Here's a recap of today's press conference in which speakers urged the Wake County school board and DA's office to use mediation instead of trials for the protestors arrested at board meetings in 2010.
 
Speakers said seeking mediation would heal the community, save taxpayer money and not tie up court dockets. You also had speakers from the Great Schools in Wake Coalition who both called for mediation while simultaneously defending the new Democratic board majority.

“I’m here to encourage the school board to take up mediation instead of ripping us apart,” said the Rev. Duane Beck, co-chair of Congregations for Social Justice and pastor of Raleigh Mennonite Church.

The Great Schools in Wake Coalition is officially stepping into the Wake County school board elections with this campaign mailer that was sent this week urging people to vote in the runoff contest.

The mailer says "Do this one thing for all our children...vote in the runoff election for the District 3 school board seat!" In addition to GSIW, the mailer's other sponsors include a pair of liberal groups in Common Cause NC and the N.C. A Philip Randolph Institute, which is an arm of the AFL-CIO.

The mailer doesn't tell you who to vote for because GSIW isn't officially allowed to give endorsements. But a number of GSIW members have individually worked for and donated money to the campaigns for the Democratic school board candidates.

Additionally, the mailer points voters to WakeElections.com. As previously reported by the Civitas Review, the weblog of the conservative Civitas Institute, that website was set up by a number of liberal/left-leaning advocacy groups.

Is Planned Parenthood working behind the scenes to help elect the Democratic candidates for Wake County school board?

That's the implication of this post published last week by the Civitas Review, the weblog of the conservative Civitas Institute. The blog was looking into wakeelections.com, a website listed on mailers sent to voters in District 3 and 8 by Common Cause and an arm of the AFL-CIO.

After not finding any information on the website about who's involved in the group, Civitas clicked on the Take Action button. Civitas says the contacts for an automatic message when you sign up to volunteer include WakeUP Wake County, Blueprint NC and Planned Parenthood Health Systems.

Efforts by liberal groups to impact the District 3 and District 8 races on the Wake County school board are continuing with yet another different organization urging people to vote on Election Day.

In this new campaign mailer targeted at voters in both districts, it says "there are lots of little reasons to vote on the school board...and one big one: because you care about Wake County's future!"

The flier also reads "having good schools for all Wake County schools makes our economy stronger, our communities healthier, and keeps the whole county a great place to live and work."