Wednesday, May 9, 2007
Simonaire, Give it up already
Bryan Simonaire is continually attempting to fight a losing battle. The school board issue for this year is over. No matter what way you turn with this issue your about bound to lose. It seems like he may also be shooting himself in the foot going against Leopold. I guess Simonaire isn't that much of a thinker, because if he was he would have thought about the actions he is making, and the rather large possibility that John Leopold could be the next governor in a few years, I think his actions would have been a done deal after the first push. Sorry Brian, I think there may already be people higher and mightier than you who have already made these decisions. Have fun committing political suicide.
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33 comments:
I'd like to know how a petition drive is political suicide...
Further, I am not going to pretend to even begin to know what Leopold is thinking but I am pretty sure he won't run for Governor. From what I have observed about his career in Maryland (an important distinction), he usually takes the safe road and wouldn't jeopardize not being county executive to run against an incumbent governor from Baltimore.
Leopold is the GOP's best choice. His moderate (to left wing ) views make him an electable candidate. Granted, I wouldn't ever vote for him or O'Malley. Leopold once ran for governor of Hawaii and lost. Thus, the top job probably has crossed his mind. I will concede he takes the safe road typically.
Bud,
If you wouldn't vote for Leopold, then he isn't the best choice. It is people like you that a Republican candidate must pick up in order to win an election in MD. Without your vote, a Republican can't win Governor.
I'm guessing here but when I mean (your) I mean white men over the age of 50 who are either registered Democrat or Unaffiliated and just want government to stay out of the way.
I am in my early 30's. I am a registered democrat. For the record, I have never voted for a democrat for president or governor.
Well, Bud... I really struck out on that one. A thirty something registered Democrat male who has never voted for a Democrat for President or Governor.
You definitely do not fit into a typical voter profile group.
I could get behind Leopold if he weren't so sneaky. But, there's a chance I'd hold my nose and vote for him out of my absolute dislike of MOM. O'Malley is the worst this state has to offer in any seat.
I think a run for governor by Leopold would be a great move. As he is not starting out a career but winding one up it also makes sense for him to try. If he loses the race he still wins as then he can retire knowing he put the county on a sound fiscal path. He is a man that can win the race and I would bet he is the only man that the Democrats would be afraid of running. Him running the race also opens the door for Dillon to run for Exec.
The petition drive is a waste of time as it gains nothing even if they win. The only gain in it is that BS ends up with a mighty big list of people to solicit donations from for the next election. The whole thing was not carefully thought out. I don’t know who is giving him advice or if he just thinks up these things himself but what a dumb move.
David,
How is the petition drive a dumb move? On the same subject, Frank never explained how it is political suicide.
You both put it out there, now can you work through it and explain how it is either a dumb move or political suicide or both?
It is a dumb move because even if he gets the law repealed by the voters, it just puts the situation back to where it was, there is no gain. It will not get the elected school board that he wants and it will not make the Democrats give him one. He isn’t even going to be able to use a voter rejection of the law as a reason for him getting a real elected board.
Now if he does manage to succeed and get it on the ballot, he then has to get the voters to support it. What happens if that fails, it will only reinforce what the Democrats have done and will give him no shot at trying to get his bill passed at all.
What he should have done is just reintroduce his bill again and again and build up the support for it until the Democrats can no longer ignore it or the makeup of the delegation changes.
Now if the voters reject the new law nothing happens. He also I think insures that even if he wins he kills any chance of getting his bill passed at all as the Democrats are not going to be happy. His bill will be DOA every time. My whole point being, what is the gain? The answer is a big zero. Nothing at all.
Now I don’t think a failure is political suicide, if I thought that I wouldn’t have signed the thing myself, and I would be actively working against it. Failing will just look bad for him, but I don’t think it translates to any negatives by the time the election rolls around. It does make him look like a person who when they didn’t get their way is now pouting about it and trying to undo what beat out his own idea. If it was going to be done it would have been better if he had not been the driving force behind it, and as there have been people wanting an elected school board long before he decided to play politics it would have been easy to do, but maybe he likes to see his name in the paper. If he fails in getting the signatures I think in the short term he just looks like a spoiled baby.
