A political bloodbath in Moore County
If you thought the decision by Pat McCrory, Dan Forest, Thom Tillis, Richard Burr and the rest to endorse Craig Collins for NCGOP chairman was the biggest political miscalculation of the year, you haven’t kept up with the drama around the school board in Moore County. An early morning coup orchestrated by a faction of the board and some key school administrators — that led to the firing of the Moore County schools superintendent — has brought out the torches and pitchforks like we haven’t seen them since the rise of the Tea Party movement in 2009.
Three of the school board members who voted to fire the superintendent — Kathy Farren, Sue Black, and Ben Cameron — have all resigned their seats on the board. (Activists are still working on obtaining resignations from the remaining two.)
State Rep. Jamie Boles helped obtain a temporary restraining order keeping the board from hiring an interim superintendent. Boles is also working with Senator Jerry Tillman to get some legislation passed that addresses the recall of school board members.
Our local media — for far too long — has simply published press releases from the school system, or downplayed a lot of the system’s important work. Keeping the people in the dark only works for so long. This issue — arrogant overpaid bureaucrats flexing their muscle to trump the will of the voters — was something people could wrap their heads around. And boy have they.
The lesson here? Pay attention BEFORE, DURING, and AFTER the election. The driveby traditional media cannot be counted on to keep watch for you.
Politicians tend to behave and do the right thing when they believe the pitchforks and burning torches crowd is right around the corner. They — and the bureaucrats — work for US. We need to ensure they never, never, never again forget this.
Hope this is the beginning of Rep Boles talking a tougher stance in Raleigh. This is the kind of leadership we need in the State especially with this budget nonsense.
Brent, glad this occurred in your backyard and the facts are clear. You do a great job for us all…and should have a very interesting next couple of weeks. Folks have to understand that you don’t change an imbedded culture 3 or 4 percent at a time. To re-invent you have to have what is often called a “shake-up”. That’s what took place this afternoon and sets the stage for 2016 on all levels of government. We can’t change the culture by returning the same players to governance as many of them appear to be the problem
Great post, Carl! BIG win for us yesterday and it’s only the beginning. Seems to be happening in several places at once. Time to clean house perhaps?
I, too, was glad to see Rep. Boles step up to the plate on this issue. This whole mess was nothing more than dirty, “good old boy” politics. The board members received exactly what they deserved and I only hope the remaining two holdouts will see the good sense in resigning and walking away. Now let’s see this kind of outrage over the actions of some of our other politicians. Renee Ellmers is the first to come to mind!
Boles is a good man. He has his ear to the ground and he is listening to the voters in his district. He is representing them, not the “king makers.” Renee Ellmers, Dee Stewart and the establishment crowd are hearing the bells toll this week. We need more people like Dan Forest, Jim Duncan, and Jamie Boles to lead our party. They are the future of our party. Do you hear that sound?? The people are rising up and the revolution has begun. Take back your party Republicans!
“The driveby traditional media cannot be counted on to keep watch for you.”
Brant, We will disagree on many things, but I’m stunned that you, in this case, still can’t credit The Pilot’s staff and its near constant postings on social media, its website and paper to keep the people of Moore County informed on this. It might suit your strategy to knock traditional media, and you’re welcome to that opinion. You’re just not welcome to your own facts. A more independent evaluation can be found at http://rantnc.com/2015/06/05/moore-county-is-burning-but-its-paper-isnt/ — John Nagy, editor of The Pilot
Independent? From the former editor of the Sanford Herald? (And surely a friend / ex-colleague of you and your publisher)
Once in a blue moon, I’ll read something in your pages that I didn’t already know. But usually, cover to cover, you’re a five minute read.
I understand you — like many other drivebys — have limited newsroom resources. But a twice weekly paper that barely scratches the surface on a lot of important issues — and tends to pay attention to only half of its home county — is not going to cut it in the digital era with a public demanding in-depth, regularly updated news.
John, are you kidding? The Pilot for years has been the hind leg on the news dog. Sure, you are given all kinds of awards by your other liberal news friends across the state, but earning them is not what you or the Pilot do. The founding fathers included in the Bill of Rights the 1st Amendment so that newspapers could print the truth about what was going on. All I see most of the time in your paper are the memos from the democratic party about their view on things. Long gone are the true reporters that went out and dug up stories and then found the truth. They printed both side and let the people decide. Your paper has few if any Conservative writers (not reporters, writers.). How about increasing the size of your paper so that you can start reporting real news that affects us in NC. Where does The Pilot satnd on SECRET trade deals where the people are not going to be allowed to know what was in the deal until 4 years after it passes. Where is the Pilot and all other news media on this SECRET deal. If it was a republican president hiding behind closed doors you would be all over it. How are the citizens going to know in the next election how to vote if we do not know what our representatives voted for. Do they even know? Grow a spine and start taking on your own officials. Hold their feet to the fire.
I heard that one part of the bill that had nothing to do with trade was to put all news papers under the control of George Soros’ companies. Bet you didn’t know that. Oh wait, nobody knows if that is true because NOBODY knows what is in the bill.
The reason there was such an uproar over the decision of the gang of 5 is that it was NOT political. Folks from all groups, ages, and sections of the community joined together in a NON partisan voice to object to the firing of our superintendent. Rep. Boles joined with other community leaders conservative, liberal, moderate and independent to address this. To insinuate that it was done by one party or group is wrong. Folks joined together in one voice, a non partisan voice to approach it. The moment one group hijacks this movement is the moment it will fall apart. This is a morale issue, not a political one. Those who voted to fire the superintendent did so for selfish reasons, not political.
Jamie Boles’ new nickname is Jamie Balls, since it took some big ones to do what he did. Now all we need are 2 more board members – and a good handful of central office staff – to go. Get rid of all the snakes.