Politics School Board Incumbents Play Hooky from Debate?
posted by on May 4 at 14:03 PM
An active (and evidently angry) member of the 46th District Democrats (North Seattle) just fired off this e-mail:
The 46th District Democrats are hosting our Annual Candidate Forum on May 17th. We’ve been advertising it for weeks, invited all known candidates for school board (as well as port commission and city council). There are many other candidate forums out there, but ours has grown to become a popular venue for residents in north Seattle.
Here is the problem…
We all know that the school board has performed poorly in the face of serious problems in recent years. As a result, the incumbents are going to have a very difficult time with their re-election campaigns. Well, suddenly Seattle Public Schools announces a special meeting to introduce incoming Superintendent Dr. Maria Goodloe-Johnson on the same evening as our candidate forum! What the fuck?!?!
Hmmm… If I was cynical I might think that the incumbent school directors who are in fear of getting thrown out of office this fall will spend the spring and summer milking the positive publicity of hiring of the new superintendent for all they can get. They might even schedule a feel good campaign event “welcoming event” for the new superintendent that would force them to miss our candidate forum wherein they might be asked to answer some difficult questions.
Maybe their lives don't revolve around the 46th District Democrats. I know mine doesn't...
Typical Seattle.
So elected officials should schedule official business around a club's campaign event?
If the school board members did in fact duck out of this community debate so they could host their own feel good campaign event, maybe they should offer the organization another date to meet. I agree that elected officials should not be handcuffed by any one group. However, it seems that part of the reason the school board is in trouble these days is because they aren't trusted by members of the community. If I was a member of this club, I'd wonder why the school board was avoiding the conversation.
I don't see anything to be upset about--it's a 2-for-1 bonus pack:
1. This is the best part: now you don't have to listen to current board members evade questions in favor of clucking about disproportionality and equal outcomes and whatever else emerges from their mouths so copiously supplied with drool;
2. Almost as great as #1, they will lose even more support than they have already lost (not an easy feat).
So if I were a 46th District Democrat, I'd be hoisting a cold one in the general direction of our Seattle Super School Board.
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