The father of all spinmeisters

In today's Almanac, James Cannon [Sr.] has this letter to the editor.  I will reprint it here since the Almanac does not archive their letters.

ML moving ahead with upgrade 


[Removed from this blog]

Just an FYI, Mr. Cannon forgets to disclose that he is the school board president's father. I seem to be getting under some people's skin.  Thanks for reading my blog, Mr. Cannon.


PS Patty Van Horn's phone and extension at the Almanac is 724.941.7725 ext.124.  Her email address is pvhorn@thealmanac.net


Update February 9, 2012 9:00 AM Patty Van Horn called me this morning to say that this letter has been removed from the online edition of The Almanac. She did not realize that there are two James Cannon. She was not aware of the fact that Mr. Cannon failed to disclose that he is the school board president's father. She also apologized and a clarification will be published next week. Thank you, Ms. Van Horn. A special thanks go to all the folks who called and/or emailed the Almanac.

Update February 10, 2012 9:30 AM The Almanac has James Cannon's letter back online.  It looks like the athletic supporters who commented, raised a fuss.  I put it back up to show the kind of people who are associated with Josephine Posti, school board president and daughter of James Cannon [Senior].  It is unfortunate that Josephine has resorted to having her father do her dirty work by trying to discredit this blog and me. Nice work, Josephine.

Update February 10, 2012 11:59 AM The Almanac has removed the letter permanently. According to Patty Van Horn, the "Webmaster said it was a mechanical error and this should not happen again."

Update February 10, 2012 12:06 PM It is back up again.  I can play this game all day.  Folks, do you see the control Posti has with the media? And now you know why I have this blog and website.  It is the only place for the "rest of the story" that never seems to get in the news.

Update February 10, 2012 12:17 PM And now it has been removed again from the Almanac website.

An open letter from James Cannon

All:

I've been reading with interest the analysis/opinions of the election. But before going further, I wish to thank the following:

-all the volunteers for their time and faith. Knowing you believed in what we were doing as a team kept me going

- those in the community who supported me and Team Cannon. We felt your frustration and desire for a change, and we tried in vain to deliver that change.

-all residents who voted, regardless of your choice. While I may disagree with some on where their vote was laid, I will always support our citizens exercising their Constitutional rights.

That said, I want to clarify something that was bandied about in the silly emails that made the rounds, and I've now seen online. The write-in "strategy" was most certainly not employed solely to get me elected. Our team made a conscious decision, albeit a risky one, to try to gain a majority on the school board. It was not a decision made in haste nor was it self-serving. Our team felt that a Cannon victory alone would ring hollow as I would be the only dissenting voice. The existing school board knew it, too.  In the end, we took a risk and it didn't yield our desired result. But I assure anyone reading, our goal was to help the community by getting five common-sense, fiscally-minded candidates elected so we could redirect what we all still see as a disastrous course on which the current board is taking our community.

I would be remiss if I didn't also point out a highlight of our campaign. Not once--ever--did we engage in personal attacks on other candidates.  Our team discussed the issue twice--once in early May before the primary, and once about two weeks before the general. And both times it was a very brief conversation in which we agreed to stick to business and board issues, and dismiss from our volunteer corps anyone launching personal attacks. We simply felt, and still do, a community-level election should be free of such behavior. It does nobody any good, especially the voters. Unfortunately, not all the candidates held the same sentiment. Well, that's on their conscience. Ours are clear.

At this juncture, only time will support our positions, the opinions we expressed in our campaign communication. I am firmly convinced we, the campaign team, will be vindicated. It's a shame, though, that vindication will come at such a heavy price to so many in the community.  The looming financial trauma to be inflicted on Mt. Lebanon will, I fear, destroy what charm and character are left here. That is something that cannot be replaced.

In the end, Mt. Lebanon, I take a great deal of personal joy at having gone through this experience. I got to meet hundreds of residents and hear their stories and cherish their faith in me. I also got to know a handful of people much better, and now humbly call them "friend".  And I have a greater appreciation for the political process. I hope some of those who stepped into the light to express themselves this year will consider running for a local office in the future. Our campaign team, while focused on the task at hand, really emphasized adhering to principle and having fun. Again, thank you to everyone involved. I'll see you again--soon...

-James E. Cannon

This post is for those who voted for Cannon and write-in candidates.

