BOE Election Heats Up in Scarsdale

There are many new developments in the upcoming School Board election in Scarsdale. With independent candidate Bob Harrison challenging the School Board Nominating Committee’s (SBNC) candidate Suzanne Seiden for a seat on the Board, the community is facing the first contested election in years. In response, forces are aligning to back both candidates.

A committee called “Friends of the 2010 Slate” was formed to support the non-partisan system and the candidates endorsed by the SBNC. An email from the group says,"Since the candidates who were nominated this year by the SBNC did not anticipate they would need to campaign, the new committee has taken the lead to provide this effort this year." In order to get out the vote, the committee plans to make phone calls from the Julia B. Fee office, canvass at the Scarsdale and Hartsdale train stations, distribute palm cards at shopping centers and stores and provide the elderly with rides to the polls. Postcards encouraging residents to vote for Suzanne Seiden and the other SBNC endorsed candidates in the May 18th election were received in Scarsdale homes this week.

In other news, the Journal News endorsed Bob Harrison for the seat in Scarsdale, saying, “We endorse Harrison for his extensive understanding of the details of the costs of education, and, more to the point, for his willingness to noisily discuss those details." There's nothing like a contested race to bring issues into the open.

Candidates Seiden and Harrison came face to face at a candidates’ forum sponsored by the Scarsdale League of Women Voters on Thursday evening May 6th. Since the seat is contested, the League decided to host the forum to give voters the opportunity to listen to the candidates. Seiden has been nominated by the SBNC and Harrison is running as an independent. Jill Spieler, Liz Guggenheimer and Lewis Leone Jr. have been nominated by the SBNC and are running unopposed. Erin Molloy, a former mayor of Irvington and past president of the LWV in Irvington and Westchester served as moderator.

Jill Spieler, who is running for a second three-year term on the Board and is slated to be Board President next year, discussed the non-partisan system whereby the SBNC seeks out, vets and nominates a slate of candidates for election to the School Board. According to Spieler, since 1965 the non-partisan system has “kept politics out of the process” and she feared that challenges to the system “may limit those who come forward” for consideration in the future. Liz Guggenheimer, also running for a second term, was not able to attend but Malloy read her statement. She attended Scarsdale Schools and is a lawyer who has had a career centered on public service. She currently runs a non-profit organization and is humbled to be selected. She feels that the job of a Board member is to provide a quality education while being fiscally responsible.

The forum moved onto questions for Seiden and Harrison who are vying for the only contested seat on the Board. Harrison led, telling the group he has lived in three homes in Scarsdale for over 30 years. He now has two grandchildren living here and wants to maintain tax rates that are affordable for both the young and the old. He stated that he had submitted a petition for nomination with 67 signatures.

Seiden opened by telling the group that she was proud to be chosen by the School Board Nominating Committee. She has been president of both the Quaker Ridge and Middle School PTA’s, was a co-chair of the Drug and Alcohol Task Force and has three children in 3rd, 9th and 12th grades enrolled in the Scarsdale Schools. She is a labor and employment lawyer and served as the General Counsel of the Office of Personnel Management in the Clinton Administration. After her initial statement there were loud cheers from the audience that were quickly tempered by the moderator.

Seiden told the group that as Quaker Ridge PTA President in 2004, she worked to pass the bond to make needed repairs to the school. The $14 MM tab for the construction was challenged by Harrison and a TVCC committee who thought the work could be done for less. There was heated debate in the community about the bond and there were delays as additional architects and engineers were brought in to assess. In the time it took to get the bond passed, construction costs rose, and some claim that the delay ended up costing the community dearly. It is interesting that Seiden and Harrison were both involved in the debate on the bond, on opposite sides as they are today.

Bob cited his 43 years in business and finance, including 28 years at Goldman Sachs. He offered to provide the Board with budget analysis and sound financial advice and to fill retiring member Jeff Blatt’s shoes on the Board. He discussed his work on the TVCC fiscal education committee and vowed to hold the line on all tax increases. In response to his claim that the Board needs an expert in finance, Seiden mentioned the financial crisis and last year’s bank bailouts and said that even those in finance “don’t always get it right.”

In response to a question about leadership, Seiden discussed her work to get the Board to change its policy on playground construction at the elementary schools which resulted in the Board, not the PTA’s accepting responsibility for the cost of playground construction and maintenance. Bob discussed work he did to revitalize the tennis courts and the tennis program in Scarsdale and to found the Teen Center.

The two disagreed on the School Board nomination process. Seiden said that if the non-partisan system had worked as intended, she would not be at the forum today as the election of the SBNC nominated candidates would not be contested. She told the group that she had gone through the rigorous process of being vetted by the SBNC and she was found to be the best qualified candidate to serve. Harrison felt that the community would benefit from open elections and asserted that at least 5-6 candidates should stand for the four open positions.

In closing, Seiden said that she was proud to be selected and endorsed by the SBNC, that she is a consensus builder with no preset agenda and she vowed to ensure that tax dollars were wisely spent. Harrison emphasized his financial expertise and defended his position on the 2004 Quaker Ridge Bond Issue, claiming that the $14 million dollar project could have been done for $2-$3 million.

The forum provided the community with a taste of what it would be like to have contested elections in Scarsdale.