A (Very) Little Knowledge. . . . . And The Follow-up

    

   Today is Election Day in our town.
We have openings on the Select Board, School Committee, Library Trustee board, Planning Board, and a few others. All of these committees are filled on a rotating basis, so two or three incumbents stay on each election in the hope that the transition will be smooth. This year I’m not so sure. 

          Some of the candidates entered this year’s race with nothing more than the signs they’ve jammed into local lawns and a “throw the bums out” attitude. They appeared out of nowhere, never having attended any meetings during the year to learn the issues or how to deal with them. 

          One candidate proclaimed that we haven’t had a new school in forty years, and once on board, he’d remedy that. In reality, we just opened a new high school three years ago and in fact are in the throes of choosing a school to close due to dropping enrollment.

          Another candidate has promised to put monies from the rental of one of our schools to better use by employing it to repair the windows of an elementary school. In reality, that would be illegal, since the funds are dealt with in two completely different budgets. Oh, and this candidate couldn’t do this anyway since this job belongs to a completely different committee than the office for which they’re running. 

          The scary thing is that these people have the support of a loud group of citizens as ill-informed as they are. Add to that the mysterious disappearance of lawn signs of anyone contesting their favored candidates, and the electronic (and anonymous) media smear campaign against their opponent this week. 

 

          All this idiocy for positions that are unpaid or might as well be, the reimbursement is so small. 

          If I weren’t so worried about what might happen to our well-run town, I’d be happy that the election will be over today.

Next Day Addendum
       Unfortunately, mass hysteria won some of the day. 
      The gentleman (ahem) who missed our small local paper's deadline for candidate statements and then stormed in, pounded the counter and screamed at the editor, was the winner of one contest.  You'll recall he was the candidate who proclaimed that what our town needed was a new school - apparently unaware that our enrollment is plummeting.  
      He's also promised to rid our schools of Common Core, the set of educational standards set by the federal government. The next few years should be interesting as students attempt college acceptance from a high school that will have lost its accreditation. 
       At least our Selectboard will still be manned by knowledgeable and sane people, and the police will get their new station and no longer need to wet-vac their leaky basement.
      The cliff edge is looming, but not quite as close as it could be.