Why wait until now? It is one week before the election. Where were these people in May? Why not go door to door and get you petition signed and run in the primary? I guess I just don’t understand what changed between the time you could file to run in the primary election and now. And how we as voters going to vet these candidates in 6 days?
Thank you, Chris, for signing your name. I got a comment supporting the write-in candidates, but it wasn't signed. I can't take anything that is anonymous because that opens the flood gates to nasty comments again. Please resubmit your comment and identify yourself. Thanks. Elaine
Chris, for what it is worth, Rudy Bies is a CPA and has spoken at SB meetings. Paula Bongiorno has been going to practically every SB meeting since the mid 90's. Both were on my campaign committee, so I guess that is one change that took place since May. Elaine
That anonymous comment was from me Elaine, I suppose. The topic of my unsigned comment was the irony that there is an unsigned email circulating with malicious comments about these write-in candidates. I'll bet on two things. One, the distributor of the muckracking email is a big supporter of the recent town hall on residents agreeing to disagree. Lot of good that event did! And 2.. they bashed you for allowing anonymous post and the anonymous contributors here for being.... anonymous! I do have to thank them for one thing though. I was undecided before reading their email. Now my mind is made up. I'm writing in for sure!!! Giffen Good
@John. I dont know any of these candidates. That is my point. I have meet and spoken to the candidates on the ballot. Some I agree with and others I dont. But I have had time to learn about them. I am sure the write in candidates are all good people. I would just have liked to have more time to learn about these people and decided if they are people who see things the way I do.
BTW, I dont have kids. But I would like to think they would all be nice to my dog.
Chris, My kids are out of school but I still have an interest in continuous improvement of our children's education; that means i agree with you on the subject of vetting.
However, the Republican Committee (RC) did not properly vet a candidate who was later embarrassed by past events and Mrs. Gillen did not have the courtesy of being interviewed by a sub-committee of the RC before she spoke to the RC for 5-10 minutes on the evening you endorsed candidates. In other words, someone said ho-hum and the RC didn't have the pleasure of meeting and considering Mrs. Gillen for the job of Commissioner. As a result the RC lost a Republican seat on the Commission - in addition to a Republican seat on the Board in a non-election year.
Since one Commission candidate discontinued his campaign, and if he is not elected, and the R's lose the Republican seat in the third ward that will leave one (unendorsed) Republican on the Commission.
Those facts lead me to the question of which of the write-in candidates do you and the RC trust with our children? I really would like to hear that answer before I vote if that is possible.
How many folks would know one of the candidates used a military photo and know enough about election law to make it a talking point in the email?
Why did the original author exercise "Poor Form" in forgetting to thank the candidate for his military service and for his community service in promoting the Mount Lebanon Veterans Memorial Project?
The malicious E-mail currently making its rounds in Mt. Lebanon (and beyond) is filled with character assassination and hate, but there is nothing new in American politics about that: You should read what some of the Founding Fathers wrote and said about each other!
I would like to address two items in that message that make its veracity suspect – the 32% to 40% increase in Mt. Lebanon Real Estate values in the last two years, and this particularly silly comment: “While write-in campaigns never succeed, they do cause disruptions that impact legitimate candidates.”
As far as home values in Mt. Lebanon are concerned, I went to the RealStats web site cited in the E-mail and could not find the figures the writer cites. In all fairness, they may be there – I just couldn't find them. Perhaps a direct URL to them will be provided before election day. However, I did find the following: RealSTATs Fact #4: Median home prices rose 2.9 percent annually from 2006-2010 in Allegheny County. For the median price in the county to go up 2.9% while Mt. Lebanon's price went up as much as 40% means a whole lot of property in the rest of the county must have tanked, big time! RealSTATs Fact #5:* The number of homes sold in Allegheny County have fallen for six consecutive years since peaking at 20,849 in 2004. For home sales to fall in the county for six straight years (2004 - 2010) and Mt. Lebanon's real estate values go up as much as 40% people from other parts of the county must be flocking here in droves!
