“She is really good.”
From Las Vegas this morning, erstwhile School Board member Scott Zeidman delivered an enthused and truncated endorsement of prospective School Board member Prof. Kelly Kent.
What makes this newsworthy is their contradistinctive political philosophies.
Mr. Zeidman is a serious conservative. Dr. Kent is a dedicated liberal.
The attorney-businessman should know his colleague’s value by now. Since last winter, he has sat beside the professor of neuroscience. Since Dr. Kent announced her candidacy last month, Mr. Zeidman has been and rhetorically strewing her path with the kind of roses candidates appreciate.
“When Kelly came onto the commission,” said Mr. Zeidman, “I was under the impression that she was a (Councilmember Meghan Sahli-Wells’) appointee. (Ms. Sahli-Wells is a progressive.)
“That would put her on the (Gary and Karlo) Silbiger side of the city. I had challenging times dealing with that side when I was on the School Board (2007-2011). So I was a little concerned.”
Mr. Zeidman soon reversed himself.
“Within two meetings,” he said, “Kelly proved to be so intelligent, so understanding, so energetic that it really did not matter where she came from.
“It just meant she had the right ideas. She has done an incredible job.”
Turning in a new direction, learning to collaborate and be productive on a team with four colleagues, “Here is what really worked and why I am standing behind her, helping her out,” Mr. Zeidman said. “All of us come up with ideas. Eighty percent cannot work. Sometimes you deal with people who are so stuck with their ideas that they can’t see or listen to four people explain why it won’t work.
“Kelly was not that way. She was able to adapt, to compromise, and that way she was able to get through what she thought was necessary. Many of her ideas were good.”
Mr. Zeidman knows about working with ideas.
“To be on the School Board especially – something I know a little about – you must have the ability to come up with ideas,” he said. “Then understand, even though it may be great, your idea may not work for a variety of reasons that have no understanding at all.
“You can’t go in gung-ho. I was that way when I started, and I was wrong. I was going to change the world. It does not work that way on the School Board, hard as you try.”
