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| Native Intelligence | |
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School board contests are hot |
This fall's two non-partisan school board races promise lots of controversy and plenty of fireworks, along with some serious debates. Long gone are the people who in previous election years wore school buildings as head apparatus and the others who were running because they viewed the board as a stepping stone to higher office, such as D.C. City Council members Carol Schwartz and Linda Cropp and former mayor Marion Barry, who is seeking another comeback as the Ward 8 council member.
There are 12 people running for the two seats, including incumbents Julie Mikuta and Dwight Singleton. Even the former general counsel and political adviser to the mayor, Max Brown, initially took out petitions to run but decided against it, partly because trying to get Harold Brazil re-elected has become a full-time job for Brown. Education advocates immediately charged that Mayor Anthony Williams was trying to gain more control over the school board by backing Brown in the race. Brown insisted he entered because he has two young children and, like most of the people running, cares about public education. Many of the other candidates also have young children, whom they want to enroll in public schools. Williams reportedly will not endorse in these races. But, knowing his penchant for trying to control the school system, it won’t surprise me if he leaps in at the last minute.
Ward 3 Councilwoman Kathy Patterson and At-Large Councilman Phil Mendelson have already caused some controversy in the District II race and angered some of their allies -- like Education Action, a volunteer group made up of parents, teachers and D.C. Public Schools staff that backed Julie Mikuta in her first race for the District I seat. Both council members jumped into the fray early by endorsing D.C. Congress of PTAs activist Hugh Allen, who ran against Singleton last time. Their endorsement before any of the debates or input from DCPS parents and activists in Ward 3 appears to be almost as divisive as the local Democratic Party endorsing one Democratic candidate over another for the Sept. 14 primary.
Victor Reinoso said he was surprised to get the endorsement of Education Action, which likely will bring volunteers to assist his campaign for the District II seat. One of Patterson’s staff members reportedly contacted Reinoso, after his endorsement, to seek his withdrawal from the race in exchange for being the next mayoral appointee to the school board. Reinoso, who is active in the Hispanic community and serves on the board of the Carlos Rosario Center, rejected the offer.
Current school board Vice President Mirian Saez, whose specialty is housing and not education, is widely expected to step down after the November election to focus more on housing issues. Reinoso apparently was being offered Saez’s appointed slot on the board.
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Since Mayor Williams' favorite fund-raiser, indicted former Washington Teachers Union official Gwendolyn Hemphill, is currently out of the business of raising political cash, the mayor-backed Victory 2004 slate of D.C. Democratic State Committee candidates has had to raise money the old-fashioned way: by asking for it. The slate, including Democratic Party Chairman A. Scott Bolden, raised more than $8,000 for the Sept. 14 election. The mayor’s hand-picked revenge candidate to knock off national committeewoman Barbara Lett Simons is having her very own personal fund-raising event. Marilyn Tyler Brown, a former DCPS official who made it onto the ballot in less than 24 hours with the help of city employees, has scheduled a last-minute event on Sept. 8 at Georgia Brown’s restaurant. Williams sponsored a controversial fund-raiser for former Republican congresswoman Connie Morella at the same spot. Simmons' unpardonable sin was leading a failed recall effort against the mayor.
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Mayor Williams could take a lesson from interim school Superintendent Robert Rice on how to respond when public employees engage in stupid, costly and sometimes even illegal activities on behalf of the city, rather than keeping them on the public payroll as he usually does. Rice recently exhibited principle and courage. He knows the difference between political grandstanding and taking responsibility by firing the people who screw up. Rice’s quick response to the debacle on opening day at Eastern Senior High School was not only to fire the principal but also the administrator responsible for not having the schedules ready for the school's 900 students.
Apparently neither Alice Miller, executive director of the Board of Elections and Ethics, nor Kathy Fairley, registrar of voters, has been even reprimanded by the mayoral appointees on the elections board or the mayor for the recent voters' guide disaster. The printed mailing label on the guide was intended to identify polling places for voters, but the labels were all wrong. Now the board is sending out postcards to properly identify polling places. No one I contacted seems to know how much correcting the mistake will cost.
To add insult to injury, Miller and Fairley approved a picture of the U.S. Capitol for the front of the voters' guide. Surely a picture of the Wilson Building or the District of Columbia seal, which was used on the guide issued for the January presidential primary, was symbolically more appropriate. Both elections officials have refused to talk to the press, apologize or take responsibility for the mess. The picture of the Capitol on the voters' guide is a blatant example of how they haven’t a clue about how important voting representation is to D.C residents.
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Diana Winthrop is a native Washingtonian. Contact her at diana@thecommondenominator.com.
Copyright 2004, The Common Denominator