via vbattaile at politifakes.com
In a post earlier in the week we pointed out that the Davenport School Board election September 10th has three openings and that no registered Republican is listed as a candidate. Furthermore, that the School Board in its current elected entirety is composed of six registered Democrats and one registered Republican.
School board elections are theoretically non-partisan although we really do not think that Democrat oriented rent seekers (education related unions) think of it that way. It is irrelevant because the Scott County Republican Central Committee (SCRCC) “leadership” has made noise about the also “non-partisan” city elections.
We think it is unquestionable that education policy is at least as important as municipal policy with the possible current exception of any Agenda 21 type proclivities at the municipal level. We know that Iowa public schools used to be regularly in the top ten in educational achievement, but now are not. We know that the budget for Davenport Schools is over 36% larger than that of the city of Davenport ($257 million vs $188 million).
Nothing stops the SCRCC from calling for, or in some way facilitating the formation of a political action committee to impact the school board with conservative Republican values and policies. We think Republicans need to exert their values better and it will take a commitment from leadership to make it most effective.
In the November 2011 Davenport School Board election the total number of individuals voting was 2075.* That represents 2.66% of registered voters in the Davenport School District. That is a typical but pathetically low turnout for what is at stake, and accordingly easy to impact. There were 78,313 registered voters and 71,701 active voters as of November 2, 2011 in the school district. Of these there were 16,030 “active” registered Republicans (rural and city precincts comprising the school district).
We do not know what the percentage of Republican turnout was for that election but it is most likely irrelevant to the general point of this article. A turnout of just 6.5 to 7% of Republicans, voting for candidates who identify with Republican values, would have elected such theoretical personages to the school board. We think that if an elected majority were to assert such values that it would result in an improvement in key areas: education achievement, crime and other social ills, tax payer benefits and more. Does SCRCC leadership think otherwise?
Of course it is now beyond the organizational capacity of SCRCC leadership to impact this election by even pulling together an ad hoc group to endorse the best of the lot. Frankly, for all we know they may be equally bad. Doing so would have required more activity this summer than the extremely devoted leadership (just ask them, they’ll tell you) could muster what with all the attention paid to the Web site, crucial federal issues (none and none respectively) a few meetings and parading the elephant.
As far as the SCRCC leadership is concerned, it is no defense that other groups have not jumped in to fill the breach in furtherance of Republican values. The SCRCC would not have helped them. It is their policy not to.
Davenport School Board election — four year staggered terms. The bottom three individuals’ terms expire in 2013 and are to be filled in the September 10th election. Two of them are seeking reelection. Party registration was determined by referring to the March 2013 update (most current available) of registered voters from the Scott County Auditor. Precincts are shown for identification but elections are district wide. The September 10th election vote is for up to three. There is a policy issue on the ballot as well.
Current Davenport School Board
Nikki Defauw 5070 Garner Court, Davenport D82 — term expires 2015 — Democrat
Ken Krumwiede 33 Madison Circle, Davenport D83 — term expires 2015 — Democrat
Bill Sherwood 1005 E. High, Davenport, D52 — term expires 2015 — Democrat
Ralph Johanson 13120 100th Av, Davenport, BU — term expires 2015 — Republican
Larry Roberson 1559 W. 67th St, Davenport, D83 — term expires 2013 — Democrat
Patt Zamora 4835 W. Locust St., Davenport, D12 — term expires 2013 — Democrat
Richard Clewell 253 Fernwood Ave, Davenport, D64 — term expires 2013 — Democrat
September 10th Davenport School Board Ballot (party affiliation is not set forth on any school board ballot) vote for up to three:
Clewell, as above — Democrat
Zamora, as above — Democrat
Maria Dickman 3620 N. Elmwood, Davenport, D22 -Democrat
Elaine Kresse 820 Park Ave, Davenport D71 – Democrat
Jamie Snyder 1805 Valley Dr. Davenport D82 – No Party
Not much of a choice.
* This post has been revised from the original. Initially we referred to votes cast not individuals voting. Typically these elections are set to vote for more than one. Thus votes cast dramatically skews the turnout if that figure is used. The actual number of people voting is much less than our original post indicated. However that fact makes our point of how little would need to be done to impact the race even more overwhelming. The target % for Republicans to own the election is derived from one half plus one of the actual turnout divided by the number of active Republicans. R Mall
