IS IT TRUE October 5, 2012
IS IT TRUE that the 3rd District race for School Board is becoming extremely interesting?…that a newcomer to local politics is getting the attention of the old political guard that has controlled EVSC board for years? D-Patrick Executive Tony Ricketts looks like he is on his way to be elected to this board because of the way he has ran a flawless, aggressive and positive campaign?…that Jeff Worthington is giving a 21 years veteran of the school board a run for his money to win the second slot on this board? …word in the street is that voters are saying that preacher, Terry Gamblin after 21 years of serving on this on this body is long enough?…that a real political upset may be in the making because the mood of the voters is that it’s time for a change?
IS IT TRUE that the race for the other seat on the school board isn’t on the political radar?…that a political backlash is quietly brewing between Mike Duckworth and Karen Ragland supporters because of the negative way she has been allegedly treated by him and his other school board buddies over the last several years?…conventional political wisdom predicts that Karen Ragland shall prevail in this next to nothing public campaign for this seat?
IS IT TRUE don’t be surprised to hear that the Evansville Water and Sewer Department may have a major financial meltdown on their hands?…that Mayor Winnenke’s public statement that all is well with the City of Evansville accounting records that they are now balanced and everything is just fine may be proved to be wrong at this coming City Council meeting?
IS IT TRUE that just as predicted by cynics for a year now the September jobs report is positive and the “official†unemployment rate has dipped below 8% for the first time in nearly 4 years?…the payrolls increased by 114,000 jobs in September to bring the “official†rate down to 7.8% when the expectations as of yesterday were for the job creation number to be 118,000 with an “official†unemployment rate of 8.1%?…that the expectation and the result don’t seem to make sense?…if creating 118,000 jobs would not changed the “official†unemployment rate at all yet adding 4,000 less jobs than expected lowers the rate by 0.3% then all we need to do to be at a healthy 5% “official†unemployment rate is make sure that about 250,000 jobs are eliminated and use the same assumptions and adjustments that were just published?…that is counterintuitive that statistics could work this way but hey, it is from the government that excludes the food and energy prices from inflation numbers so what the heck?…that also in the report was a disturbing figure that the number of people with part time jobs that are seeking full time work INCREASED by 900,000 to 8.6 Million Americans?…that we wonder if those 900,000 were from people getting their hours cut or people who found a part time job that were previously not working?…that is a big enough number to call out for some clarity as it was 689% higher than the “official†job creation number?
IS IT TRUE that the brain trust of Democratic Vice Presidents for the last 32 years provided us with even more entertainment that just makes you want to ask if they were dropped on their head as children?…that former Vice President Al Gore was trying to explain away President Obama’s butt thrashing in the debate by blaming it on the altitude in Denver?…that one ranks up there with blaming the President’s poor performance on the Hale-Bopp comet, the leprechauns in the basement, or even the Easter bunny?…that current VP Joe Biden spoke another INCONVENIENT TRUTH in a very loud and enthusiastic manner?…this time Biden was in your face with a new chant of “YES WE WILLâ€?…he was talking about a $1 Trillion tax increase?…that the gifts of entertainment just keep on coming from the peanut gallery of the Democrat VP Club?
Time cards? Shouldn’t this new system that they spent over $1 million on eliminate time cards? Most people clock into their computer.
Another example of why the City should have kept their receipt to the Munis software.
Day 8 of audit gate and Jenny is still running around the Civic Center with her $81k a year job. I wasn’t aware that the new CFO of the Utility position has the same standard of performing their job duties correctly as a weatherman. The question is what didn’t Jenny do wrong as Controller in 2011 and are the rumors about the Utility books being in worse shape than the City true?
Mantis toboggan, we are hearing the same thing about the books being in bad shape in the Water and Sewer Department because of alledged software problems.
We should get answers at this coming city council meeting on Monday.
You gotta love those unemployment numbers… Jack Welch tweeted the following:
“Unbelievable jobs numbers … these Chicago guys will do anything … can’t debate so change numbers,”
Sorry to hear Mike Duckworth is not treating Karen Ragland with respect.
Both are nice people.
Looks like Duckworth should man up and tell Karen he is sorry because he could be serving with Karen until his re-election bid.
Should I remind Mr. Duckworth about the 4th ward vote?
Looks like Duckworth is taking his boss Marsha’s bad human relations campaign to the school board level.
