A “mama grizzly” who spearheaded Ohio’s anti-Common Core grassroots campaign several years ago is now a primary candidate against the very Republican state lawmaker she helped to elect based on what he said he would do to bring about constitutionally-based education policy in the state.
Heidi Huber, a native Cincinnatian and wife and mother of three, tells Breitbart News she decided to run against Ohio state Rep. Tom Brinkman of the 27th district because he “talked the talk” while he was running for his position, but now is not “walking the talk.”
“There’s been a lack of consistency between so-called conservative candidates’ platform and their voting record,” the grassroots activist said. “The primary issue was Common Core – and the best way to describe the current situation is ‘not as advertised’ for what we’ve experienced for the first 11 months of the legislative session. My representative is now not ‘walking the talk,’ so I need to step up and do what I’ve asked others to do.”
Huber said for the past several years she has traveled the state, educating fellow Ohioans about Common Core and encouraging citizens to get to know their representatives.
“And make sure they know you!” she says she has urged. “Hold them accountable and if they’re not doing their job then it’s your responsibility to replace them.”
Huber said she believes she is the first of the anti-Common Core grassroots activist parents to run for elected office.
“It’s extremely intimidating to venture there,” she acknowledges. “I’ve had a preparation, though, that probably very few citizen activists would have. I’ve worked closely with some members of our legislature who are truly conservative and have been invested in serving our constituents and have been able to work on policy issues.”
“My professional background in finance and accounting has helped me in terms of reading a budget and in the area of appropriations, as well as the complexities of Ohio’s education funding model,” she adds as well.
Huber observes the greatest area of difficulty has been the inability to connect with and educate members of the Ohio state legislature on education funding.
“Many are not willing to delve into what already exists in code,” she noted. “What these elected officials often have is a knee-jerk response of another piece of legislation, so you end up having layer upon layer of legislation that solves nothing. Coupled with a federal power grab the whole education issue becomes a cycle of the political ladder climb, re-election focus, and pension.”
Huber believes the only way to “reset the scale toward liberty” is for those, such as herself, who have no designs on being a long-term elected official, to serve in a short-term public servant role.
“If your top priorities are your re-election and your pension, it’s impossible for you to truly focus on the concerns of your constituents and serve with a short-term idea of getting the most done in the shortest amount of time,” she asserted.
Huber knows the challenges of education issues in the media.
“Education is not a ‘sexy’ topic, and you tend to get in the weeds when speaking about it,” she said, explaining:
People say Common Core is really, really complicated, but it isn’t. It’s the typical progressive policy. Not only from a control perspective but also from a financial one. The influence of special interests…the way I described it in Ohio is you have a pseudo-philanthropic community coupled with the federal and state government. And they are buying public policy through the guise of philanthropy, and citizens are unaware that that’s what’s going on. I don’t even think many legislators understand what they are facilitating.
Huber grew her grassroots organization – Ohioans Against Common Core – to more than 6,000 members. Additionally, she has co-authored four pieces of legislation, two of which received accolades for their “out-of-the-bureaucracy” approach.
From her website:
Ohio House Bill 597 was deemed model repeal legislation and coined “the smart exit strategy for states” by Pioneer Institute of Massachusetts, the nation’s leading independent think tank regarding Common Core research, and Ohio House Bill 7, a bill to protect children from the inane testing abuse, which passed by an unprecedented unanimous vote in both chambers and was the first bill to Governor Kasich’s desk in the current session.
The candidate has also worked to help organize several candidate and issue-related campaigns, including Ohio’s Health Care Freedom Amendment and newly elected Kentucky Gov. Matt Bevin’s election bid last year.
Huber has received praise from the country’s top education experts as she has fought against the establishment in Ohio, including the state’s governor, 2016 GOP presidential contender John Kasich. In 2015, Kasich drew the ire of Huber’s grassroots group when he referred to resistance to the Common Core standards as “hysteria,” and said opposition to the reform was simply “a runaway internet campaign.”
“Heidi Huber has done a superb job advocating for parents and children in Ohio,” says Stanford University mathematician R. James Milgram, Ph.D. “Very early she saw the huge problems with the Common Core Standards and the damage their implementation poses to your children’s futures. She continues to advocate both strongly and effectively against them in spite of Gov. Kasich’s stubborn support of those flawed standards.”
“Heidi Huber is a woman I would trust my life and my children’s lives to without a second thought,” said Joy Pullmann, managing editor at The Federalist. “She is a no-compromise woman and one of the few who understand what is at stake in our country’s political crisis and will not stop until truth and justice win.”
The Republican primary in Ohio is March 15.
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