OCTOBER 27, 2010
Election and CCUSD
I have always been a fan of voting on Election Day as is stated in the Arizona Constitution. But since the state has adopted (illegally?) early balloting and the election is so complex I decided to get an early ballot and carefully fill it out.
I also got the NRA recommendations in which they grade candidates for office. One blood pressure elevator was their recommendation to vote for Rep. Nancy Barto for state senate. I know NRA looks at one thing, where a candidate stands on the second amendment. You would think they would have a method to see if the candidate lies and obviously they don’t. It doesn’t matter to them that she was behind at least three devastating bills, which have been discussed in detail in this column. Being a gun nut (like me) doesn’t make me or anyone else an appropriate candidate for office; it is merely one of many qualifiers.
Then NRA added misery by suggesting a vote for union and school owned Heather Carter who they scored as a “B.” They also gave a B to Ruth McClung, the Republican running against far left Raul Griljalva for the U.S. House of Representatives in District 7. Griljalva got a well deserved “F.”
NRA did give David Smith an “AQ” which means the A rating is based solely on the candidates response because he has no voting record on second amendment issues. I can assure you Smith is 100 percent for the second amendment and a conservative in thought and deed.
As far as Carter’s unearned B, being the Democrat in Disguise and a union supporter she more likely should have an F, like Griljalva or Pastor. We have chosen Libertarian James Iannuzo against her liberal “school at any cost” and union agenda.
Linda Bentley wrote an article in the Oct. 13 edition of Sonoran News about CCUSD’s forum which excluded competitors of Barto and most of Carter’s. Of course the administration blamed the invitation list on students in the much maligned IB program; a U.N. sponsored one world curriculum that sucks in innocent students and not so innocent teachers and administrators.
Even after Bentley advised the elections department and the school about the “oversight” the school still didn’t invite all candidates in LD7.
The summary of the event printed in the Scottsdale Republic’s Oct. 22 edition, notably nine days after Bentley’s article, completely ignored the illegal actions of the political nature of the event. CCUSD signed a consent agreement with the Maricopa County Attorney’s Office for similar past infractions.
Some summaries were interesting and many were fluff. Back to back statements by Tea Party spokesman Arch McGill and our own Mayor Vincent Francia were diametrically in opposition.
McGill said, “I believe the override issue can be passed (override issue?). You need more than outreach to parents; you need to talk to people who don’t have children in school.” That is so much crap and spoken by someone who lives in Desert Mountain. The people without kids in school and many with school age children know a lot about the district’s poor history and know cutbacks rather than new expenditures are needed for the health of the state and all functions need to play their part. The Barto’s and Carter’s of the world stand for adding to an already too fat school system.
Francia spoke the obvious truth. “Bond issues and overrides won’t get education through in the next few years. I don’t know anyone standing in the ‘Tax me higher’ line.” Francia is challenging CCUSD to do what Cave Creek and his own Turf Paradise (where he is General Manager) did to respond to hard times. They both cut expenses, employees and reduced work hours. Tell me the school shouldn’t be responsive to recessionary times in the same way rather than always having their hand out.
CCUSD, rather than reducing or deferring their expenditures quietly and probably illegally used Senator Jim Waring and Barto to spend the bond proceeds, which the school board has stupidly activated resulting in a $50,000 payment each month just to keep the bond. Barto’s sneaky bill made the bond usable with no thought of the legal and financial consequences. By IRS regulations, the bond needed to be used in three years. The bond holders could lose their tax free status and have grounds to sue CCUSD. The market for such investment instruments from CCUSD will surely dry up.
There but for the hand of God go I. The account of the illegal meeting was bad enough but the article called both Francia and David Schwan “Cave Creek Mayor.” Hello Reporter Mary Beth Fallar or your proof reader, if I was Francia I would sue. Francia has been elected by the public at large five times; he works comfortably within a town manager form of government and is unbeatable at the ballot box. He fits Cave Creek like a well-worn glove. He neither has nor needs GOB support.
On the other hand David Schwan was the lowest vote getter of the current council, yet his good old boy buddies appointed him mayor with a 4-3 vote. Currently, he has told us he can’t remember what he had for breakfast let alone a recent four hour meeting at a secret location with two council members and three ex-council members. It is obvious a coalition of Carefree good old boys, many of whom are Kiwanians, that give him his marching orders. I hope they write his instructions down, since according to him, he has no recall. Can you imagine a mayor without a memory?
The sad part is there is only one able school board member and that is Susan Clancy. We have recommended a bullet vote, her only, to assure her election. As it is, it will be four to one, even worse than the voting block of four in Carefree.
There is no hope for a healthy CCUSD with the current school board and Superintendent Debbi Burdick. It is sad, but apparently few qualified people are willing to take a thankless job and school boards certainly are.
