How Come BOE Candidate Stephen Austin Won’t Say What His Employment Is??

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:Stephen Austin can talk all he wants about neighborhood schools. But, by his own admission, he has never done anything for MCPS, in his neighborhood or in any other. He wants to keep the value up on his $685,700 house in an area where the median home value is more the $800,000. Fine. Be up front about it.

You guys are rabid if you are looking up his address and house values. I don't see this being done for any of the other 14 candidates, nor should it be.

It's public record. Go ahead and look it up for the other 14 candidates, if you want.

It wouldn't surprise me if someone posted his address and other personal info here. Some of his opponents are brutal and I wouldn't put it past them.

His opponents, the other candidates - is that whom you mean?

Non-candidate people who disagree with him aren't are not his opponents. In fact, if he gets elected, they'll be his constituents. Something it's always good for any candidate to keep in mind.

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Stephen Austin can talk all he wants about neighborhood schools. But, by his own admission, he has never done anything for MCPS, in his neighborhood or in any other. He wants to keep the value up on his $685,700 house in an area where the median home value is more the $800,000. Fine. Be up front about it.

You guys are rabid if you are looking up his address and house values. I don't see this being done for any of the other 14 candidates, nor should it be.

It's public record. Go ahead and look it up for the other 14 candidates, if you want.

It wouldn't surprise me if someone posted his address and other personal info here. Some of his opponents are brutal and I wouldn't put it past them.

His opponents, the other candidates - is that whom you mean?

Non-candidate people who disagree with him aren't are not his opponents. In fact, if he gets elected, they'll be his constituents. Something it's always good for any candidate to keep in mind.

Pardon me.. I didn't mean his opponents, as in the other candidates. I meant the vicious people supporting the other candidates. Not all of them are vicious but there are many. And they are horrible.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Pardon me.. I didn't mean his opponents, as in the other candidates. I meant the vicious people supporting the other candidates. Not all of them are vicious but there are many. And they are horrible.

He says that he will listen to the parents and taxpayers if he gets elected. Well, that includes these "vicious people." He will have to listen to them calling him names, saying things about him that he thinks aren't true, booing him and yelling at him at public hearings, and all the other things that have happened to the current BoE members. That is the job he is choosing to run for. How will he react to it? Will he say, "These are vicious people, and I will insult and ignore them," or will he say, "These are my constituents, and I will listen to them"?

I really hope that he doesn't think the name-calling, saying things, booing, etc. won't happen to him. They will. It comes with the office.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Pardon me.. I didn't mean his opponents, as in the other candidates. I meant the vicious people supporting the other candidates. Not all of them are vicious but there are many. And they are horrible.

He says that he will listen to the parents and taxpayers if he gets elected. Well, that includes these "vicious people." He will have to listen to them calling him names, saying things about him that he thinks aren't true, booing him and yelling at him at public hearings, and all the other things that have happened to the current BoE members. That is the job he is choosing to run for. How will he react to it? Will he say, "These are vicious people, and I will insult and ignore them," or will he say, "These are my constituents, and I will listen to them"?

I really hope that he doesn't think the name-calling, saying things, booing, etc. won't happen to him. They will. It comes with the office.

He needs to start listening now and show he can do it.

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:Don’t forget that he and his lawyer are also suing to “re-open Maryland” so yeah, he’s that kind of extreme crazy AND has a mysterious employment background.

This is a new claim and since most of these are not true, I’d love to see a link to the case.

Google it! I’m off the clock.

Nothing.

DP. I Googled it. John Garza is

1. the guy who repeatedly sued MCPS in 2006 and 2007 about including homosexuality in the family life curriculum
2. the guy who is representing the plaintiffs in Cabin Branch who don't want their kids to have to go to middle school with kids from Montgomery Village
3. one of the lawyers suing Hogan on behalf of "Reopen Maryland LLC" (whoever they are)

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1zKnJ81doTuhuv596kWYRSMUvVcQd392l/view

(Evidently a busy man.)

Steve Austin said in his Maryland Matters piece that he has never met or spoken with John Garza.

Stephen Austin is parsing his words. He is quoted in the lawsuit as part of the evidence. He gives an account of a private conversation. He donated money to Garza and he encouraged all of his FB followers to donate. Then he denied any involvement in the lawsuit.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Stephen Austin can talk all he wants about neighborhood schools. But, by his own admission, he has never done anything for MCPS, in his neighborhood or in any other. He wants to keep the value up on his $685,700 house in an area where the median home value is more the $800,000. Fine. Be up front about it.

You guys are rabid if you are looking up his address and house values. I don't see this being done for any of the other 14 candidates, nor should it be.

It's public record. Go ahead and look it up for the other 14 candidates, if you want.

It wouldn't surprise me if someone posted his address and other personal info here. Some of his opponents are brutal and I wouldn't put it past them.

His opponents, the other candidates - is that whom you mean?

Non-candidate people who disagree with him aren't are not his opponents. In fact, if he gets elected, they'll be his constituents. Something it's always good for any candidate to keep in mind.