And then there is the issue of write-ins. The author of this message has obviously never heard of Lisa Murkowski, who in 2010 won a U.S. Senate campaign as a write-in. And in doing some research on this subject I found so many examples of candidates winning either primaries or general elections as write-in candidates that listing them all would go beyond the character limitation of this Blog's comment restriction! But it doesn't take much time to research the subject; here is one web site that has the figures: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Write-in_candidate. There are other web sites that address this issue as well, if you don't trust Wikipedia. Richard Gideon
Richard, one of the emails sent to me had a trail leading to an educator from Johnstown. Why would he be interested in little ol' Mt. Lebanon? Obviously, he cleaned up the trail before he sent his eblast. Now, the PTA is getting political, spreading this email, as was revealed later in the email chain. Even if Josephine Posti is innocent, we're all suspecting she is behind it. See A class act
Thanks once again Mr. Gideon for shining a light once again.
Time for another appropriate quote- "You can fool some of the people all of the time, and all of the people some of the time, but you can not fool all of the people all of the time." Abraham Lincoln, (attributed)
God help us if assessments go up 32% in Mount Lebanon. I remember the angst suffered by the owners of those homes that were reassessed upward by an average of 26% in a former reassessment.
If the County Assessment Department picks up on that we can all thank Karen and Bill for pointing out that fact and sending it in an email for general circulation.
John, You are absolutely correct. The RCML did not have a subcommittee vet candidates this year. I have no idea why that was not done. It was clearly a mistake. As for these candidates, unfortunately I am not sure the committee has the time to look into these candidates in the next few days and find out if they are people who should be endorsed. I would suggest you ask the chairman of the committee Jacque Baguet. For my part I am trying to reach out to people I know to learn more about these candidates. I would suggest everyone do the same.
Chris M.- these people are not unknowns. Paula probably has as many hours in at school board meetings than some of the current members and spoken inteligenly on many of the issues. Rudy Bies has a better understanding of business accounting practices than any current board member, I'd think. We all know that Charlotte can motivate people and get things done. Who better to find new revenue sources? And Mr. Wertheim -- unknown in Mt. Lebanon... really? You're pulling our legs- right?
Contrary to the spin Mr. Franklin is spewing over at Bloglebo that we know little about these candidates except their brief bios, anyone that has paid any attention to the management of our school district knows their involvement and commitments pretty well. Mr. Franklin seems to think the literature from the incumbents tells us a lot about them and their team members. They carry the same typical bios, the usual pablum about how they're for great schools, lower taxes, Moms and apple pie....blah, blah blah, blah. You could scratch out the name on any of their statements and write-in an opponents and not tell the text apart! All the "balloted" candidates CLAIM to be for transparency and open communication with their constituents. How is it not one said... Mr. Matthews, you have every right to see the plans for the high school before election day. Come with me and we'll look at them together? I know... Bill would probably sneak in his Jr. 007 spy kit and steal photos of the plans! Far as I'm concerned the incumbents had their shot on the high school debacle. Its time for some fresh minds and I know less about Cooper and Goldman than the 4 write-ins.
Hate to be a broken record (a what???)but you can hear who has spoken at school board meetings and who hasn't - on the podcasts over at my website,lebocitizens.com Elaine
Giffen, Maybe these people are known to you, and maybe they are known to every other person in Lebo, but I don’t know them. Yes I have heard of some of them, but to the best of my knowledge I have never meet any of them. All I really know is what was in the mailing. And just because you know them, does not mean you know everything about them. I bet many people thought they knew the former first ward R candidate. Look what happened there. I am not saying any of these people have anything in their past, but I don’t know. That is why I am looking to learn more about them. Had they run in May or sent this letter out last month it would've given me more time to learn about them. I am glad to read the things you have written, it provides me with more information about these folks. Which is what I need so I can decide if I am going to vote for them. I am hoping to read more posts about these people in the next few days and maybe even talk to them directly. Again, I would suggest others who don’t know them to do the same. And those of you who do know them, please tell those of us who don’t more about them.
Chris, I apologize if you misunderstood my comments. I wasn't being critical towards you only attempting to point out that these people just didn't pop out of nowhere. Some of the just announced candidates I'm pretty sure have been debating throwing their hats in the ring on and off for some time. With no intimate contact, I suspect that when the first HS bid went bust they thought we'd have a referendum or we'd see big changes on the board. Now it appears residents are more out-of-the-loop than ever. How many gyms are we getting? Tennis courts? Specifics of new version? It's out to bid, how come we don't know? Or maybe its not out to bid due to complications? See what I mean. Many of us that comment here made up our minds weeks ago we couldn't vote for any of the incumbents and were going to leave slots blank or write-in somebody, anybody other than the incumbents. At least that would show our dissatisfaction for the status quo. Now, at least in my opinion, we have four qualified, informed residents with several areas of real life experience that for whatever reason are putting themselves on the line. Are they better than what we have, I don't know, time will tell!? I know I voted for some that are on the board now and have been extremely disappointed and the "balloted" candidates leave slim pickins. I mean... really is winning a seat on the school board a life time position? Once you're on-- you;re the only qualified businessman/woman, mom/dad in the community capable? What experience did any of them have running a district beforehand? Giffen Good
Karen apparently doesn't know that a 501(c)(3) organization or its representatives that lobby for or against a candidate is a violation of the Internal Revenue Code. It can result in the IRS making the 501(c)(3) income taxable for the PTA Organization. And the IRS can decertify the tax-exempt status of the PTA Organization making future income taxable.
