Chesco school vote tally drags on

For as long as anyone can remember, the path to the West Chester Area School District school board led through the Republican Party.

A GOP endorsement was the ticket to primary and general-election victory. That may have changed Nov. 8.

An improbable coalition of moderate Republicans, Democrats, and independents, saying the school board had been taken over by right-wing, anti-public-education forces, decided to fight back.

They put together a group that included parent activists and three sitting board members who said they no longer felt at home in the Republican Party. They organized a write-in campaign that garnered 37,252 votes for six candidates - 43 percent of the total, not counting absentee and military votes. The laborious process of tallying the write-ins began Friday.

Leaders of the group West Chester VOTE believe conservative Republican officials are more concerned with keeping taxes low than with supporting students. And they say party leaders and school board members with tea party and right-wing Christian conservative affiliations are exerting undue influence on the board and Republican Party.

As Exhibit A, they cite a February 2009 newsletter posting by Sean Carpenter, a school board member, Republican committeeman, and executive board member of the Independence Hall Tea Party Political Action Committee.

"This is how we will take back the Republican Party for conservatism," Carpenter wrote after he and three other conservative Republicans won the Republican nomination for the West Chester board.

Carpenter credited a religious conservative group headed by Chester County GOP committeewoman Gwenne Alexander.

"It is only with her group's guidance that we succeeded," he wrote, referring to Chester County ACTION (Americans for Christian Traditions in Our Nation). "This is only the beginning."

West Chester VOTE members say the posting reflects what has happened in the local Republican Party over the last few years as moderate Republican school board members who refused to take a no-tax-increase, no-teacher-salary-increase pledge were denied party endorsements.

School board president Rick Swalm said he was turned down for the party's endorsement earlier this year when he wouldn't sign on. He became a West Chester VOTE candidate instead.

Until recently, "you got the [Republican Party] support, you got endorsed, . . . you never heard from them; they didn't call you and tell you what to do. That's the biggest difference between then and now," said board member James Davison, who chose not to seek reelection and who served as West Chester VOTE's campaign coordinator instead.

West Chester VOTE crystallized in June, after the conservative school board majority rejected the pleas of moderate members and residents who asked for a tax increase to stabilize district finances.

A group of parents resolved to challenge the GOP slate at the polls through a write-in campaign, the only avenue open to them because it was too late to get on the ballot.

The Republican candidates and Chester County party officials adamantly denied that party officials or conservative organizations were giving the school board its marching orders.

Carpenter said the party had never tried to influence his vote: "Absolutely not - never once." He denied that the party required any candidate to take a no-tax, no-raise pledge.

West Chester VOTE candidates and supporters say Marian McGrath, county Republican vice chairwoman, tried to intervene in the board vote for president last year and in the June vote against raising taxes. That vote sparked the write-in campaign.

McGrath said she voiced her opinions as a private citizen, not a party leader.

Asked about Chester County ACTION, the conservative Christian group Alexander heads, and its support for the endorsed GOP slate, McGrath said she was appreciative of its efforts.

"Do you have any problem with Christianity in America?" she asked in return, adding, "I'd take that any day over Muslims cutting people's heads off at random."

Upon reflection, McGrath said she would like to retract her comment, saying it was "insensitive."

Asked about the conservative slate of candidates fielded by the local party this time around, McGrath said: "America is a center-right country, and I don't see anything wrong with trying to make our school boards center-right."

Republican school board candidate Maureen Snook said being conservative didn't mean being anti-public education. But it also doesn't mean handing administrators a blank check, she said. "We have to look at the overall district financial situation and make decisions accordingly," she added.

The Republicans, for their part, said the write-in campaign was a special-interest effort.

It was funded by "huge infusions of money from the teachers' union," said Valentino DiGiorgio, Chester County controller and newly elected chairman of the county Republican Committee.

West Chester VOTE candidates said they refused to accept money from the union and did not coordinate their campaign with it. "We're not beholden to anybody's interests - the Democratic Party, the Republican Party, the teachers' union - anybody," candidate Spencer Virta said.

Meanwhile, the vote-counting goes on. No winner has yet been determined; the process is likely to go on for several more days.