Letter to the Editor: School Board Candidate Responds to Times Endorsment of Joanne Hurley

The following is official response/rebuttal to the Tampa Bay Times' endorsement of Joanne Hurley for Pasco School Board District 2:

While I never truly expected an endorsement from the Times (given their track record of favoring incumbents), I did expect a basic level of fairness and honesty. Unfortunately, that was not the case. Not by the most lax of standards.

First, the statement that I have a "contradictory" position regarding magnet schools is simply puzzling. I believe I made my point extraordinarily clear during the PHCC debate, as well as during my interview with C.T. Bowen. I adamantly support magnets, and look forward to seeing a variety of magnet options emerge in Pasco County...but that does not mean I have to have blanket support for any and all forms that a magnet school takes. There is absolutely nothing contradictory about saying I don't support IB but I do support magnets in general. Suggesting I was contradictory in my opinion was simply a manufactured falsehood.

Second, the assertion that I am unqualified to take a fiscally conservative stance because of the past bankruptcy is absurd. Again, I was extraordinarily clear that the circumstances which led to that were both unforeseeable and not caused by any actions of my own. We simply lost a massive portion of our family's income almost overnight, due to a longstanding client who took their business elsewhere. I even went so far as to provide the name and contact information of the client which caused the large loss of income so that the accuracy of my statement could be verified. And the fact that I have a platform of actual fiscal solutions, compared to Joanne Hurley's platform of NOTHING certainly should have been a positive factor. All of this aside, the Times also asserted that my platform consisted almost exclusively of fiscal issues, suggesting that I was not a well-rounded candidate. Spending 1 minute on my campaign website disproves this blatant falsehood handily. And when compared to the fact that Joanne Hurley doesn't even have a campaign website where voters can consider her positions and ideas, even if I was a 1-issue candidate I would be offering more substance to voters than she.

Next, I have to point out that the Times conveniently left out any mention of the highly unethical campaign contributions Joanne has continuously sought from special interests, including teachers unions and entities that currently do business with the school board. Certainly voters would have no interest in knowing about this. And I suppose these tainted funds have absolutely nothing to do with Joanne's adamant opposition to privatization.

Lastly, the most amazingly FALSE statement in your article has to have been when Joanne was referred to as being a member of "...a board that refuses to rubber stamp administrative recommendations". Apparently the Times hasn't given even a casual glance at Joanne's Hurley's voting record. The fact is, during her entire term on the board, she has NEVER ONCE cast a "nay" vote on ANYTHING. That's roughly 600 votes over 4 years, and every single one of those votes were "YEA". There quite possibly has never been a more textbook example of what defines a "rubber stamper" in all of human history. But that apparently wasn't worth mentioning either.

I must say, I am extremely disappointed in this shoddy reporting. The citizens of Pasco County deserved a well-researched opinion. Instead, the Times chose to give Joanne Hurley a complete pass on what has truly a disgusting record of fiscal mismanagement and special interest payback.

Kudos on a job not well done, Times.

 
Don Stephenson

Candidate for School Board

www.stephenson4pasco.com

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