By Adam Pagnucco.
The Apple Ballot, which conveys the support of the Montgomery County Education Association (MCEA), has long been the most desired endorsement in MoCo politics. But now it may come with a price, which is this: if you want the Apple, don’t endorse against its school board candidates.
MCEA has released its candidate questionnaires for county executive, county council and school board. This is one of the questions that appears on all of them:
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The Apple Ballot has been successful due to strong brand recognition and the trust the community has in educators to know what our schools and communities need. The strength of the Apple Ballot is diminished when candidates and elected officials on the Apple Ballot endorse non-Apple Ballot candidates. Recognizing the importance of educator voice, especially in education-specific elections, will you refrain from endorsing non-Apple Ballot Board of Education candidates?
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I could be wrong but I don’t recall language of this kind from past MCEA questionnaires. (I have a partial set of these questionnaires going back to 2007.) I also don’t recall other organizations asking this kind of question with one partial caveat I will mention below.
And so MCEA is warning potential endorsees to not endorse against their school board picks. That’s different from telling them that they must endorse Apple school board candidates, but it’s still notable. Also, the blanket language in the question (“The strength of the Apple Ballot is diminished when candidates and elected officials on the Apple Ballot endorse non-Apple Ballot candidates”) suggests potential application to other races. This is a message, folks.
Why would MCEA, arguably the most powerful group in MoCo politics, ask a question of this nature?
One reason might be the example of last year’s school board races. MCEA was determined to unseat all three incumbents running for reelection, one of whom was District 4’s Shebra Evans. After challenger Laura Stewart released a list of her endorsements, Evans replied with a longer list of her own that was jam-packed with Apple-friendly elected officials. (It included Delegate Bonnie Cullison, who is a former MCEA president!) Council Member Will Jawando, a multi-Apple endorsee who is working hard to get MCEA’s support in the current county executive race, even co-hosted a fundraiser for Evans.
Jawando’s email promoting Evans’s fundraiser.
I bet this annoyed MCEA, but here’s the thing: none of it did Evans any good. Among the three non-Apple school board candidates in the 2024 general election, Evans got the lowest vote percentage. She fared even worse than Brenda Diaz, who was supported by the county Republican Party. Candidates who think that tons of endorsements from elected officials matter, especially when pitted against the Apple Ballot, should rethink that point of view.
I have asked a number of candidates who have received MCEA’s new questionnaire how they feel about this question and none of them love it. Of course, none of them will complain about it publicly for fear of offending MCEA. Several of them describe this as “overreach.” One pointed out the problems of being asked to make an endorsement decision about a race in which the candidates are currently unknown.
Also of interest will be the reaction of SEIU Local 500, which represents MCPS support staff. Last year, Local 500 endorsed all of the incumbents, who were then annihilated by MCEA. If they should ever disagree with MCEA again, this new policy would work against SEIU-backed candidates. I bet they won’t enjoy that.
I am reminded of two things.
First, back in 2010 and 2014, MCGEO – which represents most non-MCPS county government employees – was unhappy about how funding for county government was squeezed by the state’s Maintenance of Effort (MOE) requirements for school funding. So they began asking about school funding in their questionnaires, an obvious shot against the teachers. In 2014, MCGEO asked candidates this question.
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During the decade of the 2000s, the Montgomery County Council not only met the required MOE funding but overfunded MOE by $600 million. Despite these record investments by the Montgomery County Council, the MCEA and the education lobby tightened MOE to ensure that it would be almost impossible for a local jurisdiction in economic distress to reduce MOE funding.
Do you support funding in excess of MOE?
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This line of questioning by MCGEO was not welcomed by MCEA.
Second, in the 2006 cycle, MCEA’s then-political director asked Apple-endorsed candidates to contribute campaign funds to the union’s PAC. Four years later, candidates facing this request squealed anonymously to the Washington Post’s editorial board, which then published a flaming opinion condemning the “Rotten Apple.” The practice later ended. This demonstrates how unhappy politicians often prefer to unsheathe their daggers in the dead of night.
I asked MCEA for on-the-record comment about this question on Friday. At this writing, I have not yet heard back.
Look, as a former labor guy, I understand this strategy. If you have leverage involving an urgent priority – and few things are more urgent for a teachers union than the composition of a school board – there is often a sound case for using it.
But ever since I started writing about state and county politics almost twenty years ago, I have had a front-row seat to the exercise of power. And some of its most effective practitioners – for example, Mike Miller and Ike Leggett – have often chosen to use their power with tact, behind closed doors and in the context of multiple priorities. Steam-rollings can be delightful but leave behind bitter aftertastes. Superior long-term outcomes and durable relationships can sometimes be built when the other party believes that they had a degree of voluntary participation in offering concessions. It may be worth it to offer a slice of bread if it means getting a steak in return. Also, questions that never appear in print are accompanied by little proof of being asked… right?
If MCEA sticks to this strategy, it will be interesting to see what – if anything – comes of it.