Ah, the “Law of Unintended Consequences!” Instead of besmirching the reputations of James Cannon and the write-in candidates, the “e-blast” E-mail has tarnished the reputation and integrity of the PTA in Mt. Lebanon, along with making the author and his or her supporters look silly. The lesson here is simple: If you intend to go after your political opponents, using hyperbole and unreliable data as weapons, you should check your facts carefully, craft your words well …..and then forget the whole thing! Richard Gideon
Chris and all, Maybe the four write-in candidates would be willing to share their thoughts with us here. I sat through a candidates' forum and was willing to answer questions. Sharing why they want to run for school board would be a good start. Elaine
The others were at the Candidates Forum in the spring. They also had meet and greets. If they want to write something, that is fine with me, but I don't think they will. Remember, they don't respond to this blog or my emails. Elaine
29 comments:
Why wait until now? It is one week before the election. Where were these people in May? Why not go door to door and get you petition signed and run in the primary? I guess I just don’t understand what changed between the time you could file to run in the primary election and now.
And how we as voters going to vet these candidates in 6 days?
Thank you, Chris, for signing your name. I got a comment supporting the write-in candidates, but it wasn't signed. I can't take anything that is anonymous because that opens the flood gates to nasty comments again. Please resubmit your comment and identify yourself. Thanks.
Elaine
Chris, for what it is worth, Rudy Bies is a CPA and has spoken at SB meetings. Paula Bongiorno has been going to practically every SB meeting since the mid 90's. Both were on my campaign committee, so I guess that is one change that took place since May.
Elaine
Chris, as a member of the Republican Committee, who of these candidates would you trust with our children?
That anonymous comment was from me Elaine, I suppose.
The topic of my unsigned comment was the irony that there is an unsigned email circulating with malicious comments about these write-in candidates.
I'll bet on two things. One, the distributor of the muckracking email is a big supporter of the recent town hall on residents agreeing to disagree. Lot of good that event did!
And 2.. they bashed you for allowing anonymous post and the anonymous contributors here for being.... anonymous!
I do have to thank them for one thing though. I was undecided before reading their email. Now my mind is made up. I'm writing in for sure!!!
Giffen Good
I would love to see that email.
Elaine
@John. I dont know any of these candidates. That is my point. I have meet and spoken to the candidates on the ballot. Some I agree with and others I dont. But I have had time to learn about them. I am sure the write in candidates are all good people. I would just have liked to have more time to learn about these people and decided if they are people who see things the way I do.
BTW, I dont have kids. But I would like to think they would all be nice to my dog.
Chris,
My kids are out of school but I still have an interest in continuous improvement of our children's education; that means i agree with you on the subject of vetting.
However, the Republican Committee (RC) did not properly vet a candidate who was later embarrassed by past events and Mrs. Gillen did not have the courtesy of being interviewed by a sub-committee of the RC before she spoke to the RC for 5-10 minutes on the evening you endorsed candidates. In other words, someone said ho-hum and the RC didn't have the pleasure of meeting and considering Mrs. Gillen for the job of Commissioner. As a result the RC lost a Republican seat on the Commission - in addition to a Republican seat on the Board in a non-election year.
Since one Commission candidate discontinued his campaign, and if he is not elected, and the R's lose the Republican seat in the third ward that will leave one (unendorsed) Republican on the Commission.
Those facts lead me to the question of which of the write-in candidates do you and the RC trust with our children? I really would like to hear that answer before I vote if that is possible.
Comments here remind me of what I thought was a funny line delivered by Stephen (the Irishman) in Mel Gibson's "Braveheart".
"The Almighty says this must be a fashionable fight. It's drawn the finest people."
