Local Control, Local Reponsibility

For the first time in decades (this century might not be too much of an exaggeration) voters in Claremont will have an honest choice at this coming school district election.

Instead of seeing default and proposed budgets that are rubber stamped; a collection of escalating contracts driving costs; and a pre-approved choice between tweedledee and tweedledum;  voters have a democratic choice in 2026.

The fundamental issue is one of trust. Do you trust the school board and the local cabal who have been ruining the city’s reputation since the 90’s to change course without intervention?  Are a few buttons and slogans enough?

Or do you think that they might benefit from less carrot and more stick?

At the final school board meeting, I heard plenty of blame for outsiders (banks, DC, Concord). Yet I maintain that responsibility lies at home. Our community, our board, our voters approved the rogue’s gallery of SAU administration that ran the district into the red.  This was performed annually for decades.

For those old enough to remember Walt Kelly and Pogo, “We have met the enemy and he is us.”  The noose around the city and the district has a label, Made in Claremont.

The crisis of late stage socialism is that you run out of other people to blame for your troubles.  Meanwhile, other people’s money grows ever scarcer and harder to obtain.  No one trusts you.

The real curse of Volinsky, Tobin, and the endless Claremont lawsuits is that some people actually believed the lie.  They cultivated a culture of irresponsible behavior that encouraged greater recklessness when it was least affordable. We face the consequences of their bad decisions, as well as doubling down with bad leadership, moral and financial.

It is past time to impose order, clear out the rot, and reform the district so that it serves the community, not just a handful of confused elites who can’t imagine peasant revolt as a natural consequence of their abject failure of the public trust.

With much difficulty, the spending growth cap of Article 8 has been successfully brought to the voters for their consideration.  You may also note an influx of candidates without suspicious past or damaging ties to the school board and the elites.  And so I ask, “What say you? What say you? This is our democracy. Vote your conscience. And I will hold your election fulfilled. What say you?”