The Mayor, Our Schools, and the Radical Right
A clear and present danger to the future of our public schools...
Despite his steadfast refusals to talk about it, Coronado Mayor Richard Bailey’s relationship with the zealous Awaken Church of San Diego and its political ministry, RMNNT: Warriors for Liberty, dates back at least two years when they endorsed him during his 2020 reelection bid for Coronado Mayor. They subsequently praised Bailey for not enforcing mask mandates during the pandemic, and also hosted him as a speaker during his short-lived campaign for Congress (the mayor dropped out of the race shortly after announcing his candidacy).
So let’s take a deeper dive into Awaken/RMNNT to give us a better idea of just who Mayor Bailey is involved with and what their political priorities are.
At least three Awaken pastors and church staff have been identified as being at the January 6th, 2020, “Stop the Steal” rally and insurrection, where those who stormed the Capitol planned to hang Vice President Mike Pence on the Capitol lawn.
The insurrection was attended by more than a dozen extremist groups including White Supremacists, Nazi sympathizers, Militiamen, Oath Keepers, Proud Boys, 3-Percenters, and QAnon cult fanatics.
Awaken’s Lead Pastor, Jurgen Matthesius, has been so politically strident on social media that he has been suspended from Twitter and Instagram. He now posts on the Trump social media platform called GETTR.
A core belief of Awaken/RMNNT is that, despite being in the minority, they have the right to impose their will upon the majority because, they claim, God is on their side. This means democracy should take a back seat to their fundamentalist theocratic politics… even if it requires taking up arms.
A quick Google or Yelp search on cults in San Diego has Awaken at the top of both lists.
The Latest Target of Awaken/RMNNT is Public Schools
This Twitter post condemning public schools as godless and depraved is from Awaken Pastor Samuel Deuth, pictured earlier at the insurrection. The graphic calling for a mass exodus from the public school system is a RMNNT social media post.
The first step in the process of ultimately defunding and destroying public education is to take over school boards. This is what Mayor Richard Bailey has been helping Awaken/RMNNT with via training candidates at the church.
Again, despite his long involvement with this movement, Mayor Bailey has steadfastly refused to answer questions about Awaken/RMNNT.
The mayor won’t say if he endorses its antipathy towards public schools, conspiracy theories, homophobia and hate speech, and makes no mention of his involvement with Awaken/RMNNT on his social media pages.
“We the Parents Coronado”
And then there’s “We the Parents Coronado” (WTPC). Mayor Bailey - who has no children - was listed early on as a member of this group, which arose during the pandemic and in no way represents a majority of parents in our community (note: WTPC now conceals its membership from public view).
WTPC also traffics in many of the same cultish conspiracy theories of Awaken/RMNNT and wages similar culture wars against Coronado public schools.
The head of WTPC, Gerri Machin, is one of the three candidates for Coronado School Board supported by the mayor and endorsed by Awaken/RMNNT. During the pandemic, Machin was a fixture at school board meetings where she vocally opposed programs to mitigate racism and bullying, condemned diversity, equity and inclusion, opposed pandemic protocols, and made false claims about school curriculum.
On August 19 of last year, Machin spoke at a “Let Them Breathe” protest outside the Coronado Unified School District offices. Speakers included an Awaken Pastor and RMNNT trained candidates. Mayor Bailey was prominently in attendance as a supporter.
The other two candidates supported by Awaken/RMNNT are Scot Youngblood and Lisa Meglioli. Youngblood, an outspoken anti-mask activist who has appeared at a public meeting with Awaken Pastor Deuth, acknowledges that he also has attended WTPC meetings. Meglioli is an RMNNT-trained candidate and member of Awaken Church. The three are running together as a slate with Bailey’s guidance and full support.
When it was recently revealed that these three candidates were endorsed in the RMNNT 2022 Voter Guide, Machin and Youngblood claimed they had no idea about this and, given the group’s radical politics, would seek to have their names removed. However, as of the writing of this blog post, their names remain on the voter guide.
Along with refusing to comment on his connections with Awaken/RMNNT, Bailey also has declined to comment on his relationship with We the Parents Coronado. Yet it’s important for our community to know where our mayor stands.
Does he feel the WTPC culture wars against our school board are appropriate?
Does he agree with WTPC’s opposition to programs to mitigate racism and bullying on our school campuses.
Does he oppose diversity, equity and inclusion?
Most importantly, what is his view on the WTPC connection to a national activist group that seeks to defund our public schools?
Bailey’s refusal to provide straightforward answers goes beyond this blog. He also has not responded to an inquiry from Coronado Times. Yet his involvement with Awaken/RMNNT and WTPC, along with his endorsement of the same three candidates being promoted by both groups, speaks volumes.
Here’s My Take:
As the Mayor of Coronado, Richard Bailey owes our community answers. He should be straightforward, candid and transparent. Either he supports the culture wars of Awaken/RMNNT and stands by WTPC despite their link to a national group whose ultimate goal is defunding public schools across America, or he does not.
Coronado deserves to know where its mayor stands.
Is this really what we want in Coronado?
For generations, our Coronado Public Schools have provided excellent educations for our children and are a central part of what makes Coronado such a highly desirable community in which to live. Coronado deserves a school board with experienced, mature, nonpartisan trustees who put our teachers and students first and don’t have ulterior motives or furtive political agendas.
We should say a resounding no to the agitators who lead with disinformation and conspiracy theories and now want to impose their radical viewpoints on our community. We should say yes to mainstream candidates who truly put education above politics. The future of our public schools is literally at stake.
Note: ***If you have any doubt about what RMNNT believes about taking up arms, just watch their premiere website video here.
I would like to know the answers to all of the questions posed here. Any candidate should be upfront about who they support. I do not want a politician representing my community that supports conspiracy theories, cults or had anything to do with January 6th. We need to prevent what has happened on the national level and get back to rational leaders who want to move forward. As you can see by the first comment posted on the article in typical far Right fashion, he considers the Insurrection to be “nonsense” despite many of the attendees being sentenced and jailed and feels the need to personally attack rather than respond to the topics you’ve raised.