Some supporters of Will Begeny and Theo Oshiro are trying to paint Allison Samuels and Leslie Pollak as right-wingers aligned with a lawsuit against the school district.
Any misrepresentation of a candidate’s position is reprehensible and should be called out. I focused on this case because there is an organized and concerted smear campaign in progress. I also distinguish between allegations that are clearly false vs. opinions that one can agree with or not. Eg, some conservatives in Croton want to make a big deal out of Theo’s organization’s support for decriminalizing sex workers, which is a pretty much mainstream ACLU civil liberties position. But they are not actually lying about what his position is. I think we should try to avoid whataboutism and take all unethical behavior seriously.
Thanks for writing about this. The silence from the two “progressive”candidates speaks volumes. It would be very easy to make a statement of support and well wishes for all candidates, especially from those who claim to stand for virtue.
I am deeply disappointed that Will Begeny and Theo Oshiro have not yet made public statements denouncing this smear campaign. If they are true Progressives, they would immediately step up and stand behind the motto "Hate Has No Home Here."
If they were truly progressive and genuinely committed to feminism as they claim they would have stepped aside and allowed minority women to lead. Our current Board of Education already has a male majority.
So, just to recap: This Commentary now has 3,200 views, so we are happy that it has been widely viewed and that some progress has been made in setting the record straight. The Chronicle does not endorse candidates nor take sides in local elections, but it does strive to report the truth. A few commenters basically accused us of making up the facts in this post, which is absurd--it was based on solid reporting based on multiple and independent sources both written and verbal. There are a number of inconvenient truths in our community, but we will continue to report on them.
Some very interesting discussions in many ways. There is an assumption that you vote for someone based on what they say their politics are, whereas some might want to also look at how effective those candidates have been in putting their politics into practice over the years. I have no dog in this fight, and as I have said, my personal left politics are probably closer to Theo's than anyone else's. I certainly did not publish this Commentary to try to help Leslie and Allison win the election, if anyone thinks that. I just think that dirty smear politics are bad for our community, and I also know for a fact that there are readers of the Chronicle who know from their own personal experience that this is going on. I am not begging anyone to believe the reporting, it is published here for those who want to take it seriously. PS--For various reasons, Leslie and Allison are supported by some in Croton who have little or no affinity with their politics, but want to see a change in the BoE and more diversity amongst its members.
I think an example what I am talking about here is the process of developing a new DEI policy itself. A lot of supporters of the current members of the BoE (Will Begeny has essentially been endorsed by Josh Diamond as his replacement) are going to vote for Will and Theo because they are pro-DEI. But the BoE has spent what, more than a year working on the policy, including many many months before Trump was elected. And there is still no voted on policy. At some meetings they debated about terms like what is diversity and that kind of thing, to the point where at one meeting I was at an exasperated Elisa Silverglade Rader told the board during comments that they should just go out and hire a consultant to help get it done. And now the DEI policy has apparently been tabled by the board, perhaps in fear of Trump retaliating and taking away federal funds--even though Tish James has said that NY educational guidance is still in effect and the courts have blocked Trump from fulfilling these threats. So how do we know that Leslie and Allison might not do a better job of getting DEI policies through? They are very keen, they say, to prevent harassment and bullying, with a specific concern about anti-Semitism but they have said clearly they are concerned about all students. Who knows?
I can see that a little more comment is necessary here. This Commentary came about when I became aware that there was a concerted campaign, involving multiple individuals, to associate Leslie and Allison with the PDE lawsuit. It occurred over a short period of time, and I was able to confirm via my reporting that it was going on and even monitor it in real time. That raised it to the level of something that needed to be noted journalistically. I wrote this as a Commentary so that I could make certain judgments about it that went beyond the mere facts, given the short period of time between now and the May 20 election and the serious moral and ethical issues involved. While all false claims are regrettable if not reprehensible, such a coordinated campaign rises to a different level, especially in a small community such as ours.
Just an update this morning on this Commentary. There have been more than 2000 views as of this morning, which is not surprising. The public comments on this post and on Facebook groups that I have access to have been muted, but so far those who support Will and Theo tend to think there is no smear campaign and/or that Will and Theo are opposed to it. I hope that is true, but so far I have seen no comments from them—certainly not in response to this commentary—distancing themselves from smear tactics or saying that they are wrong. Situational ethics and morality are the opposite of real ethics and morality, and I hope that by the time May 20 rolls around voters will make their decisions based on facts and the REAL positions of the candidates and not on lies. Oh, and some are even smearing me and questioning my motivations for publishing this Commentary, which is just par for the course. My personal politics are probably closest to Theo’s but I am not a partisan of anyone in this particular election. I am trying to cover both sides fairly to the extent that the candidates will help me do it. The Chronicle has 1,153 direct email subscribers right now, not small potatoes in a community of our size.
