How school districts use trickery to fool voters
by Ramnath Subramanian / Special to the El Paso Times
Today’s column is a prelude to a book I am writing on how to win bond elections in school districts.
I am confident that the strategic thrust of the book will invite comparisons to Machiavelli’s “The Prince,” and that the book will be well- received by superintendents and school-board members.
The first rule in planning a bond initiative is to befuddle voters. In other words, pile on a surfeit of piffle and tosh.
Every ruse and every form of dissimulation must be used. Make the argument for a tax increase by extolling the virtue of federal matching funds. When the monies become available, you will have twice as much to waste.
At some point, voters will look beneath the obfuscation and chicanery and find the truth. For this reason, I say in the most emphatic terms that superintendents and school-board members must migrate to new jobs every five years.
The second rule is to ignore the economic environment. The woman who is working at two jobs to eke out a living doesn’t care about politics, and doesn’t vote. Therefore, she does not count.
However, it is important to create the impression that the machinery cares about common folk. The best way to accomplish this goal is to repeat incessantly that everything is being done for children.
When traveling to different locations on junkets, staying at ritzy hotels, sipping on champagne, and gadding about, school officials must always keep “the child” at the center of discussions.
The refrain has to be: “It’s all for the children”.