By Roger Myers
I am one of the four Brighton School Board members who were excommunicated by the Livingston County Republican Party for placing a bond issue on the ballot.
On its face, the idea of a political party taking such punitive action as retribution for simply putting a bond on the ballot for voters to decide is alarming and completely antithetical to the “open tent” the LCRP claims to be. It is also unprecedented — there have been many school bonds in Livingston County placed on the ballot by board members who were also members of the LCRP and whose party memberships were never revoked as a consequence.
So why is this one different?
Predictably, the LCRP won’t comment on the reason, but connecting the dots is easy: John Conely is on the LCRP executive committee, is a former Brighton school board member, and aggressively led the Vote No campaign against the bond along with former BAS board member Bill Trombley.
The LCRP repeatedly communicated Conely’s position to its members. Mr. Conely’s campaign tactics were wide ranging, without limits, and included putting up illegal “No” signs (for which he is currently being prosecuted), and characterizing the bond on social media as “the raping of the citizens of Brighton.” Such inflammatory rhetoric is also extremely hypocritical given that Conely/Trombley spearheaded the successful 2019 BAS bond as the board’s bond committee, which placed the district’s millage rate above 7 for many years, compared to the rate of 4 mills if this bond had passed.
After the bond failed, Mr. Conely reached out to at least one board member proposing that he and Trombley serve on any future bond oversight committee, saying that the bond would only be successful with their approval.
Conely is also posting on social media that he is preparing the next “No” signs, despite the fact there has been no discussion by the board regarding any new bond proposal or potential scope.
So this action by the LCRP is just another move at Conely’s direction to lay the groundwork to sabotage any effort to pass a bond if it doesn’t include him and Trombley as the centerpiece of it.
I fully acknowledge that many residents who voted no have very personal reasons for their vote, and I completely respect their decisions. But when the outcome of this or any future bond is impacted by smear or disinformation campaigns to stroke fragile egos and advance personal agendas, the real losers are the kids, and that’s the real shame.
Roger Myers is president of the Brighton Area Schools Board of Education
