Let’s Get Going

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Editor,

Congratulations to all the successful candidates up for election or re-election in our fair city, and a big thank you to the other candidates who threw their hats in the ring to allow the residents an alternative to the incumbents. My admiration goes out to you all, as campaigning for any office is no easy task and sometimes the mud can get pretty thick.

I did want to say something about one particular candidate for school board, who was unsuccessful in his quest, but who put up a noble campaign and a lot of hard work.  In my opinion the failure of the voters to elect Howard Hills to the school board is a missed opportunity to have someone of his caliber, intelligence, knowledge and experience serving our school board. His resume reads like a “Who’s Who” of experience that few in this life ever achieve.  His election to the school board would have provided for greater transparency and public involvement, and assurance that rules of order were properly followed.  He didn’t need this position, but he put his hat into the ring as a candidate who wanted to get things back in order, and then be content to ride off into the sunset, or in his case, paddle back into the next set of waves.  I’m sure the two other candidates who were elected will do a fine job; it’s just that Howard Hills provided a skill set that cannot be duplicated.  Besides that, he’s just a really good guy and an asset to our community, and I hope he will stay involved.

Now, let’s get on with moving forward and supporting our newly elected (or re-elected) leaders, on a local, state, and national basis.

 

Jennifer Zeiter

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9 COMMENTS

  1. Excellent letter! I could not agree with you more. It is now time for everyone to move forward to support positive growth in our cities, state and country. God Bless America!

  2. “Jennifer,” a.k.a. Howard – let me help you understand why so many voters were turned off. Word on the street was that voters objected to this “noble” candidate’s petulant behavior, poor judgment, inability to take responsibility for mistakes, angry , spiteful tone, and unnecessarily critical, judgmental stance. He lost his cool on a Sunday morning KX 93.5 radio program because he didn’t like the questions he was asked. Then he threatened the little radio station in a peevish follow-up letter that drew people’s attention to his unbalanced behavior – noting the exact spot in the podcast where they can hear what a bully he is. That’s just plain dumb. Another pinheaded move; at the moderated panel event, he waved the district budget around as a prop and called it useless. This was another signal of an unwillingness or inability to play well with others as well as a dearth of basic respect. Unless a “who’s who” is considered impressive if it includes me, (“Jack”) and my federal money laundering scheme, you may want to rethink that particularly gushing laurel, “Jennifer.” (Had the presiding judge not been removed with an administration change, this “noble” candidate may have done time. Who’s who?) Things may have turned out differently had Howard spent time actually helping in classrooms, volunteering in the community, donating time or money to worthy causes, making positive change instead of seeking praise, attention and flattery, popping in and out of school board meetings, acting as a rude, dismissive, microphone-hogging gadfly, taking phone calls during school board meetings, making endless, circuitous arguments and writing nonsensical letters to the editor, one after another, long after anyone else stopped caring what he had to say. But you never want to pick a fight with Howard because he has so many words and he won’t let anything go if he feels he’s been slighted in any way, even if it is imaginary, which it often is. The saying goes that people may not remember what you said but they remember how you made them feel. The inexplicable vitriol, meanness, and opprobrium, often delivered with a disingenuous smile, were red flags that were ultimately too obvious to risk giving this guy elective power, and the voters weren’t fooled. There is plenty right with our amazing school district but you would never know it from talking to Howard. I sincerely hope he finds a time-consuming hobby or some other unfortunate, hardworking board to bedevil.

  3. “Jack”…I’m glad you were able to get that lovely diatribe off your chest. Hopefully you feel better now. My dad is one of the greatest people walking this earth with a big heart and he is more generous than anyone I’ve ever met. If and when you work up the courage and would like to have an adult conversation not hiding behind a silly anonymous name, I’m sure Howard would be happy to take the time to do so…and you clearly don’t have a problem getting a word in edgewise so I’m sure you’ll be able to hold your own. God bless and I hope you have a nice weekend with your family and friends. Best, Natalie Hills ([email protected])

