So earlier this week an article came out by Graham Moomaw, with Virginia Mercury entitled, “A Republican lawmaker delivered doughnuts to teachers. Then came a political food fight”, which talked about a recent political stunt involving donuts, educators and the Republican incumbent, Amanda Batten, Majority Caucus Chair, as the ring leader.
Article here: www.virginiamercury.com/…
Now it appears educators spoke out about the delivery since political communications, in the form of gifts, goes against WJCC school policy. And funny how Batten has never step foot in the WJCC public schools of the 96th District, that she currently represents, to offer any tokens of “appreciation”, in the past. Batten’s VPAP and social media tells us that during her 1st run for office, the only school getting accolades and dollars was a local private school that Batten had personal ties with, located in Williamsburg. Why would she acknowledge public school teachers, when she didn’t need them for her own family, and at the time, running in a deeply red district, meant she also didn’t need them for their votes.
So what brought about this new “appreciation” for teachers?
With the newly redrawn 71st District, adding the City of Williamsburg, larger section of James City County, and parts of New Kent County, while eliminating York county, Seaford and Grafton, Batten just realized she may have to actually do some work this campaign year, versus the past 2 terms. Simply having an R in front of her name is no longer the way to voters hearts, so Batten figured she’d go through their stomachs. Especially since her opponent, Jessica Anderson, a 5 year front office employee of one of WJCC’s elementary schools and vocal public school parent, has a deep connection to the school system and a history of advocacy for educators, families and parents within WJCC and New Kent county schools. This all added up to Batten needing to find a way into a community she’s been ignoring and voting against for the past 4 Virginia General Assembly sessions.
While whining last night, in a 2 minute segment to FOX news host, Laura Ingraham, Batten ignored the fact that the complaints were never about donuts, teachers appreciate donuts, it’s the motive behind the donuts. There’s a hole in her argument when it comes from a candidate who has been non-existent in advocating for public education and the staff and families within. When asked if she considered using her own money, Batten said she saw the expenditure as no different than other routine uses of campaign funds “to support community events and outreach.”
“I just think it’s sad that anyone would object to the observation of Teacher Appreciation Week by a legislator,” Batten said. “Or the default would be to politicize doughnuts.”
But here’s a couple flaws in her statement; first off, she failed to acknowledge teachers during Teacher Appreciation Week in 2019, 2020, and 2021, even failing to offer a sentiment via a social media post, despite being very active online. And her excuse of Covid preventing a visit, during Teacher Appreciation Week in 2022, falls flat seeing that all WJCC schools were officially open to the public and yet they received no token of appreciation from Delegate Batten, although they did at least get a social media thank you. In addition, her only other expenditure in WJCC schools, or any public school for that matter, according to VPAP, was a $100 to York High School in April 2021. Even this small contribution was likely for a political ad buy in their Spring musical Billbook to advertise her upcoming election, You know, making it political, but perhaps she can set the record straight on what that $100 was truly for? Regardless, the over $1600 she paid for donuts (16x her previous spending), because teachers suddenly matter, is unprecedented for Batten and any politician in the WJCC division. Not to mention, if her gesture was all about thanking teachers and not trying to buy votes, why did she only deliver donuts to the newly redrawn 71st district schools and not the schools in the 96th, that she currently still represents? Wouldn’t that suggest she’s “politicizing donuts” despite her stating otherwise?
Although maybe Batten is confused about what district she currently represents seeing that in addition to “thanking teachers” she also thanked new voters in the 71st for their civic duty of registering to vote, with a letter on official Amanda Batten Delegate letterhead stating,
“As your representative, I welcome you to the district and look forward to serving you”. Or the fact a new update to her social media bio now claims, “Serving the Historic Triangle since 2020”, even though the triangle is made up of Yorktown, Jamestown and City of Williamsburg, and she’s never served Jamestown or Williamsburg as a Delegate. We have to assume Delegate Batten, as a Republican leader for the Virginia House of Delegates, is intelligent enough to know how to read her current district map, or is she just attempting to mislead new voters into believing their current address has been best served under her representation, even though they’ve been represented by a Democratic Delegate since 2014?
Let’s be honest, Delegate Batten knows none of the pushback on her donut debacle is about people being mad she thought about teachers for a change, it’s about them being a pawn in her political aspirations to win a 3rd term, which appears to be getting further and further out of reach for Batten. In a statement, Anderson called the doughnut delivery and accompanying social media post a “political stunt” and “photo op” by a candidate who has “voted against teachers’ best interests.”
“No candidate for public office is above the rules,” Anderson said. And her comments come on the heels of Gov. Glenn Youngkin targeting Batten’s opponent, Mrs. Anderson, in a 6 figure, 6-week ad campaign claiming she’s anti-parent, even though she herself is a public school parent. Not to mention, the video of Mrs. Anderson being circulated online, and in this ad, is 18 months old and is of her voicing her concerns about other Virginia parents dictating her daughters’ curriculum, if Youngkin won his 2021 election. In other words, asking for her parental rights to be protected. I guess Governor Youngkin isn’t for parental rights after-all.
With this much excitement 6 months out from an election, it looks as though the 71st District is the race to watch this November in the state of Virginia. Mrs. Anderson’s social media present and her small dollar donors, that ranked her #1 in the state after Q1, and according to VPAP, showed Mrs. Anderson ($70,107) had only $1918 less dollars than her incumbent, Delegate Batten ($72,025), is gaining attention not only in Virginia, but nationwide. She’s accomplished no small feet for a first time political candidate and an everyday resident of the 71st. I’m not normally a betting man, but I’m putting my money on Anderson, perhaps you should do the same.
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