I’m not expecting anything you read here to change your vote come April 2nd. It usually takes people a long time to accept their trust is being taken advantage of, and then take action contrary to what they are would otherwise do by habit. At worst, perhaps some eyes will be opened and tough questions will start getting asked of these candidates.
Some (most?) of you may have received a mailer (possibly more than once!) for school board candidates recently with the tagline “Focused on Solutions, Not Politics.” As someone who has committed over 10 years of their life directly involved with the BASD School Board and has interacted with the candidates shown on this mailer, I’m able to confidently tell you that among all the other deceptions you’re being fed, that this one in particular ranks right up there with the greatest.
You’re likely already settling down into your comfortable ‘He’s not talking to me. I’m in the right here, and I support the good guys’ mindset. Perhaps years of personal friendships have made you just not question what these candidates are actually doing to your district. Or perhaps you’re acutely aware of exactly what they are doing, and that explains the sign in your yard or business for all three candidates. If you’re in that last camp, there is nothing I have to say here of interest to you as integrity apparently is of little importance; however, make no mistake here that you (yes, YOU) have been and continue to be played the fool for other’s political gain.
In the coming months I’ll be going further into depth on the rampant political manipulation. I’ll demonstrate (with the receipts) how you’ve been sold a fairy tale, not just by some in our local governance, but beyond as well. This article however is about candidates saying one thing and doing another. It’s about selling the public a fraud and being unaccountable for anything. It’s time to acknowledge the monster in the room.
An educated population is a benefit to everyone except those looking to exploit others for their own personal gains.
School board positions are by design non-partisan elected positions. I’ve spent many election seasons (both in and out of years I was on the ballot) canvasing the district in support of people I felt were good candidates. These candidates were cross party; focused on providing the best public education for students and being good stewards of tax payers dollars. Despite this, many people still steadfastly support only candidates who they can associate with a specific political party. ‘You’re either with me or against me’ and there is no middle ground. Sadly, people (even some candidates) are too blinded by party politics to understand when they are being betrayed by the people in those very parties. I offer two examples of numerous interactions I’ve had over the years as an example of my premise of party before policy.
Once, while canvassing the homes in the city, I had a car chase me down, swerve in front of me as I was crossing the street, and demand I tell them if the information I had left for them was for Democrats or Republicans. I responded that it was a non-partisan election, and that while I don’t know the candidate’s personal political leanings, I believed both were concerned with the well being of our schools. Incredulous at my response, they again demanded to know what party these candidates were from. I repeated that I didn’t know the candidates political leanings (I didn’t at the time), and the person gave a huff, shoved the information back in my hands and sped off. Now, I’m as prone to the lazy stereotyping as the next person is, but I don’t need any fingers or even hands to count the number of times I’ve been chased down by a democrat demanding to know my party affiliation. Don’t worry though, I’m an equal opportunity stereotyper.
During one of my own election cycles, I was canvasing in the township and was confronted by somebody who demanded to know my personal politics and whether or not the election of 2020 was legitimate or rigged. I made my case to them that national politics have nothing to do with our local schools, and I don’t care what party he or anybody supports. My goal was to provide the best education we could to ALL students regardless of what parental politics may be. I firmly believe in educating students on how to analyze data and think critically. The district should be in the business of teaching students how to learn, and not what to think. The two of us debated back and forth for about 20 minutes over political stances and how good education was in the interest of all people regardless of political affiliation. In the end, the temperature was freezing outside and while they had a 15 second walk back into their house, I had hours more of walking door to door. I relented and answered their question, and they thanked me for ‘finally giving an honest answer.’ Based on their expressed position of the matter and the general lack of “Brandon” bumper stickers and flags I again fall back to stereotype this person as ‘not conservative’ in their politics. It was one of the more disappointing interactions of that season; not because we had the conversation, but because it reaffirmed to me that people struggle to place their politics to the side even on matters where all of us should be focused on the same positive outcomes.
The suggestion on this flyer of being ‘focused on solutions, not politics’ from this particular group feels like a late entry into the annual Liar’s Club competition; an entry that would surely take Grand Champion status. If the candidates so firmly believe that they are focused on solutions and not politics, just ask them to provide the campaign finance reports of _ALL_ school board candidates of the last 15-20 years. Take a close look at who has consistently funded their campaigns through the pockets of interests outside your school district. And I’m not talking about local deep pocket conservative donors. Firstly, the vast majority of them have too much integrity to deeply fund any particular candidate. Further, I think we can all live with donors that reside in the district. However, the introduction of out of district party money, outside dark money (including national PACs), and donors who don’t even live in your state much less your school district, can all be pointed at very specific candidates with very specific party affiliations. (People whom I promise will offer you a good story of plausible deniability regarding outside money spent on their behalf.)
Ask around and take a close look at who actually ran the campaigns for recent candidates–not just the candidates on this flyer. Ask who thought it was an appropriate idea to bring in a former lieutenant governor and failed gubernatorial candidate (who was part of the administration that created the problems facing public education for generations to come) to back a local school board candidate. (Hint: They are in the picture.) Inquire who was feeding privileged closed session information to the local political groups only to disavow them when he lost control of them.
Ask who demanded our State Representative come in person to explain to our school board how they could justify a zero dollar increase to public education during the heightened expenses of the pandemic. Oh, wait. That last one there…that was me demanding accountability from our representative. It resulted in the board president calling him ahead of time to assure him we would all be nice and there wouldn’t be any hard questions followed by the remainder of the board that spoke pitching him softball questions. I had microphone issues that night that preventing me from communicating; however, even if I had been able to speak it was clear the rest of the board had no interest in holding the state accountable that night, and there was more interest in back slapping than defending tax payers.
The next meeting there was a stern reminder that we shouldn’t be contacting our representatives from our board position unless we make absolutely clear that we’re not speaking as a board member. Months later one of the candidates proposed establishing a political liaison committee that would allow certain board members to contact the same State Representative on behalf of the board. Not to convey the will or ideals of the board as a whole. Not to hold the State accountable for the burden they continue to place on citizens of your district, but in order to maintain personal friendly relations and political clout. But hey, it’s not politics. I digress.
Now, ask them exactly what solutions they have proposed or made work in their tenure as board members that weren’t already in action or somebody else’s idea in the first place.
Spoiler alert; there aren’t any.
Well, to be fair, there was the working with and coaching of the group who disrupted board meetings for over a year and formed an illegal school board. And then there is the first lawsuit I’m aware of in the district history against a standing board member for their inability to control their impulsivity. There was the legally questionable practice of talking about closed session matters to political activists. Then also the advising the Mom’s for Liberty crowd on tactics to force the school district to assume the role of parenting responsibilities. I guess I can’t say there weren’t any trails blazed.
To suggest the focus has been anything BUT political is ludicrous and frankly lacks integrity. Based on the number of yard signs for these candidates throughout the district, I’m left to ask that if you’re not supporting them for political reasons then exactly what solutions have you observed that earn your vote? One can only presume either people are completely unaware they are being played for fools that will toe the party line no matter what, or they’re completely fine and complicit with the absolute fraud of it all.
Folks, you’re being urinated on and they can’t even be bothered to tell you it’s raining anymore. You’re being fed empty catch phrases and conspiracies to scare you into feeding a personal need for political power to fill an otherwise empty shell. Maybe you’re fine with it. I wouldn’t be, regardless of what political party was telling me to toe the line.
I demand more from our representatives, and if they can’t get elected being honest in the messaging about what they’re doing, then maybe they shouldn’t be doing it.