Norton Endorses Cook-Shannon and Lieffort
By
Frank Norton, Principal οf West Elementary School, included a message іח tһе West Elementary School Parents Association’s recent notice supporting Deanna Cook-Shannon аחԁ Andy Lieffort іח tһе School Board election.
Hе writes tһаt wһеח һе аחԁ һіѕ wife first married tһеу һаԁ a small car. Once tһеіr family expanded, tһеу needed more space аחԁ needed a minivan. Hе uses tһіѕ analogy аѕ аח example tο describe tһе School District. Hе claims tһеrе аrе two candidates wһο understand tһе growing needs οf Nеw Richmond аחԁ wіƖƖ pay fοr tһе חеw minivan – Lieffort аחԁ Cook-Shannon аחԁ two wһο hold tһе District hostage іח a small car ” Hinz аחԁ Sievert.
Hе fails tο mention tһе Cook-Shannon аחԁ Lieffort “חеw minivan” wіƖƖ cost more tһаח $71.5 million.
Tһіѕ notice tο tһе West Elementary School Parents Association reeks οf tһе same arrogance, lies, bullying tactics аחԁ failed attempts аt helping tһеіr candidates Ɩіkе tһе O”Brien letter ԁіԁ earlier іח tһе weekend. Tһе reality іѕ Norton’s campaign message, Ɩіkе O”Brien’s, wіƖƖ backfire. Nеw Richmond residents аrе tοο independent tο bе tοƖԁ wһаt tο ԁο bу tһе crowd tһаt thinks tһеу аrе smarter tһаח everyone еƖѕе.
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Wow! Jack- That’s out of line. First, focus on the issues and conveying your message to voters. Don’t lose focus by getting distracted by how the liberals break the rules. They do. They think the ends justify the means.
Second, you may have followed Maverick’s concerns about mailings and election law violations. This incident also runs afoul of the law. Parent groups rarely publish a direct appeal or endorsement of any candidate. To do so makes them subject to campaign finance laws requiring registration as a political action committee ($25 spent on machine produced materials endorsing a candidate is the threshold.)
Third, public employees in Wisconsin are prohibited from political activity in their official capacity, while on public time, or using public resources. Note the recent felony convictions of Scott Jensen and Chuck Qvala. Political activity is defined as “attempting to influence the vote for or against a candidate”. We have some experience with this in Hudson. Superintendent Ron Bernth had announced his retirement 5 months before the election, so he had little to fear when he wrote this little nugget in a letter to the editor:
I’m not sure your guy should be as fearless. He should not have used his official title. He should have done this on his own time as a private citizen. If this was arranged or coordinated by way of phone calls to his office, emails using district resources, or any public resources it is a serious violation. In some districts the Parent Groups are actually given access to school photocopy equipment and the mailing is sent at district expense. This is a violation.
A few years ago the Menomonee Falls school district in eastern Wisconsin was found guilty of distributing a political flyer using district resources. An aggressive District Attorney named Paul Bucher investigated that case after a citizen filed a complaint. You may know Bucher is now running for state Attorney General. It takes a tough prosecutor to call a district to task on this. Most DA’s are too afraid of the education establishment.
Anyone living in NR could file a complaint on this one. A complaint won’t change this election. It may force them to follow the rules next time.
Eric Johnson getting tough with the education establishment? You’ve got to be kidding keenan. Why the next thing you know he might even investigate illegal police actions in Hudson over the past year and a half. Then again he might resign himself to running drug poster contests for the kiddies.
I agree with Keenan on this one. I even have trouble with my representatives in Madison when emailing about political stuff. They are real skittish since Chuck whats-his-name and Scott Jenson got nailed for doing fund raising and campaignin on company time. They can’t even say a bad word about their opponent.
I am really surprised this happened. I wonder what the school board will do.
I just got a copy of the Frank Norton letter. It does not endorse Lieffort and Deanna C-S. It only urges the increase in capacity of the elementary schools. I happen to agree to that.
Maybe there are two letters out there and Jack Bauer got a different one. Next time JB, put the letter on the blog and let us make up our own minds. I want to keep this blog on a high level of honesty and integrity.
VOTE Sievert and Hinz
Good comments, Keenan. The Hudson School District not only violated election law with Ron Bernth, but administrator Chuck Sambs also wrote a letter to the paper endorsing candidates. Both Bernth and Sambs used school district time and computers to write the letters personally attacking candidates. Not one school board member had a problem with this. Additionally, Bernth made a pro-referendum video on school district time, then used the public access educational channel to play it round the clock. THE LESSON: personally attacking candidates and violating election law, when done by school officials and their supporters, worked. Candidates who came under attack lost the election. HOWEVER, violating election law during a referendum did not work because a referendum is more issue-based. A referendum is not about people, just issues. An issue-based campaign always works if the message gets out.
AND…it is too bad about D.A. Johnson. Nice guy, but complains too much about his workload and has played it safe. Bucher went out on a limb and did the right thing. BUT, if you talk to Waukesha attorneys, in Bucher’s district, they may (will!) give another impression.
Blogger ethics do exist. No we don’t have editors. We do care about getting the facts right. After reading the actual piece written by a NR District administrator and published by the Parent Group, I’d like to make a correction to my original post above. JB used the word endorsement. Norton’s message was not as clear cut as an endorsement. Norton did cross the line by engaging in political activity. His “bigger school equals bigger vehicle” analogy was clearly an attempt to influence voters. By writing “-On April 4, 2006 a general election will be held and two school board positions will be filled. Do you know who the candidates are? Do you know the vehicle each will use to move New Richmond Schools forward?”, Norton directly referred to the upcoming election, pointing out a distinction between the candidates’ positions on building new schools. He stopped short of appealing for support. I had the mistaken impression that he had done so.
This activity still represents prohibited activity by a school employee in his official capacity. Norton stopped short of the kind of endorsement that would lead to serious consequences. Nonetheless, this incident should still be a warning to the Parent Group and administrators to avoid political activity in the future.