Top 5 Lies of Maia Espinoza
Counting down the top 5 biggest lies told by Republican OSPI candidate Maia Espinoza
For Immediate Release | October 30, 2020
SEATTLE — With just days to go before the election, Republican candidate for Superintendent of Public Instruction Maia Espinoza was caught lying about her record and credentials yet again, claiming to be a “German Marshall Scholar.” Since Espinoza has been caught being dishonest so many times throughout this election cycle, voters deserve a thorough accounting of her worst lies. Here’s the top 5 biggest lies Espinoza has told on the campaign trail this year:
Claimed to be a teacher
In Espinoza’s voter guide statement, she claims to be a teacher. As the Spokesman-Review reports, she’s never been a licensed teacher, instead providing music instruction one day a week at her daughter’s private school. Helping out with music instruction is nice, but it’s not being a teacher. By contrast, Democrat Chris Reykdal actually does have a teaching certificate from Washington State University.
Lied about her “nonprofit” organization
Espinoza runs the Center for Latino Leadership, which claims to be a 501(c)3 tax-exempt nonprofit. As the Associated Press reported, that’s a lie. Espinoza’s organization lacks tax exempt status and hasn’t been filing the forms and reporting requirements that being a (c)3 nonprofit would require. Even a member of Espinoza’s board of directors, state Rep. Alex Ybarra, didn’t know that the organization wasn’t a (c)3 nonprofit.
Lied about the comprehensive sexual education bill
Espinoza claims that the comprehensive sexual education bill passed this year would “teach sexual positions to fourth graders” – a statement that is not true. In supplemental materials that some possible curriculums could provide to parents and not to students, there are cartoon depictions of sex. Espinoza’s characterization that sexual positions are part of any kind of instruction for grade school children is flatly incorrect.
Claimed to be a “German Marshall Scholar”
As The Stranger reported, Espinoza claims in her voter guide statement to be a “German Marshall Scholar”, a title that doesn’t exist. She participated in a program with the German Marshall Fund, but alumni of the program aren’t “Marshall Scholars.” That title is appropriate for those who have participated in the actual Marshall Scholarship, a more prestigious program that Espinoza is conflating her own experience with.
Lied about her political history
Espinoza claims to “not be a politician” – a statement that’s flatly untrue. Just two years ago in 2018, Espinoza ran and lost as a Republican for the state House of Representatives against Democratic Rep. Christine Kilduff. Despite raising nearly $200,000 including money from corporate special interests like tobacco companies and big oil companies, Espinoza flatlined with voters, getting just 42.52% of the vote. Espinoza could accurately claim to be a “failing politician” or a “losing politician”, but it’s a lie for her to claim to not be a politician at all.
“Maia Espinoza is desperate to win this seat so she can enact her Betsy DeVos-style agenda of slashing public education, and she’ll do or say anything if she thinks it’ll help make that happen,” said Tina Podlodowski, chair of the Washington State Democratic Party. “The students, parents, and teachers of Washington need someone in the superintendent’s seat who we can trust, not someone who’s been caught lying again and again and again. A Trump-style barrage of lies from Espinoza is not what we want from a superintendent.”
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