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City Newspaper Endorses Powell
City Newspaper published its endorsements on August 26.
First Candidate Forum of the Season
This August 27 D&C article covers a candidate forum co-sponsored by FR=EE and the League of Women Voters.
Campaign Finance – It shouldn’t be an issue…
On August 17, 2015, the Democrat and Chronicle launched its coverage of the School Board campaign season with this article: School board election spending muddled .
It’s a shame that campaign financing should be the issue, and not the candidate’s platform. NY State Board of Elections changed the rules regarding School Board campaigns, and Willa says that she genuinely believes that all candidates will make every effort to abide by disclosure regulations. “The size of the purse is not what matters,” she was quoted as saying.
Please use the Contact Us option on this page to tell us whether you would like to us to post Willa’s disclosure forms on this page. Also tell us if you would like us to submit a Freedom of Information request on other candidate’s disclosure and provide their information as well.
Excuse Our Mess – We are under (Re)Construction
Dear Inquiring Voter,
We are resurrecting our website from 4-years ago. That means that there are broken links among the old posts, and articles from a campaign long since decided.
There is valuable information in these old posts, and we don’t want to simply delete them if they articulate Willa’s position on issues that remain current.
In the meantime, please view this Candidate Free Airtime Video, from our successful 2011 campaign, or read a transcript of same in the “Our Core Message” link in the top right corner of the home page.
To Engage or Not To Engage? (2011)
When the D&C Editorial declined to endorse Willa in the Primary Election, our campaign strategy was to use the response opportunity to project our campaign message to the D&C audience.
Not surprisingly, the D&C declined to endorse Willa in the General Election as well. Stay on message, or respond to the criticism? Our answer was: do both. Show how the D&C Editorial Board is looking for shallow, (“showy”, Willa calls it) accomplishments instead of penetrating investigation, superficial changes instead of structural changes.
Compare the D&Cs complaint, “Powell’s record of accomplishments is thin given her tenure” to City Newspaper’s endorsement: “Evans, Powell, and Campos are smart and committed, and they understand the role of an elected official.”
Here is Willa’s 200 word response to be published in Saturday’s paper
Access to [All] Candidate Information
We are in that slow period… The Primary Election is old news. The General Election is still too far away to be newsworthy. Nevertheless, some things are happening.
- WXXI is recording Candidate Free Airtime messages. Update: here is Willa Powell’s Candidate Free Airtime message. Our observation is that the School Board Candidates are buried among candidates for all the other races across the county, therefore, we will be posting the links here. Six of the eight are currently available. Second update: WXXI announce that the School Board candidates will air at 5:50 PM on Nov 3.
Read more… - Three candidate forums/debates are still on the calendar (Check this regularly for updates…)
- The League of Women Voters is gathering information about candidates (nationally no-less) and feeding visitors websit visitors (www.vote411.org)information about all the races in their district. Visitors need to input their address, and it returns all the information available.
The races are presented as they appear on the ballot: highest level of government first, with each race having their own “page”. Because there are three county-wide seats, one county legislature seat, and one city council seat that all rate as higher levels of government, folks who want to see the school board candidates need to visit Page 6.
RBA Redux and Backpedal
We are feeling very de ja vous. Tiffany Lankes report RBA issues no school board endorsements has Sandy Parker saying the same thing:
“We really had no intention of endorsing,” Parker said. “Whoever won that primary, you’re looking at the school board. That was a done deal … I don’t think any of them felt this was an endorsement process.”
In fact, we are feeling so de ja vous, that we posted a comment to the D&C article that is very reminiscent of the quote above. Read more…
Update: We found a blog post on this topic that now includes an interesting exchange between its author and Willa Powell. See Mustard Street, Oct 13. Check it out!
RBA – Too Little Too Late? Or Just Plain Offensive?
Sandy Parker is heard on “WXXI radio news clip on September 21, saying that the Rochester Business Alliance (RBA) is “not endorsing any specific candidates” in conjunction with their “Vote, Be Heard” campaign.
“Really Sandy?” asks Willa Powell. “RBA isn’t endorsing specific candidates? Then why did I get a candidate questionnaire, and an interview time and date certain? And the phone call I received from RBA’s Colleen DiMartino, making sure I was aware of the submission deadline? What is that all about if RBA isn’t engaged in endorsing candidates?”
And what about the images that Commissioner Evans found so offensive?
“How do these images encourage citizens to vote?” Willa asks. “How do they incite citizens to vote? I think the RBA took some very bad PR advice if they think these images will be motivational and not just plain offensive.”
A comfortable 2nd – advance to round 2!
With all Election Districts reporting, here are the unofficial vote total is:
Malik Evans 4178 votes or 20.48% (1st ballot position)
Willa Powell 2817 votes or 14.05% (5th ballot position)
Melisza Campos 2718 votes or 13.32% (7th ballot position)
Mary Adams 2712 votes or 13.29% (3rd ballot position)
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Allen Williams 2560 votes or 12.54% (2nd ballot position)
Earnest Flagler 2013 votes or 9.86% (6th ballot position)
Howard Eagle 1867 votes or 9.15% (8th ballot position)
Wallace Smith 1484 votes or 7.27% (4th ballot position)
Our Core Message (An introduction, A reminder)
Compassion * Competence * Moral Courage
Willa Powell brings her 21-year Army Reserve career experience to the Board of Education. This includes the discipline to seek out the facts, incorporate human needs into a bureaucratic institution, and speak the truth in all circumstances. Willa’s four children are all enrolled in, or have graduated from, city schools.
