Progress NC Action is continuing to beat the drum on whether Wake County school board candidate Heather Losurdo embellished her resume.

In a press release today, the liberal advocacy group says Losurdo should provide references or Human Resources documentation to back up her statements that she oversaw $2 billion in small business loans in the Carolinas for First Union Bank.

“This is the definition of padding your resume,” said Gerrick Brenner, Executive Director of Progress NC ACTION, in the press release. “Not only is this behavior the wrong message to send Wake County students, but it is totally unacceptable for someone asking voters to trust them with their votes. Ms. Losurdo should either provide documents to back up her claims or she should withdraw from the race.”

The Wake County school board election runoff made today's edition of National Public Radio's "Morning Edition" show.

During the segment, Dave DeWitt of WUNC painted this year's election to the national audience as a d Democratic backlash to Republican businessman Art Pope. He credits Pope with the 2009 school board election results that brought in the new majority, a hotly debated charge over the past two years.

"The chief architect of the 2009 turnaround was a local businessman named Art Pope," DeWitt says. "He spends millions of dollars funding a statewide network of conservative think tanks, election advocacy groups and PACs. '

CORRECTED SPELLING OF DEWITT'S LAST NAME TO CAPITALIZE THE W

Wake County school board member Kevin Hill reiterated today that he isn't out to scrap the new student assignment plan or get rid of Superintendent Tony Tata.

In an interview today on The Bill LuMaye Show on WPTF, Hill answered the charges being leveled at him by Heather Losurdo that his re-election will result in the assignment plan being junked and a majority that could fire Tata. Hill said the recently adopted plan was 85 to 90 percent there.

"I don't believe that we're going to go back to the old plan," Hill said if he wins. "I've said repeatedly I have no intention of that. That's water under the bridge."

A campaign finance report filed Monday shows that the North Carolina Republican Party has spent $10,858.23 in campaign mailers to help Wake County school board candidate Heather Losurdo.

One example is their "Wake County Voter's Guide for School Board," which says that Losurdo "supports using proximity as the #1 priority for the school choice plan, supports neighborhood schools, and believes in listening to parents." The mailer also says Losurdo "supports Superintendent Tata and his leadership effort" and "will use family friendly and common values on school board issues."

It says that Kevin Hill "will revive forced busing: voted against the Bi-partisan School Choice Plan" and "voted against hiring Superintendent Tata." It also says he was "a leader in the Majority on the school board when 'Wacky Wednesday' and having School on Memorial Day were allowed."

Click here to view the front of the mailer. Click here to view the back.

New campaign finance reports show that Common Sense Matters has raised more than $100,000 for the Wake County school board elections, with at least $55,000 of it targeted toward defeating Heather Losurdo.

A new report filed Wednesday shows that the N.C. Futures Action Fund, led by Democratic activist Dean Debnam, provided an additional $40,000 to Common Sense Matters last week. Debnam's group had previously given $65,000 to Common Sense Matters, lifting the total contribution to $105,000.

The new report shows that Common Sense Matters has spent $31,618.15 on mailers targeting Losurdo just during the runoff. This raises Common Sense Matters' overall school board election spending to $84,546.95.

Breaking it out, at least $55,103.38 has been spent on mailers attacking Losurdo. At least $19,012.51 was spent on mailers targeting school board chairman Ron Margiotta. There's also an additional $10,431.06 on postage spent on mailers targeting both candidates so it's hard breaking that out per person.

Wake County school board member Kevin Hill said today he has no intention of instituting forced busing if he's re-elected, a charge leveled by opponent Heather Losurdo.

In an interview this morning on The Rick & Donna Martinez Show on WPTF, Hill said the student assignment plan is "workable," but he voted no because of the "few missing components in the model." He pointed to the lack of seat set asides at high-performing schools and the lack of permanent outreach efforts to explain the model to parents.

"I think there will have to be some changes made, but I totally disagree with what I'm continually bombarded with daily that should I be re-elected that we're going to throw this plan out and go back to the old assignment plan," Hill said. "Nothing could be further from the truth. This will be our plan. We have to work on some of the rough edges."

Wake County school board member Kevin Hill is now going negative on challenger Heather Losurdo in this new campaign mailer.

In the mailer, Hill lists his education and professional experience. He then contrasts it with Losurdo's, saying she's "a 3-year Wake County resident," "president, Northern Wake Republican Club" and "trained as an Air Force mechanic."

Hill cites comments in this April 15 N&O article about how Losurdo supported the board majority. The mailer says "A vote for Losurdo = A vote for John Tedesco for Chair," accompanied by a picture of the two standing side by side.

Hill had avoided mentioning Losurdo in previous mailers. But he's now found himself facing a steady stream of attack ads from Losurdo, Civitas Action, the Northern Wake Republican Club and the state Republican Party. (I'll get around to posting these and the ones from Common Sense Matters and the N.C. Futures Action Fund too.)

UPDATE

I've put in a new higher-res image of the campaign mailer.

Wake County school board candidate Heather Losurdo is responding to the attacks by liberal groups on her and charging that a win by incumbent Kevin Hill could mean the firing of Superintendent Tony Tata.

In a radio ad that Losurdo will be running, she says she's "being subjected to the full mud-slinging treatment by the left" because "the people are on my side with regard to the important questions facing the school board."

Losurdo says a victory by Hill means he'll "have the votes to overturn it (student assignment plan), go back to forced busing and fire Superintendent Tata to boot."

Wake County school board candidate Heather Losurdo is making the local conservative radio talk show rounds to defend herself against the charges by Progress NC Action that she puffed up her resume.

In an interview Tuesday on the Bill LuMaye Show on WPTF, LuMaye repeatedly complained about Progress NC Action's charges and the N&O article that appeared in the paper. He asked Losurdo to respond to the charges.

"That's a lie," Losurdo said about the Progress NC charges she overstated her resume when she said she oversaw $2 billion in small business loans in the Carolinas for First Union. "They're lying. I'm telling the truth. I did exactly what I said I did."

Civitas Action has reported spending $19,331.73 through Oct. 24 in campaign literature and robocalls to help Republican candidates for the Wake County school board.

A new report filed Monday shows that the conservative group reported spending $13,267.74 on mailers between Oct. 1-24 helping Heather Losurdo, Ron Margiotta and Donna Williams. That money also including paying for the robocall asking people to complain to Susan Evans.

This comes after a prior report showed the group had spent $6,063.99 in September. The final total from Civitas Action will likely rise above $20,000 since it doesn't include last-minute actions such as the robocall recently done attacking Kevin Hill.

But Civitas Action will more than likely fall well behind the money spent by groups such as Common Sense Matters and the other 501 and 527 groups helping the Democratic school board candidates.