The sad truth is that, despite all the campaign disclosure laws that have been passed, our ability to track campaign contributions at the state and local level is inadequate. Tools like FollowThe Money are great, but they can't keep track of the giving that takes place in jurisdictions that still allow handwritten reporting forms.

So here's a first attempt to describe the influence of the "Reformy 8" on education politics. Judge for yourself whether there is a pattern that suggests coordination in the giving for these local school board, state school board, and state legislative races; the links to the sources are under "Jurisdiction":
 

Jusidiction	Candidate	Greg Penner	Lydia Callaghan	Arthur Rock	Dave Goldberg	Sheryl Sandberg	Alan Fournier	Jennifer Fournier	Kent Thiry	TOTALS
Perth Amboy, NJ	Better Schools Now!	$8,000	$8,000	$8,000	$8,000		$10,400	$10,400	$10,400	$63,200
Oregon	Tobias Read	$5,000	$5,000	$5,000		$6,000	$2,500	$2,500		$26,000
Colorado	Kerr, Newell, Pettersen, Rodosevich, Hamner, Lee, Young, Hodge	$3,175	$3,175	$3,175	$2,775	$2,780	$2,375	$2,375		$19,830
New York	Jeffrey Klein	$2,000	$2,000	$2,000	$1,000	$1,000				$8,000
Nevada	Alexis Gonzales-Black	$2,000	$2,000	$7,500	$1,000	$10,000	$1,000	$1,000	$5,000	$29,500
Nevada	Allison Serafin	$2,000	$2,000	$5,000	$3,500	$5,000	$1,000	$1,000	$5,000	$24,500
Indianapolis	Caitlin Hannon	$5,000	$5,000	$5,000	$1,000		$2,000		$3,000	$21,000
Indiana	Mary Ann Sullivan and Tim DeLaney	$10,000	$10,000	$10,000	$2,000	$2,000				$34,000
New Orleans	Sarah Usdin	$2,500	$2,500	$2,500	$2,500	$2,500	$1,100	$1,100	$2,500	$17,200
Ohio	Ryan Jolley	$3,000	$3,000	$3,000	$1,000	$700				$10,700
California	Joe Coto	$3,000	$3,000	$3,000	$1,600					$10,600
Contribution Totals		$45,675	$45,675	$54,175	$24,375	$29,980	$20,375	$18,375	$25,900

 

Total Reformy Machine Contributions: $264,530.

Mind you: this is merely what I have been able to confirm. Who knows how much money has been funneled into races that aren't showing up in the campaign finance databases?

The race that still astounds me here is the Perth Amboy school board race: $63,200 for a school board race in city of 50,000?! That's just crazy - isn't it? Hmm...

What was it about Perth Amboy that attracted this level of money from seven of the "Reformy 8"? What is it about all of these races that binds these reformy plutocrats together?

Thinking... stand by.