  4. Should not dignify this drivel with a response, but I know the source, and it is ironic, because the writer admits to being unable to let go of feelings connected to a situation in which I did not allow myself to be silenced. That desire to silence dissent and control the content of speech and thought is typical among those with unfulfilled and unrealized ambitions. Just for the benefit of others, its interesting that no one was willing to go on the record about the 14 year old Guam legal case during the campaign after the Indy confirmed and reported admission BY THE PROSECUTOR that I was a victim mistaken as a perpetrator, with not one but two formal letters stating “full exoneration” on my website. Funny, no mention here that I was never even a person of interest to federal prosecutors out for scalps in the case, because any idiot looking at the actual evidence could see I was set up and defrauded and had no financial or other interest. The judge was not removed, that is false, the charges in the highly politicized local territorial court case were dismissed BY MOTION OF THE PROSECUTOR and it was the same judge throughout. So this is just the ranting of a night crawling coward. Go to http://www.kx935.com/shows/laguna-round-table/ (if it has been taken down that’s censorship, so go to my campaign website at http://www.lbstudentsfirst.com/audio/) and listen for yourself if I lost my cool. The radio host was an ideologue not a journalist, using the kind of ambush and politics of personal destruction that made the national elections so brutal, and backfired on those who used those tactics as well as being the target themselves of the same tactics. Finally, I held up the budget document at the “debate” and correctly made the point you can’t understand where the money is going from reading the budget, you need to go to Board meetings and see how specific action items on the Board agenda packages are determined, a sample of which I held up as well. I am sorry if people can’t handle the fact that I go to Board meetings and actually know what is going on, as opposed to those who just defend the status quo and hope it helps their kids. As a former General Counsel in a State Department agency with a $5 billion annual budget operating in 130 countries I learned a little about how bureaucrats hoodwink not only the Board of Director but the public. Again, sorry for having enough experience to be able to help the Board actually perform its oversight role competently, I know you will be so much happier just defending the culture of mediocrity instead of ever taking a chance to see how much better it is for the students when the adults actually get it right and keep promises. When we spend $50 million a year there better be a lot of good to show for it, but the same people who have been presiding over our schools for a decade don’t know themselves, and accordingly are not able to let you know, how much better it could be for our kids. I only take the time to reply because I was asked, this writer is a night crawler. Come out into the light of day and have a fair fight, or let’s do a live radio show on national or local issues. Right now I am going to beach, this truly has become a waste of my time.

  5. Just circled back to see what Natalie wrote, after I told not to bother, and thanks Chris Toy, your support means a lot. Just noticed the writer still skulking in the shadows implies I wrote this letter about myself and Jennifer let me use her name. Clearly this person does not know Jennifer, who didn’t tell me she was doing a letter, so this is yet more untruth by a cowardly liar. If Jennifer had told me she was writing a letter I would have told her not to bother, same as I did Natalie. Thing is, Jennifer doesn’t ask anyone permission, and no one tells Jennifer what to do. She is a Renaissance woman, and I would not want to be the one falsely accusing her of being told what to think or write or say by someone else. Finally, I always find that people like this who say others don’t do enough tend to be people who have not done much if anything for anyone else, unless it was self serving in some way. These people accused me of not caring about special education, only to find out I was a special education intern in college, and back here at home used CPR and techniques learned as a civil rights lawyer in mental hospitals to save the life of an autistic teen. Let them do that and then tell me about service. Ever go to law school and work as a civil rights lawyer in Appalachian state mental hospitals? Try spending two years living on the local economy in a third world country, same diet and sanitation as some of the poorest people on earth, helping them empower themselves with legal rights, and then stay an extra year before going home to make sure they are secure in those rights, then you can sit in Laguna Beach and judge me for not doing enough (even though I have more time as a classroom parent than either of my opponents). I know exactly who you are, but wouldn’t bother saying. People you think are your friends told me all about you. I had fun being a candidate despite how bitter and twisted and absurdly dark our local politics have become. It all reminds me of a Bob Dylan song, “Idiot Wind,” except it is so petty and small time it is funny in a sort of sick away. You dehumanize yourselves and each other, you are locked in codependence defending your culture of mediocrity, instead of achieving the same level of excellence as those among us who are not prisoners of your little network of people nagging each other to distraction. Especially anyone who still speaks up when you tell them to be quiet. You are not the victim in your soap opera, you are the perpetrator and the bully, you are just afraid to do it openly because like all bullies you are a coward, and you tell lies. If you tell the truth you can put your name on it, when you lie you can’t. I understand.

  6. Just so the record is clear, Howard is exactly right, no one tells me what to do or how to do it. I stand by my initial letter 100%, based on my personal knowledge of and many conversations with Howard, and his lovely wife Lura. Now let’s all move forward.

  7. JJA?…big words for a common coward hiding behind a fictitious name while attacking a good man’s character. Your diatribe smacks as nothing less than a typical cyber-bullying rant. I find it sad you engage in this undesirable behavior in which we are trying to educate our children to not partake. You, with so much interest in our children’s education should at least recognize the irony in your comments. Trust me…Jennifer is real!!!

  8. Wow, you guys! No wonder nobody wants to play with you, Howard. You can dish it out, with a giant spoonful of disdain and a side of sneer and name-calling, but you sure can’t take it. When you run for public office you have to have a modicum of grace and be able to handle other people’s views even when they are stated in a way you don’t like. A question is just a question. You answer it and move on, you don’t attack the person who asked it or the radio station it appeared on. It’s important to be able to let things go, which is a real problem for a public servant, as this thread and your ad hominem attacks demonstrate. (You’re probably right, I bet nobody really likes me, thanks for saying so.) Instead, you seem to have to have the last word in the smallest of disagreements, carry them to the nth degree, and convince everyone how good and righteous you are – that just does not fly in public office. I’m sure you’re a great and kind and wonderful dad at home. But you need to step away from the microphone and not attack, attack, attack the people who are working to make things good, even if by your estimation they aren’t. It’s so easy to criticize when you are not the one doing the hard work. It’s not as easy as you think and it certainly involves diplomacy, a thick skin, and an even temper. That is my point which you so have again so amply demonstrated here. Please, do go to the beach and enjoy yourself.

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