Pearls of Wisdom

If one were to dissect the voting results from Monday’s BOE meeting, i.e. agreeing to change the BOE election date from April to November, some very interesting conclusions may be drawn. One very curious aspect of the vote is that the BOE members at the previous meeting waffled so much on the topic that it was impossible to predict which way the Board might go. So, it was no shock when the BOE voted 5-4 for changing the date.

There were valid reasons on both sides of the debate on whether or not to change the election date. On the negative side, November elections may politicize the process in a community that votes strictly Democratic, that reelects the same candidates for Borough Council year after year in spite of poor job performance and/or limited qualifications. Another reason is that since the BOE fiscal year is July 1 to June 30, the elections would not fit into the fiscal year, which will require some maneuvering.

On the positive side, there would be cost savings by moving the election to November. A second supporting argument for changing the date is that voter turnout in April is traditionally anemic, allowing special interest groups to control and dominate the election. 

The specifics of the 5-4 majority vote offer some genuine insight into Fort Lee politics. The BOE members voting in favor of the change were BOE President Art Levine, Vice President Linda McCue, Angela Napolitano, Charles Luppino and Peter Suh.  

Joe Surace, a longtime BOE member, voted against it; this was no surprise as he had clearly stated at the previous meeting that he was opposed. The Triad: John Bang, Yusang Park and Helen Yoon were the other three dissenting votes. The members of the Triad were all apparently supported in their candidacies by Andrew Kim, a local political activist, who is not a resident of Fort Lee.  This change of date may very well limit Mr. Kim’s impact on the BOE election process, i.e. it is highly probable that he was influential in their choice to oppose moving the election date to November.

John Bang, who is running this year, may have special personal motivation. This date change could very well make it more difficult for him to be reelected. Mr. Bang ran three years ago on a platform that, according to my understanding, included the possibility of his personally raising funds for the Fort Lee schools. He has apparently been totally unsuccessful in fulfilling this promise. Furthermore, Mr. Bang’s comment that we should be independent and not follow the “300 other schools” that approved the change is not logical on any level.

If so many other districts evaluated the positives versus the negatives and decided in favor, there must be valid reasons. Mr. Bang referred to the opposition argument by Nina Levinson, asking “that we should wait one year and then make up [our minds] with the experience of other towns being used to decide on whether it’s a good idea or not”.  What Mr. Bang failed to mention was that Ms. Levinson is leader of a special interest group who had strong reasons to oppose the resolution. 

(Note: Nina Levinson, head of the Home Owners’ Association, who proclaims herself as a lobbyist, but more properly might be called an obstructionist, was instrumental in defeating the first two school referendums that would have allowed expansion of our schools and the construction of new classrooms. Nina was strongly opposed to the change of election date. She would have good reason; it might lessen the influence of her group in the election process. Based alone on the fact that Nina was opposed to the change to November, it is my opinion that the BOE probably made the right decision.)

The Board of Education members made a tough decision. It is my position it was the correct decision, although I have some reservations in view of the potential politicizing in a November election. But eliminating or at least limiting the power of special interests groups to manipulate an election is high priority, and we will hopefully have accomplished that goal.