Madison school board votes down charter school designed to lift up poor minority kids.

It was a terrible clash between Madison interests: unionists against those who wanted to find innovative ways to serve the interests of the most downtrodden members of society.

Urban League of Greater Madison President Kaleem Caire immediately announced that he would sue the board for racial discrimination: "We are going to challenge this school district like they’ve never been challenged before, I swear to God."

From the comments at the link:

This was never about Unions. Mr. Caire's tea party pals play the union card because they understand how divisive and powerful it can be.

This was an attempt by the Urban League to create a private school with public money. Their attempt has failed. That Mr. Caire is now apparently going to sue (and further drain resources that could be used to close the achievement gap), reinforces the assertion that the real objective is to put public money into private pockets.

Mr. Caire is behaving like a professional victim.

When liberals attack liberals! What to look for: 1. They'll call each other conservatives. 2. Race card. 3. Lawsuit!

ADDED: If you leverage your proposal on race — thinking that's a great way to get Madison liberals to give you what you want — when they vote it down, do you get to cry race discrimination? Seems to me, that's counting race twice. Or... to put it another way... it's arguing that affirmative action is not merely permitted, but required.

I think Caire should show his good faith by withdrawing the race card and declining to sue. He lost a political fight. The place to fight a political fight is in the political arena. You're competing for taxpayer money, so prove your commitment to not wasting taxpayer money by not draining it through litigation. Caire should focus on the next election. Try to put people who support the charter school on the school board.