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School Board Appointee Needs History

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By TOM JACKSON

tjackson@tampatrib.com

Published: March 18, 2009

Now the scramble for position begins. Posting up. Blocking out. Setting screens. Ah, March Madness - it's not just about the road to the Final Four anymore. With the announced resignation of Cathi Martin, it's also about finding someone to fill, appropriate to the season, the fifth spot on the Pasco County School Board roster.

Candidates abound, as candidates will, whenever the rare midterm seat that will be filled by appointment comes available. Time to see who thinks the governor or influential state senator owes him/her a favor. Time to dig into campaign contribution records and find out who may have recently switched their political party affiliation.

Time to see - at the risk of stretching a metaphor - who has been moving energetically without the ball. Such observations will help predict whether we'll see a Cinderella among the finalists.

That said, the line on the resume This Space would like to see stressed above all others, the quality that would identify otherwise attractive candidates as top seeds, is simply this: They stood for election in the past.

That is, they filed, qualified, campaigned, suffered loss of privacy, endured repetitive media interviews and the scrutiny of editorial boards, their name appeared on a ballot and they sweated out the returns on election night. Write-ins need not apply.

Shaped On The Election Anvil

We prefer, for assorted reasons, the prospect battle-toughened in the political arena over those sophisticated chin-strokers who declined armor's call. Topping the list: It's a political post.

The appointee will serve alongside four others - plus a superintendent - who have toiled in the unforgiving gristmill of the election season. They understand what it is to have your ideals, your plans, even your methods of presentation subjected to refinement in the furnace of an election. Campaigns are the hammer by which voters help shape the intuitive candidate who, having been publicly tempered, is more prepared to govern.

The new representative from District 3 would benefit from having that shared campaign experience. Plainly, that which benefits the newcomer benefits the board and the district.

Moreover, by dint of appointment, the newcomer will have received - the daunting treasure of incumbency - what others earned the old-fashioned way. Only if the eventual appointee agreed to serve simply as a placeholder, vowing not to seek election on his/her own, should an absence of previous election experience be forgiven.

Better Boost Your RPI

This Space concedes the likelihood of viable, possibly extremely viable candidates emerging who, for whatever reasons, could not summon the wherewithal to place themselves and their ideas before voters. Whatever those candidates' capabilities, however, the selection committee should regard that singular failure, not to mention their attempt to sneak into public office through a side door, with extreme prejudice.

When these otherwise superbly qualified candidates fail to land a seat at the school board dais, they will be welcome to earn their spot the old-fashioned way, as elaborately described above.

Think of it, on this eve of the 2009 NCAA men's basketball tournament, as improving your strength of schedule.

Keyword: The Jax Files, for Tom Jackson's blog.

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