October 19, 2012 05:51 PM UTC

Cheap Tricks In Denver Schools Bond Issue Race

• 1 Comments
• by: Colorado Pols

UPDATE: A reverse IP lookup proves that “MarySeawell.com” is indeed the handiwork of Guerin Lee Green, close associate of DPS board member Andrea Merida and publisher of the obscure website The Cherry Creek News:

We’d say Green should have covered his tracks a lot better than this.

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Taking a brief moment to cover Ed News Colorado’s report yesterday:

Denver school board President Mary Seawell is investigating her legal options after an opponent of the district’s proposed $466 million bond issue sent emails to thousands of DPS staff members criticizing the proposal – and linking the criticism to Seawell.

On Tuesday, DPS employees and some community members received a lengthy email purporting to be sent from “dpsboardpresident@maryseawell.com” and stating district claims about its financial health are false.

It also echoes statements made by various critics of the bond, such as “53 percent of bond funds, or almost $250 million, will go to charter schools, while just 21 percent of DPS students attend these schools.” The organized opposition to the bond, No on 3B Denver, strongly denies any involvement…

Denver’s Question 3B is a $466 million bond issue being run together with a smaller mill levy override, Question 3A. Question 3B is supported by pretty much everybody–from the Denver Classroom Teachers’ Association and Great Education Colorado to the conservative-leaning group Stand for Children. As for the opposition…well, it’s complicated.

Actually, it’s not that complicated. It’s Andrea Merida and a crew of usual suspects.

As some of our readers know–some a bit too well–DPS board member Merida heads up an insurgent wing of the Board, which has been decidedly critical of DPS superintendent Tom Boasberg and his predecessor, now-Sen. Michael Bennet. Merida helped organize a failed recall attempt against fellow DPS board member Nate Easley, and discussions of that recall attempt became particularly nasty and personal in the comment sections of this blog.

To be perfectly honest, it’s the small-minded perniciousness and bitterness in these intra-DPS spats that make them so interesting to outside observers like ourselves–which of course doesn’t make it credible, just interesting. The petty rage from the Merida insurgency on the DPS Board, and the various actors in support of her campaigns against the majority, makes her notorious even though we’re not aware of a single one of these that has actually succeeded.

Merida’s opposition doesn’t even speak for the teacher’s union, which is on board with 3B. Apparently, as you can read in the fake email that’s the subject of Ed News’ story, there’s a fear that charter schools will receive a disproportionate amount of funds, but supporters tell us that’s totally unfounded. A loss on these ballot questions would be a serious problem for DPS’ future plans, and by extension Boasberg and others among Merida’s long list of enemies. But Merida’s opposition, without the support of traditional allies in the DCTA and elsewhere, has had to resort to Republican-style tax and debt arguments that seem a bit out of place in Denver.

The only thing we have left to add here is the possible identity of the fake domain at the heart of the latest controversy–maryseawell.com (which now displays a broken page result). The other reference to this domain we were able to find comes from this October 2nd story on a low-traffic website called The Cherry Creek News, owned by longtime Merida ally Guerin Green. It’s referenced in such a way that it’s quite clear the website is, if you will, a team effort.

The aforementioned prior dealings with Mr. Green make us happy to bring this to your attention, as well as those investigating DPS Board President Mary Seawell’s legal options.

Originally posted at Colorado Pols.