Yes, it's wrong to spread falsehoods, and all candidates must openly condemn smear tactics. But Matthew's claiming Will and Theo support child sexualization and indoctrination isn't an opinion—it's a deliberate smear by a vocal supporter of Allison and Leslie. If Will and Theo are judged for not distancing themselves from supporters' speech, Allison and Leslie should be too. They aren't far right or involved in the lawsuit, but I worry they are avoiding calling out certain supporters to keep their votes or avoid upsetting the PTSA president. This raises concerns about their actions if elected.
Just a note that I have not deleted any of the comments on this post so far, even though a couple have been borderline in terms of the comments policy and have been reported (the decision whether to delete remains with the editor.) I think it is good to air the bitterness here and make clear that yes, there are smears flying around on all sides. Perhaps that will induce everyone to calm down and focus on the issues rather than making up stories about the candidates on both sides of the campaign.
And we wonder why there is bullying in schools. If the only way you can win an election is to try to bully your way into getting votes for the candidates you want what does that say about your character. STOP this now and dwell on what is best for the students of Croton and not yourself.
I haven't seen any smear campaign against Allison and Leslie and I am in most of the croton groups. Michael, you are entitled to write whatever you want - this is your blog, however, this feels like an opinion piece, not really an unbiased report on what is happening. It puts one set of candidates, Theo and Will, on the defense for something they have said they are not aware of. If you are going to write a fair piece and not a hit piece, then please include both sides, did you ask Allison and Leslie about what their supporters have said about Theo and Will? If so, it didn't appear in the piece. As an aside, it is interesting that two candidates, Leslie and Allison, who claim to be moderate and opposed to Trump's policies would choose a such a Trumpian campaign slogan. They are running on "Croton Kids First." Perhaps that wasn't intentional, however, that is the slogan. Word choices matter. I support the vision of inclusiveness that has been expressed by Will and Ben. It is way too late to sit on a fence, if there is a choice between progressive and less progressive, I will go with progress every time.
I am simply going to repeat what I have said several times now. My reporting, based on direct evidence, confirms that there has been a concerted and coordinated effort on the part of some supporters of Theo and Will to discredit Leslie and Allison by spreading lies about their politics, and specifically, to tie them to the PDE lawsuit. That part of the Commentary was not opinion but reporting. I went on to comment on those factual findings and their implications. It is really as simple as that.
Is this opinion or reporting? I didn't see your footnotes or sited sources. I guess I am just confused - I haven't heard any rumor or seen any sources sited about people saying that Leslie and Allison are plaintiffs in a lawsuit, however, I have seen vocal and outspoken MAGA backers who are strongly backing Allison and Leslie, to me that is a fact. Is pointing out the fact that they have support from MAGA a smear if it is true? I guess show me who you hang out with and I'll show you who you are. Will and Theo have my vote. They are the true progressive candidates and haven't smeared anyone.
Sigh. Obviously the reporting is based on confidential sources because few in Croton feel free to openly identify themselves as talking to reporters, even though many do so. The fact that you have not seen or heard any of this is irrelevant, with all due respect. You can vote for whom you want, that is not the issue. The issue is the organized, concerted smear campaign, which is a level above individual shots taken at candidates, as bad as those are as well. Last one from me, except to say that I have been a working journalist for 47 years, have taught journalism at the graduate and undergrad level at NYU, BU and City College of NY, and actually know something about how journalism is done and should be done. Our village is replete with cliques, power struggles, rumors, and yes constant smears of people if they step out of line with the mainstream. Unfortunate but probably typical of a small town.
Great that you are credentialed. Yes, I love that I can still vote, and vote for whom I want and feel pretty sure it will count. Yay. My issue is the headline and the accusation of an organized and concerted smear campaign with no evidence. Something "organized and concerted" would leave a trail, in my opinion. Sounds like projection to me. Just my opinion.
Someone asked early about their possibly being part of the lawsuit on Croton Point. It was a sincre question, not an accusation. Many expcted PDE to run someone. Andrea and others quickly clarifed Leslie and Allison werent involved. I undrestand the confusion when Jessica and Roseann are supporters too.
