(Niel Ritchie writes)
"Bob Fine helps engineer the hiring of his
under-qualified high school classmate, Jon Gurban, to
be superintendent, a job he did not apply for. Not
surprisingly Gurban has turned out to be a
disappointment."
Niel, apparently the Strib editors have a different take on Gurban's
performance, as they pointed out in their editorial that they felt he was
doing a good job. And while I agree there was no process involved when
Gurban was given a 1 year interim position, after first search process ended
in failure. (All the finalists withdrew from consideration and Merrill
Anderson refused to take a contract extension.). There was a national search
done the following year using a firm the minority members on the board
preferred. At its conclusion, by a 2/3's majority (6-3), the board hired
Gurban, giving him a three year contract. A job he certainly applied for.
I also think it is ridiculous how you continue to infer because Fine and
Gurban went to the same high school that they had some lifelong connection
to one another, beginning back then. Like Fine waited 35 years to give
Gurban a job? Have you ever found one Southwest grad who could substantiate
they had any kind of relationship with one another in high school? Of
course not, because there was none.
"A worn-out Vivian Mason retires. Tracy Nordstom wins
handily in a brand new district against the PIPs
hand-picked, well-financed candidate, by working hard
(again) and having a strong reform message."
Niel, you forgot to mention she also had the DFL endorsement, as did every
other "reform-minded" candidate who won, except of course, the unstoppable
Annie Young. I've never meet or talked to Christine Hansen, but from what I
read she certainly appeared to be strong, reform-minded candidate, as well.
It's pretty obvious to be a "reform" candidate meant you weren't one of the
incumbent district commissioners, nor could there have been any possibility
you had once talked to one of them during your lifetime.
"And the status quo dodges a bullet as Fine narrowly
wins a bitter race with a lot of help from the De
LaSalle land deal backers, a mix of Catholic voters
and other religious conservatives."
Wow, now Catholics' and other religious conservatives are the primary Fine
supporters. I also didn't know all Catholics' were now considered religious
conservatives. I'd love to see the poll you ran to gather this data. One
thousand, one hundred fifty vote victory, hardly "narrow".
Scott Neiman
Windom
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