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REPUBLICAN RUNDOWN
January 14, 2022
Vol. 2, No. 32
CHAIRMAN'S CORNER
Ken Raymond, Chairman
Who’s Responsible for the $16 million mistake?
Who’s responsible for the miscalculation by the Winston-Salem/Forsyth County School Administration that caused local teachers to receive a much smaller pay increase than expected this year?
That’s the $16 million question.
That was also one of the primary questions on my mind during last Tuesday night’s school board meeting. Another question was, how do we prevent this from every happening again?
Based upon news reports, it appeared as if some staff tried to spread the blame as far as possible including to the board members themselves. Repeatedly, the staff pointed out that it was the board members that approved of the increase, in December, implying that if the school board didn’t approve it, we wouldn’t be in this mess and the teachers would not have been misled.
I beg to differ. Part-time elected officials, such as the members of the school board, rely upon the competency and honesty of full-time staff. The board members have jobs and never claimed to have expertise in areas that qualifies them to personally review the work of full-time staff. Therefore, in most cases, elected officials go along with whatever the staff recommends.
Democrat board member Andrea Bramer certainly did her part to spread the blame even though she was quickly corrected. Bramer suggested that the employee responsible has been demoted. Perhaps she did this to calm the meeting room filled with angry local teachers. But in response to that statement, the district spokesman replied, “that information is not accurate.”
And surely Bramer must know, by now, that matters involving employees are discussed in closed session. So, did Bramer break the law, or did she lie? I think that the pressure got to her, and she got caught in a lie. And even if some mysterious low-level employee was responsible for this tremendous error, the employee shouldn’t be demoted—they should be fired.
That brings us back to the question: who’s responsible for this? Both board members and the staff expressed their deepest apologies during the meeting. But if an error of this magnitude can be made, in our local school system, and no one is held accountable then what assurance do teachers have that this won’t happen again?
I think the board members should begin by taking a hard look at Tricia McManus. She’s the superintendent and it’s her staff. So, the buck must stop and start with her.
Apologies are fine, but at the end of the day the teachers must have confidence in the system’s administrators. How can they have confidence in the administration, if the school board keeps everyone that was involved in a $16 million error?
Someone must be fired.
VICE CHAIRMAN'S CORNER
Harold Eustache, Vice Chairman
This week a bi-partisan, three judge panel ruled in a 260-page decision that the district lines drawn by the State Legislature were constitutional. While it was a long holding that laid out in detail the jurisprudential history leading up to the decision, it can be boiled down in the following ways.
1. The role of the Judiciary is to expound on and interpret the Constitution as written, not to create law.
The court makes clear that while it does not personally agree with the outcome of the proposed maps, it is not the role of the judiciary to usurp the legislature’s duty to draw them. The State Legislature has the constitutional duty to draw districts, even if the outcome is less than desirable to the court. It’s not the court’s role to overturn them purely based on personal opinion.
“Under our State Constitution, redistricting of Senate and House Districts is left to the General Assembly. As stated above, the drawing of congressional maps has been left to the discretion of state legislative bodies.” (P. 223)
2. It would be improper for the Court to interject itself into what is an inherently political process.
“In that redistricting is left to legislative bodies, bodies which are inherently political in nature, the United State Supreme Court has indicated that a State may engage in “constitutional political gerrymandering.” (P. 223)
Not only is it the role of the legislature to draw district lines, that role is inherently political. The political nature of the act itself “inevitably has and is intended to have substantial consequences”. Moreover, the court iterates that the outcome after redistricting of a partisan advantage to one side or another is not on its face unconstitutional.
3. The Plaintiff’s assertion that the legislature specifically targets black voters was not shown
The Court parses out the difference between a partisan advantage and racially gerrymandering. The Plaintiff’s make the argument that black voters are being targeted in redistricting lines because they are packed into various voting districts. The Court, correctly, holds that black voters are overwhelming Democrat, and while the Plaintiffs have shown that Democrat voters are at a disadvantage in these maps, they have not shown that the legislature specifically targeted black voters. While the Court’s reference to the Voting Rights Act and its ability to potentially make the Plaintiff’s argument stronger betokens ominous things to come on appeal; for now the Court held that unconstitutional racial gerrymandering was not proven by the Plaintiffs.
This case will be appealed to the NC Supreme Court, where Democrats hold a 4-3 majority. This fight is not over. Stay vigilant.
IMPORTANT PRECINCT ANNOUNCEMENTS
The precinct meeting scheduled for today, January 14th at 6:00pm HAS BEEN POSTPONED. We ill send out the new date and times once that has been rescheduled.
FCGOP IS RECRUITING ONE-STOP EARLY VOTING WORKERS
You can go ahead and volunteer for One-Stop Early Voting. You can work in shifts, working no more than 7 hours a day. Compensation is $12/hour and training will be provided by the Board of Elections.
Responsibilities include: checking in voters, issuing ballots, activating the ballot-marking device, managing the tabulator, reconciling the voter applications, and curbside voting. One-Stop Early Voting Workers assist with the tasks assigned by the site Lead, including the daily opening and closing process of the early voting site.
Please respond to [email protected] if you are interested in these part time positions. If you have questions, please call or text Pat (336.705.2359), Kathleen (336.407.9272), or Joan (336.671.0005).
WE NEED Republicans working at every Early Voting site.
*If you would like to serve as a Poll Observer during One-Stop Early Voting and work a 4 hour shift (volunteer only), please send an email to: [email protected]
CANDIDATE RECRUITMENT COMMITTEE
The candidate filing period has been halted. But, if you are already interested in running or would like to find out more information before committing, please email us at [email protected] . We have some great resources to share and we are looking forward to assisting you!
Kristin Schollander, Chair, Scott Cumbie, Ron Joyce, Christin McMasters, and David Singletary
FCGOP NEWS
Did you miss a Republican Rundown or want to get caught up on news through the week? Make sure to visit: https://forsyth.nc.gop/news
IMPORTANT DATES
| Ongoing |
Refreshments for Veterans
This meeting is held from 8:30-10:30 am on the 2nd, 3rd and 4th Wednesday morning of each month at the American Legion Post 55 on Miller Street in Winston-Salem.
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Chairman: Ken Raymond
Phone (336) 724-6000
Email: [email protected]
Website: http://forsyth.nc.gop
Twitter: https://twitter.com/fcncgop
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