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SMITHFIELD Five Republican candidates in the Sept. 13 primary are running for a chance at three seats in Smithfield.

The five-member School Committee has four-year staggered terms, with two members not up for election again until 2024. Members Anthony Torregrossa and Benjamin Caisse, both Democrats, are not up for election.

Chairperson Virginia Harnois, a Democrat, is not seeking re-election this year after 40 years on the School Committee, and School Committee Secretary Rose Marie Cipriano, a Republican, is also not seeking re-election after eight years serving the district.

The three top vote-earners from the Republican primary will face off against three endorsed Democrat candidates in the Nov. 8 election. Democrats include Aaron Bishop, Elizabeth Worthley and Kristina Fox. An independent, Edward Quattrini, is also running for School Committee.

Three of the five Republicans running for School Committee are endorsed, including incumbent Richard Iannitelli, Amanda Fafard and Jessica Sala. Unendorsed candidates are John Fabiano and Gary Alix.

Alix did not respond to calls for an interview.

Iannitelli, 65, previously served on the School Committee from 1994 to 2014, and returned to serve on the committee in 2018 wanting to contribute to the elementary school renovation project. He said he feels he still has something to contribute to the district, and hopes to serve another term.

With the bond project completed on time and within budget, Iannitelli said he is proud of the new learning capabilities at the fingertips of teachers and students.

50, 60 years takes a toll on structures. We cleaned up a lot of stuff while looking to the future, he said. Theres better lighting, better technology, new libraries, maker spaces and other rooms where teachers can bring kids to try out ideas.

All while in a pandemic, he added.

Iannitelli highlighted updated art rooms at the middle and high school, and said work will continue in those buildings, including the high school auditorium, with the same results.

It is another area where my experience will come in handy, he said.

Iannitelli said the elementary project beat back all the problems of a labor shortage and supply chain issues with very few snags. He said he does not anticipate many difficulties with the Boyle Athletic Complex project.

On education, Iannitelli said he wants to get back to the basics. He said he is concerned about COVID loss, after students have lost time in school over the past three years.

That has me concerned. Weve taken steps over the summer to make sure we continue to get kids back up to where they should be, he said.

He said education gaps are seen in all fields of study, though compared to the state, Smithfield is doing well on test scores. He said he wants to ensure no student is left behind, particularly those who are continually missing the mark.

I want to keep pressing on and moving forward for all the kids, he said.

Iannitelli, who is the president of Iannitelli Insurance Agency, said he brings experience and a reputation for listening to people no matter who they are or their position. He said he would like to restore the relationship and trust between the district and parents after a few difficult years.

Now is a really important time to set things straight again after a few crazy years. A lot of parents feel they have not been listened to, and a lot of parents are upset with the state of education, he said.

Iannitelli said he brings institutional knowledge to the school board after two incumbents retired . He said he knows how to run meetings, how the rules work, and has shared his knowledge with committee members and the public many times over the years.

When you know the ropes, you can get better at it, he said.

Fafard, 35, is a lifelong Smithfield resident and 2005 SHS graduate. She has three children who attend three schools in the district, including LaPerche and Pleasant View Elementary Schools and Gallagher Middle School. She is the co-chairperson of Smithfields Special Education Advisory Committee, Pleasant View PTO president, and also coached Smithfield girls basketball and softball.

Ive been around the town for a while. I take pride in saying Im from Smithfield, Fafard said.

She said as a School Committee member, she would like to improve relationships between faculty, staff and teachers while trying to give families back a voice. She said she would advocate for every child and parent and help to boost morale in town.

Parents feel they go to the School Committee and theyre not being heard, she said.

Fafard said she has a passion for special education, and in 2020, she gave up her career to go back to school to pursue a degree in special education to help implement programs and support services in Smithfield. She said it is important to work with children who have a range of learning abilities, much like her children, knowing that not every child fits into a square box.

Its important that, as a district, we expand that box, she said.

After working with administrators in the district, Fafard said Smithfields phenomenal teachers have not always felt their worth.

