Can we just skip all this and move these elections to November? Pretty please?
Via Nichole Dobo:
A complaint was filed today with the state Department of Elections against a Delaware political action committee that’s been sending fliers to voters about at least two school board candidates.
The complaint was filed by state Rep. John Kowalko, New Castle County Councilwoman Lisa Diller and Christina school board member Shirley Saffer. Saffer is running for re-election. The mailings were sent by Voices 4 Delaware Education, which is identified on mailings as an “action fund.”
The complaint asks the department of elections to investigate if the mailings meet requirements of state law, and if the PAC has filed the proper paperwork with the state.
Oops! Looks like there was confusion with that paperwork: “Soon after the complaint was filed, a representative of the group told the state Department of Elections that PAC paperwork was mistakenly filed under the wrong name.”
Let me close with words of wisdom from Joanne Christian:
For me, the shenanagins played this year in school board elections makes me want to send out my own darn flyer and robocall.
What infuriates me the most is the MONEY being spent backing ALL of these candidates INDIVIDUALLY, who collectively (w/ very rare exception) have no idea of the limited scope of power a school board has, and no experience of any district involvement.
These lofty claims of being the “answer” for any district, falls real flat when the reality is they become one vote on one Tuesday night a month.
The real key is TIME. How many of these folks are willing to put the TIME into serving not only the board, but EVERY committee asked of you from your school district and Dover. That’s the journey. Being at the discussion, table, summit, fact finding, task force and ad hoc opportunity to vet these think tanks and brain storming sessions, and cry FOUL real loud, when you see impending doom. You need to translate that back to your board or super for affirmation up or down. Sometimes it works–sometimes it doesn’t. What truly concerns me going forward w/ what I’ve seen–the aphrodisiac of groups spending money on you, and mailers sent w/ your picture on it–is made of the same stuff as false platitudes from Dover leadership folks, or private/corporate ed hacks. And they get a paycheck. You won’t. If you choose to spend your free time advocating, or giving tacit approval for the many wrongs in education today then keep agreeing to the fliers, and courting your “supposed” support. They don’t know you from Adam, but are getting to know your soul–and soon they will own it. Until the next election.
Remember candidates—these groups ARE NOT your constituency. The residents, citizens and children are your base. I cringe to think of donated money, and PACs and funding and how much I could have done with any of that money being directed to a classroom instead of a hyperinflated, overstated, overselling lit piece of a newbie dressed up as a magic bullet. Isn’t that part of what’s gotten us into all this trouble in the first place?
School Board candidates could learn much from Joanne Christian. Hopefully they’ll pay attention and follow her advice. Honestly, this school board election is an embarrassment.
UPDATE: John Kowalko’s Press Release:
Lawmakers Join School Board Member Requesting Investigation by Department of Elections
State Representative John Kowalko and County Councilwoman Lisa Diller have joined Christina School Board member Shirley Saffer in demanding an investigation into the activities of Voices 4 Delaware Education Action Fund regarding the upcoming school board elections. Questions have been raised by Ms. Saffer and the lawmakers concerning required criteria lacking in identifying Fund officers, and reporting requirements in addition to questions regarding the legitimacy of the pieces as independent issue pieces. Please see the attached letter sent to the Department of Elections by Councilwoman Diller and Representative Kowalko.
Representative Kowalko said, “This type of excessive spending intrudes into the autonomy of an election and erodes the process of fairness. The fact that candidates in school board elections are aspiring to a difficult, unpaid and often thankless job of policy making on behalf of public education leaves no room for well-heeled special interests to impose their agendas and manipulate public perception”.