We need three seats

Not three sheeps

We need three pols

Not three dolls

We need more Republican red balloons

And out with the lib trolloons

Signed,
Mr. Mittens (AKA The Great White Wrapper)

My ideal candidates would be Stacey, Kathleen R, and Cholo.

Nice picks, trollman. At least they balance out the incessant complaints that you are teacher bashing if you don't tow the union line. Their posts are more thoughtful than shooting the messenger, name calling and presenting twisted strawman agruments.

The troll, who shall not be named, will not come forward to run, nor will he/she forward any productive alternatives or reasonable suggestions, but will continue to hide his identity in his basement in his/her Hello Kitty pajamas.

This ought to get the troll out into the light of day.....

I also want to thank everyone for thinking of me. Thanks a LOT! I can teacher bash as well as any one. We all no what incompitants they are. And the union tells them to be that way.

What is the point of trying to run? Look at what happened last time: the union backed guy (who is married to a teacher) won because of 1) teacher support and 2) uninformed voters

Not to mention the fee to put your statement on the ballot.

Incumbents will win if they choose to run because we have too many foreign parents (do not vote) in our schools and an aging community that refuses to get informed and votes in an ignorant way.

The election before last, we had a good candidate running (did not get elected)

And then when we do get good people in (like Arkin), they get outnumbered by the yes people hand picked by admin and union (Larsen, etc)

Just let your wallet speak this november: vote NO on the tax initiatives from Brown and let the district do what they are going to do regardless of who gets elected to the spineless board of trustees

Ollman said: "My ideal candidates would be Stacey, Kathleen R, and Cholo."

I second that!

I can see a huge barrier to Stacey and Cholo becoming PUSD Board members:

At some point--and I'm no lawyer, so don't quote me on this--they'll have to give their real names.

It's very easy to be a critic hiding behind a pseudonym on the P-Weekly, a hell of a lot harder to be an accountable public servant who has to grapple with roller coaster-style state financing of our schools and a significant of minority in the communities who seem opposed to the very notion of a "public school".

Daniel, Stacey has asserted many times that her real name is Stacey and that she's a registered user, and is therefore not anonymous. Also, the PW has her IP address. I don't think any reasonable persona can therefore doubt who she is. It's water-tight.

I'd like to see Daniel Bradford run. Apparently it is easier to be an accountable public servant when you are a critic using your real name on the PW forum.

Uhhh...Stacey? You might want to move out of that glass house before you throw any more stones.

No, it'd be great. Mr. Bradford could run and see what is involved when you're on the management side. Do you lay people off or try to preserve their jobs with cuts in labor costs?

Maybe he'd decide to keep car allowance perks for admins as long as possible rather than building the reserve? I don't know.

You're not on one of your famous rampages again, are you? Rapid-fire accusatory posts with just a dash of hysteria? Those go a long way to establishing your reputation on this forum, you know. So by all means, please continue.

I'm on the record for replacing car allowances with a per-mileage reimbursement, with a monthly cap that's a reasonable amount.

I think one big qualification for a Board member, or any public servant, is a sense of humor. That, and a thick skin.

But the main qualification is a dedication to accountability and transparency. That's why all of the Board members have to provide us with their real first and last names.

The school board has been going downhill the last few years. Maybe we could put it into a power dive to the bottom by encouraging the Hippy Mayor or Matt Sullivan run for the school board. OMG, that's a horror movie!

The school board has long ago forgotten they work for us! Current school board members are no longer representing the majority!

Yet for me to put myself on the ballot and gather the necessary support, would cost a small fortune. As a active parent, I am disgusted as to what is going on within PUSD. I would love to see new school board members voted in this coming election, but truly understand how unrealistic that is. The union backed members will surely be re-elected leaving the school board, once again, not representing the majority!

I welcome a new individual to put there name on the ballot. I would love to see a current PUSD parent, non union-backed, have the best interest of the children in mind, and willing to vote "No" even when the other members are pressuring them otherwise! I will gladly go to our local Farmers' Market to help support them, walk neighborhoods, and phone bank.

Daniel Bradford for school board! I thought my suggestion was pretty funny. Clearly the joke was lost on some. That guy Daniel Bradford, what a teacher basher for suggesting that car allowances get replaced. The nerve of that guy!

For all I know the post by Daniel Bradford could be by Jim Freeman or Mr. Mittens. Who knows? No accountability or transparency provided.

So many people interested in knowing who I am for strange and mysterious reasons... I should go into business selling that knowledge. LOL!

