Val, kudos to you for going right to the source! The response you received was interesting, though, because here's an article I read a while back about another author of CC math, who is also the father of elementary students. Based on the answer you received, I'm assuming it's not the same person....
You're right. I wrote to a guy who wasn't one of the three main authors, but was in the next group of (7 or 8 people). I had communicated with him before and had received very positive responses. Oh well.
The CC authors all have excellent math credentials. The guy I contacted also knew how bad the textbook publishers are and had published on the subject. It kind of surprised me that they were that naive about textbook publishing (as Jason Zimba admitted in that NPR article).
