10. Danny Mackey. A-.
Full disclosure: I tend to be a bit more skeptical when it comes to
younger candidates, those in college or, in the case of Mr. Mackey, recent college
graduates. While I would like to believe
that I am not segueing into curmudgeon status prematurely, I do wonder about
the breadth of life experiences of those who are, say, 25 or younger. Yes, I know that many of our Founders were
very active in public affairs at relatively young ages, but I digress. Anyway, I am lampshading a potential bias so
it’s out there. Now get off my lawn.
End of digression.
His responses were, on the whole, thoughtful and clearly articulated.
Sort of a Taj-light vibe to it, with the “health” priority being a connecting
thread between the two questionnaires.
For voters who want to understand how a candidate’s background links up
to motivations, philosophies, and priorities, that information is present. There is generally a fine line between offering
up that kind of personal information and being too self-referential, too
inward-looking. Mackey’s response is
effective insofar as his narrative is presented in furtherance of issues and
outcomes relevant to voters. His reply on equity, Question 6, has a bit of
heart to it, you get a sense of authenticity in his response. Speaking
cynically for a moment, voters eat that real-deal stuff up. For voters who prefer to consume written
information, this questionnaire would make for a very effective introduction to
Mr. Mackey.
11. Saif Rehman.
B. Second full disclosure…C-suite
candidates. Generalizing very broadly, a
disproportionate number of successful business executives who run for public office
love to talk about their leadership abilities. These skills don’t always
translate when applied to holding elective offices, especially on highly
collaborative (and *relatively* non-hierarchical) bodies such as boards of
education. So I will admit to a Robert
Downey Jr. eyeroll when I came across the first, and second, mentions of “leadership.” I think
he banged the drum too loudly and for an extended duration on that theme on the
“budgeting and finance” section (Question 4).
So you will “lead” the discussion…despite the fact that you would be
newly elected to the Board, if elected, and that many other stakeholders will
want to play significant roles in such conversations...in fairness, he does get
to a “listening” message shortly thereafter, but he comes across extremely
self-confident, that works with some voters, not so much with others. His specific reflections on equity (Question
6) show a more thoughtful, outward-focused candidate… which reads MUCH better. He also does well when connecting the heightened
security risks involved with “trailers.” Given his professional background, I
would like to see more of his thoughts on the effective integration of technology
in the classrooms…and how he plans on squaring that with the need of “righting
our fiscal ship.” I darn near give him a
B- but some of his better responses revealed a thoughtful candidate who has
spent some time mulling over how to address certain challenges. For that, his
questionnaire deserves a B.
OK, on to lunch. This
will be a Four-Part Post.
In solidarity.
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