David Banks, Post 5
The Cobb County Republican Party has a longstanding tradition of upholding and aggressively supporting the principles of open and transparent government. As Republicans we believe that the only way to maintain the trust and integrity of our government and elected officials is to let the sunshine of openness continually sanitize their proceedings. Unfortunately at the recent swearing-in ceremony of the newly elected Republican members of the Cobb County School Board we saw demonstrated a complete contempt for those principles.
At the Cobb County School Board swearing in ceremony on Thursday, January 6, 2011, one Democrat and the three newly elected Republicans members (Democrat Ms. Alison Bartlett, Republicans Ms. Kathleen Angelucci, Mr. Scott Sweeney, and Mr. Tim Stultz), deliberately and covertly conspired to circumvent established protocol and convene a premature called Meeting for Sunday, January 10, 2011. The purpose of this so called “called meeting” was to take a premature vote to elect the Democrat, Ms. Bartlett, Chair of the Board of Education. The three other Board members were not aware of or advised of this secret vote until after it had occurred.
The three newly elected Republican members of the Board of Education had obviously conspired with the Democrat Bartlett, prior to their swearing-in, to hold this clandestine vote for a “special called meeting”. This not only flies in the face of openness and transparency, that each of the Republican candidates for School Board campaigned on, but has set a tone of mistrust and suspicion that may well have compromised the congeniality and close working relationships necessary and vital to move forward with important work before the Board.
What they have done, in an apparent attempt to surreptitiously establish a governing majority of four isolating the remaining members of the Board, and prematurely removing the sitting Chairperson, was to set a precedent whereby four members of the Board, at any time, can simply remove and replace the sitting Chairperson. This is unprecedented since the established term of a Chairperson is one year and the Chairs election is the regularly scheduled for the first meeting in January.
This covert action, hatched and conspired in secret, between the Democrat, Ms. Bartlett and our newly elected Republican co-conspirators has discredited our Republican principles and brought dishonor on the Cobb County Republican Party, who strongly supported these Republican candidates. Not to mention, at a minimum, it calls into question the integrity and commitment to our principles of these newly elected Republican members of the Board of Education.
The last election was in large part a repudiation of these types of tactics by Democrats. If we truly intend to maintain the support and faith of our voters we cannot allow these types of shenanigans which are a direct affront to our principles to go unchallenged. It is hoped the leadership of the Cobb County Republican Party will publicly separate these actions from our Party and condemn this unprecedented behavior. To do less only invites continued disregard for that which we publicly profess and stand.
*This letter was sent to the Cobb Republican Party on January 12, by School Board member David Banks.What do you think? Tell us in the comments below.
