So, what have we learned from the recent election?

It’s an old habit. Politicians love to immediately proclaim a mandate after they have won an election.  When they do, it has been my sense that unless they have won in a landslide, they usually overreach.  And they especially overreach if they proclaim a mandate too quickly after an election without the proper perspective. 

But they do it anyway and so it is in Radnor.  Lydia Solomon is already declaring the election a mandate for Full Day Kindergarten.

Before we examine the facts (yes, those troublesome facts), full disclosure.  I ran for school board and lost - actually, finished 7th so, licking my wounds. Nevertheless, congratulations to the four winners.  Well deserved.

• Now the facts.There were eight positions open in Radnor. Five were won by Republicans.
• Don Curley (R) defeated Mary Foy (D) 66% -34% in the 6th Ward
• John Osborne (R) defeated Bill Spingler (D) 56%-44% for Treasurer
• Rich Booker (R) defeated Diane Edbril (D) 56%-44% in the 2nd Ward
• Elaine Schaefer (D) defeated Al Phelan (R) 56% to 44% in the 4th Ward

The School Board was much closer.  Four posts were open and the Democrats held three of them.  Each of the Democrats had strongly supported Full Day Kindergarten and the fiscal management of the district over the past four years. They lost one of those seats with Rob Armstrong being replaced by David Falcone who ran with me on a platform of fiscal responsibility and data driven decision making.  Susan Stern replaced a retiring Brucie Rappaport and my suspicion is that she will be her own person. Overall,

• Susan Michaelson (R) finished first with 3,017 votes or 13.11%,
• Lydia Solomon (D) finished second with 2,996 votes or 13.02%,
• Susan Stern (D) finished third with 2,962 votes or 12.87%, and
• Dave Falcone (R) finished fourth with 2,961 or 12.87% votes

So, the net result is the Democrats lose Rob Armstrong, a major supporter of Full Day Kindergarten and the person perhaps most closely associated with the fiscal mess that has developed in the School District over the past several years.  It is hard to see any mandate for Full Day Kindergarten in these results.

And if Ms. Borowski, Ms. Doherty or Mr. Zajac choose to run again in two years, will they consider Rob Armstrong’s experience before pursuing a multimillion dollar program without considering all the facts and all the constituents?  Or will they conclude that it all comes down to ballot position? After all, the top two democrats and the top two republicans on the ballot won and the four on the bottom lost.  I prefer to think the voters are more intelligent than that but people can draw their own conclusions.

Some other thoughts on the election:

It was my pleasure to run for the School Board with three fine partners. But Jim Link advises municipal governments and school districts as a profession.  He gets paid to do so and he was offering his services to Radnor for free.  Perhaps more than any of us, he was the most qualified but he finished last.  Hopefully, we made some progress in educating the public on the financial issues that Radnor faces but there is clearly more work to be done.

Finally, most disappointing to me were the 315 (176 in the library) people who voted for Mary Foy in the 6th ward.  Ms. Foy has not lived in the ward since August and could not have served if elected.  She should not have been on the ballot.  I was in the library for 13 hours on Election Day and people were provided with this information by both parties and still they voted for Ms. Foy.  Everyone over 18 has the right to vote in this country but it can only be troubling to all of us when people exercise their right in this manner.