Saturday, April 3, 2010
And so the mudslinging commences....
I have tried so hard to run a clean campaign, but I am not sure how I can compete with the attacks that are being made. This morning I received a phone call from Susan Fox telling me that a Get Out The Vote flyer that was sent out by the PTO was against board policy. Hmmmm..... Doesn't the PTO govern itself? And how is a get out the vote flyer inappropriate? Do we not want people to vote? Another report I got today was that Susan Fox and Susan Manning implied that my literature was not to be dropped with Monona City Council candidate literature. Seriously? Threatening volunteers who are dropping information that they had best think about aligning themselves with a person from Cottage Grove? Is this the standard of conduct we expect from people? This is OK???? Turning a get out the vote flyer into a divisive tool that is used to suit their own purpose? Wow. Apparently the bridge building that is being claimed to be done is only lip service. Unbelieveable. Apparently some people will do anything...anything at all....
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No, the PTO doesn't govern itself; it is governed by a constitution and its by-laws, which make clear that it may not endorse candidates or even have the appearance of endorsing candidates. (You should know this after five years on the board.) Dropping a get-out-the-vote flier stapled to two candidate fliers is a clear violation of 501(3)(c) rules, putting the non-profit status of the PTO at risk. This is hardly mudslinging; it is basic tax law.
ReplyDeleteYou have certainly lost my vote; this is common sense stuff.
Correct. A constitution and bylaws that are written by the PTO and administered by the PTO. Bylaws that were updated in 2008 by a committee that I personally sat on. A get out the vote flyer - which was not stapled to any flyer that I put out or saw - and I saw all 5000 of my flyers that were printed, sorted and distributed - which does not endorse any candidate in any way, shape or form is in no way inappropriate for the PTO to distribute. I would argue that this it is most certainly appropriate for a PTO to encourage the community to get as infomed as possible and then vote, as is their constitutional right and duty.
ReplyDeleteI am really getting sick of Jennifer getting called from board members on Easter. It is supposed to be the day of our LORD not a day for calling people to complain about flyers. Can you imagine our shock when we got a calI from Susan Fox while we had my inlaws from Wyoming, along with our two infant nephews, two neices along with our two children here for a celebratory Easter dinner? This a complaint about a get out to vote flyer that is telling people to use their God given right to vote. What is the harm in that? Please be courteous to my family on this great day. Maybe people should spend some time going to church and praying instead of complaining about flyers.
ReplyDeleteI am not sure how anonymous can view a get out the vote flier as literature that supports one candidate over the other. It is merely the request that members of the school district exercise their right to vote. Something tells me that Jennifer did not lose "anonymous's" vote, but that he/she already had his/her mind made up, but is looking for a ridiculous reason to bicker, complain and (possibly unintentionally, not sure) come off as an idiot.
ReplyDeleteAnonymous did you mean 501(c)(3)?..."it is basic tax law...this is common sense stuff." You do not appear to have a basic grasp of either.
ReplyDeleteExactly how are you related to Sue Manning?
This is ridiculous. The Cottage Grove PTO certainly did not staple their flier to anyone else's flier. A volunteer in the community graciously donated a few hours of his or her time to go door-to-door and deliver information for multiple candidates. THIS IS COMMON PRACTICE DURING CAMPAIGNS. So few people are willing to help out (yet many are ready to criticize) that they are almost always asked to deliver more than one piece.
ReplyDeleteThis particular volunteer happened to be delivering information for two school board candidates and the CG PTO. They decided it would be easier to staple three pieces of paper together, rather than hand them over separately on a windy day.
The PTO has done nothing wrong. GET OVER IT.
And isn't it interesting that the people doing the most complaining are also running for office? Can you say SOUR GRAPES? I sure can.
Jennifer-
ReplyDeleteNasty business is part of campaigns and politics- buck up.
Interesting. Last year, Kristin Yates wrote a very nasty & divisive email encouraging everyone in Monona to vote only for Jessica Ace (the Monona PTO President at the time) because she was the ONLY candidate from Monona. Kristin was a Monona PTO Board member and she sent the message out to the Monona PTO email list. When questions about the appropriateness of this email via Monona PTO resources were raised to the superintendent and the school board, the response was very clear -- neither the school district nor the school board has any control over the Monona PTO's actions.
ReplyDeleteSo, why does the school board now think they can tell the Cottage Grove PTO what to do?
Over and over again, whenever Cottage Grove residents try to "Get Out the Vote" in Cottage Grove they are criticized. No matter what is said or done in Cottage Grove it is considered "divisive" or "illegal" or "inappropriate." However, anything goes in Monona. They can post nasty things on their blogs, their PTO can send rude emails, they can throw paintballs at each other's houses if they don't like their political views.
At some point you have to ask yourself why don't certain people in Monona want Cottage Grove to vote?
Anonymous,
ReplyDeleteYou're right, Kristin did write an email last year stating what you said it did. However, she sent it out to her personal email list which, because of her personal connections included lots of Monona elementary parents who are also on the PTO list. I, as Jessica's Co-President last year and current Monona Elementary PTO Co-President, am the official keeper-of-the email list and official email writer. Kristin had no access to the PTO list, and what she sent was as Kristin herself, not speaking for PTO. Because we are not elected officials, and we represent every parent at Maywood and Winnequah Schools, the Monona Elementary PTO Board has bent over backwards, inside out, and sideways, to make sure we stay neutral on elections (as long as I've been involved anyway—I can't attest to anything before that). We provide information about time and place of School Board meetings, host a candidate forum, and, yes, remind people to vote, but never back specific candidates. Our current Board Members are even careful about publicizing their own personal candidate support (I agree Kristin was not), less it be confused with PTO's. Ask any School Board Candidate who has ever asked if my family would host a yard sign or add our name to a list of supporters—we have always declined for this very reason.
I'm not going to comment on the current flyer issue as I don't know the whole scoop (although I'm pretty sure there was nothing malicious or misleading behind it) and I think it is distracting from the more important issues facing our district. I just wanted to make it clear that the Monona Elementary PTO Board does truly understand the importance of maintaining political neutrality and the Kristin Yates email was just Kristin being Kristin, not as a PTO Board member.
Thanks for clearing that up, Maelanie. I can appreciate your comment.
ReplyDeleteTo anonymous who posted "It seems no one supporting this Pickel candidate has anything intelligent to offer, just accusations, immature rebuttals, and whining."
ReplyDeleteWhat part of your post was intelligent, mature or remotely helpful? It sounded like the kind of whining you claim to deplore.
Thanks, JoEllen! I removed that comment, because I just thought it was too mean. I think if you want to be that mean, you should have to say who you are and own the comment!
ReplyDeleteJennifer, you were right to remove it. I must have been posting at the same time you were removing it! Feel free to remove my post as well since it now inadvertantly re-posts it. I just felt the need to point out the hipocracy of it.
ReplyDelete