Its time to get our scores up, get children and staff mental health up, and improve buildings and programs, she said.

While the elementary schools look incredible, Fafard noted, she would also like to see the secondary education buildings in the district improved. She said the middle and high school remain pretty much the same since her father graduated from high school, and are outdated.

Its time to bring the other schools up to match, she said.

Updating schools will keep students and faculty in the district, she added. For those who do not have children in the schools and feel that investing in the school does not apply to them, she said a good district keeps house values high.

Everyone in town benefits from it, she said.

Sala, 41, has lived in Smithfield for 35 years and works at Fidelity Investments. Her three sons all attend Smithfield schools, and she said she became interested in serving on the school board after attending meetings the last couple of years.

She said there is room for improvement, and she would continue to bring transparency, and oversight to the curriculum, and get parents more involved than in the past.

Sala said she is excited for upcoming projects, such as the Boyle Athletic Complex, to be completed. She said the district did great work on the elementary schools, but the high and middle schools are also in need of repair. After graduating from Smithfield High School in 1998, she said much looks the same in the high school.

A big amount of money comes from the town budget and taxpayer dollars to our schools. I want to ensure the best use for our taxpayers, Sala said.

Sala said she wants to ensure the district focuses on the fundamentals of education, and does not remove any critical programming. She also wants Smithfield schools to focus on career opportunities in addition to college planning.

I want to put confidence in kids that there is nothing wrong in taking that path after high school. We need a focused effort in career planning as well. It is equally needed and valued as when you graduate to go off into a trade, she said.

Sala said she loves Smithfield, and has a vested interest in seeing the schools do well.

I think people really value and have pride in the town. I think thats really important, she said.

Fabiano, 39, is a recent graduate of the Police Academy, working at the Warren Police Department. A lifelong Smithfield resident and SHS graduate, he said he and his wife want to see the education in Smithfield improve.

Over the past few years, he said, the district has stumbled on education, and needs to get back to the basics. All three of his children are in the Smithfield school system.

Its best to stick to reading, writing and arithmetic, Fabiano said.

He said hes looking for students to have more freedom in school, and said students are getting pushed toward an agenda that the country was not founded on.

I think we should be a free society, and special interest groups are getting ahold of things and pushing their agenda, forcing their role on things and I dont think that is right, he said.

Fabiano said parents are not happy with the state of education, and said he is disappointed in how the $45 million elementary school project was done. Particularly, he said, he wanted to see air conditioning added in schools.

Supt. Dawn Bartz said each elementary school has air conditioning in the libraries, maker spaces, learning labs and main offices, while some classrooms, like rooms without windows, have units. She said central air throughout the buildings is not part of the project.

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Meet the candidates of the Republican primary for School Committee - Valley Breeze

Things appear to be looking up for Democratic Senate candidates.

As recently as a few months ago, Republicans were widely viewed as the favorites to take control of the Senate after the crucial US midterm elections this November. Given the current 50-50 split, Republicans only need to flip one seat to regain the majority in the upper chamber.

But now, the nomination of several controversial Republican candidates and a recent string of Democratic legislative victories have many election forecasters reconsidering their predictions. Democrats appear better positioned to keep the Senate now than at any other point of this election cycle, although experts emphasize that the outlook could significantly shift again before November.

Democrats have the benefit of a favorable Senate map this year, as they are not defending any seats in states carried by Donald Trump in 2020.

Democrats prospects have also been aided by Republicans failure to recruit top candidates in several states, including incumbent governors Doug Ducey of Arizona and Chris Sununu of New Hampshire. Instead, vulnerable Republicans were able to secure nominations in a number of key battleground states, often with the help of Trumps endorsement.

In Georgia, the former professional football player Herschel Walker has attracted scandal for failing to acknowledge the existence of two secret children and abusing his ex-wife. Walker has acknowledged the abuse, saying he was suffering from mental illness at the time.

In Pennsylvania, celebrity doctor Mehmet Oz has alienated voters because of his past dubious health claims and his longtime residency in New Jersey before deciding to run for office.

