Cape Henlopen School Board Race News Update and Request for Volunteers
The Cape Henlopen School Board election is 5 days away and Meyer Persow is working hard and campaigning like crazy for the At-Large seat. His work has been paying off — he had an impressive performance in this week’s debates; has been out and about meeting voters; he’s been endorsed by the Victory Fund and picked up an endorsement from a former President of the School Board and current board member, Dr. Charles Gary Wray.
Meyer will be campaigning throughout this weekend and the work wraps up with the GOTV effort on Election Day. And for that, Meyer is looking for a few volunteers to work the polls, which are open from 10 AM – 8 PM. He’ll be providing lunch and/or dinner and a nifty one-of-a-kind t-shirt. He notes that if anyone from upstate wants to come down, he’ll help to arrange for overnight accommodations if needed. Can you help him election Day? If so, contact Meyer via his website — www.meyerpersow.com, click on the Volunteers tab and provide your contact info.
If you can’t help out, but you live in the Cape Henlopen District, we hope that you’ll vote for Meyer. He is up on all of the issues and will work on enabling teachers and principals to innovate and focus on providing the best education possible — work that will be even more challenging during this financial stress. He is committed to openness and accountability and will work hard to increase these at the school level and between the board and parents. Delaware Liberal enthusiastically endorses Meyer Persow for the Cape Henlopen at Large School Board seat.
Tags: Endorsements
Best of luck to Mr. Persow. He just got some unwanted attention from some of the bigoted hatemongers at WGMD radio yesterday afternoon. I only heard a few minutes exchange between host Bill Colley and a caller, but some of the things said, and implied, were ugly (which I will not repeat, out of respect. Maybe they have a podcast). And, it was rather infuriating that he probably won’t get a fair shot at refuting any of the bullshit.
As always, it was my opinion. I could be wrong…
Well, if you won’t repeat it, mis, then it must be distasteful.
It strikes me that with WGMD and various others working overtime to sling a fair bit of mud, that the argument that School Board Elections need to be protected from the slings and arrows and politicization of the General Elections is demonstrated here to be completely bogus. I don’t see much happening in any of these races that is much different than the General — maybe fewer signs. But the same BS is the same BS no matter the election — and I’d rather make sure that everybody gets a chance to take a good hard look at it and vote accordingly than draw the curtain and pretend that there is something purer (and less accountable) going on.
It’s not that distasteful, just innuendo that I didn’t care to perpetuate. I won’t be voting for Mr. Persow, and it has nothing to do with the issues raised on WGMD. I just don’t think he has the best interests of the district in mind. I tried to enter into dialog here, when he frequently posted here, but he shied away. The choices aren’t too impressive this time. Mr. Persow, a disbarred lawyer, of an obnoxious liberal former school administrator whom I know personally.
Well, at this point, there’s nothing sexier than a disbarred attorney.
there’s nothing sexier than a disbarred attorney
And one who was disbarred for money issues from the Maryland bar and the IRS. Which is an odd thing to want for a school board. But I will stipulate that there is a Delaware symmetry to it though.
Here’s my response to Mike’s entry at DWA:
Jud Bennett only picked part of what were long streams of back and forth on delawareonline.com. It’s unfortunate that, in his attempt to remain relevant (being a two time loser for the same office) he has decided to pick things from the past that have nothing to do with serving on the school board. His attack dog, Maria Evans (a WGMD stringer) even called me and harangued me when I asked her in early March to send me her questions (concerning Jud’s earlier email on the very same subject) in writing since she was a member of the media. Did I write the Reagan letter – yes I did. Were all of the comments attributed to me on delawareonline mine – no they weren’t (even though they appeared under my name). If Jud was being an honest person, he would have included the entire string of discussion, not just one comment taken out of context.
What one of my opponents has not done is give people a link to the facts about her being disbarred, only a link to the consent order, which was basically an Alford plea. The Maryland Court of Appeals advised that if the offense was as minor as indicated, the harshest penalty would have been a 30-day suspension, but more likely a reprimand, not disbarment.
And after listening to some of the comments today on Dan Gaffney’s show from supposed IRSD residents stating that they saw horns on the heads of the Jewish families who sued the school district, I can only shake my head in bewilderment.
Mis – I respect your decision, but disagree. I’m actually the only candidate for the at-large seat who doesn’t have an agenda and doesn’t have an axe to grind with the current board or current administration.
Oh and Cassandra, it’s Dr. Gary Wray. Thanks for the plug.
Meyer
One more thing – a big THANK YOU to Dr. Jerry Northington for making phone calls on my behalf to the voters down here in Cape and to my friends at DL (even the ones who aren’t supporting me).
🙂
I apologize to Dr. Wray for mishandling his name.
Thanks, Meyer for jumping in to deal with the misinformation. We apparently have observers now who think that doing other people’s dirty work is an honorable thing.
Good luck, Meyer!
“I’m actually the only candidate for the at-large seat who doesn’t have an agenda and doesn’t have an axe to grind with the current board or current administration.”