It is simply not an issue that is worth trying to take to referendum. I think the referendum is a tool that Republicans can and should use because they are politically insignificant in this state, but use it for things that are worthwhile not something so trivial.
It will be interesting to see if you can get the voters to repeal a law that gives them at least a say in the school board. In effect you are asking them to reject something no matter how small that they have been given. I think that is a risky endeavor when you have nothing to offer them in return. The whole thing just does not make much sense to me.
Last thought.
If it changes nothing win or lose, is it worth the possible failure?
David,
We spoke about this but your post
"The only gain in it is that BS ends up with a mighty big list of people to solicit donations from for the next election. The whole thing was not carefully thought out. I don’t know who is giving him advice or if he just thinks up these things himself but what a dumb move."
really gives away your bias here.
Bryan could propose anything and you would oppose it.
I know you will deny it but it does show on this one.
Greg,
Just how is this area better off with Bryan Simonaire?
Oh come now Greg, where in the world do you see I have a bias against BS anywhere in my postings. As to why I made this comment it is because it is the only logical reason he can have for doing it. Now of course this does not mean he is being logical at all which of course lets him off the hook for this motive. I think I have proven to any rational person from my writing s on this subject that it just simply makes no sense since nothing has a chance of changing until after the ’10 elections. I know you think you are doing the right thing so I will leave it at that. However if BS thinks he is bring this subject to the forefront with this petition he is mistaken, nothing magical is going to happen and all of you stand to lose if the petition fails at the ballot box, because that will be all the reasons the Democrats will have to never ever ever give you and elected school board until hell freezes over and maybe even not then.
And you are wrong that I would oppose everything he did. I would support an elected school board! The problem is he is going about it the wrong way.
You say the only logical reason he would do this is to expand his list of donors and that does not show a bias on your part!!
Come on, give me a break.
This effort is much larger than him anyway, a fact you and Bud choose to ignore in your blind hatred of the guy.
I don't have blind hatred towards Simonaire. I simply have been asking since before the election why Simonaire? Really, what does he bring to the table? Even as our senator, how is working improve District 31?
As for the school board bill, it's a bad bill. The last thing the school board needs is a bunch of political wannabes eying seats as a stepping stone to higher office. Our children's education doesn't need aspiring career politicians meddling into everyday operations.
"Our children's education doesn't need aspiring career politicians meddling into everyday operations."
I guess aspiring career politicians appointed by established career politicians is more to your liking?
No, Greg. It's not ideal. Still, it's preferable to allowing people, who get elected on an agenda, establishing curriculum and rules of engagement of schools.
Imagine if a religious ideologue like Dwyer gets a seat on the board. In turn, this person decides it's her mission to ensure the word of God is echoed in everyday curriculum.
Likewise, what if a left wing homosexual nut decided s/he needs to advance the gay agenda in public schools?
I do have one question about Simonaire's involvement here; why does a guy whose kids are home schooled have an interest in an elected school board?
You don't think the people serving on the school board now don't have an agenda. Have you read some of their quotes in the paper? Have you looked at the budget?
The difference between an elected school board and what we have now is that at least with an elected school board, there is accountability and the left/right wing nutballs have to answer to voters every four years.
Right now, those same nutballs are accountable to noone.
We already have politicians that have to answer to the voters. This includes who they select for various positions and why. As it stands now, you're at least going to have someone who is qualified to have authority over such matters as curriculum. An elected school board stands the risk of having an aspiring career politician who merely got elected because voters remembered him as the guy who played in traffic and waved at people. He can be an unemployed high school drop out for all they know.Clearly, there needs to be standards to placement on the school board. Election on the basis of name recognition will not produce positive results.
