Republican claims bogus Bulova endorsement

By: Kindler
Published On: 11/3/2007 9:00:00 AM

Q:  How do you run as a Republican at a time when the GOP is about as popular as tooth decay?

A:  Pretend that a Democrat endorsed you!

That at least was the lame idea of Tessie Wilson, the Republican incumbent School Board member in Fairfax County's Braddock District, who sent a deceptive mailing to voters designed to make it appear that she had the support of the District's Democratic Supervisor, Sharon Bulova.

It was enough to push Ms. Bulova to send out a press release making it crystal-clear that she actually supports and endorses Wilson's Democratic opponent, Liz Griffith.

Tessie Wilson's sneaky mailing is in the form of a letter titled "A Message from Sharon Bulova's School Board Appointee."  In fact, the letter is from a woman named Emily Snyder who was appointed to the School Board by Ms. Bulova for a brief period of service twelve years ago.  The letter mentions Sharon Bulova - without her permission - several times, most egregiously when Ms. Snyder states

Both Sharon and I believe constituent service should be the primary responsibility of any public official.  This is the main reason I support Tessie for re-election.

Note the clever wording ("Both Sharon and I..."), designed to fool voters into thinking that this is actually an endorsement by the popular Ms. Bulova rather than the obscure Ms. Snyder.
While Republicans pulling dirty tricks is not exactly unheard of, you might expect that a School Board election at least would be exempt from these types of shenanigans.  But apparently Tricky Tessie doesn't see it that way. 

In fact, students, parents and teachers deserve honest, trustworthy School Board representatives who will fight for them.  That's exactly the type of School Board member that Liz Griffith will be - if you help her beat Tessie and get elected November 6th!


Comments



Seems Like A Pattern (The Donkey - 11/3/2007 9:12:24 AM)
is developing here: recently Tessie's signs have started sporting a blaze orange "Teacher Endorsed" bumper sticker, even though the teachers unions endorsed Liz Griffith.

Tessie's minions first responded to the Teacher's union endorsement on Liz's signs by ripping them down.

Apparently Tessie has decided to reject reality and substitute her own.



Tessie Wilson was endorsed by AFPE (OrangeFish - 11/4/2007 12:32:17 AM)
AFPE (Association of Fairfax Professional Educators) endorsed Tessie Wilson (Braddock District) and Kathy Smith (Sully District).  I believe it is the first time that AFPE has endorsed any candidates.

http://www.connectio...



Liz's endorsements (Kindler - 11/4/2007 1:27:07 PM)
Liz Griffith has been endorsed by the Fairfax Education Association and Fairfax County Federation of Teachers, among her over a dozen major endorsements.


Tessie did this in 1999 also (Ben - 11/3/2007 9:30:30 AM)
Sharon didn't do more for the Democratic candidate early in the election so Tessie could pull this again and Sharon could act outraged when she was cornered. 

We've already been through this once, Tessie sent an identical letter in 1999 from this Emily Snyder woman in the last week of the election, and Sharon was "outraged" then also, and Tessie went on to unseat incumbent Democrat Ilryong Moon.

Politics in the Braddock District feels like the Groundhog Day movie sometimes.



Why is there partisan politics in School Board races? (OrangeFish - 11/4/2007 12:36:46 AM)
Why is there all this partisanship over School Board races to begin with?  It's not like the Democratic Party gains anything if there is a "clean slate" of all Democrats on the School Board.  I'm originally from Massachusetts and we didn't have such "party politics" over school board races.  Is it just a northern Virginia thing?


Elections = politics (Kindler - 11/4/2007 1:39:25 PM)
It is about electing the best candidate above all, and I strongly believe that Liz is the best candidate.  In all honesty, there are some Democrats I don't think that highly of, but I'm sure that Liz, if elected, will do a terrific job.

Regarding partisan politics, the way that the Republicans have run this country -- and a few other countries -- into the ground recently, I personally don't want to be represented by them at any level of government, from President right down to garbage collector.



Liz Griffith should have run for an At Large spot (OrangeFish - 11/4/2007 9:09:23 PM)
I've met Liz several times, and have exchanged great emails with her and believe she is a great activist.  However, she just doesn't know (Braddock District in particular) schools well.  She doesn't understand the eccentricities of FCPS budget realities.  She also seems almost hyper-focused on SLEEP's issues.  She doesn't seem to understand that the budget realities will require (to quote a Charles Lindblom-ism) some "muddling through" in order to benefit the greatest number of students.  I do hope she runs for an At Large seat in the future as I think her Fairfax County-wide thinking would be of great benefit for FCPS.  But she just doesn't know Braddock District well enough to be an advocate for the schools in Braddock.