John Judy's Blog & Emporium

So eleven days ago I posted my considered recommendations for the upcoming November 8th elections for the Fairfax County Schoolboard. The original post is here for those who prefer clicking to scrolling.

One of the candidates whom I liked for certain things but not for others took the trouble to write me back admonishing me for what she perceived as certain errors on my part, like not endorsing her. She provided a link for my benefit which I dutifully clicked and found happily free of porn.

Because I value civil give and take in politics and because it’s an easy blog entry I am cut and pasting our exchange in the comments section of the original post below.

Enjoy. Learn. Grow.

1. brownkaplan says:

   October 28, 2011 at 11:34 pm (Edit)

   Sorry, John. I don’t really believe you ever considered voting for me. You’re voting the straight Democrat-endorsed slate. Not that there’s anything wrong with that (a large number of my supporters are Democrats), but the reasons you give are both inconsistent and insincere. Maybe you should read my comments in the Connection and do better:http://www.connectionnewspapers.com/article.asp.
2. brownkaplan says:

   October 28, 2011 at 11:36 pm (Edit)

   Let’s try that again: http://www.connectionnewspapers.com/article.asp?article=355204&paper=73&cat=109.
3. John Judy says:

   October 30, 2011 at 10:14 pm (Edit)

   Hi, Sheree, if I may call you that.

   First of all, thanks for stopping by.

   Second, thanks for coming back with what I hope was the link you intended. For anyone joining us here who doesn’t feel like clicking, I pulled Sheree’s quotes below:

   “Sheree Brown-Kaplan, a GOP-endorsed candidate running for one of the three at-large seats, acknowledged the Republicans are emphasizing a message of reform, which she defines as “accounting for decision-making and valuing community input.”

   “I haven’t heard any overarching message from the Democratic-endorsed candidates,” Brown-Kaplan said. “It does seem as if they are more supportive of the status quo and will continue a School Board leadership that works against parents and teachers, not with them.”

   …Brown-Kaplan said that those who vote straight-party tickets have not done their homework.

   “There are important concerns that parents and teachers have been addressing. Look at the endorsements of teacher organizations and parent groups like the Fairfax County Federation of Teachers and FairfaxCAPS. They have studied the issues and endorsed candidates based on their stands on the issues. It’s these organizations that should guide voters’ decisions,” she said.”

   Anyone still reading should feel free to click onto the full article. I did and have yet to be inundated with porn. It’s safe, is my point.

   As to your critiques that I, specifically, was insincere and inconsistent and never considered voting for you and, more broadly that people voting a straight party ticket haven’t done their homework?

   Well, let’s begin at the beginning:

   I considered voting for you or I wouldn’t have bothered checking you out. As I noted above and will repeat, I admired your work and commitment to advocating for students with challenges. What worried me was your endorsement by the local teabaggers. As we have painfully learned over the past two years they are a group that does not work and play well with others. They are a destructive force and need to be kept away from positions of influence and sharp objects.
   Ditto, the notorious Red Apple Mom, who’s been taken down hard by better than the likes of me.
   Now if you’d like to take this opportunity to disavow these endorsements and distance yourself from their sources I’d be happy to reconsider your candidacy. The election is still eight days away.

   However there’s still the matter of my sincerity and consistency. I’m not inclined to argue over either since I think it’s self-evident that I sincerely loath the teabaggers and the R.A.M. and I’m pretty consistent on that point. Read some of my other election posts if you doubt.

   Finally, moving away from me (at last!), let’s see if I can “do better” by addressing the points you make in the article you sent.

   1. You say you haven’t heard an overarching message from your Democratic opponents. I have. Sure, it’s similar to the Republicans in terms of campaign season rah-rah: Making Fairfax schools even better, keeping classes smaller, paying teachers better. It would be strange indeed to hear anyone on either side come out against these things.
   Where it differs, in terms of the candidates I most favor is that my guys take a stand against the shifting of resources away from lower-income students and students with special needs and putting the cash back into the schools of the “haves.”
   I’ve already stated my opposition to this either/or mentality and would advise anyone unclear on this to go back and read the original post. Frankly, I think this is a point on which you and I might agree.

   2. You say people voting a straight-party ticket haven’t done their homework.
   Sheree, the reason I am voting a straight party ticket is precisely because I have done my homework. I have looked at the candidates’ own words on their own websites. I have read their endorsements on other sites. I have sat in the audience for live candidate Q&As. I can say without blushing that I am one of the more informed voters going to the polls next week. The reason I am not voting for you, despite my agreement with some of your stated goals, is that you are backed by people I deeply distrust with the quality of my own kids’ educations.

   The GOP has done great harm to my country in my lifetime and the teabaggers have done and would like to do even more. If you want to tell me where you differ from them and what parts of their hard-right, anti-science, anti-union, anti-womens health agenda you would NOT work to advance I will give you all the space you care to use, unedited, on my modest corner of the Virginia blogosphere.

   If you make a compelling case I may even vote for you.

   In the meantime, with all due respect to the various organizations you say should guide my vote, I will continue to do my own research and let that, balanced with my values be my guide.

   Hope I’ve done better.

   One last thing while I have you: Your bio says “After leaving a position in the Office of Management and Budget, she worked in government affairs for a Fortune 500 company and, later, advocated for the interests of a trade association.”

   Could you elaborate under which administration you worked for OMB and for which companies you lobbied?

   They don’t appear in your bio.

   Thanks.

   

   Can't we all just get along? Yes we can.