Former Wake County school board member Chris Malone is one of two Republican state legislators who is criticizing the school system for hiring a lobbyist to oppose changes backed by county commissioners.

Malone's comments are part of this press release issued today by the North Carolina chapter of Americans for Prosperity, a conservative advocacy group that's no fan of the current Democratic board majority.

“As a former member of the Wake County School Board, I understand the need for another elected body to offer its views on proposed or needed legislation," Malone says in the press release. "While on the Board, I often made our case to our Wake County Legislative Delegation, via telephone, email or personal visit. Legislators are more than willing to listen to various points of view."

Do 2007 donations from the state chapter of Americans for Prosperity to Wake CARES during the mandatory year-round lawsuit constitute grounds for linking the conservative Koch brothers to the 2009 Wake County school board elections?

That's how the left-wing cable news network MSNBC is trying to tie the Koch brothers to the new school board majority that ended the diversity policy. It was part of a segment on Wake County schools titled "Repealing the 20th Century" that aired Thursday night on MSNBC's "The Last Word" show.

"Now there are multiple reports directly or indirectly linking the Koch brothers — those mysterious right-wing billionaires behind the Astroturf-group Americans for Prosperity — to the Republican school board members who are actively pushing to resegregate Wake County schools," said Melissa Harris-Perry, the show's guest host. "To be fair, it's not entirely clear just how much money the Koch-backed Americans for Prosperity put behind the candidates in 2009."

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Are the producers and supporters of the new video alleging the Koch Brothers  bought the 2009 Wake County school board elections now backing away from the claim?

As noted in today's article, the message is moving away from the Koch Brothers buying school board candidates in 2009 to saying they backed a long-term campaign to destabilize the school system to make the election results possible.

Robert Greenwald, director of the video, said that its intent was to show that long-term efforts by the state chapter of the Americans for Prosperity helped create an environment in which candidates could craft a winning campaign on opposing the school board.

Americans for Prosperity is seeing some partial success in its efforts to get retractions of claims that the group financially backed the winning Wake County school board candidates in 2009.

The Huffington Post posted a correction today to the statement it made in an online Monday article about the school board candidates having been "bankrolled" by AFP. To try to beef up the story, it posts additional info today on AFP, such as the group's support of the Wake CARES lawsuit and a story earlier this year in Newsweek.

But Robert Greenwald, the director of the new film that came out Monday, isn't issuing a retraction. Neither is Sue Sturgis of the liberal Institute for Southern Studies.

UPDATE

Sue Sturgis has added a clarification to a blog post she wrote Monday about the video.

The controversy over Brave New Films' film accusing the Koch brothers of bankrolling the 2009 Wake County school board elections is heating up tonight.

Brave New Foundation, a sister entity of Brave New Films, released a statement tonight defending the video and refusing Americans for Prosperity's demand that they retract the video. The NC chapter of AFP sent out its own statement tonight from Perry Woods, one of the people interviewed in the film, denying that AFP and the Koch brothers were involved in the election.

In Brave New Foundation's statement, the California-based liberal group says the conservative AFP "is trying to back-peddle and disassociate its involvement to re-segregate public schools."

CORRECTED TO REFLECT THAT BRAVE NEW FILMS AND BRAVE NEW FOUNDATION ARE SISTER ENTITIES

Dallas Woodhouse, president of the North Carolina chapter of Americans for Prosperity, is calling the new video linking the conservative group with the 2009 Wake County school board elections "a series of outright lies" and libelous."

In a statement today, Woodhouse said AFP's legal team has asked for retractions from Brave News Films and The Huffington Post for claiming that AFP bankrolled the winning school board candidates in 2009. Both liberal groups made the claim to try to charge that the conservative Koch brothers, who founded Americans for Prosperity, are responsible for the end of Wake's diversity policy and the resulting student assignment changes.

"Americans for Prosperity did not spend one single dime on those elections nor did AFP spend funds on independent electioneering communication activities during that election cycle," Woodhouse said in the statement. "Moreover, Americans for Prosperity was not engaged in any nonpartisan Get-Out-The-Vote activity or in issuing any voter education material. In sum, Americans for Prosperity had no presence during the 2009 Wake County School Board race."

A new video from a liberal group is accusing the conservative Koch brothers of having bought the Wake County school board elections in 2009 in an attempt to resegregate the school system.

The 11-minute video, released today by Brave New Films founded by Robert Greenwald, is part of a series of films attacking the Koch brothers. For this film, a variety of local supporters of the old diversity policy go on to blame the Koch brothers for the 2009 election results and ignore the notion that there was any large grassroots support for the changes.

"In 2009, the Koch brothers tried the destroy the Wake County Public School system," says a blurb flashed on the screen.

SEE UPDATE AT END OF POST FOR RESPONSE FROM DALLAS WOODHOUSE AND FOR A LINK FOR AN INTERVIEW ROBERT GREENWALD GAVE TO MSNBC ON MONDAY ABOUT THE FILM

Newsweek is questioning the strength of the ties that The Washington Post pointed to between the Wake County school board and the Tea Party.

In a blog post Friday, Ben Adler, national editor of Newsweek.com, says the connection that the Post pointed to in its front-page article on Jan. 12 were "tenuous" and "weak." Liberals have picked up on the Post article to accuse the Tea Party movement of trying to resegregate the Wake school system.

"But was the school board really 'backed by the national Tea Party'?," Adler writes. "No, the national Tea Party movement doesn’t normally get involved in races for school board."

The decision to effectively oust Del Burns as Wake County superintendent by putting him on administrative leave is likely to raise the temperature even more.

As noted in today's article, critics of the new school board majority are in an uproar over the decision to put Burns on the sidelines through June 30. On the other hand, supporters of the new board are happy with the move.

"I'm sorry it's come to this," said Yevonne Brannon, chairwoman of the Great Schools in Wake Coalition, which had urged that Burns be allowed to stay on through June 30. "In a very short time, the new board majority have turned the county upside down."

Dallas Woodhouse, state director of Americans for Prosperity, has a statement on Del Burns' removal as Wake County schools superintendent.

Here's his statement:

“Over the past few weeks Mr. Del Burns has disqualified himself from continued service to the Wake County School Board.