In Ohio, author JD Vance has struggled to gain his footing, most recently being criticized because his now-shuttered non-profit dedicated to combating opioid addiction promoted the work of a doctor with ties to the pharmaceutical industry.

As Republican candidates have stumbled, Democrats have enjoyed a wave of wins on Capitol Hill.

Last week, Biden signed the Inflation Reduction Act, a sweeping spending package that includes hundreds of billions of dollars in investments aimed at reducing the countrys planet-heating emissions and lowering Americans healthcare costs.

The supreme courts decision to overturn Roe v Wade, ending the federal right to abortion access, appears to be driving voters to the polls as well. On Tuesday, Democrat Pat Ryan won a hotly contested special congressional race in New York after running a campaign focused on protecting abortion rights.

Republican Senate candidates have indicated that abortion rights could be a weakness for them in the November elections. Blake Masters, who is running against Democratic Senator Mark Kelly in Arizona, altered his campaign website this week to delete some language expressing support for severe abortion restrictions.

All of those developments seem to be resonating in several key Senate races. According to FiveThirtyEight, Democrats have pulled slightly ahead in Ohio and Georgia, while the partys candidates in Pennsylvania and Arizona have opened larger leads of eight to nine points.

Retirements, recruitment failures and vicious primaries coupled with Trumps endorsements have left Republicans with a roster of flawed and deeply damaged candidates, while Democrats are running strong, battle-tested incumbents and challengers who are backed by their own unique coalition of voters, Christie Roberts, the executive director of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, said in a memo late last month.

Even senior Republicans have acknowledged that the tide has turned against them in the battle for the Senate. The Senate Republican leader, Mitch McConnell, said on Monday that the partys chances of regaining control of the chamber were 50-50.

Weve got a 50-50 Senate right now. Weve got a 50-50 nation, McConnell said at a business luncheon in Kentucky. And I think the outcome is likely to be very, very close either way.

Election forecasters have similarly picked up on this shift in momentum. FiveThirtyEights forecast model now says that Democrats are slightly favored to maintain control of the Senate, while the Cook Political Report updated its Senate prediction to toss-up last week.

I would have said, before primaries began in earnest at the start of May, that Republicans had at least a 60% shot of flipping Senate control, said Jessica Taylor, Cooks Senate and governors editor. We now see it as a pure toss-up, and I can see anywhere between Democrats picking up one seat to Republicans picking up three.

Democrats are not throwing away this new advantage, instead making a point to highlight their opponents weaknesses. One anti-Trump group aired an ad featuring Walkers ex-wife, Cindy Grossman, describing how he once held a gun to her head and threatened to kill her.

The Ohio Democratic party bought the abandoned website of Vances defunct non-profit, adding a greeting to the homepage reading, This site no longer exists because JD Vance is a fraud.

Democrat John Fetterman in Pennsylvania has gone to increasingly humorous lengths to troll his opponent. At one point, Fettermans campaign circulated a petition calling for Oz to be inducted into New Jerseys Hall of Fame. Fetterman has even gone so far as to enlist the help of celebrities like Nicole Snooki Polizzi, from the reality television show Jersey Shore, to film ads encouraging Oz to come home to New Jersey.

Senate Democratic candidates have also enjoyed somewhat of a cash advantage in recent months. The DSCC reported a $10m haul in July, marking the fourth month in a row that the group outraised its counterpart, the National Republican Senatorial Committee. The NRSC recently cut its ad buys in three battleground states, sparking questions about potential financial difficulties, although the committee fiercely pushed back against that speculation.

Weve invested in building our grassroots fundraising program, which has paid dividends this cycle and will benefit the NRSC and the party as a whole for cycles to come, Chris Hartline, the NRSCs communications director, said on Monday. We work closely with every one of our campaigns and will continue to do so.

But even if Democrats do manage to keep control of the Senate, Republicans are still favored to take back the House, partly because of their success in redistricting. If Congress is divided after the midterms, Democrats will face severe hurdles in trying to advance their legislative agenda.