Nothing about all the shady stuff from Allison and Leslie’s backers? Matthew Rawlings went on this long transphobic rant on Croton Issues, saying “Vote for Will if you don’t want grandchildren!” (now removed) where he called Croton Schools staff as groomers. Leslie jumped in to assure folks that the rainbow on the Croton Kids First website has nothing to do with Pride, but she didn’t respond to any of the hate speech in the post or comments. Plus, there are Rob Armanini’s weird posts on Uncensored trying to link Theo’s work with Make the Road to communism.
Being on the school board is not for the faint of heart. You are accused of all sorts of things by all sorts of people, but you keep your eye on what is important and move forward for the good. Any one who has been paying any attention to what has been going on in the district knows that Leslie and Allison had nothing to do with the lawsuit. I believe, sir, that you are stirring this up for your own attention (case in point the way you mentioned how many “ looks” you had?) Please can we just get on with what is a very important election and stop with this silly distraction?!
And yet a lot of people were going around saying on social media and by word of mouth that Leslie and Allison were involved with the lawsuit. Actually, YOU were one of the people going around saying they were opposed to DEI! So that is factually incorrect. Perhaps now more will realize it is not true. And now you are smearing me, by saying that I had ulterior motivations for publishing about this, to attract attention (I often mention the number of views of stories because I think it is good for the community to know how much impact independent local media has.) Again, you are smearing me when you don’t know me personally and you have no idea what my motivations are. Are smear tactics so ingrained in the culture of Croton that they can be employed with no shame at all?
I was told by a woman in one of the Croton groups we both belong to that Andrea Furey told her—and other members of another group they're all part of—ABSOLUTELY not to vote for Leslie and Allison because they don't support inclusivity.
It is true that Andrea is going around and systematically telling people this. My reporting supports that. She is not the only person doing it, but she is one of the main people doing it. It’s regrettable that we have gotten to this point.
Michael you have never spoken to me on this topic and I have stated on social media that all the candidates are pro DEI as you can see on social media. I hope people will go to Croton Point and see my actual statement. I’m sorry I’ve engaged here. And again I will state to anyone that I believe that Leslie and Alison are pro DEI and would never have been part of the lawsuit.
You have privately misrepresented their position and I stand by my statement. I may be publishing a community newspaper but I do not have to accept dishonesty in public discourse. You may have said publicly that Allison and Leslie are not part of the PDE lawsuit, that is not what I am referring to; I am referring to private statements you make to people that they are not pro DEI. This is a small village and people talk to reporters.
Any misrepresentation of a candidate’s position is reprehensible and should be called out. I focused on this case because there is an organized and concerted smear campaign in progress. I also distinguish between allegations that are clearly false vs. opinions that one can agree with or not. Eg, some conservatives in Croton want to make a big deal out of Theo’s organization’s support for decriminalizing sex workers, which is a pretty much mainstream ACLU civil liberties position. But they are not actually lying about what his position is. I think we should try to avoid whataboutism and take all unethical behavior seriously.
Thanks for writing about this. The silence from the two “progressive”candidates speaks volumes. It would be very easy to make a statement of support and well wishes for all candidates, especially from those who claim to stand for virtue.
Still waiting for them to say more. If they do, I will update the story.
I am deeply disappointed that Will Begeny and Theo Oshiro have not yet made public statements denouncing this smear campaign. If they are true Progressives, they would immediately step up and stand behind the motto "Hate Has No Home Here."
I asked Will again to comment on the smear campaign itself and if he does I will publish those comments as an update.
If they were truly progressive and genuinely committed to feminism as they claim they would have stepped aside and allowed minority women to lead. Our current Board of Education already has a male majority.
So, just to recap: This Commentary now has 3,200 views, so we are happy that it has been widely viewed and that some progress has been made in setting the record straight. The Chronicle does not endorse candidates nor take sides in local elections, but it does strive to report the truth. A few commenters basically accused us of making up the facts in this post, which is absurd--it was based on solid reporting based on multiple and independent sources both written and verbal. There are a number of inconvenient truths in our community, but we will continue to report on them.
Some very interesting discussions in many ways. There is an assumption that you vote for someone based on what they say their politics are, whereas some might want to also look at how effective those candidates have been in putting their politics into practice over the years. I have no dog in this fight, and as I have said, my personal left politics are probably closer to Theo's than anyone else's. I certainly did not publish this Commentary to try to help Leslie and Allison win the election, if anyone thinks that. I just think that dirty smear politics are bad for our community, and I also know for a fact that there are readers of the Chronicle who know from their own personal experience that this is going on. I am not begging anyone to believe the reporting, it is published here for those who want to take it seriously. PS--For various reasons, Leslie and Allison are supported by some in Croton who have little or no affinity with their politics, but want to see a change in the BoE and more diversity amongst its members.
