School daze as Doherty hovers around edges of race
BY RODERICK RANDOM
04/28/2007
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Mayor Chris Doherty insists he really is staying out of the Scranton School Board race, but he keeps doing things that make people doubt that.





The latest is speaking last week at a fundraiser for School Board candidates Carol Oleski and Joseph Matyjevich.

Several people who were there came back thinking the mayor endorsed Mrs. Oleski and Mr. Matyjevich.

It sounded like an endorsement to Joe Gatelli and School Director Kathleen McGuigan, two other board candidates who were there.

Mr. Doherty, Mrs. Oleski and Mr. Matyjevich insist it wasnt. The mayor never actually urged people to vote for Mr. Matyjevich and Mrs. Oleski, they said.

They all agree that Mr. Doherty did nothing more than introduce Mrs. Oleski and Mr. Matyjevich, tell the people in the room they should work for the candidates they support and that if they support Mr. Matyjevich and Mrs. Oleski, they should work on their behalf. He also noted the presence of several other candidates in the room.

By no means did he endorse Carol Oleski and Joe Matyjevich, Mr. Matyjevich said.

Mrs. Oleski said the mayor mentioned the names of Paul McGloin, Mrs. McGuigan, Mark Dougher, Daniel Keeler, Patrick Mitchell and Mr. Gatelli. Mrs. McGuigan said she didnt hear her name mentioned.

All have some connection to the mayor, which makes many Democrats who dont like him believe hes meddling in the School Board race the way he did four years ago. Mr. Doherty said theyre all friends of his, and hes already gone to rallies for Mr. Gatelli, Mr. McGloin and Mr. Mitchell.

If they invite me, I go, he said.

Hes not endorsing anyone, he said. Period.

********LIAR ALERT Now Joe Gatelli had one rally and I happened to be there the entire time, mayor dougherty was not invited and did not attend the rally.

Diogenes Posts: 7 Date: Tue Apr 17 5:57 PM, 2007 Views: 294

Quote | Reply RE: Can SSD employee run for Board? Short answer-No. A teacher is forbidden by the school code from being a director in his/her district where employed.A teacher may be on the board in the district where they live, thus an Old Forge resident employed by Scranton may be on the board in Old Forge since they are not employed by OF. Any non-professional employee would have a conflict in that they would be voting on their own pay via the school budget--which is the reason for the ban on teachers and principals. If a person runs for the office they must be retired before being sworn in. That may be what the school district employees who are running must do. Otherwise they will be bounced out. A good argument aginst their cnadiacy is that they are way too close to the action and could not be objective enough on budget issue because their freinds would benefit from their actions.

....... I have a feeling they were alluding to Joe Gatelli, well as of the end of school he will be retired..... On a side note, I bet they did not know that they should not vote for Chris Phillips or Paul O'malley, since they have family that work in the district and they would be voting on their pay also.....