(Post makes no sense and has been removed by Pleasanton Weekly Online staff.)

Oh, you don't hide your desire very well, Mr. Bradford. Unless, of course, someone else posted under your name.

That's a good sense of humor. Maybe you should run for the board, Hot.

Never vote for the butt of a joke because everyone knows that the butt of a joke has no sense of humor and you sure wouldn't want to be that guy.

(Post makes no sense and has been removed by Pleasanton Weekly Online staff.)

All I know is that Arkin and Hintzke have been the only 2 voices of reason and attempted restraint on the board for the last 4 years. The other three-stooges have stonewalled many good things Arkin and Hintzke have suggested. Not to mention it was Arkin and Hintzke's entrance on to the board that created the existing "openness" of communication from PUSD to the community. People have very short memories - Re-elect Arkin and Hintzke (if they can be prevailed to run again) and get rid of Grant for someone willing to be on the change side of the board.

Huh, will you look at that? Stacey goes off, just as predicted, and yet it's the posts of others that get removed. This forum is truly a place that allows a free exchange of ideas. For some.

It is only fitting that Stacey and me don't get our posts removed. Were the only one's on here that use our real names. We believe in transparentsy to thatwe're the one's who are accountible.

If the PW is going to edit comments, there are plenty--like those of fake Steve above--that should be considered.

Au Contraire! I don't think Steve is a fake. I think he is just as real as the 'registered' Kathleen Ruegsegger or Casanova Frankenstein. In fact, I bet most of the posters on these threads would vote for Steve for school board, no less than they'd vote for Kathleen. Maybe someone could start up a new thread that polls, say, Kathleen, Stacey, Steve, Nomad, Jimfol, and perhaps others? If this is to be a genuinely democratic forum, then we should be attempting to reach out to the tens of thousands who read these posts in the hopes of influencing their political choices. So as not to get our own poll confused with the vaunted Rasmussen or WeSpeakAmerica(n), maybe we can call ourselves the P-townTea-TownCorndog-Pollsters.

No one better than yourself to start the poll JT.

Give Kathleen a break. She's earned the right to "mouth off" because she's already been on the board. LOL!

Our democracy depends upon the vast majority of people keeping quiet. If you haven't served on a school board, just shut up. And stop with your protesting. You haven't earned the right to complain yet, not like Kathleen.

Stacey and Kathleen have spoken! Begone unclean forum posters! For unlike Stacey and Kathleen, your right to express yourself on this forum is limited. Remember, our democracy DEPENDS on you savages and heathens remaining silent and docile while our betters (I bet you can guess who!) do our thinking for us.

All hail Stacey and Kathleen, the Supreme Ones!

TRO(ll?), Post away. Just my opinion about posts that could be removed, as opposed to the one that was. I certainly love a reasoned debate.

These forums are for amusement, not for serious expressions of opinions, so I wouldn't get too exercised about having a humorous post removed by the editorial staff.

If the Pleasanton Weekly wants to foster intelligent debate, as opposed to boosting their page views, they'd require people to register using verified real first and last names and addresses, just as responsible newspapers used to do (and still do) in their "Letters to the Editor" section.

Permitting people to post using pseudonyms doesn't foster discussion, it inhibits discussion by granting people license to spout nonsense to which they'd never dare attach their real names. Anonymity destroys civility and removes accountability.

That's why we require candidates for public office to give us their real names. I don't think I'd cast my vote for President "Some Guy". Although it would be fun guessing the President's real identity.

If you want your opinions taken seriously, attach your real name to them. Otherwise, be prepared to be the butt of jokes. (If you want to know what my removed post was about, it was a not-so-funny joke about me working on discovering Superman's secret identity...it didn't involve a baseless, fact-free attack on a public servant, so of course Pleasanton Weekly removed it. I also noted in that same post that I was in favor of all PUSD employees being required to receive mileage reimbursements, with a reasonable monthly cap, rather than a flat monthly car fee. I guess that "made no sense" to the editors of the Pleasanton Weekly, either.)

These forums ARE for amusement, and in keeping with the very on-topic theme of transparency (that's your cue not to censor me, PW editors!), I shall reveal that I'm not really T. R. Ollman at all, but...

...wait for it!...

Nurse Shark!

Surprise! CHOMP CHOMP!

Stacey, be my chum!!

Kathleen Ruegsegger is registered *and* uses her full name. Kathleen Ruegsegger is always taken seriously. And no one EVER jokes about Kathleen Ruegsegger!

BTW, I'm Ironman.

The Triathelete?