If At First You Don't Succeed, Try, Try Again

by Patricia A. Miller

Regina Discenza can’t quite remember just how many times she ran for a seat on the Lacey Board of Education.

“I think maybe nine times in the last 11 years,” she said today.

But the many defeats never deterred her from trying again, year after year. The woman known around Lacey as the township watchdog continues to go to meetings, interrogate both school and township officials and files OPRA request after request. Some officials wince when they see her come to the microphone at meetings.

“This victory is very sweet in more ways than one,” Discenza said. “It is truly a win for the taxpayers and the students.”

Discenza was the top vote getter in a field of six in the race for two, three-year terms on the school board.

She received 2,514 votes, or 21.38 percent. David Bidwell was second, with 2,357 votes. Robert Klaus II was third with 2,330 votes, followed by James S. Knoeller with 1,786 votes, Charles Kennis with 1,626 votes and James K. LeTellier with 1,626 votes.

Chances are there are some in town who are not happy with her victory. Like Township Committeeman Mark Dykoff, who berated Discenza during the public portion of a recent meeting and said “...God help us if you are elected, God help us.”

Discenza said after she first filed she received several calls from people in power - including State Senator Christopher J. Connors asking her not to run. The scuttlebutt around town was that a certain faction wanted to appoint Jerry J. Dasti to the position of board attorney.

Why does Discenza think she won on her tenth try?

She credits part of her win to her research to uncovering the flawed funding issues of the district’s solar project. The state Comptroller’s Office issued an alert earlier this year that a certain school district failed to protect the taxpayers. The alert did not name Lacey but gave enough information to discern which project and district was being discussed.

The architectural firm’s inexperience with such projects caused a significant overestimate, resulting in overbonding for the project at $8.2 million dollars. This in turn caused the unnecessary expenditure of $4,717,576 of state tax dollars since the DOE subsidized the project with debt service aid, Discenza has said.

The taxpayers will eventually pay the cost of overbonding $3.5 million in additional interest because of mistakes made with the project, she has said.

The voters are looking for change because the friends and family plan isn’t working in the taxpayer’s best interest,” Discenza said today.

Then she was off on another errand - to meet with schools Superintendent Sandra Brower.

“Student achievement is job one,’ she said.