For All The Wrong Reasons

While it is always good to see more people get involved in the political process, I am sometimes floored by the lack of focus, purpose, and even basic knowledge of some of those who file for office.  Apparently yesterday a gentlemen by the name of Matt Stillwell filed for Round Rock Independent School District Board of Trustees, Place 1.  In trying to find out more about Mr. Stillwell, I stumbled across his statement on his Facebook page:  

I've got two kids in the RR school system, got my teaching certification, pay taxes, I'm invested in this school system, plan on living in it for a long time, want to do my part to make it as good as it can be. Fig...ure I'm more informed than most, and I'm not to far left or right to get in my own way. RRISD has actually done a fairly good job from what I can tell, so it's not like I'm trying to fix it, just contribute. Got a lot to learn though and quickly, not sure how much campaigning I'll need to do. I think it's just me vs. the incumbant for Place 1.

Umm, do you have a plan?  A vision for the district?  Do you know who the incumbent is?  You're not sure how much campaigning you'll need to do?  I'm wondering how much Mr. Stillwell has thought about this.

Someone should probably introduce Mr. Stillwell to the incumbent, Brian Sellers.  Sellers and I have not always agreed on every issue, but he's a pretty good guy, and could do a lot more to make our district more efficient and more classroom focused if he had more help on the elected board. 

As it is, the RRISD board is dominated by Diane Cox, a known Democrat.  Happily, Ms. Cox has drawn an opponent too; David Dziadziola.  We'll be hearing more about Mr. Dziadziola in the coming weeks, but here's a snapshot:  While Diane Cox was the only person from Round Rock willing to appear in lib-Dem Diana Maldonado's television commercials, David Dziadziola was volunteering with the Larry Gonzales campaign.  Pretty good indicator of where these folks stand politically.

Update:  Primary Voting History indicates Mr. Stillwell prefers the Democrat Party.