On November 2nd the Stamford Advocate gave Kathleen Murphy their strongest endorsement for the Board of Finance in the upcoming election taking place on November 6th.

The teachers union has endorsed three candidates for the BOE, needless to say I am not one of them. I was not even given the opportunity to be interviewed by the union. Mr. Peter Ruppert, the union official in charge of the union’s PAC, told me he learned of my candidacy when interviewing the other candidates, yet he did nothing to reach out to me to learn why I am running. Apparently Mr. Ruppert did not know of my candidacy because, like the other union officials I was told to discuss the matter with, they don’t live in Stamford.

In this municipal election the teachers and their families in all probability will represent a disproportionate number of votes. It is a disgrace that union officials who don’t even live in Stamford will be able to influence our elections by giving the appearance that they interviewed and vetted the candidates in making their recommendation to the teachers and their families. This is unfair to the residents of Stamford, and, most would agree, such conduct should be illegal especially this close to the election when I don’t have time to respond.

It is clear that the union officials have elected not to review or disclose anything about my candidacy. The union officials won’t even give basic information to the teachers so that they may have the opportunity to review my qualifications and positions, and determine my suitability to serve on the BOE –something the union officials failed to do.

Yesterday I was told that the union is going to put a note on the endorsement that they did not interview the Independent Party and Green Candidates. Note they are not saying why they did not interview me. Also if they lived in Stamford they would know that the Green Party is not really running a candidate, but only going through the motions in order to retain the ability to do so in the future.

To date I have received various reasons why I was not interviewed. For example, I was told that the PAC’s bylaws do not require that union officials interview all candidates. I was also told that  the town clerk’s office provided incorrect information -they retracted this excuse when I said I will contact the town clerk to verify what happened. Last night I was told it was an oversight. If it was an oversight, why does the union want to pass on their mistake to the teachers.

At a minimum I am requesting that the union tells the teachers why they did not interview me. If the union says it was an oversight, most teachers might look up the information that the union ignored in endorsing its candidates. I would hope that is what the teachers would tell their students to do in a comparable situation.

-Karen Murphy