Pardon me.. I didn't mean his opponents, as in the other candidates. I meant the vicious people supporting the other candidates. Not all of them are vicious but there are many. And they are horrible.

Stephen Austin has a campaign based on a conspiracy theory that the superintendent and school board are lying about having no plans to bring back busing. He expels anyone from his Facebook group who challenges him or who he suspects is disloyal. He mocks his “opponents” - as he calls anyone who disagrees - every day. Then, if anyone criticizes him where he cannot delete their post/article, he plays the victim. All unfavorable facts are “smears.” What I don’t get is why any intelligent being would support such behavior.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The sign issue is stupid. Illegal signs for candidates happens every election cycle, I imagine more so if you are new to it. I find it comical that this particular election cycle, this particular race, people are complaining about it. If this is your biggest complaint in life, get over it, because things are pretty good foe you.

I don't think Austin intends to be what others label segregationist, he just hasn't been around long enough to understand the history of the language. And yes, some of his followers are over the edge of appropriate, but from what I have seen, that is not him. Penalizing him for being new and having low class followers doesn't feel right.

And the smear from the far left (which I usually count myself a member of), including a former BOE member, a current state senator, a current state delegate, and many, many others, is well beyond acceptable. I may vote for him in protest of their behavior.

For someone whose whole campaign is centered on the school board changing the boundary policy without waiting a full 21 days for public comment, I would say he should be following the rules. Looks like he doesn’t really care about rules.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The sign issue is stupid. Illegal signs for candidates happens every election cycle, I imagine more so if you are new to it. I find it comical that this particular election cycle, this particular race, people are complaining about it. If this is your biggest complaint in life, get over it, because things are pretty good foe you.

I don't think Austin intends to be what others label segregationist, he just hasn't been around long enough to understand the history of the language. And yes, some of his followers are over the edge of appropriate, but from what I have seen, that is not him. Penalizing him for being new and having low class followers doesn't feel right.

And the smear from the far left (which I usually count myself a member of), including a former BOE member, a current state senator, a current state delegate, and many, many others, is well beyond acceptable. I may vote for him in protest of their behavior.

If he didn't originally know that "neighborhood schools" was a segregationist slogan, then he didn't know much about the history of public schools. Which is not necessarily a qualification for serving on the BoE, but it's true that not everybody knows everything, and people learn (we hope).

But then people told him that it was a segregationist slogan. Did he stop using it? No. Did he defend his continued use of it? Yes. Is it a smear to point this out? No.

I never heard of that being segregationist.

Here's a KIPP school using exactly that term -- in fact their company name is "Neighborhood Schools, Inc'! https://neighborschools.org/
Are they segregationist?

Also, the WXY report commissioned by MCPS for the boundary analysis uses the term as well:

"MCPS strives to create neighborhood schools where students live as close as
possible to school. "

Page 32 of the WXY report on the MCPS website: https://www.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/uploadedFiles/departments/publicinfo/Boundary_Analysis/interim-report/MCPS_InterimReport_Full.pdf

Are MCPS and WXY segregationist for using the terms?

Coincidentally, that's exactly what Steve Austin said.

He says MCPS is trying to destroy neighborhoods. That’s not true. That’s why people accuse him of fearmongering. No one is opposed to having school boundaries or children attending nearby schools. Stephen is harkening to the distasteful arguments of segregationists all for nothing.

[Anonymous]

On another thread, there are posts calling a current BoE member "the Trump of MCPS" and "a two-faced backstabber."

So it's not like nastiness is uniquely focused on this one candidate in this one race.

[Anonymous]

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This isn't bullying, and I find it very odd that people are characterizing it as bullying. I'm with the top PP; this is normal stuff for a candidate running for public office. In fact, far worse things have been said about candidates running for public office.

The difference to me is that this is a lowly BOE race, not running for higher office. We've never seen anything like this for a BOE race in the past, at least as far back as I can remember.

It's not like a seat on the BOE is worth it for $$, power, or prestige. You get paid $25k/year, and everyone complains at you all day. My guess is this is why the current at-large member decided not to run again -- she know it would be like this and she didn't need the stress for a $25k/year thankless job (and I dont' blame her).

Looking on DCUM, there have been so many threads about Austin -- one of 15 candidates -- that Jeff even had to lock a few. That just seems way out of hand. I don't see even 1 thread on most of the candidates. What gives? The thread topics tend to be negative towards Austin, so I doubt it's his supporters starting them.

I don't remember anyone in the past running a campaign like Stephen Austin. So that seems like a plausible explanation for it, to me.

+1 His positions and rhetoric have been polarizing. That's fine. He has a right and should express his position, but if those positions are polarizing, then you'd better be ready for dissension and visceral reactions.

Here's his website:
https://stephenaustin4boe.com/

I hardly see anything polarizing on there. I suspect most voters will check out his website, as well as voter guiders like from League of Women Voters. I don't see anything really polarizing there also.

He is polarizing because one side is extremely invested in keeping the Teacher's Union strong by owning the MCPS Board. Austin's side is more concerned with providing a high quality education to all students in MCPS than goose-stepping in line. If you do anything that may take away their power, they fight back as hard as they possibly can. I'm assuming that 80% of the Austin bashers are teachers union reps - the other 20% are just your run of the mill social justice warriors.

