Bacon's Rebellion

Democracy Thrives in Sunlight

Loudoun’s School Board Special Election

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sherlockj
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Tiffany Polifko, Loudoun County School Board. Courtesy of her campaign.

by James C. Sherlock

The people of Loudoun County have spoken — just barely.

They elected Tiffany L. Polifko to the School Board.

Ms. Polifko is a conservative with 20 years experience as a public and private school special education teacher. She currently serves as a Board-Certified Behavior Analyst working with children on the autism spectrum.

She has two kids in Loudoun County Schools. She stood for election to ensure a quality education for her children and the rest of the children of Loudoun County.

She won by 98 votes with nearly 20.000 cast.

The second place finisher was, according to the Loudoun Times,

(Nicholas) Gothard, a 22-year-old program manager for a nonprofit civic engagement group.

I, like most readers, have seen those words in the dictionary but never before in the same sentence.

Nicholas, informed by his extensive life experience, is very woke and very engaged politically. He was endorsed by Blue Virginia as a:

(h)uman rights advocate and community organizer … (who) hopes to bring a fresh perspective and new focus to the Loudoun County School Board.

He would have brought a “fresh perspective.” To the Loudoun County School Board. Dazzling possibilities there.

And he just missed.

You will be impressed to know that Nicholas is a former community organizer.

Again from Blue Virginia:

(he) has worked across coalitions to drive consensus on Loudoun’s most critical issues.

He had the endorsements of all of the local Democratic office holders. But apparently did not “drive” quite enough “consensus” to win the election.

Nicholas reportedly refused to debate Ms. Polifko about schools — or to show up at any public forum even by himself to discuss issues. We have seen that strategy somewhere. It will come to me.

But probably a good call. And the reason the results were close. Nancy Pelosi’s glass of water analogy comes to mind, and hiding nearly worked.

But he is undoubtedly a man to watch.

Andrew Hoyler, who was appointed to replace an incumbent who passed away, came in third.

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32 responses to “Loudoun’s School Board Special Election”

  1. Stephen Haner Avatar
    Stephen Haner

    So, you get a recount at government expense if the result is within one-half of one percent. By my calculation that would be a vote difference of 97.52…and the unofficial result is a win for her by 98….Keep a watch on that. 🙂

    1. James C. Sherlock Avatar
      James C. Sherlock

      She will certainly make Board meetings must see events.

      1. Stephen Haner Avatar
        Stephen Haner

        I’m saying some of the GOP legal eagles chasing shadows and rainbows in other places need to to to her aid instead, to make sure it holds. Or you may not get your interesting meetings after all. I doubt she has resources to hire an experienced elections counsel.

        I don’t know about Loudoun. In Henrico the provisional ballots, and there was a pile of them, are just being opened, evaluated and (if approved) counted today. OK, just checked VPAP, and it indicates the provo ballots have been included in her totals, so that’s good.

        1. James C. Sherlock Avatar
          James C. Sherlock

          Good counsel, but the Loudoun paper says all the votes have been counted and the election certified. If not, you are right.

      2. Lefty665 Avatar
        Lefty665

        I’d argue that her qualifications and experience in special ed will make Board meetings “must see events” as much or more than her conservatism.

        She might well put the Governor’s initiative to teach all students to read/write at grade level, and methodologies to achieve it, at the top of her list of issues.

        Regardless of the balance between her conservatism and special ed, her victory over a youthful “program manager for a nonprofit civic engagement group” is a big step in the right direction for Loudoun schools. She has her work cut out for her, but I expect she knows that.

        1. Matt Adams Avatar
          Matt Adams

          I fail to see what community organization is required for one of the (if not) richest counties in the Nation.

  2. Stephen Haner Avatar
    Stephen Haner

    So, you get a recount at government expense if the result is within one-half of one percent. By my calculation that would be a vote difference of 97.52…and the unofficial result is a win for her by 98….Keep a watch on that. 🙂

  3. James McCarthy Avatar
    James McCarthy

    A typical Sherlock view. One might think the winner he lauds was the sole elected school board member in Loudoun.

    Erika Ogedegbe, supported by the Loudoun Dems and teacher’s union, defeated her closest opponent, a sheriff’s deputy, by nearly 10 points. Not even a footnote in Sherlockistan. Certainly no photo.

    1. James C. Sherlock Avatar
      James C. Sherlock

      Perhaps you could write an article about Erika Ogedegbe. I don’t find her that interesting. A progressive wins in Loudoun. Tear out the front page.

      1. James McCarthy Avatar
        James McCarthy

        Not necessary as the actual facts speak for themselves. Mine was a simple note to assist your journalist’s view.

        1. LarrytheG Avatar
          LarrytheG

          The man has to maintain his cherry-picking principles…

          1. James McCarthy Avatar
            James McCarthy

            And he will be glued to the TV to watch his prototype “certainly make Board meetings must see events.” Methinks this is the fawning the author wishes for himself.

    2. Eric the half a troll Avatar
      Eric the half a troll

      Cherry-pickers gotta cherry-pick…

  4. Teddy007 Avatar
    Teddy007

    Maybe someone who interview one of the social conservative warrior school board types a month after they have been in office. An interesting question would be what to do to close the massive performance gap between Asian/white students versus black/Latino students. it seems a better question to ask rather than which books need to be banned or which wasteful lawsuits to pursue.

    1. DJRippert Avatar
      DJRippert

      Yes, the achievement gap. A gap that generations of liberal BigEd unions and school boards have been unable to close.