Even though I was not part of the committee, I do want to thank you for trying to make a difference. People aren't interested in cleaning house.  It is obvious by the poor response to my Dress 4 Work plea; we are living in a community filled with have's, not have nots, and are clueless as to how bad it is for some folks.  The Voice signs have finally come down. Now, we are just waiting for the bids to be opened on Pearl Harbor Day. How ironic.

Real estate agents are standing by, waiting to plant "For Sale" signs.  A real estate agent told me that this morning.  When I was canvassing Ward 3 during the Primary, there were many Republicans on my list who moved, were moving, or were thinking about moving. 

I was hoping the Election would have turned out differently. Maintaining a blog and website is time consuming and costly, but my work would have been done after the Election. I guess not.  I will continue to hold our elected officials' feet to the fire.  I hope you do the same.  Thanks again.

Elaine

James Cannon writes

My name is James Cannon.  I grew up in Mt. Lebanon and graduated from the high school in 1987. I have a BA in Communication. I served on active duty in the Marine Corps, working in communications (the technical sort), and in the US Army Reserve in a psychological operations company. Currently, I am a government affairs manager for Range Resources, a Fortune 500 gas drilling company locally headquartered in Canonsburg. For the last two years, in that position, I have been responsible for assisting local governments craft ordinances and regulations related to drilling in their townships. That experience has included working with engineers to estimate construction costs for drilling pads, speaking with road engineers regarding repairs and rebuilding roads and bridges, countless discussions with township solicitors to reach amenable solutions with respect to ordinance provisions and, most importantly, conveying all those different aspects to the residents living in those affected areas. The most important part of my job, on all levels, is building relationships. And that is something I intend to do with members of our community.

In any given situation involving multiple, equal  people with varied opinions, the group dynamic ebbs and flows based on the task at hand. I've been in many situations over the years in which mine was not the only opinion or input but just one of many. Thus, I am adept at recognizing the value each person assigns to their own thoughts, and attempt to , when I disagree with their statements, glean some value no matter how ardent my objections may be. The goal with the Board should be working toward solutions that will benefit the entire community.  That means listening to all sides of the issue, weighing the various arguments and ultimately casting a vote based on the facts.

It's no secret that I (along with many in the community) have been opposed to the high school renovation as currently proposed.  First, "renovation" is a misnomer. I would prefer we refer to the project as the high school rebuild since it's more accurate. Second, the entire project has been mishandled, mismanaged and misdirected from the beginning. To be clear, our high school needs some work. I am not opposed to a measured and incremental approach to upgrading some of the facilities, performing necessary maintenance and ensuring Mt. Lebanon's high school students have a safe and positive environment in which to learn. Unfortunately, the current approach is a scorched earth policy of 'build at any cost' regardless of the consequences (the latest approach is a "build now--see what the building is later" stance as demonstrated by a recently rejected right-to-know request pertaining to the latest plans). The reality is, the school district still has unpaid debt from the elementary school upgrades, pensions are going to come due soon and the district is projected to lose a large percentage of students by 2020. Yet the residents are going to be forced to pay even more in taxes. It is simply not realistic nor sustainable. I strongly favor the approach taken by Peter's Township, which is to put the high school project up for a vote. That will be the final determination of what level of support for the project actually exists. In essence, do residents support huge tax increases or don't they?

Vouchers are an interesting notion but I have not yet arrived at a final opinion. They may be a creative and positive way to generate revenue for the school district (average of $8000 per child X 100 kids = $800,000 per year).  But it's important for residents to educate themselves and make their opinions known. The school board is accountable to the residents and the members should act as administrators of community sentiment, not autocrats who make decisions in a vacuum.

Voters have a choice on Tuesday. Either endorse the status quo and face dire consequences in just a few short years. Or make a decision to stand up for yourself, your neighbor and the community, and authorize five newcomers to right the course we're on. Rudy Bies, Charlotte Stephenson, Paula Bongiorno and Joseph Wertheim and I are all stepping up because we believe in doing what's right for the community. Collectively, we are making a stand not for us but for all residents. We will not be bullied, we will not be intimidated and we will not be silenced. We are asking all of Mt. Lebanon to stand with us to take back our township.

PTA Apologizes to Cannon

Dear Mr. Cannon,

It has come to our attention that the President of Hoover PTA, Karen Morris has violated our policy of prohibiting PTA members from engaging in political activity as a PTA representative. We have provided instruction on numerous occasions about this policy - instructing our members that while they may endorse or oppose any candidate as a private citizen, they must not in any way use their position in PTA to further their opinions. Ms. Morris did just that and we have addressed this issue with her. We offer our sincere apology that this has occurred.

