My Thoughts On Tomorrow’s School Board Elections
I’m not sure what to say about the candidates running for school board since they’ve become an afterthought in this election. The main player in this election is Voices 4 Delaware. Not because of the money, but because of the tone and their failure to understand school board elections. They have cast themselves as Citizens United while employing Mitt Romney’s Republican Primary strategy – Flood the market with money and employ negative ads.
I can’t help but believe that those running Voices 4 Delaware never even studied past school board elections, because if they had they would have seen the formula. First, not many people vote in school board elections, and, while I’d love to see more involvement, had I been running the show I would have used this lack of participation as a major advantage. I’d have looked at the breakdown from previous elections, quietly courted those voters (since the odds are these people will vote again), and have added a couple hundred new voters as a cushion.
In last year’s race, approximately 2,500 people voted in a two way race in Red Clay, only 1,369 voted in a four way Christina race. The winner in Red Clay won by 295 votes, the winner in Christina 75 votes. There’s your number, and up until this year, it was the only number that counted. Basically, all you needed to do was quietly add 300-400 new voters to your side, just to be safe, and glide to victory. This really is politics 101.
The last thing you wanted to do is to draw the attention of people who normally don’t vote in a school board election, but that is what has happened this year. Suddenly, school board elections are front and center. Suddenly, those past school board voting numbers can’t be used as a base figure on which to build a strategy. Suddenly, people you counted on not voting are tuned into what’s going on. Suddenly… it’s anybody’s race.
Another lessen lost on Voices 4 Delaware is how to employ negative ads. Negative ads/mailers have never really played a role in school board elections. Normally, the public receives positive pieces about all the wonderful, dare I say… miraculous, things the school board candidate will accomplish all by themselves. Attack ads haven’t played a role, probably because the real political game has always been played out quietly behind the scenes… you know, with that small group that actually votes.
So what did these attack ads accomplish? Guess we’ll have to wait and see, but if my email inbox is any indicator then one thing they’ve accomplished is catching the attention of people who, in the past, didn’t pay attention to school board elections.
Please notice how I keep using the word quietly. For the politically savvy, quietly is the key. I’m sensing a lot of ego in the people calling the shots for Voices 4 Delaware, which is a dangerous trait for those whose role exists behind the political scene. Ego and credit due are best left until after the votes are counted.
But these ads also accomplished another thing. They’ve painted the candidate as negative, rather than positive. Oh, you can say that many voters agree with the attacks, but I’d simply remind you that those voters were already in your flippin’ camp. You can argue that it isn’t the candidate’s ads – it’s the PACs, but if you think 99% of the public grasps that difference then you’re politically naive. Most people won’t separate the two, and if you find yourself explaining the difference then you’ve already lost the battle. Yet again, this is Politics 101.
And here’s the main thing Voices 4 Delaware accomplished through their politically clumsy campaign… they have managed to lump all their candidates together.
In essence, Voices 4 Delaware has become the candidate.
In the past, I have voted “for” and “against” candidates. This year my choice appears to be vote “for” or “against” Voices 4 Delaware. And that’s a shame.
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School Board Elections
Tuesday, May 8, 2012
10:00am – 8:00 pm
Click here for more info and polling places.
Tags: Education, School Board Elections
I thought you’d have a thought or two…
And for the uninitiated, could you outline who the candidates are that need to be punished for their allegiance to Voices 4 Delaware, and those candidates who are not?
If Voices 4 Delaware is the candidate, shouldn’t those proxies be pointed out publicly in one spot. Highlighted to the max, so voters who want this nation to go to corporate controlled school systems, know which button to push?
Without a heavy handed distinction, the average voter is going to be given a pamphlet at the polls, saying this candidate is for education, and say good, then vote for them….
So, who are they? (not for me, Steve Newton, John Young, Kilroy, and others, but for everyone else?)
I finally found an education topic that bores me.
This is the first board election where I couldn’t easily find out where the candidates stand on major issues. I have yet to find any actual policy discussion in the campaigns. Which I find enervating, because I know these elections are important.
Pandora’s voting plan is the best advice I have heard so far.
Okay, because I’m technologically challenged and couldn’t copy and paste this document (Hello? Mike O!) here’s a link to a document that identifies the Voices 4 Delaware candidates.
