This morning’s El Paso Times featured this report:
An El Paso school board candidate confirmed she does not believe masks are effective in stopping the spread of COVID-19 in school settings.
The CDC currently recommends universal mask usage in schools.
“I have family members who are so health compromised that a cold could take them out at any time. That’s something we live with every day, but that doesn’t stop us from living,” El Paso Independent School District candidate Leslie Hoard said when asked whether she supports mask usage in schools.
Curiously, the Times’ report does not tell us which district seat Ms. Hoard is running for.
Isn’t that an important detail?
It’s not hard to find out. I have, at my house, a machine that’s like a teevee with a typewriter attached. It is hooked up with tubes to something called the World Wide Web, which is really not a web at all. It’s more like an encyclopedia, with lots of picture of cats.
Using this teevee/typewriter hybrid, I was able to discover that Ms. Hoard is vying to be the EPISD School Board Trustee for District 3.
Curious, innit, that the El Paso Times would omit this detail from their report? I mean, that’s important. If I were just casually interested in local politics, I might not have ferreted this information out.
But you know, I pay attention.
If I lived in District 3, and I read this report, and thereby learned that Ms. Hoard was a candidate in my district, I might have gone to the polls and cast my vote for one of the other candidates, say, maybe Josh Acevedo, who might not oppose the CDC’s guidelines.
I might have made the effort to go and vote for someone other than Ms. Hoard, if the El Paso Times’ report had included which district Ms. Hoard was running in.
Curious, then, isn’t it, that the Times’ report does not tell us which district seat Ms. Hoard is running for?
In another completely unrelated coincidence, Ms. Hoard is supported by the Kids First of El Paso PAC.
From another story in the El Paso Times:
A political action committee led by prominent local business leaders reported donating to two school board races, but one of the candidates turned down the money after learning the group supports charter schools.
. . .
Kids First of El Paso PAC is led by business people who are also part of the Council on Regional Economic Expansion and Educational Development. The group advocates for various educational initiatives, including charter schools. It also supports dual-credit programs and science, technology, engineering and math education.
According to her 30 Day Campaign Finance Report, Ms. Hoard’s sole campaign contributor is the Kids First of El Paso PAC.
It would be cynical to propose that the El Paso Times is casually trying to influence the results of this election through selective reporting, and I don’t want to appear cynical.
I would never insinuate that the El Paso Times had anything but the highest journalistic standards.
But isn’t it curious that in the Time’s initial report of CREEED’s involvement in the Kids First of El Paso PAC, headlined Pro-charter PAC jumps into school board races, Ms. Hoard’s campaign donations were ignored?
Curious, innit?
EPISD taxpayers will not put up with this bullshit. The “We know what’s good for you” group thinks that they can sneak in boardmembers who will do their bidding. The answer will be at the polls where I will vote No to their Candidates.
I live in District 3 and already voted for Acevedo, but I’ve noticed one of my neighbors is displaying a sign for a District 1 candidate, Jeannie Tipton-Lasley, who’s part of the same far right group as Hoard. No one in our neighborhood will be able to vote for Tipton-Lasley. Lots of people – voters, candidates, and the media, don’t seem to know who is running where.