Seven Republican candidates for the Maine Legislature solicited support from a political action committee founded by state Rep. Larry Lockman (R-Bradley), who said the candidates signed a pledge to ban teachers from teaching about racism, sexual orientation and gender identity in schools.
Lockman, who recently lost his primary bid for state Senate and has a long history of extreme anti-abortion, anti-LGBTQ and anti-immigrant statements and activism, sent letters to voters living in the districts of his endorsed candidates.
Lockman made national headlines in 2014 for comments he had made previously equating abortion with rape and drew condemnation from his fellow Republicans in 2018 for declaring that he was fighting back against a “war on whites.”
One version of the letter sent by Lockman’s Maine First PAC highlighted Molly Luce, one of the Republican candidates who he said has signed his pledge to oppose “political and religious indoctrination” in public schools. Luce is running to represent District 95, which includes Hope, Appleton, Union and Warren.
“Students are being immersed in the monstrous lie that America is plagued with ‘systemic racism,’” reads the letter.
“Teachers in the Bangor school district are quizzing 7th graders about their various ‘identities,’ including their sexual orientation and whatever gender identity they choose,” the letter continues. “Portland schools have gone even further, openly embracing the mob violence of the Marxist, anti-American domestic terrorist group Black Lives Matter.”
“I’m happy to report that Molly Luce […] supports our proposed Code of Ethics for teachers, and our Maine First Agenda,” Lockman wrote.
The PAC’s website also features a pledge for candidates to sign onto what Lockman calls the “Maine First Agenda,” which is a slate of nativist and racist policies that include defunding “sanctuary cities,” ending the “refugee racket resettlement program,” stopping “welfare benefits and aid to illegals” and ending funding for “worthless majors (for example minority studies).”
An Oct. 20 campaign finance report shows that the Maine First PAC has made expenditures in support of Luce and six other Republicans in the form of mailers. They include state Rep. Chris Johansen running for re-election in Monticello, Mark Andre running in Waterville, Randall Greenwood running in Monmouth, Toni Bashinsky running in Topsham, Stephanie Hawke running in Boothbay, and Meldon Carmichael, running for Lockman’s seat in Bradley, which he vacates at the end of this year.
Expenditures from the PAC in support of those candidates range from $384.54 for Andre to $914.64 for Hawke.
The letter drew attention on social media after being posted by Andy O’Brien, communications director for the Maine AFL-CIO and a journalist who regularly reports on far-right groups in Maine.
The pledge came to light on Tuesday, the same day Scarborough High School students protested their school administration for telling teachers not to display “controversial” messages like Black Lives Matter ahead of the election.
Bashinsky, who is running to unseat Democratic state Rep. Denise Tepler, publicly distanced herself from the letter after being made aware of it by a resident. She said that the pledge against classroom “indoctrination” was not part of the agenda she signed on to.
“This letter is very pointed and was not a pillar mentioned in their literature when I agreed to support it nor is it mentioned online. I am disturbed at how harshly it is written,” Bashinsky wrote on Facebook. “Although I do agree that there are some things the public school system needs to overhaul, this type of extreme language isn’t going to help the situation.”
In 2019, Lockman sponsored failed legislation that attempted to bar teachers from engaging in political, religious or ideological discussions in the classroom. The bill would have prohibited “singling out one racial group of students as responsible for the suffering or inequities experienced by another racial group of students.”
The Maine ACLU, the Maine Education Association, as well as teachers and school administrators from across the state testified against Lockman’s bill.
Correction: This article was corrected to clarify that the Maine First PAC made expenditures in support of seven Republican candidates for the legislature, not campaign contributions.
Photo: Signs carried at a Juneteeth rally and celebration in Portland on June 19. | Beacon
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