Mat-Su Moms for Liberty Co-Founders Throw Cash at McCollum, Larson Lags
You'd think Matanuska Susitna District School Board member Ole Larson would have raised a bit more cash for his re-election campaign than he has.
According to his most recent filing with the Alaska Public Offices Commission, Richard Ole Larson has raised a total of $9,472.49 over the past nine months. After expenses, Larson reported having just $4,272.49 cash on hand.
Five thousand dollars of Larson's total fundraising haul comes from two primary sources: $2,000.00 from his own bank account and a cool $3,000.00 from the Mat-Su Republican Women's Club. His largest campaign expenditures totaling $3,050.00 are to Anchorage-based company, MobiBiz Marketing, for political outreach and campaign media services.
MSBSD School Board member Kathy McCollum, a Parental Rights proponent who has been embraced by the local chapter of Florida-based extremist organization, Moms for Liberty, reported raising $13,935.00 thus far. Her two largest campaign contributions were made by the Mat-Su Republican Women's Club, totaling $4,500.00. The Valley Republican Women of Alaska kicked in $500.00.
While the Mat-Su chapter of Moms for Liberty has not donated to either candidate's campaigns directly, each chapter co-founder has chipped in to support McCollum, but curiously, only one of them has donated to Larson's campaign.
Kali Ponder, whom McCollum handpicked to serve on the school district's library citizens book banning committee, kicked in a cool $500.00 to support McCollum—her anti-LGBTQ and book-banning ally on the school board. Lynn Hallford, misspelled "Haliford" on McCollum's latest APOC report, kicked in $200.00 while Kelsey Shumway and Melissa Wilkins both donated $100.
Like Larson, McCollum also enlisted MobiBiz Marketing's services. According to APOC, her campaign has spent $8,800.00 on MobiBiz's campaign and political outreach services. The campaign reports having $4,413.93 on hand.
What's fascinating about this race is the amount of money raised by Larson's opponent, Diane Shibe.
According to her latest financial report, Shibe has raised an impressive $38,227.59—surpassing the combined total raised by Larson and McCollum. Notably, more than 100 of Shibe's donors are teachers who clearly reject Larson's efforts to erase LGBTQ+ authors and voices from the district's libraries as well as his systematic maneuvering to upend public education in favor of installing Moms for Liberty's hateful and discriminatory Parental Rights agenda.
Oh, and did I mention that Shibe has more than $25,000.00 cash on hand going into next month's election? Fact check: ✅
Although Moms for Liberty Mat-Su endorsed him a week ago, it is perhaps interesting to note that Larson has not shared that detail on his campaign Facebook page or website. You'd think being endorsed by a bonified anti-government organization would be an achievement Larson would want to trumpet, but nope.
Anyway, November's MSBSD school board races will be interesting to watch. A political observer in the Mat-Su recently shared with me that conservatives are deeply concerned about the possibility of a Shibe victory, describing them as being "so scared."