I think an example what I am talking about here is the process of developing a new DEI policy itself. A lot of supporters of the current members of the BoE (Will Begeny has essentially been endorsed by Josh Diamond as his replacement) are going to vote for Will and Theo because they are pro-DEI. But the BoE has spent what, more than a year working on the policy, including many many months before Trump was elected. And there is still no voted on policy. At some meetings they debated about terms like what is diversity and that kind of thing, to the point where at one meeting I was at an exasperated Elisa Silverglade Rader told the board during comments that they should just go out and hire a consultant to help get it done. And now the DEI policy has apparently been tabled by the board, perhaps in fear of Trump retaliating and taking away federal funds--even though Tish James has said that NY educational guidance is still in effect and the courts have blocked Trump from fulfilling these threats. So how do we know that Leslie and Allison might not do a better job of getting DEI policies through? They are very keen, they say, to prevent harassment and bullying, with a specific concern about anti-Semitism but they have said clearly they are concerned about all students. Who knows?
I can see that a little more comment is necessary here. This Commentary came about when I became aware that there was a concerted campaign, involving multiple individuals, to associate Leslie and Allison with the PDE lawsuit. It occurred over a short period of time, and I was able to confirm via my reporting that it was going on and even monitor it in real time. That raised it to the level of something that needed to be noted journalistically. I wrote this as a Commentary so that I could make certain judgments about it that went beyond the mere facts, given the short period of time between now and the May 20 election and the serious moral and ethical issues involved. While all false claims are regrettable if not reprehensible, such a coordinated campaign rises to a different level, especially in a small community such as ours.
Just an update this morning on this Commentary. There have been more than 2000 views as of this morning, which is not surprising. The public comments on this post and on Facebook groups that I have access to have been muted, but so far those who support Will and Theo tend to think there is no smear campaign and/or that Will and Theo are opposed to it. I hope that is true, but so far I have seen no comments from them—certainly not in response to this commentary—distancing themselves from smear tactics or saying that they are wrong. Situational ethics and morality are the opposite of real ethics and morality, and I hope that by the time May 20 rolls around voters will make their decisions based on facts and the REAL positions of the candidates and not on lies. Oh, and some are even smearing me and questioning my motivations for publishing this Commentary, which is just par for the course. My personal politics are probably closest to Theo’s but I am not a partisan of anyone in this particular election. I am trying to cover both sides fairly to the extent that the candidates will help me do it. The Chronicle has 1,153 direct email subscribers right now, not small potatoes in a community of our size.
Yes, it's wrong to spread falsehoods, and all candidates must openly condemn smear tactics. But Matthew's claiming Will and Theo support child sexualization and indoctrination isn't an opinion—it's a deliberate smear by a vocal supporter of Allison and Leslie. If Will and Theo are judged for not distancing themselves from supporters' speech, Allison and Leslie should be too. They aren't far right or involved in the lawsuit, but I worry they are avoiding calling out certain supporters to keep their votes or avoid upsetting the PTSA president. This raises concerns about their actions if elected.
This s___ show is what paying the highest property taxes in the country gets you! The Village and the School District have real issues!
Just a note that I have not deleted any of the comments on this post so far, even though a couple have been borderline in terms of the comments policy and have been reported (the decision whether to delete remains with the editor.) I think it is good to air the bitterness here and make clear that yes, there are smears flying around on all sides. Perhaps that will induce everyone to calm down and focus on the issues rather than making up stories about the candidates on both sides of the campaign.
And we wonder why there is bullying in schools. If the only way you can win an election is to try to bully your way into getting votes for the candidates you want what does that say about your character. STOP this now and dwell on what is best for the students of Croton and not yourself.
I haven't seen any smear campaign against Allison and Leslie and I am in most of the croton groups. Michael, you are entitled to write whatever you want - this is your blog, however, this feels like an opinion piece, not really an unbiased report on what is happening. It puts one set of candidates, Theo and Will, on the defense for something they have said they are not aware of. If you are going to write a fair piece and not a hit piece, then please include both sides, did you ask Allison and Leslie about what their supporters have said about Theo and Will? If so, it didn't appear in the piece. As an aside, it is interesting that two candidates, Leslie and Allison, who claim to be moderate and opposed to Trump's policies would choose a such a Trumpian campaign slogan. They are running on "Croton Kids First." Perhaps that wasn't intentional, however, that is the slogan. Word choices matter. I support the vision of inclusiveness that has been expressed by Will and Ben. It is way too late to sit on a fence, if there is a choice between progressive and less progressive, I will go with progress every time.
