August 30, 2006
Dear Supporters,
Thank you for helping to put me on the November 7 ballot. We were able to submit 654 nominating signatures to the Board of Elections and Ethics today. That's more than three times the 200 we needed to get on the ballot. That's also at least 654 conversations we've already had with voters.
A very special thanks to Jacqueline Aamot, Philip Blair, Raymond Blanks, Wanda Butler, Ann Caton, Wendy Cromartie, Jenefer Ellingston, Neil Glick, Michelle Grifka, Mfon Ibangha, Sally Murray James, Libo Liu, Gladys Mack, Lea Mesner, Mindy Mitchell, Carolyn Petti, Pamella Shaw, Mary Spencer, Celeste Valente, Eugenia White, Mary Williams, Patricia Wrightson and Dana Wyckoff for collecting signatures. Thank you.
Thank you to everyone else for making donations (228 of us have made donations so far!) and for getting out as many of our yard signs as possible, and for talking to your friends about our campaign.
Please come to our first Campaign Pancake Breakfast (yummm), this Saturday morning, from 9-11 a.m. Jenefer Ellingston has graciously offered her home for this Breakfast. She is at 641 Maryland Ave. NE, near 7th & D. Please RSVP to Tammi Cioffi (my wife), at cioffit@verizon.net. If you're a pancake chef, please let her know how many pancakes you can bring, too.
I hope you'll come on Saturday. We're now entering Phase II of our campaign: Building a Movement. We'll be laying out our strategy and making plans for the next several weeks. Everyone will help in a unique way. We truly need your help.
all the best!
- Marc
202-557-1083 (c)
17 comments:
If Marc wins the School Board race, does that mean he will step down as ANC commissioner?
Yup. I'm running to serve on the School Board instead of running for re-election to the ANC. It feels like the school board's the best place for me to keep fighting for an excellent public school system, alongside tens of thousands of residents.
Will he step down from the ANC if he loses?
Marc has been divisive as an ANC commissioner and has sided with Maryland business over residents who live in ANC 6A. Lisa Raymond is a better choice for Board of Education.
Say, Marc, isn't what you're calling the "school board" actually called the Board of Education? Please learn the name of the public office you're running for!
What part of "no anonymous attacks, please" are we failing to comprehend?
Snarkily,
Ken
Anonymous, I'm very proud of my work on the ANC, including working hand in hand with my fellow Commissioners Robyn Holden, Mfon Ibangha, Gladys Mack and Raphael Marshall to support Cluck-U Chicken when its certificate of occupancy was challenged. I understood the concerns of some of the immediate neighbors, and also don't want lots of chains on H Street, but felt the challenge had no legal merit and so wasn't in anyone's best interest. This wasn't a neighborhood-against-a-business thing: many residents supported Cluck U. The BZA this summer voted 4-0 to deny the appeal, and the ANC then withdrew its similar appeal of Birdland.
You're right that the school board is officially "The District of Columbia Board of Education." I think my record as a public school teacher, activist and elected official makes me uniquely qualified to bring the residents of the District together, to fix our schools. I'd like to work with you, and for you.
Call me sometime! - Marc 557-1083(c)
Why is Lisa Raymond a better choice? Isn't Lisa a CEO of the Caesar Chavez Charter school? Why isn't she working to make charter school more accountable to the taxpayer? Is she planning to turn over even more public schools to the charter system? Take a look at where her campaign funds are coming from. Talk about selling out to out of state corporations.
school chum
Cluck U was all about Marc fighting his own neighbors. If you Marc can't find a way to get along with the people you live with, how can we trust you to get along with people across town where they aren't as nice as your own neighbors? This is our kids, not some "legal merit" mumbojumbo. I don't trust a guy who would potty on his own front doorstep.
Many neighbors supported CluckU.
Cody nor Joe have ever had a district meeting to even get the opinion of their constituants about Clucku. So who really knows what all of the neighbors really think? One thing is for sure, if the most of the neighbors really don't want Clucku, then it will go out of business.
Anyway, we have had years "of getting along" with decisions made behind closed doors. The school board being a prime example of this. Marc is at least is a breath of fresh air in that regard, in that he believes in open meetings, with open discussions.
school chum
It's a shame anyone would take pot shots at someone who isn't even the subject of this blog posting. In the interest of fairness, anyone reading should at least make an educated assessment about candidate Lisa Raymond:
http://lisaraymond06.org/
That being said, I echo the opinion that Lisa Raymond would be an excellent boardmember. She has the creativity, positivity and ability to collaborate with others--365 days a year, not just when she's running for public office.