Giffen Good
Thank you for sending the email, folks. I see that there were no sources cited. Gee, who could have written that?
Elaine
Elaine,
You asked, "Who could have written that?"
How many folks would know one of the candidates used a military photo and know enough about election law to make it a talking point in the email?
Why did the original author exercise "Poor Form" in forgetting to thank the candidate for his military service and for his community service in promoting the Mount Lebanon Veterans Memorial Project?
The malicious E-mail currently making its rounds in Mt. Lebanon (and beyond) is filled with character assassination and hate, but there is nothing new in American politics about that: You should read what some of the Founding Fathers wrote and said about each other!
I would like to address two items in that message that make its veracity suspect – the 32% to 40% increase in Mt. Lebanon Real Estate values in the last two years, and this particularly silly comment: “While write-in campaigns never succeed, they do cause disruptions that impact legitimate candidates.”
As far as home values in Mt. Lebanon are concerned, I went to the RealStats web site cited in the E-mail and could not find the figures the writer cites. In all fairness, they may be there – I just couldn't find them. Perhaps a direct URL to them will be provided before election day. However, I did find the following:
RealSTATs Fact #4: Median home prices rose 2.9 percent annually from 2006-2010 in Allegheny County. For the median price in the county to go up 2.9% while Mt. Lebanon's price went up as much as 40% means a whole lot of property in the rest of the county must have tanked, big time!
RealSTATs Fact #5:* The number of homes sold in Allegheny County have fallen for six consecutive years since peaking at 20,849 in 2004. For home sales to fall in the county for six straight years (2004 - 2010) and Mt. Lebanon's real estate values go up as much as 40% people from other parts of the county must be flocking here in droves!
And then there is the issue of write-ins. The author of this message has obviously never heard of Lisa Murkowski, who in 2010 won a U.S. Senate campaign as a write-in. And in doing some research on this subject I found so many examples of candidates winning either primaries or general elections as write-in candidates that listing them all would go beyond the character limitation of this Blog's comment restriction! But it doesn't take much time to research the subject; here is one web site that has the figures: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Write-in_candidate. There are other web sites that address this issue as well, if you don't trust Wikipedia.
Richard Gideon
Richard, one of the emails sent to me had a trail leading to an educator from Johnstown. Why would he be interested in little ol' Mt. Lebanon? Obviously, he cleaned up the trail before he sent his eblast. Now, the PTA is getting political, spreading this email, as was revealed later in the email chain. Even if Josephine Posti is innocent, we're all suspecting she is behind it. See A class act
Elaine
Thanks once again Mr. Gideon for shining a light once again.
Time for another appropriate quote-
"You can fool some of the people all of the time, and all of the people some of the time, but you can not fool all of the people all of the time."
Abraham Lincoln, (attributed)
Giffen Good
Mr. Gideon,
God help us if assessments go up 32% in Mount Lebanon. I remember the angst suffered by the owners of those homes that were reassessed upward by an average of 26% in a former reassessment.
If the County Assessment Department picks up on that we can all thank Karen and Bill for pointing out that fact and sending it in an email for general circulation.
John,
You are absolutely correct. The RCML did not have a subcommittee vet candidates this year. I have no idea why that was not done. It was clearly a mistake. As for these candidates, unfortunately I am not sure the committee has the time to look into these candidates in the next few days and find out if they are people who should be endorsed. I would suggest you ask the chairman of the committee Jacque Baguet. For my part I am trying to reach out to people I know to learn more about these candidates. I would suggest everyone do the same.
Chris M.-
these people are not unknowns. Paula probably has as many hours in at school board meetings than some of the current members and spoken inteligenly on many of the issues.
Rudy Bies has a better understanding of business accounting practices than any current board member, I'd think.
We all know that Charlotte can motivate people and get things done. Who better to find new revenue sources? And Mr. Wertheim -- unknown in Mt. Lebanon... really? You're pulling our legs- right?
Contrary to the spin Mr. Franklin is spewing over at Bloglebo that we know little about these candidates except their brief bios, anyone that has paid any attention to the management of our school district knows their involvement and commitments pretty well.
Mr. Franklin seems to think the literature from the incumbents tells us a lot about them and their team members. They carry the same typical bios, the usual pablum about how they're for great schools, lower taxes, Moms and apple pie....blah, blah blah, blah.
You could scratch out the name on any of their statements and write-in an opponents and not tell the text apart!
All the "balloted" candidates CLAIM to be for transparency and open communication with their constituents.
