Hypocritical Consensus by Lewis Guignard
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In 2002, the bonds passed 63-to-37 percent, a substantial change from the previous two margins. Yet again, those on the winning side expressed no concern for those on the losing side. They had won and that’s all they cared about. If they cared about consensus and those who had voted against the bonds they would have gone into Coulwood, Oakdale, Mint Hill, Berryhill and the other precincts where a majority of the voters had said “no†and asked about their concerns. They did not.
Which leads us to November of this year, when the “no†voters gained 20 percent in the polls and defeated the school bonds. This is extraordinary and cries out about the problems the voters have with CMS.
The bond supporters are stunned. Having never cared about those who expressed concern about issues personal to themselves, because all they wanted was 51 percent of the vote, they are surprised their arrogance has caused such wreckage.
Suddenly, bond supporters, on the losing side for a change, say they care about those opposing the bonds, who are on the winning side for a change. The supporters want consensus, compromise, yet the naysayers can leave the county if they don’t like the higher taxes. There is consensus only in their arrogance.
Let me assure you all. Board of Education Chairman Joe White does not care about consensus or resolving the issues, his is a mantra from coaching that has only to do with winning. His words upon learning of the failed bond vote indicate his position. White, and others of the same ilk, only care about winning. They are only interested in 51 percent; when they get it, talk of consensus and compromise disappear.
There is a similar attitude in the people who support the bonds and the losers on the arena vote, because they are the same people. They don’t really care what the voters say; they care only about taking the voters’ money.
My prediction is there will be much talk and nothing will change, which has been the history of CMS since 1970. In no uncertain terms, education is not the purpose of the CMS bureaucracy, as the culture of bureaucracy in control there is concerned only with self-preservation. As this culture is perpetuated through quiet approval by the Board of Education and the Board of County Commissioners, there is no reason to change.
A “no†vote is only a bump in the road to them – much as the arena vote was. Expect higher taxes and no real change in policy.