Wow. I can see this turned into a great point of interest.
Its not hard to realize that if we have an elected school board, people will elect any idiot that stands on the side of the road and waves his hand. Yeah, lets leave it to the people to elect a school board.... Oh, wait... Aren't these the same people that elected Simonaire to do a haphazard job running the affairs in their senate seat?
Just like Socialism, having an elected school board is a brilliant pipe dream that looks good on paper, but really doesn't work.
Hey Bud & Frank, stop drinking the Annapolis power brokers' kool aid.
Of the top ten high schools in the country, ALL are products of ELECTED school boards.
Of the schools from Maryland on the top 100 list, not one comes from a county with an APPOINTED school board.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/18757087/site/newsweek/?sort=Rank&count=1043&start=0&limit=100&year=2007
Apparently, those "idiots" getting elected to school boards around the country know how to run top notch schools.
Greg,
Once and for all I do not hate BS. I am not going to say I even dislike him, I just don’t trust him because of the way he went about campaigning. If he had played by the rules and been civil with his behavior there would be no problem with him, period. It is one hundred percent his fault I go after him the way I do, but then I go after a lot of people when they do something I don’t like. You don’t see me on a diatribe about him doing the petition; I just think it is completely a waste of time because YOU GET NOTHING FROM IT!
Another thing I don’t like about him is his voting record, not in the general assembly but at the ballot box. I find it to be utterly pathetic that someone could decide he wants to run for office when he fails to exercise his right to vote. He can make all the excuses for reasons why he didn’t but it is all BS. He was too desperate for the job which sent up red flags with me. Don’t forget I was a supporter of his in the beginning but the more I got to know him the more I began to question if he is the right person for the job. I would be saying the same things about this petition if it had nothing to do with him so don’t play the I hate him card because it is not so. If I really hated the guy I would post about him every single day and believe me I could come up with some posts that would make peoples eyes pop out of their heads.
Steve... Show me the number of college graduates in those areas compaired to those in this area. Then name me the areas in which the elected school board work, show me the figures for high school dropouts, incomes and salaries, and other financial/way of life items and then maybe I will start to pay attention to this meager excuse for more political stepping stones.
By the way, that link is top INDIVIDUAL schools, not school boards. Frankly, making a school great takes working from within the school, not what the school board does.
Actually, many of those schools are in districts that have multiple schools listed in the top 100. Montgomery County has 4 I believe.
Success breeds success.
I'm not sure what you are asking in the first paragraph but I'm pretty confident it would be very time consuming to provide. Time I don't have to waste trying to change your mind where your mind is already made up.
So you just keep drinking Mike Busch's, Ed DeGrange's, and John Astle's kool aid and I'll keep working to make sure this is their last term in office.
I'm glad you made your last comment steve, because it just shows me how those who support this plan have only haphazard and poorly thought out agendas. If you can't show me the statistics that I asked for, then you need not be commenting on the subject. Sorry if you haven't noticed, but a large part of Anne Arundel County isn't filled with college graduates and business oriented people such as Montgomery County. Success breeds success, but those running the show have to be successful, and those who the poster lists are far from it.
Mont. County has 3 things over us already.... More Brains, More Money, and More Clout. Sorry, until we develop as much as they have, I do not see the need for an elected school board.
Steve,
First of all, I'd stand proud with DeGrange or Astle any day. They are honorable men that serve their districts well. They are conservative democrats that are victims of unprovoked, far right attacks every election year. Keep in mind, without conservative democrats like DeGrange and Astle, conservatives would get nothing from the Maryland legislature. They have the influence the other side lacks. None of Maryland's 14 republican senators has enough influence to get anything the want passed on their own. Keep that in mind when you all attack them again in 2010. As for Busch, he can take a hike as far as I am concerned. He's hurting Maryland.
Secondly, do you really want to mimic the People's Republic of Montgomery County? I am confident an elected school board would only bring unqualified, agenda driven ideologues.
