Quoted in this Conservative Review article, Cardinal’s executive director, Garrett Ballengee, makes the case that the teachers’ strike in West Virginia isn’t for the kids as the unions claim, it’s about protecting the unions’ political power:

“This is a way to flex political muscle,” explains Garrett Ballengee, executive director of the Cardinal Institute for West Virginia Policy, a think tank that supported the reforms.

The point school choice opponents made, he says, was that “to some extent, at least as it relates to education policy, that education unions will dictate what kind of education policy that we have,” despite the Republican control of West Virginia’s House, Senate, and governorship.

“Extortion is a strong word,” he added, “but if the definition fits, I think that’s exactly what we saw here.”