One should not be blaming School Board President Duckworth for Karen Ragland’s poor performance as a School board Member. As Board President, part of Duckworth’s job is to make sure others to do their job.
Karen misses a lot of school board meetings. When she does attend, she is late most of the time and is not prepared for the meeting.
Karen Ragland wanted to withdrawal from running for the school board. But she could not, because the current election rules do not permit withdrawal. And if elected , she will not commit to serve a full term.
Lon Walters is is running for this position as well. He is a much better choice to serve on the School Board..
Why aren’t all the school board candidates represented here? If this is a “REAL” news source like you claim…aren’t you obligated to give them all the same space? If I recall – there are 7 people running for the 3 open seats!
Amen!
Do not count your chickens before they hatch… Will Singleton has just as much of an opportunity as the other candidates do. if you are going to write an article, get your facts straight.
The Water and Sewer will be in great shape! Johnson Controls is here to save the Day! What a joke! A munis system that doesn’t work installed by Matt Arvey, and Johnson’s system doesn’t work where they installed it and Arvey and the city is all for it. Arvey is dirty, please look at what else he had his hand in that went wrong.
Johnson Controls has nothing to do with the sewer project.
I beg to differ! who signed the contract to redo water meters and a Wifi system with the Water and Sewer Dept that was snaked through in the last hour of the Weinzapfel administration by Matt Arvey. Check your records it was signed by the Water and Sewer Utility.
In regards to the story about the School board race. I wish we all had crystal balls to predict the out come of a race. Consider there is no polling data available, and the “winner” picked has ad buys on the site. …The two people named as the winners, didn’t even respond to the question of reorganization survey put out by CORE.
http://www.core2012.net/?p=2008
Maybe it was too hot of an issue for them. How can anyone truely consider someone who won’t answer the hard questions. Are these candidates going to cower to popular belief, or stand for what they believe in? You may agree or disagree with reorganization, but don’t hide your position, then ask to be voted into an office. I wish all the candidates good luck, but the media should not pick the winners a month before the election.
Will Singleton
Will— Do not follow you. You are running for school board. It is already consolidated.
In this country there is a thing called “secret” ballot.
Mole needs to leave elections up to the voters.
At least Will expressed his opinion on the subject of reorganization. Looks at the list of those who did NOT respond. Thank you Will.
You are welcome. I will say some things that are not popular sometimes, but you will know where I stand!
The official government numbers have been fudged for a long time, whether you’re talking about unemployment or national debt. This prolonged “recession”, i.e. papered over depression, along with our continued military involvement overseas, is just an indication of the instability of our Empire, like the odds board in Vegas.
The bad job market in the US is a reflection of the unwillingness of capital investors to stake too much of their fortunes in America’s future. The only ones who can afford to do that with absolute confidence are the “too big to fail” crowd. Everyone else should beware.
The only reason the dollar and American economy aren’t much worse off is Europe has been in the same boat. The economy will turn around when the average Chinese person has enough buying power to support American manufacturing.
School board candidates are “invited” to pay to attend an “informational” seminar held by the Indiana School Board Association. This group is made up of former SUPERINTENDENTS, NOT former SCHOOL BOARD members. One of the things they stress is that the school board should show a “united” face in support of the superintendent. That is why there is seldom a “NO” vote cast. We elect them to represent them, but they end up voting with the majority, instead of voting their minds and telling us what they think about the issue.
The Superintendents group has several attorneys who look for loopholes in the law so the superintendents can increase their total salaries and draw higher retirement pay. An example is the payment of a monthly auto allowance, instead of leasing a car for him and paying his fuel and maintenance bills. Part of his retirement pay will be based on that money! They also lobby the legislature to change laws so the superintendent can personally benefit and take more of our tax dollars in salary and retirement pay.
Any school board member who asks too many intelligent or probing questions, the type that might have exposed the $42,000 Master’s Degrees, the “loan” of $87,000 to the EVSC Foundation to pay Jennifer Cahill as a “fundraiser”, or the sale of the support services building to the EVSC Foundation for $1 so they could give a “no-bid contract” to Industrial Contractors/Skanska in a Snegally operation, could find his employment or that of someone close threatened. One board member didn’t run for re-election for just this reason. The superintendents have no qualms about using their power with impunity. They believe they are untouchable.
