Responses to the D&C non-endorsement

Willa summarizes the “establishment” response to her campaigns over the years in a comment in Smugtown Beacon:

…have city voters already discounted the D&C editorial board as out of touch with them, their needs, their values? Or are D&C readers so few that that their opinion doesn’t reach city voters?

If city voters have seen fit to dismiss the D&C editorial board’s opinion for the last 14 years when it comes to my fitness to serve, then let us hope for more “nothing new under the sun”!

The title of this post is plural. Willa was entitled to a rebuttal letter as a result of non-endorsement. Her submission appears in the Letter to the Editor section of the September 9 publication. If you need to remind yourself of all that the D&C had to say on September 3, you can go to the bar at the top of the page and click on NEWS to see the posting that has now dropped of this main page. The essence of their endorsement/non-endorsement is found in the essay titled Analytical leaders needed for Rochester school board.

In addition, a harsh critique of the D&C’s endorsements and non-endorsements appear in the Smugtown Beacon. The Beacon has not officially endorsed Willa, but this exerpt sure reads like an endorsement:

One thing that cannot be denied about Willa Powell is that she is smart. Powell is not merely smart in the narrow, “book smart” sense, but in the broader, well-rounded, engaged intellect sense. She knows public policy and she is also sensitive to the more abstract, institutional and political forces that shape public outcomes. More than that, she is completing her third term (12 years) on the school board — so she also knows an awful lot about the district, its finances, its students, its parents and how all the educational pieces fit together. One can disagree with her positions or take issue with her actions, but one cannot easily dismiss her intellect.

Here is an exerpt from a comment Willa posted in response:

…have city voters already discounted the D&C editorial board as out of touch with them, their needs, their values? Or are D&C readers so few that that their opinion doesn’t reach city voters?

If city voters have seen fit to dismiss the D&C editorial board’s opinion for the last 14 years when it comes to my fitness to serve, then let us hope for more “nothing new under the sun”!