A Jill Underly supporter failed to kick Underly’s leftist opponent Jeff Wright off the February primary ballot Tuesday, leading Wright’s campaign to accuse Underly of a “cheap political stunt” as the Democrat feud in the state Department of Public Instruction race boils over.
Natalia Taft, a professor and former alderman, filed the complaint with the Wisconsin Election Commission, which shot it down 6-0. Taft has been involved in controversies before.
How petty was the complaint? In part, Taft wanted Wright kicked off the ballot because his nomination papers called the office “State Superintendent of Public Instruction” instead of “Wisconsin Superintendent of Public Instruction.”
“In his response, Candidate Wright asserts that the challenge contains no allegation that any of his signatories were confused or misled in any way by the information,” the WEC staff told the Commission during the meeting.
Wright blamed Underly’s campaign for the effort to remove him from the ballot. “This was a waste of time and money. The elections commission saw through Jill Underly’s cheap political stunt the way the greater public can see through this cheap attempt to distract from Jill Underly’s record of failure,” Wright’s campaign spokesman said in a press release.
The fact that the equally leftist Underly has drawn such heated criticism from another leftwing candidate is very unusual because she is the incumbent and a Democrat. The feud bubbled up before when WEAC’s PAC endorsed Wright. Underly has also been criticized by Democrat Gov. Tony Evers for watering down school testing scores, and he has yet to endorse her. She is endorsed by the Democrat Party.
In addition to Wright, the increasingly embattled Underly is being challenged by Brittany Kinser, a centrist “Blue Dog” Democrat and career educator who supports education reform efforts. Kinser’s campaign is supported by some conservatives who respect her work in charter schools and who believe she would work with people on both sides of the aisle as well as return schools’ focus back to the basics.
“The Wisconsin Elections Commission voted 6-0 to reject a challenge to my candidacy brought forward by the incumbent’s campaign. A ridiculous waste of everyone’s time,” Wright wrote on Facebook, of Taft’s challenge. He said in the video on Facebook that Underly has lost the support of teachers, principals and superintendents throughout the state.
Underly’s office has been accused of mismanagement, hiding MPS’s severe financial issues from voters, lowering testing scores, and poor communication.
Wright, a superintendent in Sauk Prairie, was endorsed by former President Barack Obama during a failed Assembly campaign.
