Lampeter-Strasburg PAC tied to Dems, despite bipartisan guise

What appears at first like a magnanimous attempt to reach across the political fence in Lampeter-Strasburg School District looks more like a calculated partisan stratagem upon closer inspection.

Citizens for Lampeter-Strasburg Excellence is distributing campaign signs and literature advertising the school director candidacies of not only Democrats Sarah Cook and Kirk Williard but also GOP incumbents Suzi Knowles and Dustin Knarr. (Four winning candidates will secure four-year terms.) 

That seems like quite the show of bipartisanship: A group, by its own account “not authorized by any Candidate or Candidate’s Committee [and] Committed to electing engaged School Directors to raise the district’s level of excellence,” backs a mixed slate and resists making an all-Democratic or all-Republican endorsement.

Actually, the political action committee couldn’t support four Democrats if it tried. Cook and Willard are the only two from that party vying for school directorships in L-S. Does Citizens for Lampeter-Strasburg simply want to help the two Democrats under a guise of nonpartisan open-mindedness? 

To answer that, it’s useful to know who runs the PAC: Cook herself cofounded the entity two years ago. According to its October 2023 registration, she and Lauren Kuntz started Citizens for L-S Excellence, with Cook chairing the outfit until this winter and Kuntz serving as its treasurer. 

Both were Democratic school board hopefuls in 2023: Kuntz lost a contest for a two-year term that year to Republican Kelly Osborne who reappears on the ballot this year. A five-person GOP slate routed Cook and her four running mates who sought four-year terms. Resultantly, all current L-S directors are Republicans.

While Kuntz isn’t eyeing a school board seat this year, she remains the public face of the organization she hatched with Cook, appearing in numerous campaign videos and photographs showcased via Citizens for L-S Excellence’s Facebook page. At this writing, the website she created for her erstwhile school director run links directly to that page. 

And the committee’s nonpartisan pose doesn’t match its online fundraising effort. The group’s Facebook description contains a request for visitors to donate through ActBlue, which describes itself as “the go-to choice for Democratic technology solutions.” 

Naturally, the PAC has cultivated a heavily Democratic donor base, according to campaign finance documents. Most of the $10,337.09 the entity raised as of June 9, 2025, came from Willow Valley’s John and Lou Curtis who have contributed significantly to other Democratic campaigns. 

And while the organization’s endorsements have been bipartisan, its spending has not. A finance report submitted by SCKW for L-S School Board, the committee representing Cook and Williard, disclosed that it received all of Citizens for L-S Excellence’s five-figure war chest on June 18. 

County Commissioner Ray D’Agostino, who chairs the Lampeter-Strasburg Area Republican Committee, said local residents who have become aware of the situation dislike that a substantively partisan organization puts on airs of independence. 

“When people find out about the subterfuge they are upset,” he said. “We had many people during the primary who were surprised that Sarah and Kirk cross-filed and did not identify themselves as Democrats. Now, people are more troubled that these individuals will say and do anything in an attempt to get elected.”

Knarr and Knowles may have Citizens for L-S Excellence’s nominal backing, but they haven’t welcomed it, for they’re running as a team with fellow incumbent Republicans Osborne and Andrew Welk. The local Republican Party castigated Citizens for L-S Excellence, issuing an online statement blasting it as an ill-disguised partisan front.

“That’s right, a couple of wealthy Democrats are trying to ‘buy’ school board seats right here in L-S by funding a partisan organization, created by Dem school board candidates masking as an independent citizens group,” the Lampeter-Strasburg Area Republicans wrote on their Facebook page. “All of this information is publicly available. Their goal is to mask the Dem candidates and link them to 2 Republican candidates, without their knowledge or consent, in a deceptive effort to get elected.”

The Republican candidates seemingly reprehended Kuntz’s efforts on their palm cards promoting Welk, Knarr, Osborne, and Knowles as well, urging voters, “DON’T BE FOOLED BY DEMOCRATS ON THE BALLOT.” (Capitals in the original.) 

When Knarr and Knowles themselves came out against Citizens for L-S Excellence’s tactics, Kuntz took to social media to acknowledge she never received the two Republicans’ authorization to support them. She observed that, under the law, “I’m legally allowed to do this.” She went on to write in lofty words that she wanted to back Knarr and Knowles on their merits whether they wanted her PAC’s imprimatur or not.

“I’m sorry I didn’t ask your permission; it’s because I knew I wouldn’t get it,” she averred on the Citizens for L-S Excellence page. “Perhaps due to the wrath of the local Republican Party. You two are good people. And you deserve to have support from both parties. I’m trying to secure that for you.”

Republican reelection hopefuls aren’t buying it.

“I think it’s a crock,” Welk said. “We have the nine best candidates for the school board on the school board right now. We are a very transparent school board; we collaborate well together. Individuals like Lauren Kuntz have no idea how a school board is run: that we function as a team of ten — nine board members and the superintendent — to do what’s in the best interest for our students and our staff.” 

Welk described the two Democratic candidates in sharp contrast to himself and his three running mates, reproving Cook and Williard as interested in hefty tax increases, which he views as unnecessary in light of the district’s comparatively high academic performance.

“We do very well with what we have,” he said. “We keep taxes at a very minimal increase and people like Sarah Cook who have never run a school district before really have no idea what they’re talking about.” 

Neither Kuntz, Cook, nor the Lampeter-Strasburg Democrats returned requests for comment. 

Bradley Vasoli is the senior editor of The Independence.