Frank/Bud,
The basis of your argument is that we can't have a bunch of agenda driven idealogues running our school board. What's wrong with that?
What's wrong with a school board that supports streamlining the system and cutting down on the waste that is so prevalent now?
What's wrong with a school board that supports a curriculum that provides alternative arguments to conventional wisdom?
Regarding the statistics...
Following your logic, you have the statistics. Please 'o wise one, share them with the rest of us.
Also, I provided you with numbers that I believe support the argument elected school boards. Now go forth Frank and find the statistics that disprove them.
I'll even give you a hint about where to find the information. www.google.com
But I'm not going to do your homework for you. That would be cheating. Did you by any chance graduate from Severna Park High?
Steve,
The basis of my argument is we would be going down the wrong path if we allow aspiring politicians to be candidates for these seats. Perhaps you'd sway me more if there was some external qualification (ie..Master of Education/ Teaching/ Administration) required of all candidates seeking office. Such qualifiers are not unheard of. For example, to run for an office like State's Attorney, you need to be a member in good standing with the state bar for a specified number of years. Such a requirement is necessary for that position.
The same hold true for school boards. Sure you can pick out some select schools to try to make your point. Taken at face value, that looks likes fine. Still, for the sake of winning an argument, you fail to examine all schools covered by that jurisdiction. It's also relevant to point out that Montgomery County is one of the richest counties in America. They've also made a vast investment in education. Hence, their success is aided by factors other than an elected school board.
And the basis of my argument is that aspiring politicians running school boards wouldn't hurt the education system.
They would weight the consequences of their actions against every action they would make and react accordingly. They would be accountable if the schools got worse and receive credit if they got better.
Currently, that level of accountability and responsibility does not exist on the school board. And as long as it is appointed, it won't.
I have been reading the posts and it doesn't matter if you are democrat or republican, WHAT IS AN ELECTED SCHOOL BOARD GOING TO DO FOR OUR CHILDREN?
Don't give me the accountability line - that what NCLB was "supposed" to do.
Pass honest budgets, make sure dollars are spent appropriately, make sure the curriculum is working for the students, increase spending in areas where it is needed most.
Everything that the current school board isn't doing.
Today, with the current school board, you have a dishonest debate between those who are supposed to make those decisions and those that actually make the decision.
Look at the rhetoric, charges of racism, the passage of budgets that have no basis in reality, and then the subsequent scrambling for a dollar here and there to fill in the gaps.
If you think that the current system works with the County Executive unilaterally deciding how much each program in the school system receives, then okay. If you think that the actual school board should have more input, the only route is an elected school board.
You didn't find me numbers that supported an elected school board, you found me numbers that supported repeating the ways of which an individual administration runs an individual school.
Budgets for FY06:
From Mont. County:
For Montgomery County Public Schools $1,722.5 million estimated for the budget of FY06.
From AA County:
$733.1 Million estimated for the budget of FY06.
Now, in comparison, Mont. County may have 190+ schools, with AA having 120+, but that budget is still more than Double. This info is just the tip of the Ice Berg. More Money to spend along with not facing the budget cutbacks we are in for in the next few months/years.
And the answer to the SP High question is NO.
Elected or appointed, if you want to design a curriculum that will work for students, create a realistic budget, etc., then a school board needs to be created with qualified individuals. It needs to be a group of people who have experience within the school system, and understand what occurs in a school and a classroom on a daily basis. Sorry to tell you Brian, being a former student does not make you a qualified individual. In fact, it shows your ignorance on the topic, and exactly why an elected school board would not work. If you haven’t been in a classroom recently, times have changed dramatically. There are multiple issues that students and teachers face on a daily basis, that were unheard of back when we attended school. If you think they do not impact education, you are wrong.
I agree that changes need to be made to the current system, but I’m not sure an elected school board is the right choice. If there were qualification requirements, then I might reconsider.
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