The chair of the Wake County Republican Party didn't mince words when she touted the party's endorsed candidates and declared on its website, "Only by WINNING these races in 2011 can we provide the necessary clout and pressure that will compel our elected officials to govern under the principles of our platform."
Susan Bryant went on to list "four main themes" for the Wake GOP in all of its campaigns: fiscal conservatism, personal responsibility, focus on family and neighborhoods, and government accountability. When she puts it that way, what's not to like? Call it political comfort food. Although even those comforting pimento cheese sandwiches can give you a tummy ache if they've sat out too long.
Tasty-sounding "fiscal conservatism" spells trouble if it means not raising and spending enough tax money to do things that a community needs done. And speaking of comfort, there's not much of it in the way the Wake school board has been sucked into the Republican-Democratic partisan mega-battle. In what sense is it welcome when candidates for a local school board amount to cogs in a party apparatus reaching all the way to Washington?
School board candidates don't appear on the ballot with party labels attached. That reflects a sound decision embedded in North Carolina's approach to local governance. It recognizes that loyalty to party platforms isn't necessarily a useful marker of the qualities we look for in school board members. We want them to be passionate about education, to have a clear vision for improving the schools and to have the leadership skills to make it happen.
It's reasonable to assume that the majority of people who have served on the Wake board since the mid-1970s merger of Raleigh and county school systems have been Democrats. Heck, the late Raleigh resident Jesse Helms was once a Democrat - they were thick on the ground. But it wasn't standard practice to campaign with Democratic Party support or to govern with an eye toward advancing party fortunes. Republicans who were elected to the board - people such as Bill Fletcher, Roxie Cash and Tom Oxholm - operated under the same informal code.
Then came 2009, the year when in Wake the old code went out the window. Lots of factors were in play, even ones pertaining to national politics. Following Democratic victories of 2008, a backlash kicked in as the recession had voters looking for people to blame. Republicans saw their chances and in many cases they took 'em.
As new residents flocked to the county and development mushroomed toward its borders, the Wake school system's approach to parceling out students was becoming unwieldy and contentious.
The growth wave required school construction and the reassignment of students as new classrooms came on line. Republican signal-callers recognized that parents frustrated with instability could be a potent source of votes. They backed candidates who promised neighborhood schools - no more shuffling, no more long bus rides. And pointedly, no more suburban students displaced so that lower-income city kids could go to school in a middle-class setting.
The strategy was clear: Reinforce the idea that Republicans are the ones who can be counted upon to look out for these voters' interests. Not only with regard to schools but in general.
Were school board races being milked for partisan advantage? Better believe it.
Garner's John Tedesco, angling for GOP endorsement, let several cats out of the bag when he completed a party questionnaire in the run-up to the school board election two years ago. Along with his critique of school system practices and results, he made a pitch for how the election could boost the Republican cause:
"NOW is the time for our party to capitalize on the energy of our families and their distaste for a failed system to rebuild our brand in Wake County," he declared. "Use this election to build more modern tools and encourage a farm team of other young candidates."
Someone in the Republican command bunker must have said "Bingo!" Tedesco, with the party backing he had sought, won his race, as did three other candidates trumpeting their commitment to neighborhood schools and an end to school assignments that in a small fraction of cases took family income into account. Significant financing came from Republican power-broker Art Pope, who pours money from his discount retailing empire into a host of conservative causes.
Does it come as a shock that the Democrats, with their opponents acting as if school board campaigns were just another partisan battleground, would put their stamp of approval on a slate of candidates as well? With five races on Tuesday's ballot and control of the board possibly at stake, the Wake Democratic Party supports its own quintet of favorites.
Those candidates want to make sure students throughout the school system, wherever they live, have a fair chance to excel. And they want to forestall any more damage by Republican activists who eagerly exploit school issues to divide and conquer.
