Let's un-pac the new MFL/recall williamson pac

A press release went out today from seahorse-phobic Moms for Liberty - Williamson County and SNL-spoofed Chair Robin Steenman, announcing the following:

FRANKLIN, Tenn. (Oct. 6, 2021) —The newly formed Williamson Families PAC announced today the digital launch of its website and social media, in time for the Franklin city alderman election...

...The Williamson Families PAC was launched by local families who believe it is our responsibility as citizens to ensure the priorities of our leaders match those of our community,” said Robin Steenman, chairman of the PAC.

After 200 hours of rigorous vetting, Williamson Families endorses the following candidates for the Franklin city alderman election: Bev Burger for Ward 1, Tina Pierret for Ward 2 and Gabrielle Hanson for At Large.

“We advocate for strong family values, individual responsibility, respect for tradition and innovation for the future,” Steenman continued. “We will back candidates with the character, courage and conviction to stand for these values, both while running for office and once elected.”

“Williamson County families deserve leaders who promote academic excellence and practice transparent accountability and fiscal responsibility. We support current leaders and candidates who reflect these ideals and demonstrate integrity, wisdom and service to the community.”

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First, LOL to anyone, even as a collective, who spent 200 hours vetting Alderman candidates. No offense meant as it's a super important local office, but that's a little precious. Also, Bev Burger is running unopposed so well done with that endorsement. Gotta get a win where you can, I guess.

Secondly, the PAC's new website is a treasure trove of offensiveness to just about anyone who's living in the modern era, but we'll get to that in a bit.

Thirdly, we can't find an official filing for them on the state of TN's PAC system. We'll chock that up to a potential delay in website updating (not our experience at all as it was nearly instantaneous) but hey....this one deserves the benefit of the doubt.

Fourthly (stay with us here), this "newly formed PAC" somehow already has over 1,800 Facebook followers. Well, that's an easy one! They apparently took over Gary Humble's Recall Williamson facebook page, the failed attempt to circumvent Tennessee state law and try to recall School Board members they don't agree with. (Pro tip: We knew how that one would end ages ago. If a Board member could be recalled, it would have been figured out during the Susan Curlee era.)

Did they think no one would notice or that no one would care? Probably a little bit of both. Yet Humble wasn't mentioned once in the press release. Curious! What's his involvement in this PAC? Surely the vast majority of Williamson County residents don't agree with the extremism of Humble's Tennessee Stands "freedom" measures that often result in aggression against elected officials.

But anyways. Back to that website.

Raise your hand if this is what you, as a Williamson County resident in 2021, think is a-ok for anyone trying to influence our public schools:

Maybe this group of "families" doesn't realize just how many religions are represented in Williamson County Schools. There are significantly large numbers of Hindu families, for one. Are they not welcomed? Buddhist families? What about the Muslims? Oh wait, don't answer that one.

We thought this country was founded on the freedom of religion, and the separation of church (religion) and state (government.) Maybe that part of the Social Studies curriculum got censored in these families' educational upbringing.

There's more!

Under School Board section:

We'll give you a second to read #7 again, for starters.

Deep breaths.

Their blog is chock full of flagrantly offensive content, but give your friends & families who live in the below cities a heads up that they're living in a hellscape of sin and (shhh it's really all about diversity) corruption.

They're *so close* to saying the quiet part out loud.

Oh wait! There it is. Phew! We knew they had to get it off their chests.

If you wonder why some amazing parent-led grassroots group like One WillCo exist, there you have it. We've gotta lotta work to do around these here parts, folks.

Funny enough, a super active Moms for Liberty member is running for City of Franklin Ward 3 Alderman, and is reportedly tight with Steenman. Yet Michelle Sutton isn't endorsed by this PAC, which they talk about in one of their blog posts:

Ruh-roh. Maybe Sutton didn't accept their endorsement knowing it would have some potential fallout, or she really didn't get endorsed. The above blog wording sure points to the latter.

But back to the real question at hand. What is Gary Humble's involvement in this PAC? Is his name on the paperwork that's yet to appear online? We know it's hard to build a following from scratch but taking over someone's existing group for a failed attempt at a school board takeover is...an interesting kickstart to "reimagining" Williamson County.

We've seen this kind of hot air before. Luckily, the limelight never lasts and the rest of us are eventually able to get back to the business of making our public schools truly welcoming and safe for all.

We see your threat to our neighbors who don't look like you or believe the same as you do, and we're not taking kindly to it. And we're not taking it sitting down.

If you've made it this far, please consider donating to our PAC to help us fight this bigotry. We know the numbers are on our side, because we know most everyone believes Williamson County is open to anyone who wants to work, live, or raise their kids here. Please don't let these people scare you....we promise they're the minority. They just know how to make some noise and land on CNN. We've got you, and your kids, in our hearts and arms.

We're #WiliamsonStrong together.

P.S. John Rich will be headlining their kickoff event. Quiet part out loud.

P.P.S. because we still can't get over this garbage. Can you imagine being a WCS teacher who isn't Christian and finds this site from "local families?" We value you, we're glad you're here teaching our kids, and you belong here.