(photo courtesy of Express-Times http://www.lehighvalleylive.com)
Millie Mandarino, incumbent school board member (far left in first photo) is cousin to Sandra
Millie Mandarino, incumbent school board member (far left in first photo) is cousin to Sandra
Vulcano (pink shirt in 2nd photo). Sandra's husband Pat (spotted tie in 2nd photo) is also on
the school board and Michelle Vulcano Hall (far right, 2nd photo) is a teacher
without certification, suing the school district for discrimination. Sandra Vulcano
is an City Council member and Chair of the Easton Democratic Committee.
Posted by: Noël Jones
Samantha Marcus of The Morning Call reports that Millie Mandarino is upset, because a technicality that would have insured her re-election to our school board without even trying has been eliminated. Now she has to actually campaign, like everyone else. Easton city councilwoman, Sandra Vulcano is crying
foul:
"You're penalizing someone that did it correctly, who has the proof she did it correctly," Easton Area Democratic Committee Chairwoman Sandra Vulcano said. "And now they're disenfranchising her from having a seat on the board."
The article does not mention that Millie Mandarino and Sandra Vulcano are cousins. But it kind of makes sense that Millie felt entitled to win unopposed, considering Pat Vulcano sailed into re-election last year because no one ran against him, and the Vulcano's daughter, Michelle, feels entitled to a teaching job without certification, and is suing the school district (in other words, us, the taxpayers) to get it.
Posts
11 comments:
I pray that there is no doubt that this public teat sucking extended family needs to be shown the door when they next appear on the ballot for re-election. The problem is, sadly, motivating enough qualified voters to go to the polls to vote for an alternative.
Mayor Panto has, all in all, done a fine job. He is not perfect, but it's very clear that he goes to work everyday putting Easton first on his agenda, not self promotion or pushing for jobs for his family. I would be interested in seeing who he supports for School Board and Council. After all, the decisions the School Board vote on have a strong impact on Easton citizens.
We need to educate the voters what is at stake for their wallets as well as their children.
If you don't want a candidate to run unopposed, then run yourself or find another candidate to encourage. Politics is work, so if you care, get involved. If you don't, you have no right to whine.
beths makes a good point--one that has been expressed on this blog more than once--but one thing to remember is that people have various talents and contribute in different ways. it is entirely possible to recognize that someone is or isn't doing a good job in elected office without thinking that the best candidate for the job is one's self. not everyone is a politician.
but if we do not feel like the best candidates ourselves, it is important that we are always on the hunt for good potential candidates in our community that would be well-suited to the job.
A more interesting and much more important point that someone should have taken the time to look at is the overall incompetence of our County Elections Office staff. Even if you recruit new people to run for office they end up getting so much bad information from the people there, that they make mistakes on their paperwork and it ruins their chance to run. The Vulcanos aren't half as interesting as the fact that the supposed "experts" on election law and procedure at the county aren't nearly as expert as they should be.
This is a problem...in general I have also found the voters registration office to be incredibly reticent to help anyone making new inquiries as to how to register or go about getting a petition filled.
Anon 1:48 -
Mistakes on paperwork don't come from election office folks. Mistakes come from candidates and circulators not reading the rules that are clearly printed on the petitions. Don't be lazy and expect to be spoon-fed...read the rules! If you are too lazy to learn the rules, I don't want you in office.
Anon 1:48 sounds like a disgruntled school board or mayor wannabe.
tachitup: you write with great certitude despite your casual familiarity with facts. It's easy to criticize without checking into the facts, but then don't complain about who gets into office [unopposed] when that's all you do.
Noel -- for someone who doesn't want her blog to be used for personal attacks, you appear to harbor some major vendettas. You've been distracted by a sideshow from asking some truly important and insightful questions:
How is it that with so much discontent with the School Board, only one candidate filed for a seat with a commitment of only two years?
Did the elections office have an accurate list of offices and terms available by the first day to circulate petitions?
Did elections office staff give consistently accurate information about what offices/terms were available? Was such information published in a consistent manner?
Does Spadoni (the soliciter) or the EASD have the authority to spontaneously change what offices or terms are available long after the deadline for challenging petitions or withdrawing from the ballot has passed? Did he or the EASD exercise due diligence by requesting the courts to approve such a change from what was previously advertised?
Who loses out from the bumbling ineptitude throughout this debacle? Perhaps the voters of Palmer, who could have had a number of choices for a seat that they'd be able to re-evaluate in just two years?
Thanks anon! So many great points. Too bad these things get overlooked when you focus on personalities.
Anon 1:51 -
Your attacks at tachitup and Noel don't seem to make any sense. You don't explain what they're doing wrong. They seem to make sense to me and have stated their positions pretty clearly. What is wrong with what they said?
Anon at 9:18....actually the post is pretty clear. Maybe read it again? The point is there is a bigger problem than the Vulcano family and it is affecting all of us whether we are aware of it or not.
Good discussion everyone, but this is precisely why I would REALLY LOVE IT if everyone who wants to post anonymously would take a MONIKER--it will be so much easier to follow the threads and know which voices are interacting in a discussion like this. we don't need to know who you really are, but it would great to know that Anon 1, 4 and 7 are all the same person (I am making these numbers up for the sake of an example).
It only takes a second and is every bit as anonymous as Anonymous.
think of it as a good excuse to finally use all those favorite imaginary band names you've made up over the years...
Post a Comment