County releases Board of Ed ballot lineup

Starting blocks are used in field-and-track events.
They are pressure-sensitive to prevent early starts,
and the speaker ensures all get the starting shot clearly.
(Image from Wikipedia.)

CORRECTION: Mr. Wyatt was inadvertently listed with the Mapp team's slogan; it has been corrected to reflect his alignment with the Campbell slate (a "cut and paste" error). Sorry -- Dan.

Union County Clerk Joanne Rajoppi released a proof of the November ballot on Thursday (September 27) to Municipal Clerk "AJ" Jalloh, including the lineup of the Plainfield Board of Ed candidates.

For the first time I can ever remember, slates of Board of Ed candidates will appear together.

(Dottie Gutenkauf and I managed school board campaigns for a variety of slates for about ten years after Plainfield became an elected school board many years ago. Not having candidates on a slate appear together was just the 'luck of the draw' in those days.)

Here's the lineup of candidates, with their slogans --

• 1-1 Harry Watson, Jr. (Putting Children First)
• 2-1 Rebecca Perkins (Accountable Budget-Based Caring)
• 3-1 Melba Mullins (#GetMad!)
• 3-2 Alma Blanco (#GetMad!)
• 3-3 David Graves (#GetMad!)
• 3-4 Dorien Hurtt -1-year unexpired term (#GetMad!)
• 4-1 Richard Wyatt (Children First Team)
• 4-2 John Campbell (Children First Team)
• 4-3 Emily Morgan (Children First Team)
• 4-4 Eric Andrews -1-year unexpired term (Children First Team)
• 5-1 Timothy Priano (Change The Game)

The Board of Ed candidates will appear in a separate horizontal box beneath the General (political) Election ballot.

The names will appear in five columns from left to right, with multiple names in the columns containing slates.

The "#GetMad!" slate is aligned with Mayor Adrian O. Mapp. The "Children First Team" slate is aligned with Republican "king maker" John Campbell. The other three candidates are running independently.

In a memo posted on his FaceBook page, PEA President Eric Jones noted an evident effort by former BOE President Wilma Campbell (wife of current BOE candidate John Campbell) to intimidate a PEA member who is a non-certified employee of the District to threaten that employee's job over her involvement in the PEA's screening process. See Jones' FaceBook memo and video here.

The Board of Education election is on the same day as the General Election, November 6.

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 -- Dan Damon [ follow ]

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