Under that scenario, I expect [House] Republicans to overreach week in and week out, passing one form of extreme legislation after another when theyre not trying to investigate the Biden administration. All of which is going to die a quick, painful death in the Senate, said Jim Manley, who served as a senior adviser to Harry Reid, the late Senate Democratic leader.

Although it may be difficult to pass bills, a Democratic Senate majority could still reap significant rewards for Biden, particularly when it comes to presidential nominations. If another supreme court seat opens up between now and 2024, a Democratic Senate would help Biden add another liberal justice to the bench.

While there might not be much of a chance for legislating because the House will be dominated by extremists, it doesnt mean nothing can get done, Manley said. Maybe theres going to be a chance or two to try and work on a bipartisan basis after some negotiation, but the Senate I think would spend most of their time under such a scenario confirming judicial nominees.

Although things are looking up for Democrats now, experts caution that November is still a political eternity away, and Republicans have historical trends working in their favor. The presidents party usually loses seats in midterm elections, and Bidens approval rating has now been underwater for roughly a year, which could be enough for Republicans to flip the Senate.

While things are better for Democrats, it could swing back. This could just be a blip on the radar. I would not be shocked if thats the case and we sort of returned to a midterm stasis, where the party out of power has the momentum, Taylor said. But even if Democrats can cut into that some, it could mean keeping the Senate.

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As Republicans stumble could Democrats really hold on to the Senate? - The Guardian US

Amidst a backdrop of global conflict, the culture wars continue to compel us. But whilst social and cultural issues are often hotly contested, our obsession with the culture wars may spell the end of progressive politics, writes Frank Furedi.

Even today, when the cost-of-living crisis haunts society, it appears that it is cultural conflicts that captures our imagination. Debates on gender ideology and trigger excites the media. Prominent figures from the past from David Hume to Edmund Burke are denounced for their complicity with slavery.

It is as if disputes about competing values, lifestyles and perceptions of cultural threat have come to dominate public life. The political vocabulary that has served western societies in the 19th and most of the 20th century has become exhausted and has been displaced by the idiom of culture. Even disputes that were once conveyed through the rhetoric of class, social injustice or ideology tend to come alive only when communicated through the grammar of culture. Attacks on the Bullingdon Clubs old boy culture or the culture of cronyism of Etonians are met with denunciation of the culture of entitlement or that of dependency culture. Hostility to the police is expressed through the denunciation of its canteen culture.

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When culture becomes politicised it tends to drag the personal dimensions of everyday life into the public domain to the point where what you wear, who you sleep with, what you eat and consume, how you bring up and feed your child or what you read are often presented and interpreted as political statements

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It is evident that it is through the contestation of norms and values and of cultural authority that conflicts of interests and disputes are expressed. But culture is not simply a medium for expressing disputes that have emerged in other domains of social experience. When culture becomes politicised it tends to drag the personal dimensions of everyday life into the public domain to the point where what you wear, who you sleep with, what you eat and consume, how you bring up and feed your child or what you read are often presented and interpreted as political statements. What in another context, Freud described as the narcissism of minor difference has acquired a ubiquitous presence in western society.

The Origins of the Culture Wars

Disputes informed by contrasting cultural values have a long history. However, as I note elsewhere it was during the 1950s that the unravelling of the prevailing political consensus in Western societies begun to open up the realm of values, lifestyle and personal life to conflicts that were hitherto conducted through the language of politics [1]. These disputes, which were motivated by competing claims to moral authority initially assumed the polarised form of a clash between traditional and moral values. In the 1960s these conflicts were further politicised and gained definition through the growth of the Counter-Culture and the backlash that it precipitated by their traditionalist and conservative opponents.

