Candidate for Council Mary Beth Connolly is sponsoring an ad on FB. She begins “ I’ve got a confession. I’m guilty of perpetuating the myth that the school bond referendum vote is complicated.” We don’t know about that but what we do know is that her ad is misleading at best.
We don’t know what will happen tomorrow with the vote. However Marybeth knows the future. She is stating that she knows that even if 6 YES candidates fill 6 of 7 seats on the board, and if that bond is defeated “A NO vote means we spend upwards of $70M to renovate, add on and keep the old building going” Why would the board do that? Why would they spend that kind of money to just “keep the building going?”
That seems impossible given that the only No vote candidate running has said that she would join with the entire board to figure out a way to “not waste a dime” on patch work repairs and look to doing what the community wants — either a new school or a thoughtful renovation.” This talk of wasting money “to keep the school going” without a long term plan is something completely manufactured by the YES camp including Mary Beth Connelly to win over votes.
We don’t think one wins votes by creating scare tactics and spreading misinformation.
We at FACTS seek credibility. We seek credibility from our leadership. It’s fine to disagree on the approach or the issue but we want to debate on the content not on fabricated misinformation. We all lose faith and trust in a candidate that just makes stuff up. Sad.
Should the referendum pass, Ms. Connelly who works for the school superintendent and yet votes on school finances owns this albatross. Taxpayers should hold her accountable and fully explain to taxpayers what happened at times when this project sours and taxpayers see their taxes rise substantially starting next spring when budget season arrives.
Marybeth Connelly is not the only one feeding misinformation to the citizens. I have heard the same $70 Million number from a variety of School Board and City Council candidates and incumbents. I expect our leaders to have integrity and these false statements and exaggerations are an attempt to use scare tactics. Don’t fall for it. It simply tells you about their character.
Why on earth would we throw good money after bad? I hope the new school board can think logically.
This is a situation where Marybeth Connelly has a HUGE conflict of interest. She should recuse her self from all subjects about the school.
She is just another politician with a personal agenda. Adds no value!
Right. I see her as little more than a school employee or an 8th school board member who sits on the City council and votes for every budget item the school superintendent wants. I see her providing very little significant value otherwise.
Right on point. The fact that the City attorney allows this obvious coi – school employee and council person to vote on school budgets is insane
This article points out the contradictions and hot air coming from some of our local pols on the $120M mega school bond. We need more such transparency and data …and no misleading and false statements.
Why does it cost $70 Million to fix the school. I think those numbers are as inflated as the $120 Million new school number. No transparency, No line item numbers, No to the Bond.
James D. I looked into verifying some of the estimates provided by the school district for items that would need to be replaced and I found those numbers to be grossly high. So I intend to discuss this in more detail on the other side of the election. I believe that misleading, false, wrong, incorrect information has no place in a process that involves our children and our community like this. So I am very disappointed with some of what I have seen. Leadership with integrity is not just a campaign slogan to me, it’s something I believe in and I expect to see that in folks in leadership positions. The $70 million to keep the old building going is just not an accurate number but it served its purpose so that folks would say “wow, $70 million to fix, we should just have a new school.” Unfortunately, most people are just so busy they don’t have time to digest all the facts. Life is busy for everyone.
I hope you win, Alison. I think you are the only one that asks detailed questions and cares deeply about our schools, our children and the value for our tax dollars. Thank you!