If MJC didn't find those kids on a real greater MN school bus, where did that photo come from?

In our last post, Greater MN grandpa asks a truly interesting question about kids pictured riding on MJC bus, we contrasted the all-white-kids-on-the-bus optics found on a Minnesota Jobs Coalition education funding direct mail piece with the demographics of public schools in those state house district targeted by the group.

The metro-based Republican front group is sending an image of our school kids that's definitely at odds with the faces of younger Greater Minnesotans. Those kids weren't on a school bus in Minnesota. They were on the Alamy Stock Photo website; other stock images from the same source can be viewed here.

The postcards praise the work of freshman Republican state representatives for voting for over $500 million in increased funding. What the postcards don't tell voters in those district?

As an Appleton man details in a letter to the editor, it took a veto by Governor Dayton to up spending beyond the paltry education budget passed by the Republican-controlled House. The headline above the letter says it all: Please don't fall for this fraud.

And those kids on the postcard? Stock images pushed by corporate-backed metro-based political operatives who seem to get their notions of what Greater Minnesota looks like from the Minnesota 7th Congressional District Republican Party's news-making tweets and Facebook page.

Those kids weren't on a school bus in Minnesota; we're not even sure the bus was in the United States. They were on the Alamy Stock Photo website; other stock images from the same source can be viewed here. D. Hurst's farming stock photos are shot in Oregon, but the abundance of images from the United Kingdom in the D. Hurst portfolio at Alamy suggests that Hurst is this Wigan-based freelance photographer. The photo was taken on June 30, 2008.

Here's an example of the use of the stock photo in Minnesota House District 17B:

And here are the demographic profiles for the two elementary schools in Willmar, the regional hub in Baker's district:

As we noted in Merchants of Daudt revisited: Republican State Leadership Committee now less transparent, it's going to be mighty difficult figuring who's funding the Minnesota Jobs Coalition junk mail blitz.

For additional reading on the Minnesota Jobs Coalition's junk mail campaign, which is also carpet bombing mailboxes in St. Cloud, see our earlier posts:

Appleton man flays Minnesota Jobs Coalition junk mail; BS blizzard buries Willmar mailboxes

Peculiar postcards hit mailboxes in greater Minnesota House districts flipped in 2014

Peculiar postcards II: MN Jobs Coalition doubles up in Willmar, heads west to praise Backer

Images: Top and bottom are screenshots; the middle image via a voter in MN17B.

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