I say 'decide' because those who vote are the decision-makers - so, regardless of who you support, if you don't want someone else deciding for you here in the 'Downtown Edison', then it's important that you take the time to vote.
Make Your Voice Heard! Show once again that The People of Edison are Better than its Politics!
As with any election, You should vote for the candidates(s) that you believe will best serve Your interests and not be bound by partisan party lines or affiliations or be listening to anyone else telling You How You Should Vote.
Now, before I go any further, let me recognize Dr. Frank, the Board President who isn't seeking reelection. While I may have disagreed more often than not with him, that doesn't diminish the fact that I always believed he is a Good Man and that these volunteer positions take a lot of time and effort and for that - he deserves a Big Thank You for his service on the Board and to the Edison Community.
Moving on, - clearly, if you ever read this blog and its many posts about what this Board does and doesn't do, what they say and don't say, etc. - then you'll understand why I'm not a fan of this Board (and why I refer to them as I do in the title of this post), its ineffective Leadership, its Lack of Oversight over Super Dr. Richard 'Looking for the Exit Ramp' O'Malley, its Misdirected and Out-of-Control $pending, its Bloated Buckets of Money they call School Budgets, its Lack of Transparency and General all round Disrespect for the Stakeholder that Pays 90% of their Bills - the Resident and Taxpayers here in 'Downtown Edison.'
The Board has been and still is in dire need of Change and these elections are an opportunity for me to see if any of the candidates who wish to fill the spots recognize any of this and wish to open up the closed club for the selected few who want to keep the status quo over there on Mythomania Lane.
So, with that in mind, I looked at all the candidates websites and links to their FaceBook pages, read all their material I could find including their letters and endorsements and listened to them at the ETEA Candidates Night. I also acknowledge, understand and respect the ETEA's choice of candidates for this election cycle.
Just to summarize the candidates - there are 11 candidates running for 4 spots. Nine of the candidates are running for the the three 3-Year seats and two candidates are running for the one 1-Year seat.
Here are the candidates as they appeared at the ETEA's Candidates Night on October 5th - Messrs. Distefano (I) and Vuppula were no-shows:
And here are the candidates by the tickets they formed and ballot position:
While I'm sure they're all well-meaning people and each brings something of value to the Board - after reading and reviewing all their printed material, listening to them at Candidates Night and for all the reasons written in previous posts, I'll just share my thoughts with you about this election.
First and foremost, I won't be voting for Mayor Tom 'Now 15.4%' ChoiLankey's 'You Got To Be Kidding Me' Team of incumbents for all the reasons written about in this blog - they are part of the problem with this Board and Not part of solution to the myriad of issues the School District is facing going forward. Now, as an aside, this presents a slight dilemma for me, which I'll explain later on.
Second, I won't be voting for Araujo's 'Be the Change 4 Edison BOE' ticket simply because there's No way I could possibly vote for Araujo - even with his endorsement from the ETEA and this being his third bite at the apple.
Third, I won't be voting for Wise since she's an EDO committewoman and that's a game-ender for me.
Fourth, I won't be voting for Vuppula - don't know him or anything about him other than his bio given out at Candidates Night but since he was a no-show that night, can't really form any opinion or have enough information to decide.
Finally, I will be voting for Bodofsky & Conway - 'The 2 to Vote 4!' Team. If there were ever candidates who have earned an opportunity to be on this Board through years of knowledge and relentless dedication of time and effort to the work of the Board of Education and diligent attendance at Board meetings, it's these two. Whether you agree with them or not - they're always there asking probing, substantive and important questions and pursuing the overall betterment of the School District for all the stakeholders - and that includes the often forgotten one, the taxpayers.
Since I will only be voting for 2 of the 9 candidates for the three 3-year seats, I will just do a write in for the third. I leave it up to you good people to decide the third.
Now, as to my dilemma referred to above. There are only two candidates running for the 1-year seat - the incumbent Distefano and Araujo. Now, I can't vote for Distefano - he's just a seat-filler for the O'Malley groupies on the Board but I also can't vote for Araujo. Here's a guy that I believe has a persona and style that will do more harm than good in pursuing what's important to me if seated on the Board.
So, I will go with a write-in for this one 1-year seat. I leave it up to you good people again to decide which way you want to go.
Anyhoo, as I said before, you shouldn't care who I or anyone else votes for - You should Vote for Who You Believe Will Best Serve Your Interests - but while you're doing that, you should care if things go on for another year the way they've been going on over there on Mythomania Lane, which it certainly looks like it will if you don't make a Change - so please take the time and become informed before you Vote.
No comments:
Post a Comment