Getting a court order to be seated early and not even allowing your predecessor to finish out her final day on the board, as tradition has long held? Andrea Merida couldn't have been more inappropriate and disrespectful if she had showed up in a "Fuck Denver" t-shirt. And all of this was for what? At the end of the night, her vote didn't even make a difference.
Note that Pols objection is one of style over substance, Merida was "disrespectful." I suppose she was but so what? The lame duck school board chose to move forward with an agenda that had been clearly rejected by voters in November. That seems like a bit more substantive degree of "disrespect" than Merida's actions, no?
As to her vote not making a difference, again - so what? Individual votes of elected officials often are not decisive but the official should still vote their conscience and, in a case like this where the public has clearly spoken, vote to support the clear mandate of their constituents. That's a critique that is quite literally without substance.
Criticizing someone for being "disrespectful" while completely ignoring the substantive debate behind the actions is a pretty vapid analysis.
4 comments:
Sing it, Steve!
I'd say the Pols are completely right on this one.
Elected official behavior sets a standard of civility and dignity for the entire district, and didn't have any merit on a substantive basis. You have to manage by example, and juvenile stunts that are all smoke and no fire like this one, on day one, do not set a good example for district employees or students.
The message I got from this little tempest in a teapot is that the adults (or at least one of them) have left the building.
I think we should all meet for coffee and debate this ;)
Fair points Andrew, I disagree but your points are well taken.
Steve--
Re: Coffee
Anytime.
Oh, and I agree with Andrew. Unless her vote was the deciding one, this was unnecessary political theater.
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