Blame for the media
“Half isn’t enough,” John Matthews, the head of Madison Teachers Inc., was saying shortly after Marj Passman conceded her school board loss to Maya Cole and Beth Moss claimed victory Tuesday night at Fyfe’s.
Matthews, whose union played a key role in both candidates’ races, says Passman’s victory was needed to provide a greater push for the Legislature to increase school funding.
Thoughts?
3 thoughts on “MTI points to inadequate coverage as a reason for Passman’s defeat”
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I’ll ignore all his whining about the press, and ask a more pertinent question: Why was Maya able to beat Marj even though she was outspent by more than 2-1? Might there be a lesson here? Perhaps our District can find creative ways to be successful that don’t simply rely on throwing more money at the problem?
And speaking of money, given that the District has been struggling with revenue caps for more than 10 years, I don’t see how Marj Passman’s election was “needed to provide a greater push for the Legislature to increase school funding.” What were the MTI dominated Boards of years past waiting for? Why weren’t they doing that pushing on the State government five or more years ago?
First, let me congratulate the winners, Maya, Beth and Johnny. I hope you will all be open to listening to the entire community. No one has a lock on caring most about what happens to our children.
As to MTI Matthews’ comments, when I first saw a post on the Isthmus forum this morning, I thought it might be over the top, but reading the link Jim Zellmer provided here, I now suspect that poster was accurate:
http://www.thedailypage.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=20663
“John Matthews is doing a terrible disservice to Madison’s teachers. Today he’s on the radio saying Maya Cole has “connections to Karl Rove.”
Mr. backhanded, slimy politics, Matthews that is, is a little sore over his loss last night. The teachers need an honest, credible representative. They sure don’t have it right now.”
The media is not to blame. The media cannot logically shoulder the “blame” for two opposite results: one MTI candidate won, one MTI candidate lost.
Voters made a choice between two very clear messages. Marj opened every forum and started nearly every answer with “I’m a teacher with 28 years of experience. You need me on the board.” Maya opened every forum and started nearly every answer with “I’ll think outside the box. We need innovation, not business as usual.”
Ironically, failing to learn any lesson from the voters’ choice and gain any insight into why conservatives would support a progressive amounts to more business as usual.