Janet Gomes, wife of 2011 mayoral candidate John Gomes, won the Parent Advisory Election on Wednesday. Update from CT Post reporter Linda Conner Lambeck:
Janet Gomes, a Thomas Hooker parent, won a three-way race for president of the District Parent Advisory Council Wednesday in a controversial re-do election in which the votes of parents whose children attend charter schools weren’t counted. Read more here.
Taylor Leake, communications director for Connecticut’s Working Families Party, issued the following statement regarding assertions made by Excel Bridgeport Parent Organizer Jessica Martinez about WFP’s involvement with the Parent Advisory Council election.
Excel Bridgeport, the education reform organization intimately involved in the illegal takeover of the Bridgeport Board of Education has once again commenced a smear campaign of misinformation and confusion. Jessica Martinez, a paid ‘parent organizer’ on the Excel staff has issued a statement alleging that the Working Families Party (WFP) and an elected Board of Education member have conspired to ‘disenfranchise parents’ in the election for Bridgeport Parent Advisory Council (PAC) representatives.
According to the statement, a parent associated with Excel Bridgeport, Aline Lacerda secretly and illegally recorded a conversation with a Tawanda Johnson a supposed WFP member.
The Working Families Party unambiguously and unequivocally state for the record that the organization has not participated in any way whatsoever in the election for the district PAC.
Furthermore, the Working Families Party categorically denies that Tawanda Johnson, the so called WFP operative secretly recorded on the tape by Aline Lacerda, is in any way associated with the Working Families Party. Recording a conversation without the consent of both parties is illegal in Connecticut. It appears that a crime may have been committed and we urge the office of the state’s attorney to investigate this unlawful conduct.
While Maria Pereira is a member of the Board of Education, elected on the Working Families line, she has in no way discussed or ‘conspired’ with the Working Families Party to disenfranchise any Bridgeport parent from their right to vote.
The Working Families Party vigorously and zealously supports the right of a free people to vote in elections. It represents a democratic process that is critical for the survival of a democracy.
Doesn’t that clear everything up in your mind? Want any more info? How about a program with all amateurs as well as paid professionals on a given team: team, objective, name of player, home address, position played, children in which schools, etc. (for starters). They can sell the programs to confused citizens and have some money for their cause, perhaps. Time will tell.
The opposition, privatizers and charter lovers, does not bother to smear what it deems insignificant. They lost the referendum even with Rhee and Bloomturd payola and now they are desperate.
Breaking the law in her zeal to expose an opponent broke a BOE rule. Priceless. Yup, that is pretty much how Aline rolls.
Janet Gomes won the PAC election, is she related to Ed or John Gomes?
John.
Thank You, SW.
Does this help John if/when he runs for mayor again?
I am disgusted by the Working Families Party. They deny their involvement when there is clear evidence on tape they were involved in misinforming a parent. How many more lies will they put out there? All it seems they want to do is fight fights. We have enough problems in this city. How about trying to fix something? Keep it up! This just might motivate more people to vote in November. And chances are they won’t be voting Working Families!
Congratulations, Janet. The privatization people are spreading their baloney all over the country. A small victory back in Bridgeport is a good thing.
“… back in Bridgeport …” Are you coming back from Arizona? Are you voting in Bridgeport by AB all the way from Arizona? Shouldn’t your handle be changed to ArizonaGuy? Most of us are trapped back here in Bridgeport. It would be great if you organized something like the Harriet Tubman Railroad Underground and helped people escape from Bridgeport to Arizona. I still respect and understand your feelings and opinions. BTW, there is a rumor going around in Black Rock the coffee from Harborview was the last straw that caused you to leave. Any truth to that?
No Joel … the last time I had coffee from there someone who shall remain nameless knowing I don’t patronize the establishment brought me some coffee from there just to needle me after I tasted it. Much as I detest Mr. Torres’ views on a lot of things, I have to grudgingly admit the coffee is okay. You are not trapped. I left here without much in the way of personal financial resources and am not whining about it. I am planning to vote here. Most of the battles I fight here will be with the idiots who run the state legislature. You can carry a loaded gun into a bar … that is purely idiotic. Bridgeport politics prepared me well, and as Bridgeport will always be my home emotionally I am not changing my handle though for local purposes I am considering the CT Kid or Cactus Dave 🙂
By here I mean Arizona unless I move again and one cross-country move is enough for a while.
Good for Janet Gomes. She has been a parent actively involved with BOE matters. As for the allegations of WFP involvement, that’s not a one-way road–the Democrats have been doing the same for years. Last month there was an election for the PAC and it turned out the candidate backed by Excel and the Democratic machine won. No one said a thing except for a splinter group of activists who alerted the PAC to the fact the winner of last month’s election doesn’t have children in the Public School system but they do attend a Charter School. The PAC called for another election and yesterday’s result was the outcome.
“Recording a conversation without the consent of both parties is illegal in Connecticut. It appears that a crime may have been committed and we urge the office of the state’s attorney to investigate this unlawful conduct.”
As I understand the law regarding recording of conversations, one only needs the consent of one party to the conversation. In this case, two people were having a discussion and one of them recorded the discussion. The discussion allegedly took place outside in public space and not via a telephone. If Lennie and I have a discussion (in person) and I record it without telling Lennie, is that legal? The law is strict and clear if the conversation is over the telephone. If my phone makes a beeping sound or I tell Lennie I’m recording the conversation, Lennie wouldn’t have a legal leg to stand on. Can we get a legal opinion from the OIB Legal Department on both State (CT) and Federal statutes?
I think it is still illegal … and even if it weren’t it certainly isn’t ethical.
It’s a PAC, not a Burger King. You can’t have it your way.
www .ctpost.com/local/article/Not-all-votes-counted-in-parent-council-election-4500741.php
PAC has approximately 26,000 potential votes for Gomes’ husband, right?
Keep choosing to share your dreams with us. The PAC election turnout wasn’t so great considering there are about 19,000 students in the Bridgeport Public School system. Even if you were right, the keyword is “potential votes” which could mean there is no guarantee he’ll get 1,000 votes.
I was asking a question as I did not know the answer and just found out this is John Gomes’ wife. My dreams have nothing to do with an election and more to do with a hundred acres in Colorado.
Congratulations, Janet!!!
*** CONGRATULATIONS TO JANET GOMES, A GREAT CHOICE! ***
What day will Excel just go away? Really. They need to take a good, long look in the mirror. Born of deception, grows in deception and now whines when they don’t get their way or candidate. Please, just go away. Aren’t there some nice children in Greenwich who need your kind of rescue???
Baffled, Excel is well funded by corporate interests, there is a big movement to privatize all sorts of functions that are considered to be traditionally performed by govt … and they want to make big money at it. They have already done it with prisons. There are towns in AZ that contract with for-profit corporations for fire protection. When it comes to things like education, public health and safety we should find it very scary the quality may be dependent on some bean counter’s bottom line. In the immortal words of the late Bela Lugosi, “Bevare!”