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At the time the main battlefield was the pre-political domain of private life. But throughout the 1970s disputes regarding family values, sexuality, inter-personal relations expanded and began to touch on attitudes to consumption and the environment. The politicisation of these values contained a powerful imperative towards intensifying the conflicts surrounding them. Because such conflicts touch on the fundamental principles that guide peoples conduct in their everyday life they have the potential to engage and mobilise peoples emotions. As Francis Fukuyama noted conflicts over values are potentially much more deadly than conflicts over material possessions or wealth' [2]. It is always possible to come to a sensible compromise over the way that material resources are divided up or the way that political offices are distributed. Values express a persons identity and beliefs to the point that if they are not affirmed an individual may experience it as a slight on their persona or as an existential crisis. That is why conflicts involving religion, value or moral claims are rarely resolved through compromise.[ii

One of the first important studies to draw attention to the significance of what would turn into the contemporary Culture Wars was Gabriel Kolkos 1968 study The Politics of War. In this text he drew attention to what he perceived as the cultural realignment of public life in the United States. According to Kolko this realignment in Americas public culture represented allegiances to different formulations and sources of moral authority. He claimed that these contrasting sentiments were expressed through the 'institutionalization and politicization of two fundamentally different cultural systems. Kolko pointed out that the battleground for the conduct of this conflict was now the pre-political domain of private life. And he warned that this conflict was not susceptible to the usual formulae of compromise because each side of the cultural divide operate with a different conception of the sacred and the mere existence of the one represents a certain desecration of the other. [3][iii]

The introduction of cultural conflict into American politics occurred sometime before they gained importance in other societies. But even in the 1970s it was evident that conflicts over culture would play an increasingly significant role in other societies. In Britain the tension between modernisers and traditionalists always lurked in the background. Samuel Beers study of this conflict, Britain Against Itself has as its main theme the decline of civic culture and of deference. Beer is aware that in this battle between modernity and tradition the latter has prevailed and he sensed that result of this technocratic turn would be the erosion of the British way of life. [4][iv

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In the literature on the Culture Wars the conflict was generally perceived as a split between orthodox and progressive view of morality. Divisions over issues that are considered moral dominate the Culture War, particularly in the United States. But the conflict is by no means confined to disputes about the family, sex, abortion or the role of religion. These are key issues for social conservatives and for movements that are hostile to the influence of traditional values in the private sphere. But the wider cultural critique of capitalism is far more directed at issues that transcend the private or pre-political sphere. It targets consumerism, materialism, the work ethic, technocratic ethos and numerous Enlightenment values such as individual autonomy, rationality and progress.

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Cultural norms and values define communities, their way of life and their members identity. These sentiments are internalised and become constitutive elements of who we are. Conflict over the family, sexuality and the conduct of intimate relationship has rendered cultural conflicts a dramatically personal character

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The politicisation of culture is directly connected to the exhaustion of ideological alternatives. By the early 1980s and certainly by the end of the Cold War it was evident that the emotional energies that were hitherto invested in political in political ideals were increasingly channelled into moral and cultural issues. At the time, Christopher Lasch pointed out that: Longestablished distinctions between left and right, liberalism and conservatism, revolutionary politics and reformists politics, progressives and reactionaries are breaking down in the face of new questions about technology, consumption, womens rights, environmental decay, and nuclear armaments, questions to which no one has any ready-made answers. New issues give rise to new political configurations. So does the growing importance of cultural issues.' Since the early 1980s the trends identified by Lasch have- if anything intensified and today issues such multi-culturalism, immigration, sexuality as well as life-style matters dominate public debate.

Deconstructing the Culture Wars

The politicisation of culture contains the potential for expressing conflicts and problems in a form that are difficult to resolve. Cultural norms and values define communities, their way of life and their members identity. These sentiments are internalised and become constitutive elements of who we are. Conflict over the family, sexuality and the conduct of intimate relationship has rendered cultural conflicts a dramatically personal character. The phrase personal is political expressed the shift towards the contestation of values prevailing in the private sphere. Conflict in the private and pre-political sphere resembles that which pertains to wider society in one very important respect. In both spheres the absence of consensus about fundamental norms and values creates the foundation for conflicts and divisions. Moreover the privatised manner in which these conflicts are experienced means that in some cases they can acquire an intensely personal and emotional character.

