Well, I'm close to making a decision regarding my first campaign. My biography on my website has mentioned my intention to run for office since about 1999. I've long been interested in running for Fairfax County School Board. The question is, shall I run against my own district board member, or pursue one of the At Large seats? The entire Board is up for re-election in 2007.
On one hand, running for an At-Large seat would require a much larger number of votes and county-wide campaigning – more money and time required. Of course, my last name comes with a bit of recognition as another Landrith (distant cousin) has a high profile in GOP circles here. That could work in my favor.
Running against my own member would require a fraction of the votes necessary to win an At Large seat, but the incumbent (assuming he runs again) would most certainly get the endorsement of the local Democratic Committee again. Fairfax County School Board seats are non-partisan, but candidates do receive endorsements from political parties. I assume I could wrangle an endorsement out of the local LP for starters.
I've got to make up my mind which way to go and then get busy. Either way, I'll prominently mention the DFC and the Freedom Democrats on my campaign website.
Your thoughts?
What are the types of issues that typically come up in these races?
No Child Left Behind
Classroom density
New construction
Zero tolerance insanity
School violence
Mandatory drug testing for extra-curricular activities
State-wide academic testing
Breakfast/Lunch for students of poorer families
Federal and State compliance issues
Evolution vs. Creationism vs. Flying Spaghetti Monster
11/13/2006 22:35:00
I would think that in Fairfax County, the public would tilt toward the left on almost all of the major issues. Are there typically actual close contests that polarize the community?
A few years back some of the more extreme right wing “evolution is just a theory, creation is the truth, ya’ll are going to Hell” types were defeated in a nasty election cycle. There is one more individual on the Board that should be bounced in my opinion – an At Large member who thinks that anti-homosexual ministries should be brought into the classrooms to indoctrinate students in the “truth.” Some members lean harder left, some are moderate, one is a full-blown wingnut.
Anything involving money and funding has the potential to blow up into a controversy.
11/13/2006 22:51:00
How many At Large Members are there, and are they selected just based on the top X finishers?
There are three At-Large members, taken off the top of the of the results.
11/13/2006 22:55:00
I don’t have specific advice, but this is what I would look at:
1) Where is there the least competition? Which incumbents are most vulnerable? The 3 member at-large system sounds like a semi-proportional representation system (assuming each voter gets one vote, not three).
2) Where is your support? Are you involved in neighborhood groups? Do you have a network of friends and colleagues that are spread out around the county? Do you have a reputation in terms of school board issues (have you been involved in school organizations like PTA, or have you been a teacher)? Do you have the support of anyone with that sort of authority? Do you think that you could get the Dem Committee endorsement for the at-large seat?
I don’t expect a response on these questions, they are just suggestions of things to consider before running.
FWIW, if I ever run for office, it will probably be school board. I\’m an educator (as an academic scientist) and have friends/family who are experts on education. As I understand the situation (at least in Pittsburgh), one of the major problems is that the teacher’s union insists on the mythology that “all teachers are equal”. This means that the school system won’t raise the wage for science/math teachers in order to compete with all the alternatives that exist for workers with science/math training. The school also won’t reward effective teachers.