Sincerely,
Sheryl Cohen
Mt. Lebanon City Council President

http://www.mtlsd.org/district/districtpta/

Update: Formal apology and response

A unified position statement by James Cannon, Paula Bongiorno, Rudy Bies, Charlotte Stephenson, and Joseph Wertheim

The Mt. Lebanon School Board Candidates

November 4, 2011

A unified position statement by James Cannon, Paula Bongiorno, Rudy Bies,

Charlotte Stephenson, and Joseph Wertheim

We must remember what happened over 200 years ago when people pledged their honor, their personal savings and their very lives so that we could have a government of the people, by the people and once again for the people.

Public Servants should do their best, serve and go home. We can debate the length of the term, but multiple political terms all too often affect communities adversely.

Whether it is Washington, Harrisburg, the City of Pittsburgh or Mt. Lebanon, spending must be controlled at all levels of government.  As a nation, we simply cannot continue to borrow and spend.  Our Country has almost 15 trillion dollars of debt.  If meaningful action is not taken, our debt will exceed 25 trillion in less than ten years.  The interest on that amount of debt could easily exceed the total annual federal tax revenue.  The money in the Social Security Trust Fund is incapable of sustaining the demand for the participants future needs because it has been spent.  If this position does not change then the U.S Dollar will decline. 

So what does this have to do with the Mt. Lebanon School District?  Simply put, difficult financial decisions must be made to avoid future financial problems.

The following information, taken from the School District web site, is important for you to know.

                                                                                2001                    2010          

    

Total School District Expenditures                   $50,819,000           $76,621,000

Annual Revenue from Real Estate Taxes          $34,466,000           $51,697,000

Annual Cost per Pupil                                           $8,960                   $14,451

At current cost levels, a High School Diploma will cost $173,412.

The School District borrowed $69 million in October of 2009.  This money was to be used for the High School Project.  How many of us would borrow money to build a home, and allow more than two years to pass before beginning construction? What bank would even loan the money to us?  

Early in 2010 the School Board, explaining certain aspects of the High School project, mailed a glossy brochure to the residents. We believe that our residents deserve a more cost-effective alternative based on more accurate enrollment statistics than those presented.

We believe the School Board should consider an alternative to the high school renovation plans.  The plans should contain enough detail and reasonable cost estimates so that those who care enough to vote could do so in a May 2012 referendum.  This is a major expenditure with significant issues that affect every person and business in Mt. Lebanon.  There is no reason to formally exclude anyone in Mt. Lebanon from the process.  Projects of this magnitude should be decided based upon the desire of the entire community.

Many difficult issues face our school district which will require legislative action from the Pennsylvania Legislature.  We must do all that we can to address these issues such as adopting a taxation model that is more fair, especially for those who are retired and now may not be able to keep their homes because of rising real estate taxes. 

School Boards have responsibilities to the students, the teachers, local government and most importantly, they must always function with a deep respect for the public.

If you care, please vote.  If you like the current situation and feel no concern for our community’s future economic stability, elect the incumbents.  If you want a School Board that is willing to do their best in consideration of these various issues we will soon face as a community, in addition to selecting James Cannon on the ballot, please write-in the names of the four candidates, Paula Bongiorno, Rudy Bies, Charlotte Stephenson, and Joseph Wertheim.  All five have similar motivations for running, and all five have their own individual reasons. Feel free to reach out to each before Tuesday, November 8th.

Their contact information is as follows:

James Cannon, jcannon2011@verizon.net

Rudy Bies
Charlotte Stephenson, stephensoncs@verizon.net

Joseph Wertheim, jhwertheim@aol.com

Paula Bongiorno, genpau@aol.com

Thank You!

Follow up to the PTA eblast

From: Lebo Abby
To: EGillen476 <EGillen476@aol.com>
Sent: Fri, Nov 4, 2011 7:47 am
Subject: Fw: Bill Zellers Email

Elaine,

I sent this email to the PTA mail list at Hoover. It was a "reply all".  I received two response. One was upset that I used Cannon's military service in a way that was untrue (she thought I was saying he was being attacked by people BECAUSE of his military service) and the other email was a huge THANK YOU for setting the record straight.

----- Forwarded Message -----
From: Lebo Abby
To: Karen M.'s  PTA mail list
Sent: Thursday, November 3, 2011 11:30 AM
Subject: Bill Zellers Email

I had to write something with regards to the recently distributed Bill Zellers email concerning the upcoming school board election.  I do hope you take the time to research the candidates as suggested in the last line of the email.

