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12-12-2001 Clearing the Air Dear Political Diary, I stewed about last night's meeting anew while I read today's news story about it. I hope Laura gets over Eileen's defeat. Bashing me every month will not change the election's outcome. In November Laura decried my use of a metaphor which she found too vivid and swooned when I equated our budgeting task with that of an executioner. I'm sure she's assigned reading for her students with similar figures of speech. Last night she tried to shut me up by closing debate off when I suggested we needed to close a high school. Though not referred to in the story that's what had gotten my goat. Four years ago Laura complained bitterly every time George Balach got fed up with the incessant debates over Edison and tried to cut them off. She and Eileen even complained aboaut this past treatment in this year's reelection campaigns. Yet Laura is now following George's example. Gee whiz! I only mentioned closing high schools twice and the discussion barely took up five minutes of our deliberation. So I called Dorothy, our chair, this morning to register a complaint. Dorothy was her usual sunny self when I said hello. I like that about Dorothy. After a little chit chat I got down to brass tacks and told her I didn't like it when she put the motion to close debate up for a vote. Dorothy got a little defensive and tried to shrug it off by saying the motion hadn't gone anywhere. This was true but only because I wrapped up my comments quickly after expressing my irritation with the motion. The conversation lightened up after this and we chatted a little more about other matters. Dorothy told me that she had had enough of the chairmanship and would be glad to be rid of it. I don't blame her. It could be a very unpleasant year to be the Board Chairman. I burned out after just four months of it in 1998. The selection of the chairmanship is a funny business. Since before I was elected to the Board a tradition has developed where no one campaigns for the position until weeks or even days before the Board convenes in January to reorganize. Being too ambitious tends to turn other board members off.
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