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Party endorsements -- good for School Board candidates?
Jennifer Keller Bergel and Mark Nuzzaco agree that a party endorsement is a big help in a School Board campaign.But Bergel refused to accept an endorsement from either local party in her pursuit of the Catoctin seat on the School Board. Nuzzaco, the Catoctin District incumbent, is running for the second time with the blessing of the Loudoun County Republican Committee.
Parties may not, by law, nominate for the School Board. They may endorse candidates, and nearly all candidates accept the endorsement if it is offered.
But not Bergel, who admits running as an independent may lose her the race.
Because a School Board seat is nonpartisan, Bergel said, "party affiliation should not be important. Education is the focus and education is why the School Board is there, to provide education for our children."
But the backing of the party organization can really help a campaign, Bergel said. If she misses a meeting, there's no one there keeping her name in the public's view. There's no party loyalist handing out literature with her name on it.
If Nuzzaco misses a meeting or a back-to-school night, his name is on all the material handed out by the Republicans.
And money is important. The party can help with printing and mailing. Whatever Bergel sends out, she pays for herself or from contributions.
The Democrats and the Republicans encouraged her to appear at a meeting and seek an endorsement, Bergel said. Her first reaction was to seek endorsements from both parties.
But it is a nonpartisan job, she said, and win or lose, she'll be back in the classroom. "I want to walk away from this, whether I win or not, saying I didn't do anything against my gut."
Nuzzaco said he valued the Republican endorsement four years ago, and again in this race.
Aside from the obvious help that a party can give with money and manpower and exposure, party affiliation can help define him for voters he may not meet in person, Nuzzaco said.
"Being affiliated with the Republican Party gives voters an idea where I am coming from." It gives voters a clue to his reactions to issues that haven't yet arisen, he said.
For him, Nuzzaco said, being Republican identifies him with the national party's platform of respect for individual liberty and belief in limited government that is both economical and effective.
He is not suggesting, he stressed, that those values are not favored by the Democrats, "but they are certainly part of a Republican outlook on things."
Government's role, Nuzzaco said, is to provide needed services to the community, and education is a large and important part of that, "especially here in Loudoun County."
Once elected, he said, party affiliation tends to disappear in the day-to-day work of the School Board.
Her perspective as a Loudoun student, teacher and parent with four children in the schools, Bergel said, gives her a take on public education that transcends party affiliation.
"I'm a taxpayer who wants to stay in this county, who wants my children to be able to stay in this county. I think about Republicans standing for saving money, and I have seen no Republicans on this School Board saving my money. And if the Democrats are for raising taxes, that's not going to help people stay in the county."
More and more people have told her, she said, that her decision to run an independent campaign could lose her the race. "But more and more, as I go door to door, I know I am doing the right thing by staying independent. "
Former School Board chairman John Andrews, who ran as a Republican in 1999 and 2003, agreed that "when you are running, the support of a party helps quite a bit." Most School Board campaigns, he said, are run on a shoestring budget, and the exposure and financial assistance from the local party can be critical.
"But after you are on, the majority of people are pretty much nonpartisan. They look at the issues as they come up. Very few concern themselves with political consequences from a party viewpoint."
Andrews cited the current School Board's near-unanimous vote to lobby for changes in the No Child Left Behind Act -- seven of the nine sitting members ran with the Republican endorsement.
Warren Geurin, running unopposed for his fourth term representing Sterling on the School Board with the Republican endorsement, agreed that a party's help could be important to a first-time candidate, but most issues the winner of the race will deal with are local and not partisan.
School Board members work on the budget, set and reset attendance boundaries every time a new school opens, deal with curriculum development and approve or disapprove their superintendent's nominations for school principals.
Republican or Democratic philosophies might play a role in national campaigns and decisions, Geurin said. They are less likely to do so at the local level.
"We represent students and parents who want the best quality education we can provide. In our case, that means higher budgets, and you have Republicans advocating for a higher budget for education."
This is an interesting piece but I notice that it fails to even mention this year's Blue Ridge District School Board race featuring an independent vs. Democrat Priscilla Godfrey, and that no Democrats were interviewed at all. More on my LTM blog: Our Loudoun Schools
Posted by B_John_Stevens
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