Budget Passes and Rationality Prevails With BOE

[originally transmitted on Elwood Community Network, 5/18]

This will be a very quick synopsis, for the sake of timeliness; a detailed commentary will (I hope) be produced on Wednesday.

Budget Vote

Despite the very large proposed tax increase that would be required by a modest proposed increase in the school budget for 2011/12, the voters of Elwood, in overwhelming numbers, passed the budget by 1,779 YES votes (61.2%) to 1,129 NO votes (38.8%).

The total votes on the Budget were 2,908.

A hotly contested BOE Trustee election always brings a large voter turnout, and today, despite the generally miserable weather, was no exception. We can attribute the large YES tally to the fact that all four candidates, while approaching the Trustee election from very different standpoints, as well as the nature of the candidates' appeals, each expressed support of the budget (although each one of them, at the Candidates Debate, also expressed reservations -- of varying degrees and substance -- about the budget).

Therefore, we undoubtedly saw a majority of each candidate's electoral support also supporting the budget, and that led to a materially higher YES vote than one would have expected from such a high tax levy perspective.

BOE Election

The winners of the two seats, one vacated by the retiring Mike Kaszubski and the other vacated by the retiring Patty Matos, were Bill Gutekunst and Mike LaMena, respectively.

Each winner had a very comfortable margin over his competitor.


Kaszubski seat:

Bill Gutekunst 1,382 (53.0%)

James Tomeo 1,227 (47.0%)

Total Votes 2,609


Matos seat:

Mike LaMena 1,375 (55.3%)

Jack Schwartz 1,113 (44.7%)

Total Votes 2,488


Clearly, the campaign linked the candidacies of Gutekunst and LaMena, as well as Tomeo and Schwartz.

In my judgment, the Gutekunst/LaMena campaign concentrated on substance and the future of the district, while the Tomeo/Schwartz campaign relied upon personal popularity and associations with the past. I believe that the district will be much better off with the success of the Gutekunst/LaMena efforts, but I would encourage both Mr. Tomeo and Mr. Schwartz to redirect their time and efforts to serving the district, and learning more about our challenges in this trying time.

Losing an election is never fun, as I found out the one time I ran in 2002 against administrative and union opposition, but it gave me the opportunity to reinvigorate and learn. I had all the incentive I needed to redirect my own energies, initially into the PTA organization and later, after a reform movement led by Mike Kaszubski and Joe Fusaro and Dan Ciccone brought candor and disclosure and created the opportunity for citizen participation, by serving diligently on Board and District committees.

Both Mr. Tomeo and Mr. Schwartz now have the incentive to do that, not only for the benefit of the district and its students, but for their own benefit as well.

Congratulations to Bill Gutekunst.

Congratulations to Mike LaMena.

And let's pass along our sympathies for their spouses, who will surely see less of them for the next three years. Whether you like a particular trustee, or not, you have to respect them for their dedication of time and energy into a sometimes thankless and always difficult job.

Elwood survives and thrives.