Thanks but no thanks

This is in response to Mr. Guerrero’s refusal to attend the Education Forum. I want to thank you Mr. Guerrero for letting the entire CNMI know how you feel about me in your refusal to attend the Forum. I also want to thank you for letting everyone know that I am supporting Dr. Joyner for the Board of Education. As the BOE Teacher Rep and board member, I have an ethical responsibility to refrain from creating a political atmosphere by publicly supporting candidates for the Board but you introduced my support for Dr. Joyner and I have a right to rebuttal. I have never publicly stated that I was supporting Dr. Joyner, so thanks for letting everyone know that I’m supporting and voting for him.

I’m sure Dr. Joyner is thankful that you are not going to show up at the Forum because the average person knows that not attending the Forum is an obvious attempt to prevent being scrutinized by the very people you want to work for—the voters. A failure to appear at the Forum is like not showing up for a job interview yet still expecting to get the job. Employers and voters are not idiots because they don’t hire a person who won’t even show up for an interview—so you don’t have to guess what many people are going to do about your BOE application. Thank you Mr. Guerrero on behalf of all the people supporting Dr. Joyner.

Mr. Guerrero, your effort to tie partisan tactics to a nonpartisan educational event won’t work. You have even inserted my wife, who is also a parent, into your politics. Thanks for letting other parents know that if you find out they are not for you, they will also be on your “what ever list.” Saying my wife and I support Dr. Joyner is not going to help you win because people aren’t judging my wife or me, they are judging you. Your statement about “not trusting” me was also a political ploy to derail the Forum and to bash me. People are not idiots; they don’t care if you don’t trust me and they have enough sense to know that trusting me has nothing to do with you answering questions from voters and the media. Furthermore your statement was a clear admission of your bias toward a fellow board member, which is also an indicator of your inability to remain professional. I will be on the board for two more years but your recent political stunts over the Forum may be the straw that will break the camel’s back. Thanks for playing politics with a nonpartisan issue. Your refusal to attend the Forum while telling people to “choose wisely” is an oxymoron and counterproductive when you consider that every parent wants to hear from you how you are going to influence the education of their child.

The process for electing the best person does not work if there is no competition and Mr. Guerrero was hoping to be elected again without being challenged but Dr. Joyner has now spoiled that for him. Mr. Guerrero did nothing to be elected and now he can’t even confront his opposition in a simple Forum. Its not even a debate but he’s afraid. Dr. Joyner is only doing exactly what is stated on his flyers and that is to give people a “choice and a chance for change.” Mr. Guerrero should be thanking me for providing him the opportunity to speak to the public but instead, he publicly admits being afraid of me when his opposition is Dr. Joyner. Thanks for letting people know that their concerns to ask you questions about education are secondary to your bias against me.

Mr. Guerrero, your excuse not to attend a Forum that I organized is just that—an excuse—because I’m not even apart of the Forum agenda after the introductions and the questions come from the audience and the media. You’re not fooling anyone by using me as an excuse not to participate in the Forum.

So, “sin dangkulu na si yu’us ma’ase” Mr. Guerrero for literally defeating your own purpose for running as a candidate by being true to form with your politics on the Board and for not attending the Forum.

Ambrose M. Bennett
BOE Teacher Rep