It's Election Day!

Today is Tuesday, March 13th. It's Election Day in the Oyster River Cooperative School District.   With your help our long nightmare will soon be over.

I'm a busy voter; tell me what to do.  Vote today at your regular polling place for the T.E.A.M. - Tom, Ed, Al, and Maria.  Vote YES on all the YES/NO school district questions.

Well, I have a little time to read.  See a copy of the ballot and familiarize yourself with the issues by reading the Voting Instructions for the 2012 Oyster River Cooperative School District Election.

Why should I believe you when you tell me to vote against the incumbents?   Pretty much every post on this blog is another answer that question.   My article about Mr. Kach's Faux News Website is the most popular, maybe because I actually break news.  Next popular is my essay on Chairman Brackett's misdeeds, Regarding Henry.   I think Jim Kach's Tweets are the best reason not to vote for him.   In Mr. Kach's Flyer I refute his claimed accomplishments point by point.  I sum it all up in An Open Letter to ORCSD Voters.


Are the candidates running against them any good?   They're great.  Maria Barth is a farmer in Lee, with 11 successful years as chairman of the Kittery school board under her belt.   Dr. Ed Charlé has been a family physician in Somersworth for the last 25 years, and has served with distinction on several boards.  His specialty is listening.

Roger Speidel says his taxes are too damn high.  Yeah, mine too.  And the school tax is going up again, despite promises from the incumbents.   The budget the school board approved raises the school tax 2.8% in Durham, 3.0% in Madbury, and 3.4% in Lee, according to the Annual Report of the District (PDF).   The extra $156K added by the voters at the deliberative session adds about 0.4% more.  Or as Roger would call it, 1000% more.   I'm kidding about the 1000%, but I take a serious look at Roger's math in Roger Speidel's Numbers.

Why do you care so much?    My wife discovered Mr. Kach's tweets, which I thought were so unworthy of an elected official with the awesome responsibility for educating my children, that I have temporarily put aside my apathy and taken up the cause.   You can read my story in my first post, ORCSD School Board Election.

But I like Henry and Jim.  I like them too, believe it or not.  The judge in the second lawsuit issued an injunction, and if Mr. Brackett and Mr. Kach  violate the Right-to-Know law again, they could end up in jail.  Let's do them a big favor and keep them out of jail by electing Maria Barth and Dr. Ed Charlé.


What's next?  The results of the election should be announced around 9pm tonight.  I'll post them here when I get them.   After that, I take a long vacation from blogging, maybe even until the next election or beyond.  And regardless of the outcome of this election, I never type anything about Jim Kach's noxious tweets or the board's run-ins with the law ever again.

Are there any other websites for information?   This is really the only one you need. Actually, I'm very grateful to oysterrivercommunity.blogspot.com for publishing my post.  You can also check out the T.E.A.M.'s sites:  Tom Newkirk, Ed Charlé, Al Howland and Maria Barth.  You'd think orcsd.org would highlight the election, but I didn't see anything on their home page.

Anything else?   Yes.  Lee voters, ORCSDcleanslate.org recommends you vote NO on article 5 of the Lee ballot to keep SB-2.  I found this on page 80 of the Lee Annual Report (PDF).

  

Happy Election Day.   Go vote.   Bring some friends.

Dean Rubine, Lee