      1. Teddy007 Avatar
        Teddy007

        But every school board member faces that gap if there school system is diverse enough. Is saying that it will always be there and there is nothing can be done a politically viable answer?

      2. LarrytheG Avatar
        LarrytheG

        also present in private schools?

  5. James Wyatt Whitehead Avatar
    James Wyatt Whitehead

    Polifko won the Broad Run District. So that is the heart of Ashburn. I think she was able to split the liberal vote evenly between Hoyler and Gothard and end up ahead by slim margin. The strategy worked for Uncle Abe in 1860.

    1. LarrytheG Avatar
      LarrytheG

      a longtime BOS guy in Spotsy… every time he had a strong challenger, lo and behold a 3rd candidate would appear…

  6. LarrytheG Avatar
    LarrytheG

    This is sorta interesting:

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/12042d56e5a353cbfee2a7f22e8a5eebf5a1100ae34440d5ed16bfdd6bb9571b.jpg

  7. James Kiser Avatar
    James Kiser

    Hobbs in AZ.

    1. Stephen Haner Avatar
      Stephen Haner

      In a squeaker, it is good to be the person in charge of the counting! I don’t know enough to give any credence to Lake’s complaints, but the delay is pretty hard to understand and opens the officials up to the doubters. Sounds like it was a snafu of some proportions.

      1. Nancy Naive Avatar
        Nancy Naive

        Ah, Steve. The delays are legislatively induced. You know how messy things can get if someone neglects check a box, or write down a number on a form. 10-4…0, good Buddy.

      2. Eric the half a troll Avatar
        Eric the half a troll

        C’mon Haner! Are you gonna jump on the election denier’s train now? Maricopa took as long on this count as they did for 2020 and the stats line up across the state.

        1. LarrytheG Avatar
          LarrytheG

          Yeah. I’m a little taken aback by Haner’s comment especially since he has been an election official and knows full well the issues that cause counts to continue until they are finished. However, I believe he has expressed concerns of risk for mail in and drop off ballots and is opposed on that basis. He’ll correct me if I got it wrong.

          Some deniers are full blown deniers, others essentially want to go back to same day voting… and same day tabulating or close to it.

          So the whole thing is tied up with non-in-person voting and that it can take days to validate ballots not cast in-person same day.

          Clearly the turnout is much higher when it’s easier to vote so I support that because to not provide that ability essentially reduces the vote.

  8. Nancy Naive Avatar
    Nancy Naive

    Yet another pretty little blond… they’re filling the school boards.

  9. Ken Reid Avatar
    Ken Reid

    The 3 way race helped. I advised Ms. Polifko and did door knocking and lit dropping for her. she had 3 great mailings, thanks to finding a good direct mail strategist. She worked very hard and that’s what Republicans have to do to win in Loudoun. In contrast, all Nick Gothard had to do was be on teh Democrat sample ballot. In Leesburg, there was a 3-way race, too, but there, the independent candidate seemed to take votes from both the Democrat and GOP endorsed candidates. Again, the Democrat did not have to do much to win. In 2016 when I was top vote getter in the race for Town Council (during a year when Trump was trounced in Loudoun), i had to work 3 times as hard as the Democrat candidates. This is only a one year term for TIfanny and Ogedegbe. The full four year term is in next year’s election. Unless some national groups get involved in the school board elections and raises the conversation level, it’s the last race on teh 2nd side of the ballot, and normally (pre trump) there’s but a 30 to 35 percent turnout in off cycle elections in Loudoun. So, I think she has a chance for a four year term in a one on one race next year. She is a very amazing person.

    1. James C. Sherlock Avatar
      James C. Sherlock

      Everything I hear about her is impressive.

    2. James Wyatt Whitehead Avatar
      James Wyatt Whitehead

      Mr. Reid I hope she is strong. One miscue and you get the John Beatty treatment.

    3. James McCarthy Avatar
      James McCarthy

      Yeah, nationalize a local election as the means to winning over the minds of parents. Ah, the downside of local politics. DJT is now back to challenge the weeks old Trump Denial Simplex that had been mutated in a lab where rejecting or divorcing the President In Exile succumbed to his return to the wheelhouse of the Republican Party. Decomposition and deconstruction and reconstruction are ahead.

  10. Nancy Naive Avatar
    Nancy Naive

    Because DJ will eventually laugh at the Presidential stumble at the G20, I offer this poem by Jimmy Stewart…

    The top step in the hotel in Junin is mean.
    Like the Devil is mean.
    And it lies at the top of the other steps,
    So quiet, so still, so serene.

    But this top step has something quite special,
    A very ingenious device:
    It’s half an inch higher than the other steps,
    A whole inch to be more precise.

    And it uses this inch as a weapon,
    The guests of the place to harass:
    For when you reach the third floor of that hotel in Junin,
    The top step trips you right on your ass.

    Now I’ve had my share of knocks on the head,
    I’ve felt enemy gunfire in war.
    But if you want my opinion of what’s really bad,
    I’ll be glad to give you the score.

    Of all the degrading, inhuman, mean things,
    That I in my life have yet seen,
    The gross, most despicable one of them all
    Is the top step in the hotel in Junin.

    https://tessplattner.files.wordpress.com/2012/08/img_4647.jpg

    1. Eric the half a troll Avatar
      Eric the half a troll

      Maybe he needed this guy with him… https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/a562e8b5b415d852c85c685b1c89476e507ba43db0899356691d6a622bc1c164.jpg

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