance accessed July 18, 2014
9. Beth Burgos Campaign Kick Off Invitation, May 31, 2014; sponsors listed as Jean Barwick, Chris and Tifany Borgelt, Bev and Ken Burger, Glen Casada, Mike and Dianne Christina, Andy and Sherri Clark, Janice Johnson, Kevin Kookogey, Lee and Deboray McCroskey, Jerry and Cherry Meadows, Tracy and Cyndi Miller, Stan Moore and Laurie Cardoza-Moore, Chcuk and Sandi Shetlon, Robert and Barbara Sturgeon, Michele Thompson http://www.votebethburgos.com/wp-content/uploads/BBKick-off-Invitation.jpg accessed July 18, 2014
10. Chris Borgelt, Executive Sales Director at M*Modal (Outsourcing/Offshoring) www.linkedin.com/pub/chris-borgelt/4/357/a0b accessed July 18, 2014
11. Don Beehler, Public Relations/Communications Consultant at ABC&D Communications, LinkedIn Profile https://www.linkedin.com/pub/don-beehler/7/74/43 accessed July 18, 2014
12. Don Beehler, The Art of Telling Your Story, February 27 2014 http://donbeehler.com/2014/02/27/clevelands-communicator-of-the-year-learns-brutal-pr-lesson/ accessed July 18, 2014
13. Don Beehler, A “Back-Door” Strategy for Getting Ongoing Publicity, January 21, 2014 http://donbeehler.com/2014/01/21/a-back-door-strategy-for-getting-ongoing-publicity/ accessed July 18, 2014
14. Email from Debbie Deaver 15, July 2014 12:56 https://d262ilb51hltx0.cloudfront.net/max/1220/1*HNIAz5QlnmiN-qTx5N86ZA.png
15. Email from Kent R. Davis (tennkengolf@comcast.net) 15, July 2014 4:15pm https://d262ilb51hltx0.cloudfront.net/max/1220/1*HNIAz5QlnmiN-qTx5N86ZA.png

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Cover Photo: Secret Garden by Jenny Downing (license)

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