How is it not one said... Mr. Matthews, you have every right to see the plans for the high school before election day. Come with me and we'll look at them together? I know... Bill would probably sneak in his Jr. 007 spy kit and steal photos of the plans!
Far as I'm concerned the incumbents had their shot on the high school debacle. Its time for some fresh minds and I know less about Cooper and Goldman than the 4 write-ins.
Giffen Good
Hate to be a broken record (a what???)but you can hear who has spoken at school board meetings and who hasn't - on the podcasts over at my website,lebocitizens.com
Elaine
Giffen,
Maybe these people are known to you, and maybe they are known to every other person in Lebo, but I don’t know them. Yes I have heard of some of them, but to the best of my knowledge I have never meet any of them. All I really know is what was in the mailing. And just because you know them, does not mean you know everything about them. I bet many people thought they knew the former first ward R candidate. Look what happened there. I am not saying any of these people have anything in their past, but I don’t know. That is why I am looking to learn more about them. Had they run in May or sent this letter out last month it would've given me more time to learn about them. I am glad to read the things you have written, it provides me with more information about these folks. Which is what I need so I can decide if I am going to vote for them. I am hoping to read more posts about these people in the next few days and maybe even talk to them directly. Again, I would suggest others who don’t know them to do the same. And those of you who do know them, please tell those of us who don’t more about them.
Chris, I apologize if you misunderstood my comments. I wasn't being critical towards you only attempting to point out that these people just didn't pop out of nowhere.
Some of the just announced candidates I'm pretty sure have been debating throwing their hats in the ring on and off for some time.
With no intimate contact, I suspect that when the first HS bid went bust they thought we'd have a referendum or we'd see big changes on the board. Now it appears residents are more out-of-the-loop than ever. How many gyms are we getting? Tennis courts? Specifics of new version? It's out to bid, how come we don't know? Or maybe its not out to bid due to complications? See what I mean.
Many of us that comment here made up our minds weeks ago we couldn't vote for any of the incumbents and were going to leave slots blank or write-in somebody, anybody other than the incumbents. At least that would show our dissatisfaction for the status quo.
Now, at least in my opinion, we have four qualified, informed residents with several areas of real life experience that for whatever reason are putting themselves on the line.
Are they better than what we have, I don't know, time will tell!?
I know I voted for some that are on the board now and have been extremely disappointed and the "balloted" candidates leave slim pickins.
I mean... really is winning a seat on the school board a life time position? Once you're on-- you;re the only qualified businessman/woman, mom/dad in the community capable?
What experience did any of them have running a district beforehand?
Giffen Good
1. Vote for the write-in candidates + James Cannon for School Board.
2. ? ? ?
3. Top rated schools, awesome buildings and low taxes!
However, I am tempted to vote the write-in candidates because it would be a more entertaining dysfunctional system.
Michael Goodin
Karen apparently doesn't know that a 501(c)(3) organization or its representatives that lobby for or against a candidate is a violation of the Internal Revenue Code. It can result in the IRS making the 501(c)(3) income taxable for the PTA Organization. And the IRS can decertify the tax-exempt status of the PTA Organization making future income taxable.
I'll be voting for James Cannon, Paula Bongiorno, Rudy Bies, Charlotte Stephenson and Joseph Wertheim.
Sue Dixon
Ah, the “Law of Unintended Consequences!” Instead of besmirching the reputations of James Cannon and the write-in candidates, the “e-blast” E-mail has tarnished the reputation and integrity of the PTA in Mt. Lebanon, along with making the author and his or her supporters look silly. The lesson here is simple: If you intend to go after your political opponents, using hyperbole and unreliable data as weapons, you should check your facts carefully, craft your words well …..and then forget the whole thing!
Richard Gideon
Chris and all,
Maybe the four write-in candidates would be willing to share their thoughts with us here. I sat through a candidates' forum and was willing to answer questions. Sharing why they want to run for school board would be a good start.
Elaine
I heard from one of the write-in candidates, Rudy Bies. He hopes to submit a letter to me tomorrow. I have not heard from the others.
Elaine
Why limit it to the write-in candidates? How about the others or do they only interact with the PTA?
Dick Saunders
The others were at the Candidates Forum in the spring. They also had meet and greets. If they want to write something, that is fine with me, but I don't think they will. Remember, they don't respond to this blog or my emails.
Elaine
SEMPER FI,, ABBY
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