[Vision2020] conciliation

Sat Jul 14 06:13:25 PDT 2007

Arnold stated:

"I don't now what names you know, but many of the ones that I see that
donate to Shirley Ringo are linked to education either directly or one step
removed. Jim Wallis, Susan Hovey, and the Idaho Education Committee are all
contributors to her campaign."

Teachers, former teachers, and the Idaho Education Committee contributing to
the campaign of Shirley Ringo, a retired teacher?

Oh, God!  The inhumanity of it all.  Where will it ever end?

So EFFING what!  A retired teacher holding an elected political office
actively supports the Moscow School District, so (naturally) Arnold
(applying concepts he has learned while indefinitely pursuing a degree in
his own brand of political science) is convinced something sinister is
afoot.

Seeya round town, Moscow.

Tom Hansen
Moscow, Idaho

"We're a town of about 23,000 with 10,000 college students. The college
students are not very active in local elections (thank goodness!)."

- Dale Courtney (March 28, 2007) 

  _____  

From: vision2020-bounces at moscow.com [mailto:vision2020-bounces at moscow.com]
On Behalf Of Donovan Arnold
Sent: Friday, July 13, 2007 9:42 PM
To: Tom Ivie; vision2020 at moscow.com
Subject: Re: [Vision2020] conciliation

Tom,

I don't now what names you know, but many of the ones that I see that donate
to Shirley Ringo are linked to education either directly or one step
removed. Jim Wallis, Susan Hovey, and the Idaho Education Committee are all
contributors to her campaign. I don't personally think that 2006 was a good
year to look at because her funding and contributions were very low in
comparison to the years of 2002 and 2004 where she had more competitive
elections. 2006 and 2000 were not good competitive elections for Ringo. The
database for 2004 off the Secretary of State's list is down. That year Ringo
over did fundraising because she lost in 2000 and didn't want it to happen
again. She lost because there was huge backlash against Democrats in 2000 in
Republican counties and states. 

Best,

Donovan

Tom Ivie <the_ivies3 at yahoo.com> wrote:

Politics aside, what I remember from my Political Science courses, the only
votes that require a 2/3 majority are a Constitutional Amendment and Veto
override. Secondly, there is complete disclosure of campaign finance
available at the Idaho Secretary of State website
http://www.idsos.state.id.us/ELECT/Finance/2006/06_leg_dist_1_13.htm
>From there, go to Legislative Dist. 6 and you can see who gave to which
candidates.  Having looked at those reports I can say that I didn't
recognize many teachers.  I don't know who all of the teachers are but I
only saw a couple of retired ones listed and one of those taught in
Potlatch.

Donovan Arnold <donovanjarnold2005 at yahoo.com> wrote: 

I think if we want to see who is biased here we should ask Shirley Ringo and
Suzy Hovey if they can think of anything the MSD has done wrong in the last
ten years, and if so what?

They cannot answer this question. 

They were both Moscow High School teachers and in way capable of being
unbiased. Not to mention that Representative Ringo gets much of her campaign
funds from teachers, MSD administrators, and there supporters. She could not
be publicly critical of MSD and still expect to get her campaign
contributions. 

The conciliation committee is headed by mostly unbiased people that want to
see the students do well. I don't think that the current MSD administration
can survive if we want to see an improvement in the quality of education and
the success of students. I think this conciliation idea is a good idea for
saving education, but a bad idea for the MSD administration because it
demonstrates their inability to lead and make the best decisions for the
students. They make decisions for what is best for themselves, not students.

MSD, specifically, puts extra money in the pockets of a few administrators,
and selected teachers. It does not put money into vocational training, or
into attracting new, quality teachers that are trained in the areas that we
need the most, such as special education, science, and math. An untalented
lazy teacher with a MA in History and 15 years of sitting on there ass is
going to get paid more than a badly needed and gifted science teacher. This
is wrong because it is the children that suffer. 

MSD also was horribly dishonest with the public with the last levy to build
a new high school. 

MSD does not have the credibility with the public to run and win another
election with a 2/3 vote. And that is the real reason why they resist the
conciliation, and instead use smoke and mirrors by trying to get the public
to concentrate on attacking Gerry Weitz personally and trying to blame him
for their missteps and inappropriate actions for the last decade. 

Best,

Donovan

Shirley Ringo <ringoshirl at moscow.com> wrote:

Visionaries:

I endorse the specifics of Sue Hovey's response to the conciliation
petition.  The 1995 document Gerry Weitz waves around is from a deputy
attorney general who was then serving in the State Department of Education.
It was not an official opinion of the attorney general.  In fact, it pointed
to a need to clarify the law.  I wonder why nobody considered dealing with
it then.  I believe Ann Fox was then State Superintendent of Public
Instruction.  Did this deputy attorney general share his thoughts with her?
I have been in the legislature since 1999 (with the exception of 2001-2002).
Nobody mentioned any concerns to me about the indefinite levy law.  I would
certainly have joined with others to take clarifying action.  I assume
nobody raised the issue with Trail or Schroeder, either.

I join others who are eager to see the lawsuit against the MSD settled as
soon as possible.

I also see some people of good will who have little understanding of the
history of the issues and the history of the individuals involved.

Conciliation?  Really?  Prior to Weitz filing the lawsuit, DeMeerleer
delivered a letter to the Moscow District.  The gist of the letter was that
if the District would invalidate the most recent levy and run it again, then
there would be no lawsuit challenging permanent levies dating back fifteen
years.  Essentially, the so-called "conciliation" asks the district to do
just that.  Hmmm.  Perhaps I am having a slow day.

Shirley Ringo

Internal Virus Database is out-of-date.
Checked by AVG Free Edition.
Version: 7.5.472 / Virus Database: 269.9.0/853 - Release Date: 6/18/2007
3:02 PM

=======================================================
List services made available by First Step Internet, 
serving the communities of the Palouse since 1994. 
http://www.fsr.net 
mailto:Vision2020 at moscow.com
=======================================================

  _____  

We won't tell. Get more on shows
<http://us.rd.yahoo.com/evt=49980/*http:/tv.yahoo.com/collections/265>  you
hate to love
(and love to hate): Yahoo!
<http://us.rd.yahoo.com/evt=49980/*http:/tv.yahoo.com/collections/265>  TV's
Guilty Pleasures
list.=======================================================
List services made available by First Step Internet, 
serving the communities of the Palouse since 1994. 
http://www.fsr.net 
mailto:Vision2020 at moscow.com
=======================================================

Tom & Liz Ivie 

  _____  

Looking for a deal? Find
<http://us.rd.yahoo.com/evt=47094/*http:/farechase.yahoo.com/;_ylc=X3oDMTFic
DJoNDllBF9TAzk3NDA3NTg5BHBvcwMxMwRzZWMDZ3JvdXBzBHNsawNlbWFpbC1uY20->  great
prices on flights and hotels with Yahoo!
FareChase.=======================================================
List services made available by First Step Internet, 
serving the communities of the Palouse since 1994. 
http://www.fsr.net 
mailto:Vision2020 at moscow.com
=======================================================

  _____  

Get the Yahoo! toolbar and be
<http://us.rd.yahoo.com/evt=48225/*http:/new.toolbar.yahoo.com/toolbar/featu
res/mail/index.php>  alerted to new email wherever you're surfing. 

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: http://mailman.fsr.com/pipermail/vision2020/attachments/20070714/3d11dae5/attachment-0001.html 