The Tri-City Herald Editorial Board Endorses the Wrong Candidate -- So what's new?

 

I'm disappointed with, and frankly puzzled by the Herald's recommendation of Gabe Galbraith for the Kennewick school board. Members of the Herald Editorial Board stated that, "Even though we don’t agree with some of Galbraith’s complaints against the school district, we believe he represents a voice that is needed on the board." That's a voice that said, "enough is enough" and "it's time to fight back," about keeping kids out of school during a pandemic that's killed almost 700,000 so far, including over thirty thousand in Benton County.

Galbraith wants kids in school, and he wants them there without masks, because "it's difficult to breathe wearing a mask" during recess. The Herald’s view of the mask mandate was made very clear in an August 27th editorial headlined, “Franklin Commissioner Clint Didier’s anti-mask stunt was an embarrassing misuse of power.”

Galbraith’s other issues are the teaching of Critical Race Theory (CRT), and sex education. CRT isn’t taught, but that doesn’t stop Galbraith from stating that he “opposes it 100%.” Here again, the Tri-City Herald Editorial Board penned a June 21st op-ed that stated unequivocally, “Contrary to a surge of misinformation online, there is no new law requiring Washington state public schools to adopt the controversial “critical race theory” curriculum. This point needs to be made clear.”

Kennewick school districts are required to adopt a sex education curriculum that meets state standards. Galbraith is dead-set against this, too, stating that sex education should be taught in the home. The fact is, parents may have their kids opt out of the school sex ed program. Another non-issue that Galbraith is running on.

Galbraith has also come out against the “teachers union,” which he said his wife quit. The  Kennewick Education Association, “works for the welfare of school children, the advancement of public education, and the improvement of instructional opportunities for all.” It’s essential that anyone serving on the school board work effectively with the teachers’ union, whether or not one agrees with all their positions.

What Galbraith didn’t address was the dismal “report card” the Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction (OSPI) gives Kennewick schools. For example, only a third of students meet science standards, and just 41.8% meet math standards. Wouldn’t it be useful to have on the school board a person who is “passionate about science and math;” a person who “double majored in math and physics;” a person who taught science and math to 1st and 2nd graders, and continues to teach ‘children of all ages’ about the wonders of the universe at the Bechtel National Planetarium at CBC? A person like Erin Steinert?

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What's particularly troubling about the Herald Editorial Board's recommendation is how it reflects the ignorance of the Board about how the Republican Party is purposely misrepresenting Critical Race Theory as an ideological gambit by liberals to "indoctrinate" Americans into hating the White race, even their own. According to an article in Politico;

Parents in many places have organized Facebook groups calling for schools to expunge specific diversity-oriented curricula or any elected official backing it. Some of those groups have spawned new candidates — sometimes long before a race.

 As Politico wrote,

 Historically, school boards have been largely nonpartisan. But as interest in the races spiked this year, some candidates began to sound more like Fox News commentators than school board members of the past.

The Republican Party is using CRT as a ploy to 1) energize their base and get more Republican voters to the polls, 2) get Republicans running for local office to build their resume for runs at state and federal office, and 3) get the faithful to be more generous in their donations to the GOP.

Democrats at the local level seem slow to respond, surprised perhaps that the Republican apparatchik have so blatantly and aggressively turned public service into weaponized voluntarism. In off-year elections, when voter turnout struggles to reach 30%, shrugging off the RNC's faux outrage as temporary insanity is a formula for an epic failure. 

Voters of the Kennewick School District Have a Choice Between Conservative Demagoguery and Progress on the Real Issues Impacting their Schools

Southridge High School, Kennewick

 

In my view, the results of the school board elections reflect some of the more controversial political themes promoted by Republicans broadly as we move towards 2022 midterms, i.e., critical race theory (CRT), and mask policy. In our region, sex education is also a sore spot for our conservative community. Voters paying attention -- and apparently not many are (more on that later) -- will have seen that these themes have resonated with Benton County voters.

 I was interested to read that the school board forum planning committee for Prosser took matters into their own hands in curating questions to submit to candidates. They wrote:

"The forum planning committee received two questions asking about Critical Race Theory (CRT). The moderator and committee did not submit these to the candidates because of the widespread misinformation surrounding this topic. Critical Race Theory is not being taught in Prosser School District; it is not the same as the Diversity Legislation that was passed by the state. CRT does not pertain to the current issues in Prosser School District.”

The fact that Critical Race Theory isn't being taught in K-12 schools hasn't stopped Rep. Dan Newhouse from taking every opportunity to rail against it, even co-sponsoring legislation to prevent it.

 

Kennewick District 17 Board candidates receiving the greatest share of votes were Micah Valentine for Director 1, and Gabe Galbraith for 2. Both ran on opposing mask mandates, CRT, and sex ed. Both are endorsed by the Benton County Republican Party (despite these offices ostensibly being “non-partisan”). Mike Massey, who’s the BCRP Chair donated $300 to Valentine’s campaign.

Valentine has a slick website that says more about his religion (LDS) and adventures than his vision for Kennewick schools. But my main question for Micah is, where did he get the money to pay for this website by Ascent Marketing and Consulting, the principal owner of which is Micah Valentine? It isn’t reflected in his PDC report expenditures. In addition to his slick website, Valentine has a campaign Instagram account (“vote.valentine”), with 4.573 followers.

 

Valentine received 1939 more votes than Scott E. Rodgers. Rodgers is an attorney at Rodriguez Interiano Hanson & Rodgers PLLC, and a Medical Commissioner for Washington State Medical Commission. If Rodgers has a campaign website, I can't find it. He is on Linkedin as a professional with the law firm.

 

Galbraith’s website is much less polished and might have been created in-house (by he or his wife/daughters). He also has a campaign Facebook page, and a campaign Instagram account (“vote_galbraith”). Galbraith filed with PDC as a “mini filer,” so is not required to report contributions or expenditures.

The turnout for this primary followed precedent for prior off-year primary elections, i.e., it was pitiful — 34% for Benton County overall. Of the 46,606 registered voters in Kennewick, 17,633 voted in the election for Director No. 2, a turn out of 39%.

 

Galbraith received 1,116 more votes than Erin Steinert, an educator and scientist, and the Director of the Bechtel National Planetarium at CBC.

Going forward, Galbraith, Steinert, Valentine, and Rodgers will be on the General Ballot.

If trends hold, the turnout for the General Election will be higher than the Primary; in Benton County the Primary turnout in 2019 was 22.1% and the turnout for the General was 39.6%.

One can assume that increased turnout following precedent will fall along the same partisan split, i.e., our more Progressive candidates won’t gain from an increased turnout because it will reflect the same split. Therefore, Progressive candidates will have to turnout more Progressive voters.

 

I frankly don't know if talking about the real issues facing Kennewick Schools will sway a majority of voters in our district, but if you want to see what they are, the OSPI "report card" shown below will give you an eye-opening snapshot.