Think about that Zellers email for a second.  That email comes with the full support of the incumbents on the current Board.  It is their wording.  It was they who, at the polls in May, decided to ridicule and demean a military veteran like James Cannon.  They called him names. They insulted his intelligence. They stood outside in the rain to make sure they got their message out to voters about how much they despise him.  They did this in the hopes of marginalizing a candidate for a local school board election.  They did this knowing that James Cannon was their neighbor, that he worked hard on the Veteran's Memorial that will be dedicated soon here in Mt Lebanon.  That email from Bill Zellers (which is a fake name, btw, there is NO registered Bill Zellers anywhere in Mt. Lebanon) is so full of hatred and vitriol that it can only mean one thing. Whoever is behind Bill Zellers is scared out of his mind!  James Cannon only registered as a Republican (he is a registered R after all) on the ballot and HE GOT MORE VOTES THAN ANY OTHER PERSON!  That's right, despite sitting school board members actively campaigning against him, James Cannon got more votes than anyone else on his side of the ballot. How does Bill Zellers marginalize that???

James Cannon upsets the status quo.  That scares the heck out of the incumbents. And quite frankly, that is exactly what needs to happen. We need someone elected to the Board to keep the Board and Administration accountable.  Right now, week after week, there are items being put in and taken out of the High School project that are worth millions of dollars.  James Cannon went to a recent Board meeting to call the Board on their intent to increase the cost of the project by almost a MILLION dollars, and the entire Board and Superintendent responded with a ho-hum attitude as if a million taxpayer dollars is not a big deal. That is YOUR money being spent with no accountability.

Thankfully, in the last week Mr. Cannon has been able to put together a list of people to support for the School Board.  Do I wish it would have happened sooner? Sure, but the good news is that every one of the people that are part of the write-in campaign are EXPERIENCED in local government.  Whether they be active with the library, the Board iteself, the high school project, or community advisors, all have taken time to attend meetings and get involved in the community.  I would urge you to take a moment and think about the future of Mt. Lebanon.  We can have more of the same issues with transparency, tax increases,  and plagiarizing school board presidents, or we can finally make a change to better the educational outcomes for ALL Mt. Lebanon children. 

This email comes from someone who has been actively involved in our community for years, active in the PTA, and is extremely concerned about the future of Mt. Lebanon.  I would like nothing more than to have a transparent, accountable school board in Mt. Lebanon.  It's time for that to finally happen!

Youtube video from last school board meeting

I got this letter to the editor from someone who wishes to remain anonymous. 

I am a longtime reader of your blog, but prefer to remain anonymous like many of your other readers. 

 

I taped the board meeting from channel 19 and ...made this for me and put it on youtube. I'm clueless on most tech stuff.  In fact, I was hoping you would post this on your blog for your other readers to see since I didn't know how to put a link in a comment.

 

This video particularly worries me because if Mr. Cannon doesn't bother to inform himself about protocols or take the time to read an agenda for a board meeting, how do we expect him to be able research and prepare for the issues that face the school board?

 

Thanks for all that you do to keep the community informed.

 

http://www.youtube.com/user/lebovideo29

High School Renovation and the Election

The following letter to the editor comes from Mt. Lebanon resident, Steve Diaz.

May 19 2011

To the Editor:

Re:  High School Renovation and the Election

The results of the election this week confirm that despite the continuing use of nasty personal attacks and gang mentality by the incumbents, an open, honest evaluation of the high school renovation fiasco necessarily reveals a sloppy, inadequate, and prejudged rush through a complex project with no regard for the facts or legitimate public concerns.  How embarrassing for the “officially” endorsed Republican candidates that an outsider, James Cannon, outpolled all of them, and the Democrat cross-filers as well.  He beat all comers, incumbent and newbies, by a significant statistical margin.  In the general election he has every opportunity to garner the top final vote, which should, by any fair and reasonable measure, make him the next president of the Mt. Lebanon school board.

The article in the Post-Gazette today underscores why James Cannon is so popular.  First, the incumbent “officially endorsed” candidates are scrambling to do a complete volte-face.  Mr. Kubit and Mr. Remely are quoted to the effect that many of the project elements as to which they articulated absolute support and commitment, such as renovations for the high school theatre and LEEDS certification, now are stated by these board members to be either not as economically viable or productive as they previously claimed without doubt (see the infamous flyer mailed to us by them at our own tax-paid expense).  In fact, if they addressed such matters as seats and sound system in the theatre and other items of deferred maintenance (such as wiring or wireless upgrades and disability access), they would not need to spend anywhere near the scope of their planned project budget.

