'Concerned parent' who appeared on Fox News is actually part of a Koch-linked activist group: report

During an appearance on Fox News last week, Virginia resident Harry Jackson, who has been an outspoken attendee at school board meetings in Northern Virginia's Fairfax County, claimed that he's a "concerned parent, not an activist."

But according to Judd Legum, Jackson is also part of the "Leadership Team" of Parents Defending Education (PDE), which is a dark money group that was created earlier this year. In a recent tweet, the group said that it intends to "build a grassroots army to begin reclaiming our K-12 schools."

PDE says its nonpartisan, but Legum claims the group has ties to the Koch Brothers' "political operation."

"The president of PDE is Nicole Neily, who also serves as the president of Speech First, another self-proclaimed 'grassroots' organization that targets college campuses," Legum writes. "Neily has refused to disclose Speech First's donors but its board includes 'a former head of a Koch-backed trust and two conservative attorneys from Koch-funded programs.' Neily previously worked at the Independent Women's Forum, another dark money group funded by the Charles Koch Institute, and Franklin Center for Government and Public Integrity, which Columbia Journalism Review reported in 2013 was 'the Kochs' leading media investment to date.'"

Jackson isn't exactly "nonpartisan" either. He's heavily involved in "Educators for Youngkin," which is part of the campaign of Republican nominee Glenn Youngkin for governor of the state. Jackson, while publicly claiming to be a Democrat, frequently attacks Democrats from his Twitter account.

Read Legum's full report at Popular Information.