I just got a call to listen in and participate in a live forum hosted by Stand for Children. The Tacoma branch is hosting Dexter Gordon and Karen Vialle in a chat. They didn't invite Scott Heinze or, I presume, Kim Washington.
I listened long enough to hear the same rhetoric I've been hearing for months. The insidious part is that this looks and sounds like a forum for candidates. You join the conversation after it has started, so you don't hear anything about rationale or ground rules. So, I'm wondering the whole time, 'I bet Scott wasn't invited. This is a campaign event dressed up as a public forum.' So I checked with Scott...sure enough, he wasn't invited.
Nice work on Stand's part...for a political campaign. Not so nice for rebuilding the trust the candidates so adamantly insist they'd rebuild (that was the question I listened to).
These are very politicized people. Tacoma Stand has aligned itself with Vibrant Schools Tacoma--an organization that aggressively pushes an unproven agenda of school reform. (You have to read all the way through this to see all the connections.)
Disappointing to see the process distorted in this way. I want to stop short of saying that I'm not sure why I should trust these two candidates when they participate in this deceptive campaign activity....I'm working hard at it.
The whole thing kind of reminds me of when the TEA didn't even call me to participate in their endorsement interview process last summer.
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