I guess that’s part of my concern, Mr. Persow, I’m very dissatisfied with the the current board, and especially the administration. Considering the numerous debacles regarding the recent referendums, and other contentious issues, the administration needs to be reigned in, and the majority of the past board merely carried water for them.
Same comment I just posted at DWA:
Mr. Persow, I called you as a Cape parent and identified myself as a blogger and and you refused to answer my questions on the phone and demanded that I emailed them.
When I emailed you the questions, you answered the Reagan question for me but refused to answer my question as to whether or not those were your comments on the NJ site. If they were not, why no denial then? You also refused to allow me to post your responses to my questions.
You emailed me back your incorrect assertion that I was working as a “stringer” for WGMD, and I very clearly informed you then that I had not worked with WGMD for almost a year. I still do not. A fact that most of the people reading this blog are well aware of.
When I asked you a question Tuesday night at the Cape Gazette forum about those NJ site comments, you said that they WERE your comments but that you did not make any disparaging comments about Jack Markell as was stated in Bennett’s letter.
Jud, incidentally, was incorrect about that, you did not make negative comments about Markell and there WERE NO negative comments about Markell by you on the News Journal site.
You did, however, take responsibility for the other comments, and said that you would tolerate Cape Students making similar comments if they knew what they meant. Here is the quote from the Cape Gazette:
_____
She quoted some of his responses to political discussions and asked if he would tolerate such statements from a Cape student. Persow said, “If the student was making an argument in a political forum and knew what they were saying, yes I would tolerate it; that’s free speech.” Persow said some of the comments being sent through the community in emails are not his, while others were taken out of context. He said he would not make such comments to parents or board members.
_____
Incidentally, Mr. Persow, I sided against the Indian River School District on the Dobrich lawsuit publicly on the air when I was working at WGMD and certainly took the heat for it from some of the callers, however I find your comments about the people of that District uncalled for, inaccurate and inflammatory.
Ms. Evans,
You obviously were not listening too closely Tuesday night at the REHOBOTH PTO debate (it was not sponsored by the Cape Gazetter). I said that some of the comments were mine, but others were not, and pointed out the one grievous rumor being spread that I had made disparaging remarks about Jack Markell.
You only identified yourself as a blogger and “former” WGMD stringer when I asked who you were and had to ask twice to repeat your name to me. When you harangued me on the phone and by email in March, I asked you what relevance the delawareonline.com comments had to the school board race. Here was your response (sent on 3/24/09 at 9:26:16 PM from your AOL account):
Mr. Persow,
I haven’t worked for WGMD since June of 2008.
And I didn’t ask you those questions so you could give me double secret pinky swear answers to them. You’re running for a school board that makes decisions for my kid and my friend’s kids, not pledging a fraternity.
As for my second question, you should appreciate my straightforwardness, I would appreciate yours.
Maria Evans
—–Original Message—–
Sent: Tue, 24 Mar 2009 8:16 pm
Subject: Re: Questions
Ms. Evans,
Thank you for contacting me today. First, I want it understood that my responses to your questions are not for publication in any sort of media, including your blog or your sideline job as a stringer for WGMD.
What I wrote in my letter was my opinion. I felt that during a time of great suffering for many people, a time when a disease was ravaging the bodies of tens of thousands of Americans, the President did nothing, said nothing. He had the power to do many things that could have helped hundreds of thousands of people, not only those affected during his presidency but those who were affected after it as well, but he stood by silently. This is actually more than my opinion. This is a indiputable fact.
Having spent much of the 80’s and 90’s attending funerals and memorial services for over 150 friends and relatives who died from AIDS complications, I was angry that my government didn’t do enough to fight this plague. After reading “And The Band Played On” I was angrier. When President Reagan died, I took out that anger on him.
Whether this was right or wrong I cannot say. I’ll leave that up to G-D when I have to face Him.
Be assured, however, that I do not wish anyone who disagrees with me any pain or suffering. I might hope that they lose their car keys, but not that anything bad will happen to them. I was voicing my opinion on what I saw as a failure to act that may have saved lives. Would I use such strong words again if the situation arose – probably not.
By writing this letter, I was exercising my rights as a United States citizen to free speech. I was not silently standing by, but rather voicing my opinion. This is something our children should be encouraged to do, whether we agree with their thoughts or not – just as some people will agree with my thoughts and some will not.
Some may not always agree with what I say. In fact, some may never agree with me. But I can promise you this: You will always know where I stand. I may not always take a popular stand on issues, but I am not running for the Cape Henlopen School Board to be popular. I’m running because I feel I can help this school district to be the best it can be.
Regarding your second question, please let me know how this relates to the school board race.
Let me know if you have any other questions or thoughts on this or any other subject. I appreciate your asking me and allowing me to respond.
Regards,
Meyer Persow
In a message dated 3/24/2009 12:21:27 P.M. Eastern Daylight Time, MEvans9583 writes:
Mr. Persow I have two questions for you:
1) Did you write an opinion letter where you said, “It’s probably a terrible thing to say, but Reagan didn’t suffer enough. Now his family knows the pain that many of us have experienced over the past 23 years.”