BTW, I’m not really sure if these Voices 4 Delaware candidates are good, bad or indifferent – Like Mike says, this election hasn’t been about the issues. It’s been about Voices 4 Delaware shouting, “Look at me! Look at me!” No candidate stood a chance of getting their message out against this attention hogging group.
Is the group only active in NCCO? I haven’t spotted hide not hair down south.
They are endorsing Dr. Patricia Oliphant of Indian River School District.
The last thing you wanted to do is to draw the attention of people who normally don’t vote in a school board election, but that is what has happened this year.
This is behind the “we don’t want to politicize the election” rationale that folks who don’t want to make school board elections part of general election cycles, right? At least it always looks like that to me — they they are working hard at being as inaccessible to voters as possible.
This is a great summing up, P.
If you are looking for another reason NOT to vote for Andy Cherry in Appo (besides being V4D’s candidate):
http://www.delawarepolitics.net/more-school-board-endorsements-andy-cherry-and-jordan-warfel/
In their attempt to capture the attention of uninformed voters, they have ticked off the informed voters (who are the ones who show up to vote). Could be a record low turnout.
Holy cow! The only thing more damaging than a Voices 4 Delaware endorsement is a Delaware Politics one! 🙂
And, Cassandra, you’re correct. School Board elections have cloaked their politics in the holier than thou, We’re above politics mantra for years. And… it worked. Which makes Voices 4 Delaware’s tactics politically… well, stupid. The playbook on winning existed. Voices threw it out, and whoever in that organization made that decision should be fired.
Could be a record low turnout.
That’s actually what I’ve been thinking.
Problem for Christina is since only about 700 people vote in a good year, a low turnout would be . . .
That’s a brave endorsement, considering Oliphant is unopposed.
We should write in “Liberal Geek” as a protest vote against Delaware 4 in Appoquinimink…. How about it? I’m enjoying reading Wednesday morning’s News Journal results already?
Seriously, Delaware 4 is about anti-union. See Steve’s.
I appreciate the suggestion, but Delaware’s anti-write-in laws would make it impossible to read that in the paper…
I’m thinking that the best option is to vote for Charlisa Edelin.
And the best reason to run for the Appo School Board was to hang out with Joanne Christian, and she isn’t running again. 🙂
My bad – I completely forgot about the excellent News Journal’s voters guide for these elections! It has more specifics than anything else I’ve seen.
I would just ask the News Journal to keep this and all their candidate guides up indefinitely, so we can compare performance against campaign positions.
The News Journal publishes the candidate questionnaire of record for every election, but it can never be found when the next election rolls around, especially for the four and six-year elections.
If you have heartburn about the Voices 4 Delaware Education money gun, sign this petition: http://www.change.org/petitions/transparency-in-delaware-school-board-elections
Not to mention, Nichole Dobo of the News Journal has been fact-checking some of the campaign noise over at the News Journal education blog:
http://blogs.delawareonline.com/delawareed
Scroll down, there’s more than one fact-checking post.
Great take, Pandora, and, for better or worse, quite true. Sloppy stuff.
OK, I have done some research on the Christina School District candidates:
1. Val Harris is the V4D candidate. Her statements are largely broad an empty, and I suspect the primary appeal to the V4D folks is that she clearly notes her religious affiliations on her qualification list. I checked her website and it’s full of misspellings. That is a non-starter when it comes to education in my book.
2. Shirley Saffer is on the school board already. She has a lot of endorsements. One might argue she’s part of the status quo, but a number of people have notes that she works hard. Her website has only been up since April, but has maintained a steady flow of information.
3. Stephen Lee has no website. His answers to the questionnaire sounded progressive, but that is all I could find on him. I’m worried he could be there just to split the vote; in any case, I can’t find any evidence that he’s put much effort into this.
In conclusion, I will be voting for Shirley Saffer, primarily because she is the candidate who can not only best defeat V4D, but also serve with experience and effort.
@ LG–“hang out with Joanne Christian”–geez Geek, you’re a little slow on the uptake–I’ve been waiting ELEVEN years!!! I see your kid more in award ceremonies!! 🙂 And congrats on the latest one!!!:)
X Stryker, if you can’t stand misspellings (and grammatical errors), I suggest you don’t open the rag the Brandywine School District sends out. Ouch.
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