Last week, in a story about the Tea Party of Spokane's downtown rally, I noted that some activists came to the event to gather signatures on causes that might seem contradictory to the conservative and anti-tax themes of the event.

One was Austin DePaolo, who collected signatures in support of the Children's Investment Fund, a proposal that would increase taxes for programs aimed at lowering the dropout rate. I reported that he was unsuccessful at persuading Laura Carder to sign.

In a brief interview on Sunday while he was collecting signatures at the Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure, DePaolo said that soon after I saw Carder decline to sign his petition, she agreed to do.

DePaolo and Carder ran for a seat last year on the Spokane School Board. Carder defeated DePaolo in the primary and went on to lose the incumbent in November.