Cahill was actually going to work with Bertram on his TV program and appearances on it, along with other public events. He took her with him to Project Lead the Way. When the State Board of Accounts was investigating the salary of Tom Barnett, they advised the EVSC Foundation that they had been made aware of the Cahill salary deal and that the foundation was in violation of IN state law. The next school board meeting the foundation brought a check, supposedly the $87,000, and claimed the EVSC could make better use of the money. The check may have actually been for the $1 they paid to “buy” the Henry Reis building that night.
Only one of the candidates has attended enough meetings to have any grasp of the complexity of the operation. But, we already have two former law enforcement officers on the board. One has been there too long, but, do we need another?
How long would it take for any newly elected members to become corrupted by the remaining “pros”? It only takes one rotten apple to spoil the barrel.
This is what needs to change. I am not interested in becomeing a “yes” man. There is too much of that already. If you ever attend a school board meeting, there is no discussion on spending money. They bring up the topic, get a motion, and second, and voted yes. Where is the discussion, the questions. I am not wanting to be a no vote everytime, but I will be certain to question the spending of tax dollars. I am the current board of directors president for Perry Twp Fire Dept on the west side. We have been very good with the tax money we recieve. I know what it is like to be trusted with tax payer dollars, I have been the president for 3 years! It’s not the budget range the EVSC is, but the pricipals are the same. I want to be able to stand tall if questioned by a tax payer. I will not hide behind anything. If you ask me a question, I will give you my answer. It may not be what you want to hear, but it will be why I vote a certain way, or why I did what I did. I WILL NOT change who, or what I stand for to get elected!
NoMo, very interesting information!
Details, details….. the evsc is untouchable, you people think the “W Twins” have a cover my back policy. The evsc wrote the book. a true bunch of inbreds.
This is my point. We need people on the school board that are not affraid to say no, or stand by what they say, and what the public wants, not what you buddys want, or a yes vote to be popular. This is the point of posting the consolidation survey. By not stating your position, you are dodging the question. What esle will you dodge because it is not popular? I am not afraid to say what I think. Some people just flat wont agree with it. That’s ok. I am not going to try to make everyone happy, no one can! People who are elected are there to do a job. Represent the voter, not to vote like your buddy to be popular. I may not get elected for school board, but I will say what I think and you can like it or not. I am not a “yes” man, I will say what I think. You may convince me otherwise, but I will never change my vote, just to go with the majority to be popular.
Will Singleton
Don’t know about Karen Ragland and Lon Walters race. But I do know that Tony Ricketts is running one heck of a well planned campaign. He is extremly postive and direct about way he wants to be elected to the school board. However, the other candidates are really not getting out and spreading their political message at this point.
I also agree with the CCO remarks that people are saying it’s time for thr “Preacher” to go. 21 years in public office is enough! Oh, the only saving political grace for the “Preacher” is that the unions love him because he gives them everthing they ask for.
Mike Duckworth better start packing because the 4th Ward shall be teaching him a political lesson he won’t forget when it comes time for his re-election.
Karen is an extremly nice and hard working person. She just went through major family issues that has bogged her down. However, you can expect for her to resolve these issues so she can serve another term on the school board.
Shame on you Mike Duckworth for kicking a person when they are down! What goes around shall come back around!
I agree with political watchdog that Mike Duckworth should be ashamed of the way he has treated Karen Ragland.
I’m personally voting for Karen because doesn’t deserve to be treated this way the “School Board Administration Political Puppet Duchworth”!
Karen in now considered to be an political underdog and voters love to help underdogs!
Sounds like school board need some new members. Some leadership .
Vote jeff Lon tony for school board!!!!!!
Thanks Silverdome50. Mrs. Ragland is a very nice woman. We have spoken, and we see eye to eye on many issues. She has stated before that she does not want the job and will resign if elected. If she resigns then the EVSC School Board will get to pick her replacement, not the voters. I have told Karen to feel free to call me about any issues that might be important to her. If elected I will always have time to talk to anyone about the issues. I am not a yes man and have always been know for speaking my mind. Ask any of my friends.
Which EVSC board will select Ms Ragland’s successor if she resigns? Will it be the current board or the newly elected board?
According to what I have read, Ms Ragland is ineligible for membership on the board because of her regular job. If she is re-elected, will she be forced out by state law?
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