Thank You, Jesus, for Another Candidate in District 2 Against Candy Olson

Outside Florence on the way to visit David

Anybody who wants to contact Mr. Fernandez, Olson (thank you, Jesus) opponent, can EMAIL him at the "mail to" below. You can also send messages to him via this blog. Be sure to tell him what issues he should emphasize in opposing Candy.

This makes two people, Fernandez and Negrete, who now oppose Candy.

La Gaceta says April Griffin's kick-off was a success: a hundred people there. The attraction was the food. She had a luau.

I knew I should have leafleted that kick-off, but I have to come from the beach for such acts of rebellion and civic duty.

I would have had on the leaflet "Griffin opposes free speech: she had a fellow who worked for the schools in the legal immigrant language program demoted and salary reduced for writing his opinion of her on his blog.

She also supports teachers' unfounded punishment by the Professional Standards made-up offenses program;

She traveled to Alafia on a top-secret dirty diplomatic errand to convince the terminally incompetent Principal Smith to resign her job with the promise that Elia would invent her a new job with the same principal salary she made at Alafia as incometent principal; fortunately, the parents objected to Smith under any conditions.

I heard April plead with Alafia parents in the back of the board room not to address the board and express their disgust with the administration's pandering to a principal and trying to bribe them by promising to send her and her vice principal to Eckerd for a personality make-over at $4500 each. This is another example of April's misunderstanding of democracy and the role free speech plays in it.

April and the other board members rubberstamped the made-up job in the book depository for Smith and did not pull it off the rolling consent agenda for discussion in the sunshine;

April did not object to Elia's forcing teachers to inflate grades to make her look good to the state education bureauracracy;

April did not object to Elia's solo buy of a multi-million-dollar purchase of the Spring program that had failed in other venues and that teachers would have to implement; instead, when opposition to the program blind-sided the out-to-lunch board, April inanely suggested a work shop. We have heard no follow-up on the board's stupidity about this issue from board precincts. It deserves a government-in-the-sunshine retrospective discussion. lee

From: Frank Hernandez [mailto:frankhernandeztampabay@gmail.com]
Sent: Monday, April 19, 2010 12:49 AM
To: lee de cesare
Subject: Re: your school board race

Hello Ms. Lee de Cesare,

I would love to discuss these issues with you further. Please let me know when we can meet in the future.

Sincerely,
Frank E. Hernandez

On Sat, Apr 17, 2010 at 9:26 PM, lee de cesare <tdecesar@tampabay.rr.com> wrote:

Candy's Best Bud

Mr. Hernandez: I was delighted to read in La Gaceta that you will run against Candy Olson in District 2.

Ms. Olson has been on the board so long that she has moss growing on her board perch.

I would count it a tie between her and Jennifer Falliero for the worst board member.

I have a piece on her as well as April Griffin on my blog. April is no shining example of what a board member should be either.

Maybe it's the atmosphere of ROSSAC that makes them all go bad after three meetings in the board room. The thing is a mystery to this observer.

Go to leedrurydecesarescasting-roomcouch.blogspot.com to read my analysis of the three incumbents running now. I do not write hagiographies as you can see if your read my pieces on the incumbents.

I wish I could go to your kick-off, but I am going to a PBK dinner with a history lecture that I have a particular interest in.

I want to sound you on your platform emphasis sooner or later. Your name sounds familiar, but everybody in Tampa seems to be named Spoto or Fernandez. I would be interested in seeing a copy of your curriculum vitae. Please send me one if you have it.

You are sure to get an interview with a reporter from the Times and Tribune. If you will email me when, I will try to drive over from the beach where I now live after 20 years in Beach Park when our children were growing up.

My husband was mayor in our little beach town of Madeira Beach until he retired after a dozen years, being unable to stand the bickering any more. I am grateful that anyone will consent to run for public office so wretched is the job it seems to me.

But run people do. And for some malignant reason, those running for the school board are inevitably the jerks of the political pool and remain on the board until they fossilize into potted plants.

I hope you are a benign exception, sir.

lee drury de cesare