Mike Ring, Jackie Olschan Kaufman, and Ira Kaplan are running for the six-year Board of Finance seat. In her statements and during debate, Jackie has advocated long range planning and pre-budget review sessions, and informed us of statutory constraints regarding the education budget. In my prior Courier statements, I advocated for advisory referendum questions, department focused subgroups, establishing policy on surplus, supporting EMS’s building efforts, and five-year budget forecasts.
Mike Ring’s Courier statement made no suggestions. During the debate he said he was a fly on the wall during Zoom BOF meetings, but I have never in his 12 years in Easton seen him at any public forum. Mike’s ideas for improving things? Cut the grass half as often. He thinks the surplus is going to run out and go to zero, as though it were a leaking bucket? Does he have any idea how the BOF operates? He says every line item needs to be re-evaluated and needs a deeper dive, but it seems he has not even stuck his toe in the water. He says we can analyze the library budget and talk to them. Did he miss Andy grilling the library director at the last meeting? Even a fly would have noticed that.
His argument for election seems to be, I claim to support education and recreation just as much as Jackie and Ira, except I know less than them, and less than most Zoom meeting attendees, about how the BOF works. So should voters support him, because the RTC nominated him, the same RTC that kicked off an incumbent Republican for supporting education budgets, and replaced him with Paul Skrtich who proposed eliminating Park and Recreation and Extended Day? I have had enough of people who shoot first and ask questions later. Watch BOF meeting videos, and I think you will come away confident that I will not be Rec-less in my performance on the BOF. I ask for your vote Nov. 2.
