Back in 1989 or 91 Barb was widely expected to run for the school board. She had been a particularly fierce supporter (as I was) of a huge $55 million building plan for the Duluth schools that was put up for a vote in a bond referendum. That bond failed and its supporters were furious with the people who had voted against it. Many of them have been waiting for a second crack at a big school building project and they have been the greatest defenders of letting the ever evolving Red Plan proceed without a vote. They are the ones who keep repeating the mantra that school board members were elected to make these decisions even though this is not true in any other Minnesota city.
After the failure the bond that was touted by some as the biggest bond in Minnesota history (Its since been dwarfed by the Red Plan which is about three times more costly after inflation, Barb never filed.
After the election without Barb as a school board candidate a successful candidate told me a story which he seemed to be passing on with good authority. A prominent female supporter of the pro-referendum campaign had been stopped by police late at night during the election. She had reportedly been dressed in black, Viet Cong style, as was a child she had brought along with her. They were sneaking into the lawns of people with “vote no” lawnsigns and were stealing them.
One anti-bond voter, who may have already lost a few “vote no” lawnsigns, was keeping her eye peeled for miscreants who might steal yet another sign. When the thief struck she was reported so swiftly that she and her child were caught despite their stealth. It appears that Barb is no more troubled by the theft of our right to vote than the thief was of snuffing out a voter’s First Amendment right to express herself.
Barb’s letter today ridicules the minority members of the School Board who she disagrees with but that’s very easy to do as anyone who has read my blog knows. Filing for office and getting elected is much harder work. Its too bad Barb never ran for the office to appreciate that fact.
