Insurance and Building Contracts in Connecticut
Submitted by Aldon Hynes on Thu, 09/06/2007 - 13:53News reports out of New Jersey are talking about twelve people arrested for taking bribes “from companies that offered insurance and roofing services to school districts and municipalities”. The arrests included the chair of the Pleasantville school board, another school board member and three former school board members.
In the Avery Doninger case, people have been quick to point out that some of the costs of defending Superintendent Schwartz and Principal Niehoff have been picked up by the insurance company, Massamont Insurance. Regular readers will recall that on August 23rd I sent this letter to Massamont Insurance. I have not received a reply from them.
As I look at the coming Board of Education elections in Burlington, I note that two of the Republican candidates, Phillip Penn, and Jeanne Doerr work in the insurance industry.
While Region 10 Superintendent Paula Schwartz came to Burlington from being Principal at Summit High School in New Jersey, which saw a “$22 million capital improvement project for the high school” while she was there, I have seen no evidence of corruption regarding insurance or building contracts in Region 10. Afterall, Region 10 as well as Summit High School are in wealthy communities. Pleasantville is a poorer community just outside of Atlantic City.
However, my father-in-law, a retired special agent for the U.S. Treasury Department was part of the Tri-Town Amity Investigation Committee back in 2001. I have not yet read the report of that committee, but it does seem that wealthy communities in Connecticut also are worth investigating.
So, if I were a taxpayer in Burlington, CT, I would be asking a lot of very serious questions about building and insurance contracts of all the Board of Education candidates for this November’s election.
A celebration of local politics
Submitted by Aldon Hynes on Thu, 09/06/2007 - 09:53Last night, the Shoreline League of Democratic Women (SLDW) sponsored a "Democratic Campaign Mall”. It was a celebration of local politics, with a special emphasis on women entering local politics.
The first hour of the event was provided attendees to mingle and find out about people running for local office as well as visit tables set up supporting five of the Presidential candidates. At least three Board of Education candidates were there, including Joan Johanson of Clinton, David A. Stevenson of Bethel and Matt Cooper of Essex. Matt’s wife is due any moment and I didn’t get a chance to speak with him. However, I did get a brief chance to speak with both Joan and David.
Neither had been following the Avery Doninger case closely, but they had both heard of it and knew the general issues. As such they didn’t have any specific comments about the case other than generally upholding freedom of speech, particularly when the speech takes place away from school grounds.
In other discussions during this period, one educator commented about how school superintendents around the state spend inordinate amounts of time speaking with their lawyers and another person noted that schools, particular at the high school view any contact from parents as disruptive. Perhaps if they viewed contact with parents as an important part of their job they would need to spend less taxpayer money on lawyers.
A weird confluence of ripples of hope
Submitted by Aldon Hynes on Wed, 09/05/2007 - 09:31It is not uncommon for certain Connecticut politicians to boast of being bipartisan. Yet too often they use this as a justification for ill thought out policies. Because of this, bipartisanism has a pretty bad name around these parts and I’ve been on mailing lists where people are encouraged not to link to conservatives.
Yet recently, because of my interest in the Avery Doninger case, I’ve found myself in strange company. You see, there are a lot of good conservatives who are fierce defenders of our constitutional rights.
Recently, Greg from Rhymes with Right and I exchanged emails and links. Greg lists himself as a ‘Proud member of The Conservative Blog Network’ and has a ‘Blogs for Bush Blogroll’ and a ‘GOP Bloggers Blogroll’. In an email, he describes himself as a GOP precinct chair who is married to a Democrat. While we may differ on parties and politicians that we support, we both have a commitment to using our freedom of speech to help our country be what we believe it should be.
Judy Aron of Consent Of The Governed left a comment on Greg’s blog saying, “Schools regulating what you can say and do off campus or on the Internet? Well, looks to me as another really good reason to homeschool.” She quotes Ronald Reagan on her website and includes the John Birch Society in her list of “Other Websites of Interest”. There may be a lot of things we disagree on, but her comment, “As far as I am concerned we are in this together fighting abuse of authority,” sums up the sort of bipartisanship that I am glad to be part of.
Perhaps the most interesting connection I’ve through this, however is with Leslie Graves, a libertarian from Wisconsin. Her blog, State Sunshine and Open Records has provided great coverage of the Doninger case and has named Andy Thibault of Cool Justice the Sunshine Troublemaker of the Week for his work in uncovering information related to the Doninger case. She also has WikiFOIA, a valuable site to help “people understand and use the Freedom of Information Act at the state and local level”.
This morning, I visited her website and found that one of the next candidates for Troublemaker of the Week is Charlie Grapski. Charlie is an old friend of mine, who has been battling corruption in Alachua for several years now. For more about Charlie, read this post.
All of this takes me back to the Doninger case. In one email, Lauren Doninger wrote, "I realize that the affront to Avery's civil liberties was miniscule". Compared to the affront to Charlie’s civil liberties, it is miniscule. I responded to Lauren with a quote that ties it all together, and why I am glad to link to conservatives and libertarians that are “fighting abuse of authority”.
"Each time a man stands up for an ideal, or acts to improve the lot of others, or strikes out against injustice, he sends forth a tiny ripple of hope, and crossing each other from a million different centers of energy and daring, those ripples build a current that can sweep down the mightiest walls of oppression and resistance."
- Robert F. Kennedy
Board of Education Elections Matter
Submitted by Aldon Hynes on Wed, 09/05/2007 - 07:36This evening, there is a “back to school” fundraiser for the West Hartford, CT Democratic Board of Education candidates.
When is the last time you helped with a Board of Education campaign, or attended a Board of Education meeting in your area? Unless you are very involved politically, or live in an area where the Board of Education is arguing whether science can be taught in school, the odds are, you haven’t paid a lot of attention to what is going on in your Board of Education.
Yet Board of Education Elections can matter a lot. On the simplest level it is a great way for people to get involved with their communities and with politics. People often start off on Boards of Education before moving on to higher offices.
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"That’s Lauren Doninger, she’s a good mom"
Submitted by Aldon Hynes on Tue, 09/04/2007 - 17:01Today, I set up a Facebook group, Team Avery to get more people informed about Avery’s case, and hopefully to get more people to contribute to the Defend Free Speech site. If you’re on Facebook, please join the group and get your friends to join.
One person wrote,
Agh. This is infuriating. Yet another example of how not to win hearts and minds. Take away Free Speech to protect it -- how Orwellian.
I'm teaching my grade school kids tonight how to spell the word "douchebag", and the appropriate usage, along with how to tell someone to "piss off". And then I'm going to give them a writing assignment using those words. You go, Avery.
On WTIC, a local talk radio station, Lauren Doninger, Avery’s mother, spoke with Colin McEnroe. I missed the beginning of it, but I did hear her talk about the importance of the case, pointing out that “Rights get eroded slowly at the local level.” Colin ended the call noting, “That’s Lauren Doninger, she’s a good mom.”