One reason why it is difficult to capture the dynamic of the culture war is that this conflict rarely assumes an explicit and systematic character. Numerous studies insist claims about the polarisation of culture are exaggerated and some even go so far as to deny its very existence [5]. Conservative denunciations of political correctness have been continually met with angry denial and the assertion that such charges represent the desperate attempt by backward looking fundamentalists to justify their prejudices. Cultural politics rarely recognises itself for what it is. It cannot acknowledge its ambition to monopolise moral authority. Although advocates of lifestyle and identity cause assert that they are tolerant, inclusive and pluralistic they cannot accept the moral legitimacy of their opponents. That is why in the United States where the Cultural War is most developed the language deployed by the protagonists is so intemperate and inflammatory.

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The politicisation of culture and disputes about the art of living encourage an intolerant, petty and self-serving attitude towards public life. There are no progressive causes that can be advanced through the medium of culture. Those who flatter themselves as enlightened and inclusive are no less complicit than their opponents in creating a climate of intolerance. The Culture Wars is bad news because regardless of the cause it encourages narrow minded and parochial thinking on the part of all of its all too eager participants.

Frank Furedis The Road To Ukraine: How The West Lost Its Way is published by De Gruyter next month.

[i]

[1] See F. Furedi (2004) First World War Still No End In Sight, Bloomsbury, p.161.

[ii] [2] Fukuyama, F. (1992) The End of History And the Last Man, The Free Press : New York. p.214.

[iii] [3] Kolko, G. (1968) The Politics of War: The World and United States Foreign Policy 1943-1945, (Vintage Books : New York).pp. 118,128, 131.

[iv] [4] Beer, Samuel (1982) Britain Against Itself: The Political Contradictions Of Collectivism, W.W. Norton & Company.

[5] See for example Fiorina, M.P. (2006) Culture War? The Myth of a Polarized America, Pearson Longman : New York.

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The culture war is killing progress | Frank Furedi - IAI

Southlake is in another cultural war, thanks to our state lawmakers.

As you might recall, Southlake, a community served by Carroll ISD, last year emerged at the epicenter of protracted, high-profile battles over critical race theory, district diversity policies and how to teach the Holocaust. The conflict was fierce, and healing is far from complete.

But when Patriot Mobile, which markets itself as Americas only Christian conservative wireless provider, recently donated In God We Trust posters to the Carroll ISD, the culture wars found a new battlefield.

The reason is a new state law that requires schools to hang posters with In God We Trust prominently displayed if someone donates a poster or framed copy to a campus. Authored by state Sen. Bryan Hughes, R-Mineola, Senate Bill 797 was touted as an expression of patriotism and religious liberty.

Predictably, the pushback to Patriot Mobiles gift was swift. A Southlake parent, for example, attempted to donate In God We Trust signs written in Arabic and decorated with rainbow colors. However, school board president Cameron Bryan rejected that offer, saying that the schools already have enough posters displaying the national motto.

Boy, what an understatement.

All of this would be mildly amusing if it werent another disappointing example of adults pressing political agendas in public schools, this time with the express written approval of the state Legislature and Gov. Greg Abbott, who signed the measure into law.

This editorial board strongly favors teaching civics and government and supporting patriotism and civic responsibility in schools. Our nations history, warts and all, is important to teaching youngsters of their duties as citizens.

However, the poster flap doesnt represent the spirit of meaningful civics education. The posters are slogans, not learning tools, and are part of a bizarre requirement to local schools. Moreover, the posters lack context and promote political agendas while masquerading as expressions of patriotism, religion and speech.

We find it troubling that the In God We Trust law contains artfully crafted language to mandate that a specific poster with a specific inscription must be prominently displayed in schools if the gift comes from a private donor. What happened to local choice? We shudder to think what other specific mandates the next Legislature might have in mind, or that lawmakers have such an intense interest in decorating school buildings. Is this really how lawmakers should spend their time?

This editorial board had hoped for a year without the cultural, ideological and nakedly political battles that marred the past two years in school districts across the country. It is probably fair to say that most parents, regardless of their political leanings, believe that politically motivated agendas should not be fought out in their childrens schools. Yet that is precisely the conflict that the new law encourages and why it is so wrongheaded.

