Hyper Local News Pages

Tuesday, July 21, 2009

07/20/09 Two Thumbs Up And Two Thumbs Down For Greenwich Time Editor David McCumber (Updated)


Two Thumbs Up For The Greenwich Time Putting A Hard Hitting Front Page Sunday Editorial That Informs Voters As To What Is Really Happening With The Greenwich Board Of Education......

In a democracy, voters get to vote - Greenwich Time Editorial

....This is a call for the nominating conventions to do the right thing, give voters a choice and make a stand for democracy.....

In other words the executive committees have said, "Let's end the Board of Elections elections right now.".....

..Makes you wonder if the party leaders are really about democracy, or just about power.....

...The full Republican and Democratic town committees don't have to listen to their executive committees. They usually do, but they don't have to. They can nominate more candidates than just two......

A total of eight Greenwich residents have come forward this year to say they want to be on the school board. On our editorial pages today you will find essays from most of them (one decided not to contribute)...

....They really do make the case that Board of Election elections should actually be contests.....

Two Thumbs Down For The Greenwich Time's Failure To Put This Hard Hitting Front Page Sunday Editorial On It's Website For The World To See.......

Why Didn't Greenwich Time Editor David McCumber Have The Journalistic Balls To Put Up The Greenwich Board Of Education Candidate Essays Up On The Web?

Where are the School Board Candidate essays for......

Republican endorsed Steve Anderson

Republican endorsed Peter Sherr

Republican ignored Kim Blank

Republican ignored Theresa Stanton

Republican chicken, Randall "I am afraid of public forums" Smith

Democratic endorsed Leslie Moriarty

Democratic endorsed Jennifer Dayton

Democratic ignored Nancy Kail

Once again, the Greenwich Time is treating it's online readers like red headed step children

Corruption loves a vacuum and the Greenwich Time is creating a vacuum by withholding these school board candidate essays from the world wide web.

Today's Quotes:

"An informed citizenry is the bulwark of democracy."- Thomas Jefferson

"There is in the nature of government an impatience of control that disposes those invested with power to look with an evil eye upon all external attempts to restrain or direct its operations. This has its origin in the love of power." - Alexander Hamilton - Federalist Paper No.15, 1787.

UPDATE:

When Greenwich Roundup Types The Greenwich Time Listens.

12 Hours Later

Lincoln Millstein blogs about Sunday's candidate statements on the Greenwich Time editorial page


July 20, 2009 at 7:28 pm by Lincoln Millstein

If you ever wanted an example of why we need our school board elections to be more transparent, get ahold of Sunday’s Greenwich Time and the candidates’ position statements (except for Randall Smith who declined). I had feared for the worst - puff and self promotion - but was pleasantly surprised by the content, passion and even some controversial positions from the candidates. Mostly, I was impressed by how different they were.

Consider this remark from Republican Kim Blank: “We have had a lot of turnover in leadership … Our new superintendent has already retired once … I think the board should work closely with Superintendent Freund with an eye to grooming a successor.” Wow, with one stroke of the pen (keyboard), Blank marginalized the new guy and began looking past him. You would never get this kind of candor from incumbents.

In fact the two incumbents did not acknowledge a single problem the last four years. Words like “Ham Ave” have been expunged from their vocabulary - just like the Chinese government redacting the Cultural Revolution out of all history books. Everything is hunk dory. Of the two, Republican Steve Anderson stood out the most with his effervescent view of revisionist history.....

Comment:

Lincoln, Why should online Greenwich Time readers have to digging through their neighbors blue recycling bins to read the school board the candidates’ position statements?

However, we give Lincoln two thumbs up for telling it like it is......

....We didn’t hear many divergent views from this board as they proceeded to give Betty Sternberg almost $1 million of taxpayers’ money and taking our schools nowhere. Moriarty has some blood on her hands like or not....

...By far the biggest surprise was Republican Peter Sherr...Who is this guy? And how did he get on the ticket in a party that says “all of our constituents go to private schools so let’s not waste too much on the kids in Byram who wouldn’t vote for a GOP candidate anyway.” You go Peter. You the man!....

....By far the most qualified candidate of the bunch is Nancy Kail, whose resume is unbelievably suited to be a board member for this community. Founding member of the Greenwich Alliance, Riverside PTA president, mother of three public school students in Greenwich, member of Secondary School Reform Committee, and on and on. Unbelievable to me that she was not nominated by the Dems...
UPDATE #2
Greenwich Time Education Reporter Colin Gustafson Comes Out Of His Self Induced Coma And Starts Reporting What's Really Going On Behind The Scene At Republican Headquarters......
....Incumbent Steve Anderson and newcomer Peter Sherr received the recommendation of party leaders earlier this month .....

While favored to win the Republican seats if endorsed, however, the candidates' success is not guaranteed.

The town's political parties usually endorse the recommended candidate, but there have been exceptions.

A write-in candidate also could complicate matters for Anderson and Sherr, who would then have to campaign for the school board seats.....
MORE BEHIND THE SCENCES COVERAGE:

With or without her party's endorsement, Republican school board candidate Theresa Stanton said voters haven't heard the last of her.

The 47-year-old Cos Cob mother was one of three office-seekers passed up earlier this month by Republican leaders for a recommendation to run on the GOP ticket for the Board of Education.

However, while the other two hopefuls plan to bow out if they fail to get the Republican Town Committee's endorsement Wednesday, Stanton said she'll keep running as a petition candidate.
As a certified teacher, the PTA member said she has a better grasp on education policy and curriculum issues than both the candidates and some current board members......
COMMENT:
Why Can't The Republican Town Committee Put
The Children Of Greenwich First?
The Republican Town Committee Should Endorse 4 Of The 5 Republican Hopefuls And Then Let The Single Family Homeowners Of Greenwich Choose What Is Best For Their Children.

1 comment:

  1. a certified teacher? --- but you speak very little about your actual teaching experience. where do you teach? what subject and how long have you been teaching?

    ReplyDelete

Useful criticism, helpful links and corrections and general comments are always welcome at Greenwich Roundup. Generally only spam ads and posts with very foul language get censored.

Contact me directly at GreenwichRoundup@gmail.com if you have a suggestion or comment you don't want publicized (but tell me so in your email).

I look forward to publishing your opinions.

COMMENTING RULES: We encourage an open exchange of ideas in the Greenwich community, but we ask you to follow our guidelines. Basically, be civil, smart, on-topic and free from profanity. Don't say anything you wouldn't want your mother to read!