Second, they omit to mention how throughout the Act 34 public hearing process, these two, and indeed all of the incumbent school board members (save Mr. Fraasch, whom they bullied unmercifully), opposed and ridiculed ANY criticism of the plan that produced the calamitous bid results.  Specifically, Mr. Kubit, Ms. Capucci and all the then incumbents who now seek re-election, loudly and consistently accused those who raised similar and other points of concern of “being against the children” and “not understanding” the needs they “had” to address.  Who doesn’t seem to understand now?

Third, in an unbelievable exercise of hubris, the school board members yet seek to salvage as much of their discredited approach to school maintenance as possible (see the Post-Gazette this morning).  Even now, after the petition of “The 4,000”, after the disastrous bidding, and after a primary election in which an outsider opposed to the program out-polled all the incumbents he opposed on the ballot, the board persists as if only some cutting and trimming will salvage their ill-conceived, vain, and wasteful project.  We are supposed to accept that the “irreducible minimum renovation” can now somehow be reformed by the same clueless gang-that-couldn’t-shoot-straight in the first place.  Pardon my candor, but I find it unlikely to be so.

Moreover, the school board persists in planning a high school renovation in a vacuum, pretending we do not also have a major, as yet unquantified, teacher pension funding obligation that will likely easily compete with or exceed the proposed cost of the White Elephant project the school board will not give up.  The school board has given no accounting of how we will pay for both their grandiose spending on unnecessarily monumental building schemes and for the promised labor benefits we offered to secure the best teaching faculty possible.  This from a school board that had done nothing to support the scholastic program even as our academic performance and standing has continuously and seriously deteriorated.

Finally, I object to the lack of accountability and responsibility.  Why do none of the incumbents apologize to the opponents they savaged during prior public debate as they now proceed to incorporate many of the very suggestions the opposition offered before the project was finalized?  Why do the incumbents, who were so strident in their “leadership” before, not accept any personal fault for the decisions they themselves made?  It’s all well and good to blame the consultants, but who hired them and who took their advice while refusing to consider any criticism?  The incumbent members of the school board had a clear field and made the policy choices that followed their own judgment, in the face of strong community opposition.  Why does the school board fail to meet the No.1 priority of arresting and turning around our slipping academic program and why do they fail to accept any responsibility for it ?  They don’t even talk about the academic record, let alone campaign on it.  Now that the numbers are in, it is time for the same power brokers who want to lord it over this community by raising our taxes to unsustainable levels, to take “credit” for what they have “achieved”. 

It is not good enough for failed decision makers to just posture a cosmetic change of direction.  They must admit their failures and take responsibility for them.  The members of the school board need to be adult enough to accept the failure of their policy and of their policy making process.  It is time to step aside and let new leadership clean up.  Not only those incumbents on the ballot, but the entire incumbent school board should resign to demonstrate good faith in their promise to look after the best interests of this community.  As things stand now, no one has gained anything under the guidance of this school board; the only responsible course of action for them now is to go, not to sit tight and make new promises they can’t keep (or if they do “keep” them by whatever means, only spend us into oblivion when the bill comes due on the teacher pension fund).

Respectfully,

Steve Diaz

Mt. Lebanon

A class act

Jodi Weigand called me yesterday before she wrote her article, "Sibling rivalry possible on Mt. Lebanon board." [Jodi-that is not a picture of Josephine Posti!] She didn't call me because I was running for Commissioner. Instead, it was for my opinion about the results of the School Board candidates. (Moi? How did she know that I had an opinion about the school board candidates?)  I proceeded to tell her about James Cannon signs being ripped down at two polling places.  Volunteers heard Josephine Posti tell voters at Lincoln School not to vote for James Cannon because he was a relative.

"My brother and I have different points of view on certain issues," Posti said. "But no matter who is elected in November, they can expect to be treated in the same respectful, professional manner I've treated other board members whose opinions I disagree with." 

Oh, we are in for a treat.  Think "James Fraasch."  Think "Dirk Taylor." James Cannon is a class act.  He will not be bullied by anyone and will be representing residents, the will of the community, on that School Board. 


Read more: Sibling rivalry possible on Mt. Lebanon board - Pittsburgh Tribune-Review http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/news/pittsburgh/s_737885.html#ixzz1Mna5Hsuy