To be honest, I have not followed the school board race at all. But over the next week I have to decide who to vote for. Please help me out!
* What organizations endorse School Board candidates?
* Who have they endorsed?
* Do any of the local papers offer a breakdown of the candidates or Q&As with them?
Thanks!
-H Street Resident
The anonymous posting suggesting that Ms. Raymond is "selling out to out of state corporations" is misleading at best.
Check contributions for any candidate yourself at:
http://www.ocf.dc.gov/imaging/searchimages.asp
Both Marc Borbely and Lisa Raymond have received contributions from out-of-state individuals, but I didn't see any corporations listed among the contributors for either one of them.
Hi Anonymous --
There's no primary in the school board race, so our election isn't until November 7.
We've had some mini-profiles/mentions in the Hill Rag, in the Voice of the Hill (280 kB jpg file), and in the Post.
I'm also keeping a list of other news clips that give some sense of my work for public schools.
Regarding campaign contributions, I'm shooting for thousands of small contributions, instead of a few large ones. As of the last reporting period, I had 193 contributions, averaging $24. My nearest competitor had 82, averaging $137.
best
- Marc
http://MarcForSchoolBoard.org
Thanks for the link Rich. It looks like may Lisa think that DC stands for Darian, Conn. That's where a lot of her contributions came from in the August report.
Is there any other reason to vote for her, other than she isn't Marc?
Hello, everyone. I have read these comments about my qualifications and campaign contributions and just thought I'd say a few words. I believe that I am the most qualified person to represent wards 5 & 6 on the Board of Education because I am the only candidate who has been a teacher, school administrator, and has a background in education policy. I have been working with DC public school students and their families for the past 8 years. I have extensive budgeting, management, and facility oversight experience, which I think are sorely needed on the Board. I support the moratorium on Board of Education charter schools, I believe in strong oversight for all charter schools, and I think it should be very difficult to open a new charter school. I believe there are good schools in both the traditional public school system and in the public charter system and that we must use those models to improve our schools so that all DC children can receive the high quality education they deserve. I have received a great deal of financial support from DC residents and some from outside of DC, like both of my ward 6 opponents. If you have any questions, feel free to contact me at lisa@lisaraymond06.org
I suggest everone read the Capitol Hill RAG February ANC6A report. That meeting was Mr. Borbely's first meeting as Commissioner. It demonstrates his ability (or inability)to work coorperatively with others.
A quote from that article says "Borbely launched into an exposé of ANC 6A’s former class, citing statistics and making divisive accusations that amounted to this: white people are getting all the spots on committees and all the grant money."
Here's a link to the article and an excerpt from that article.
http://www.capitalcommunitynews.com/publications/hillrag/2005-feb/28-31-rag-0205.pdf
The Amendment
Commissioner Holden (whom it appeared was under the tutelage of Borbely) wants to equalize the SMD representation of volunteers on the ANC committees by legislation, by changing the bylaws. It would be akin to affirmative action, but worse. In the case of affirmative action, the under represented get education or jobs – in this case, they get to give up their time to volunteer on a committee. Holden’s proposed change is based upon a faulty premise, that ANC 6A members have shut out people from the under- or unrepresented SMDs. However she came to this off base conclusion, it was her belief that this supposed situation required legislation to correct it. She stated her case, and then the ANC train hit a penny. Borbely made a motion that all Commissioners are given 10 minutes to speak in debate, as stated in Robert’s Rules of Order (Part I, Article I, Section 7, online at http://www.constitution.org/rror/rror-- 00.htm if you must). Fengler and the previous ANC class cut debate time to two turns of two minutes. Anyone who has attended ANC meetings would likely agree that four minutes of talk is plenty of time. Fengler denied the request, but the debate just kept going. “I need more than two minutes to ramble sometimes,” Borbely argued. And argued. And argued. More than fifteen minutes was lost to this asinine line of appeals. A frustrated Rice said, “It’s motions like this that give ANCs a bad name...Fengler doesn’t have an egg timer. If this is the way it’s going to be, I’m not sure I want to be a part of it.” After a vote of 4 to 4, a majority was not met to overturn the Chairman’s ruling, and the two minutes stand. The tone was now set for the rest of the meeting, and it was not a good way to start the year. Now back to the amendment, Borbely launched into an exposé of ANC 6A’s former class, citing statistics and making divisive accusations that amounted to this: white people are getting all the spots on committees and all the grant money. Alberti responded, “We have never, EVER, turned down committee members.” Fengler explained, “Every grant was approved by the ANC. All the applications are on the website. All votes are on the website.Every grant that was legal was funded.”
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