Ernie Ricci sent a letter to Republicans stating, among other things, that the Committee for Education First pledged to run a clean campaign – no personal attacks. Yet in that very same letter, Mr. Ricci personally attacks family members of RCRT endorsed candidates Scott Suess for Montour School Board and Michael Malinsky for Robinson Township Commissioner.
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VOTE NOVEMBER 8
MALINSKY AND BROUKER
FOR ROBINSON TOWNSHIP COMMISSIONER
VOTE NOVEMBER 8
SUESS AND FAITH
FOR MONTOUR SCHOOL BOARD
VOTE for our endorsed candidates because they care about you, your children, and the future of the Montour School District and Robinson Township. They are focused on the issues, not personal attacks.
Who is Ernie Ricci? Mr. Ricci is the President of the Committee for Education First and apparently is unaware of what the terms “clean campaign” and “personal attacks” mean. He, like his partner Jack Earl, Treasurer of the Committee for Education First, like to attack the families of these candidates rather than let you know about the true issues about the School District and Township. Do you want to vote for candidates backed by these people?
Let’s set some things straight…RCRT was focused on the Township Board of Commissioners for the 2009 municipal election, the first election in which we were active given RCRT was only formed in 2008. Leading up to the 2011 elections, RCRT decided to identify candidates for both the School Board and Township Board, since there had been time to establish ourselves and our network. We decided to pursue the School Board before the Committee for Education First was formed, not after.
Yes, we refused to endorse Jay Richards for School Board for several reasons. First, at the time we met with him, he was a registered Democrat. Also, after some debate and given the turmoil in the School District regarding the high school renovations and the “discovered” $28 million, we decided to not endorse any incumbent School Board members. Finally, when we met with Mr. Richards, he commented to us that he would only be willing to serve 18 months of a 4 year term.
As for excluding Ernie Ricci and Colleen Lagree from RCRT events, this is true, but only for the reason of not wanting opponents of our endorsed candidates or their supporters around when we were discussing campaign strategy.
Robinson Township Commissioner Stephanie Triko personally approached Scott Suess and Michael Malinsky for the School Board and Township Commissioner positions. We later recruited Duane Faith for School Board and Jerry Brouker for Commissioner.
If the members of the Committee for Education First (Ernie Ricci, Lisa Worms, Jack Earl and Colleen Lagree) are so interested in the School Board, why did none of them pursue the School Board positions themselves?
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