2) Do you comment on the News Journal site as “mpersow”?
Thank you,
Maria Evans
You also threatened me on the phone with “I’ll come to all of the PTO meetings and forums and yell out my questions to you, how would you like that?”
Ms. Evans, where is your and Dan Gaffney’s outrage over the comments today from WGMD listeners comparing Jews with the Devil, claiming we have horns coming out of our heads? I guess we’re fair game when it comes to what you call uncalled for, inaccurate, and inflammatory statements. Oh, I forgot, WGMD is the home of that “fair and balanced” news reporting.
Mr Persow
I am a Cape Henlopen School District resident and parent. I am not an employee of WGMD and haven’t been for almost a year, how many times do I have to make that point? I have been attending School Board meetings for years and I take an active interest in my kid’s education.
When I was an employee of WGMD, I spoke out heartily against what went on in the IRSD live on the air and took the backlash for it happily. The fact that you would imply that I would feel otherwise despite my public record on this subject illustrates your inability to engage people who oppose you without being derogatory or lumping them into stereotypes.
If those comments were made today comparing Jews with the Devil, I, of course, find that offensive, just as I find your comments about the people of the IRSD and Sussex Countians in general offensive.
And thank you for posting the correspondence you would not allow me to post.
Oh, and Maria, what I said was “if the student, in the course of a political discussion or debate, used similar language, and actually knew what he was talking about, then yes, I would tolerate it and would not censor it.” Read the quote in today’s Cape Gazette, page 18.
I have no idea what your views are concerning the suit against IRSD except for what you have written here today. And I don’t believe I’ve compared you or questioned you about your views on that suit. If I have, please show all of us where I have.
I posted your Cape Gazette quote in #10, and I posted the quote accurately, maybe you should read it again so you, too, can post it accurately:
“If the student was making an argument in a political forum and knew what they were saying, yes I would tolerate it; that’s free speech.”
And here is where, as I said, you “imply I would feel otherwise:”
“Ms. Evans, where is your and Dan Gaffney’s outrage over the comments today from WGMD listeners comparing Jews with the Devil, claiming we have horns coming out of our heads? I guess we’re fair game when it comes to what you call uncalled for, inaccurate, and inflammatory statements.”
“we’re fair game when it comes to what you call uncalled for inaccurate and inflammatory statements”? What exactly did you mean by that?
If you were so outraged by those statements from today, why didn’t you call in and say something either on Dan’s show, Jared’s show, or Bill’s show?
And having listened to enough of WGMD (I cannot do it for long periods of time), I think you know how callers who don’t agree with the “party line” are treated.
So, let’s not take up anymore time from the folks here at DL. You want a debate, name the time and place (although WGMD and anywhere west of Coolspring are not options).
And I wrote down what I said on Tuesday night. The quote in the CG basically caught the crux of what I said. Leah is a good reporter.
“If you were so outraged by those statements from today, why didn’t you call in and say something either on Dan’s show, Jared’s show, or Bill’s show?”
Maybe because I wasn’t listening. Sheesh, are you finished with your baseless implications yet?
And Mr. Persow, I’m a parent in the District, and my question at the forum on Tuesday night was perfectly valid. I wouldn’t have even commented here or at DWA if YOU had not dragged ME into this by calling me Bennett’s “attack dog” and continuing to falsely assert that I am a WGMD employee despite the fact that you were told in March that I was not.
You are illustrating perfectly many Cape residents’ concerns that you are unable to face opposing view points without making personal attacks.
I didn’t know that being employed by WGMD is a personal attack.
I face opposing views fine when they are legitimate views. You nor Jud Bennett have yet so show how comments on delawareonline or DL or DWA or anywhere else is relevant to doing what is right for the kids our of school district. If school board members were disqualified from running and serving because of what some people thought were “outrageous” statements, then we’d have to replace a good portion of the school boards not only in Delaware, but around the country.
Because “doing what is right for the kids” includes surrounding them with accepting, tolerant adults so they grow up to be accepting, tolerant adults themselves.
“You want a debate, name the time and place (although WGMD and anywhere west of Coolspring are not options).”
Smooth move, Mr. Persow. My family and I, who reside somewhere “west of Coolspring” will be voting next Tuesday.
Best of luck.
I only used that geographic location because the majority of the school district is east of there and would probably draw more people. You’re reading something into that statement that is not there.
Just to clarify one small item that Mr. Persow failed to mention: One crackpot caller called Friday and mentioned he could see “horns growing” from an aclu lawyers’s head. My quick reply was to call him a liar, and I hung up on him quickly dismissing him as a kook. The goofy callers comments were “not those of the host management or advertisers”. Thank you. The end.
The caller actually made me realize how the News Journal must feel when Meyer leaves one of his wacky comments on delewareonline.com
Dan, you did not call the guy a liar. You hemmed and hawed and went on to the next caller. And I believe the caller ended the call, not you.
“I only used that geographic location because the majority of the school district is east of there and would probably draw more people. You’re reading something into that statement that is not there.”
Look at a map, even Milton is west of coolspring”
Nice try