"Social justice warrior" being anyone who doesn't support Austin's segregationist inspired bullying campaign, presumably.

+1 Austin and his supporters are polarizing -- "let's lump in every person who doesn't agree with Austin as either union supporters or SJW."

Newsflash: I am neither. I don't agree with some of Austin's positions on the boundary analysis and the way he's handled himself. That's why I won't vote for him. Believe it or not, not everyone who supports a boundary analysis is a sjw. Many of us think the boundary analysis is loooong overdue as we have had our kids (now in mcps for going on 8 years for us) in a constant state of overcrowded schools. We also see through the false narrative that "the #1 factor for boundary is diversity", both in the upcounty boundary changes and a somewhat recent boundary change we experienced. Some of us can parse the data for ourselves and reach our own conclusions and not base our opinions on fear mongering of "excessive busing", whatever that means. But if you want to talk about excessive busing, let's look at the "excessive busing" of the Potomac Glen neighborhood all the way to Churchill when there are at least two HS that are closer to it. Let's talk about how there are currently 30 to 40% of students who are not assigned to their closest schools. Are these students part of the "excessive busing" crowd?

The reverse to this is JOF, One Montgomery lumping all Steve Austin supporters Right Wingers, segregationists (which implies racists). If we are going to be frank here, "fear mongering" is going on both sides. You can't be blind to what this BOE campaign has become, one major mud slinging, name calling sht race.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

The reverse to this is JOF, One Montgomery lumping all Steve Austin supporters Right Wingers, segregationists (which implies racists). If we are going to be frank here, "fear mongering" is going on both sides. You can't be blind to what this BOE campaign has become, one major mud slinging, name calling sht race.

I think that most voters have no idea whom you're talking about. This obsession with a former BoE member and a group with a blog is really inside baseball stuff. And inside baseball is not how you win elections.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

The reverse to this is JOF, One Montgomery lumping all Steve Austin supporters Right Wingers, segregationists (which implies racists). If we are going to be frank here, "fear mongering" is going on both sides. You can't be blind to what this BOE campaign has become, one major mud slinging, name calling sht race.

I think that most voters have no idea whom you're talking about. This obsession with a former BoE member and a group with a blog is really inside baseball stuff. And inside baseball is not how you win elections.

She is a major supporter of Sunil- which is fine. My point is that both sides are behaving so nasty and calling each other names. I think it’s important to keep in mind that it’s just not one group behaving in an unsavory way.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

The reverse to this is JOF, One Montgomery lumping all Steve Austin supporters Right Wingers, segregationists (which implies racists). If we are going to be frank here, "fear mongering" is going on both sides. You can't be blind to what this BOE campaign has become, one major mud slinging, name calling sht race.

I think that most voters have no idea whom you're talking about. This obsession with a former BoE member and a group with a blog is really inside baseball stuff. And inside baseball is not how you win elections.

She is a major supporter of Sunil- which is fine. My point is that both sides are behaving so nasty and calling each other names. I think it’s important to keep in mind that it’s just not one group behaving in an unsavory way.

Calling a supporter of segregation a segregationist isn't name calling, it's truth telling. If that upsets Ausin supporters, good, it's a sign they have a conscience and can maybe change for the better.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

The reverse to this is JOF, One Montgomery lumping all Steve Austin supporters Right Wingers, segregationists (which implies racists). If we are going to be frank here, "fear mongering" is going on both sides. You can't be blind to what this BOE campaign has become, one major mud slinging, name calling sht race.

I think that most voters have no idea whom you're talking about. This obsession with a former BoE member and a group with a blog is really inside baseball stuff. And inside baseball is not how you win elections.

She is a major supporter of Sunil- which is fine. My point is that both sides are behaving so nasty and calling each other names. I think it’s important to keep in mind that it’s just not one group behaving in an unsavory way.

No, she's not. She's a supporter of - well, either the "progressive" candidates or the "equity" candidates, depending on your point of view.

I think that the both-sides-ism is inappropriate here. Look at what the candidates, themselves, have been saying and doing, both before and during their candidacies.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

The reverse to this is JOF, One Montgomery lumping all Steve Austin supporters Right Wingers, segregationists (which implies racists). If we are going to be frank here, "fear mongering" is going on both sides. You can't be blind to what this BOE campaign has become, one major mud slinging, name calling sht race.

I think that most voters have no idea whom you're talking about. This obsession with a former BoE member and a group with a blog is really inside baseball stuff. And inside baseball is not how you win elections.

She is a major supporter of Sunil- which is fine. My point is that both sides are behaving so nasty and calling each other names. I think it’s important to keep in mind that it’s just not one group behaving in an unsavory way.

Calling a supporter of segregation a segregationist isn't name calling, it's truth telling. If that upsets Ausin supporters, good, it's a sign they have a conscience and can maybe change for the better.

Not segregation.... Buy a house in Potomac, go to Potomac schools. Don't buy a house in Potomac, do not go to Potomac schools. I do not think anyone is preventing people from buying in a school boundary.