School Board Elections - Democratic Underground

H2O Man

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Tue May-10-11 10:32 PM
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School Board Elections

I attended our school board's public hearing on the proposed budget this evening. Besides the budget, the meeting served to “introduce the candidates” for next week's school board election. There are two seats up for election, with two incumbents running for re-election, and one new candidate – me – running.

In the past, local school board elections were for specific seats; in other words, I could have run against a select board member. But this changed, so that now the two candidates with the highest vote totals get the seats.

Older forum members will remember that after the 1964 presidential election, in which the (then) extreme right-wing republican candidate lost by a large margin to LBJ, that faction of their party regrouped. They began to institute a nation-wide plan to put right-wingers onto schoolboards, and then work their way up in local and state elections. This foundation, of course, would result in Ronald Reagan being elected to the highest office in the land within sixteen years.

Today, there are metastasized mutant republican right-wingers spreading through the school boards and other “local” government offices – the Tea Party crusaders. One of the two incumbents running is of this ilk, while the other is a fairly decent person. Still, the election involves the Tea Party fellow, a moderate republican woman that I've known since we were youngsters, and myself.

The local teachers union endorsed two candidates: the woman and I. At last week's regular meeting, some board members expressed anger that the union endorsed me. They asked the faculty attending their meeting if this “didn't send the wrong message?” The teachers said they believe it sends the correct message.

I arrived at the school a bit early, and spoke with a couple of the administrators. Then, I waited in a hallway for my wife to arrive. Moments before she got there, the Tea Party fellow came in with a couple of friends. I listened to him saying that it had been a good day for a drive, and that he had just returned from Albany. He said that he is a member of a Catholic group that went to our state capital “to protest against gay marriage.” When my wife got there, I explained why it had become even more important that I beat this guy.

During the candidates forum, including both speeches and an extended “Q&A” session, I was the only candidate who had questions asked of him. Wasn't it true that some of the teachers are my relatives? No. Isn't it a fact that I'm a “union man”? Yes, I believe that unions are important. And on and on.

I'm not huge on public speaking. And I'd rather write or deliver speeches for candidates other than myself. But I do enjoy a good debate, and thus was happy to have the fellow travelers of the Tea Partier directing their questions towards me. More, I can say that my speech got, by far, the largest round of applause from the audience.

The election is on May 17th. Wish me luck.

Peace,
H2O Man