Ridgefield Candidates '97
Board of Education

Mary Pat Devine

School Board Candidates Dissed Ridgefield

The following statement was published in The Ridgefield Press on October 23, 1997:

If anyone has doubts about the dysfunctional, discourteous and disrespectful atmosphere that has poisoned our Board of Education, please find a tape of a cable program that aired Oct. 14 on Comcast.

As Board of Ed incumbents Hope Wise and Joe Sweeney and candidates Glenn Cordelli and Fred Ball looked on (most other candidates were at the Board of Ed meeting), host Al Bruhn broadcast a crudely edited tape of BOE members and staffers. "A comical thing," Bruhn explained.

What followed included pictures of school administrator Paul Hazel chewing on an unlit pipe while Bruhn charged him with violating anti-smoking laws. Freeze frames showed board chairman Linda Bunyan "puckering up," as Bruhn put it, to former superintendent Jeffrey Hansen. "I always thought there was something between those two people," the moderator chuckled. Pictures of former chairman Judy Fulkerson ridiculed her size. "I don't know how many seats on the Board of Ed she occupied," Bruhn said. There were freeze frames of member John Armato with his eyes closed and a grossly unflattering Linda Bunyan still.

After the video, not one candidate, each endorsed by the host, spoke up to disassociate himself or herself from the sleaze. Not one spoke out about how cheap shots, innuendo and plain lies have no place on the Board of Ed or in a campaign. Not one appeared anything but amused by the crude cruelty.

They owe fellow board members and the children of Ridgefield an apology. Ridgefield doesn't deserve this disrespect.

Contributions to Ms. Devine's campaign may be sent to Mary Pat Devine for Board of Education, 23 Overlook Drive. Information about the campaign can be seen at the new Democratic Web site, www.ridgefielddems.org.

Campaign '97 Home GO TO Mary Pat Devine profile and position statements

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