Eighth in a series
Re “How the School Board Results Could Have Favored Silbiger”
[img]493|right|Karlo Silbiger||no_popup[/img]Why was the well-seasoned-but-not-frequently-tested Teachers Union’s slate of three candidates for the School Board not only shut out by the new parents union but shoved well out of contention?
The question was put to Karlo Silbiger, who was counting on a second term that, on Election Night, never came close to materializing.
Claudia Vizcarra and Vernon Taylor, the balance of the Teachers Union slate, were pronounced non-contenders the moment the polls closed.
Meanwhile, United Parents of Culver City employed a strategy best described as silky – soft, understated, grindingly, consistently aggressive without drawing a modicum of attention to themselves.
Proof? During the runup to Election Day, the UPCC and Charles Dickens attracted the same miniscule number of hits and public comments.
Brilliantly, as it turned out, UPCC’s supporters were workmanlike in familiarizing the community with their three choices, Dr. Steve Levin, Kathy Paspalis and Sue Robins. No chest-pounding. No blaring megaphones or microphones. No booming voices.
President Jeannine Wisnosky Stehlin told the newspaper the UPCC’s expenses were modest. The main strategy was arch-traditional: Shoe leather. Door-knocking, and that old standby ubiquity. The UPCC pinned the Teachers Union slate to the mat for a three-count before the endorsees realized that was the ceiling they were staring at.
Why did it have to be this way?
Mr. Silbiger addressed the question of why the Teachers Union was perceived as being not as aggressive or organized in its quest for the Silbiger-Vizcarra-Taylor slate.
“I don’t know why,” he said.
“It may have been complacency. I am not sure the average member of the Teachers Union knows all that is happening in District politics.”
(To be continued)