We welcome your thoughts in a letter to the editor. See the guidelines and submit your letter here.

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Southlake rekindles culture wars with In God We Trust posters - The Dallas Morning News

Given the nations deep political divisions nowadays, it should come as no surprise that some state and local politicians from both sides of the aisle would seek to leverage their governments purchasing power to send messages to corporate America and play to their base by doing so. After all, its not their own money its the publics so why not exploit political power to advance ones partisan posturing?

The most common manifestations of these impulses to make political statements through public funds have historically been public pensions divestment campaigns, starting with South Africa in the 1960s, then with Sudan in the early 2000s and continuing up to this years Russia divestment wave. Critics would say that pension policies focused on corporations environmental, social and governance (ESG) profiles are liberals playbook strategy to pressure companies into bending to their political will. The same might be said about pension funds that avoid investing in firearms manufacturers.

The complaint and its a valid one in my view has always been that these political statements rarely work to the benefit of the pension funds and that the employers taxpayers are ultimately obligated to foot the bill for investment underperformance. That grievance is now popular with 19 Republican attorneys general. However, many ESG advocates would counterclaim that more-sustainable and farsighted corporate policies will produce better investment returns over the long term. That debate in pension-land doesnt look likely to end any time soon; we really cant properly evaluate investment efficacy in less than a decade or even two.

West Virginias legislature has followed suit with similar legislation. Kentucky, Oklahoma and Tennessee have enacted similar laws, all focused on ESG and fossil-fuel extraction. Notably, Kentucky ranks 21st and Tennessee 27th among the states in oil production, so one must conclude that their blackball actions are largely political and not budgetary.

The magnitude of any fiscal impact on Texans debt service costs is a matter for empirical research, which has already begun at Wharton. The topic will probably make for a great doctoral dissertation someday, but we wont know hard numbers any time soon. With multiple states now involved, a fertile field for research has arisen.

In Florida, we have the now-notorious meddling in public finance by state politicians who decided to punish Walt Disney World for the companys public opposition to the states so-called Dont Say Gay law (in support of its employees) by stripping the financial powers of five special districts to rebuke Americas most-beloved family theme park.

Even local governments are getting into the act, including from the left side of the political spectrum. In Pennsylvania, Lehigh County may become the first entity to divest its assets and business from Wells Fargo because of the banks reported support of political candidates opposing abortion rights.

Some of these retaliatory measures may eventually run into First Amendment lawsuits, especially given that the Supreme Courts Citizens United decision equated companies free-speech rights to those of individuals. But given the deepening divisions in the American body politic these days, it doesnt require much imagination to expect that similar political blacklists and financial boycotts will continue to proliferate.

Im sure, for example, that well see a few local governments sympathetic to abortion rights adopt policies prohibiting travel reimbursement for attendance at professional conferences and training events in states that prohibit or severely restrict the procedure. Meanwhile, other governments may ban employee travel to conferences in states that provide sanctuary for abortion-seekers. Whats to stop similar internal policies from popping up with regard to visiting states with open-carry gun laws? At least in the case of conference attendance, most government workers can find alternative professional development opportunities elsewhere, and some of these events now include virtual attendance options in this pandemic era. But for financial services firms serving the public sector, and the efficient market competition they engender, there is no such workaround.

I dont pretend to have all the answers or a universal solution to the dilemmas that these examples present. But Im pretty sure that taxpayers will ultimately be ill-served when public-sector investments and financial transactions are subjected to political favoritism, which is what these back-in-your-face policies really are. The problem, of course, is that in the short run there is very little political downside for these interventions, and the financial costs will be diffuse and initially imperceptible. But that doesnt make it right or smart.

The Big Seven state and local government policy associations and their financial affiliates can do us all a favor by standing up to such partisan grandstanding with policy advisories that emphasize just how ill-advised and ultimately costly these culture war reprisals are likely to be and perhaps already have become.

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The Cost of Mixing Culture Wars With Public Finance - Governing