Opinion
Editorial: CISD board election unsettling
We were bothered by something that happened in the Cleburne school board election last week.
We hope you were, too.
We’ll lay out the scenario as well as we can without offering a lot of opinion.
Three candidates were in the running for Place 3.
One was a longtime Cleburne businessman, Wendell Dempsey, openly supported by residents who have criticized school administrators and school board members for perceived mishandling of issues related to a Texas Education Agency probe.
Another, Tolin Navarrete, was a Cleburne High graduate and businessman whose spouse teaches in the school system.
The third, Matt Snider, was a network administrator and New York native whose spouse is a CISD administrator.
All three candidates brought different qualities to the table. All appeared qualified. All seemingly ran clean campaigns. We congratulate Dempsey on his victory.
But someone attempted to tilt the playing field in the weeks before the election by starting the rumor that Navarrete was not only hiring undocumented workers but also breaking a law by signing a treasurer’s report sheet that promised he would spend no more than $500 during the campaign.
We know about the rumor because we heard it repeated.
We’ll let Navarrete and immigration officers address the rumor about hiring undocumented workers.
We don’t have to let anyone else answer the rumor about the treasurer’s report.
We know the answer. It’s on our desk in black and white.
The school district faxed us a complete package of treasurer’s reports from the school board candidates. Only Snider signed the pledge not to spend over $500. Dempsey did not. Navarrete did not.
And really, it’s not a pledge or a promise about spending. The document says, “I do not intend” to spend or collect more than $500 during the campaign. If either income or outgo exceeds that amount, then more reports have to be filed.
Whoever started the rumor that Navarrete signed a sheet promising not to spend more than $500 should feel rotten about making a false accusation and conceivably tilting the playing field in an election that will impact thousands of school children.
There will be those who say, “Anything is fair in politics, as long as you can get away with it.”
There’s truth to that. We see dirty politics every year at the state and national level. Candidates get away with it constantly.
But that doesn’t make it right.
For the record, we think it stinks.
This editorial is the opinion of the Cleburne Times-Review
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