I am simply going to repeat what I have said several times now. My reporting, based on direct evidence, confirms that there has been a concerted and coordinated effort on the part of some supporters of Theo and Will to discredit Leslie and Allison by spreading lies about their politics, and specifically, to tie them to the PDE lawsuit. That part of the Commentary was not opinion but reporting. I went on to comment on those factual findings and their implications. It is really as simple as that.
Is this opinion or reporting? I didn't see your footnotes or sited sources. I guess I am just confused - I haven't heard any rumor or seen any sources sited about people saying that Leslie and Allison are plaintiffs in a lawsuit, however, I have seen vocal and outspoken MAGA backers who are strongly backing Allison and Leslie, to me that is a fact. Is pointing out the fact that they have support from MAGA a smear if it is true? I guess show me who you hang out with and I'll show you who you are. Will and Theo have my vote. They are the true progressive candidates and haven't smeared anyone.
Sigh. Obviously the reporting is based on confidential sources because few in Croton feel free to openly identify themselves as talking to reporters, even though many do so. The fact that you have not seen or heard any of this is irrelevant, with all due respect. You can vote for whom you want, that is not the issue. The issue is the organized, concerted smear campaign, which is a level above individual shots taken at candidates, as bad as those are as well. Last one from me, except to say that I have been a working journalist for 47 years, have taught journalism at the graduate and undergrad level at NYU, BU and City College of NY, and actually know something about how journalism is done and should be done. Our village is replete with cliques, power struggles, rumors, and yes constant smears of people if they step out of line with the mainstream. Unfortunate but probably typical of a small town.
Great that you are credentialed. Yes, I love that I can still vote, and vote for whom I want and feel pretty sure it will count. Yay. My issue is the headline and the accusation of an organized and concerted smear campaign with no evidence. Something "organized and concerted" would leave a trail, in my opinion. Sounds like projection to me. Just my opinion.
Someone asked early about their possibly being part of the lawsuit on Croton Point. It was a sincre question, not an accusation. Many expcted PDE to run someone. Andrea and others quickly clarifed Leslie and Allison werent involved. I undrestand the confusion when Jessica and Roseann are supporters too.
Nothing about all the shady stuff from Allison and Leslie’s backers? Matthew Rawlings went on this long transphobic rant on Croton Issues, saying “Vote for Will if you don’t want grandchildren!” (now removed) where he called Croton Schools staff as groomers. Leslie jumped in to assure folks that the rainbow on the Croton Kids First website has nothing to do with Pride, but she didn’t respond to any of the hate speech in the post or comments. Plus, there are Rob Armanini’s weird posts on Uncensored trying to link Theo’s work with Make the Road to communism.
Being on the school board is not for the faint of heart. You are accused of all sorts of things by all sorts of people, but you keep your eye on what is important and move forward for the good. Any one who has been paying any attention to what has been going on in the district knows that Leslie and Allison had nothing to do with the lawsuit. I believe, sir, that you are stirring this up for your own attention (case in point the way you mentioned how many “ looks” you had?) Please can we just get on with what is a very important election and stop with this silly distraction?!
And yet a lot of people were going around saying on social media and by word of mouth that Leslie and Allison were involved with the lawsuit. Actually, YOU were one of the people going around saying they were opposed to DEI! So that is factually incorrect. Perhaps now more will realize it is not true. And now you are smearing me, by saying that I had ulterior motivations for publishing about this, to attract attention (I often mention the number of views of stories because I think it is good for the community to know how much impact independent local media has.) Again, you are smearing me when you don’t know me personally and you have no idea what my motivations are. Are smear tactics so ingrained in the culture of Croton that they can be employed with no shame at all?
I was told by a woman in one of the Croton groups we both belong to that Andrea Furey told her—and other members of another group they're all part of—ABSOLUTELY not to vote for Leslie and Allison because they don't support inclusivity.
"Mala herba cito crescit"
It is true that Andrea is going around and systematically telling people this. My reporting supports that. She is not the only person doing it, but she is one of the main people doing it. It’s regrettable that we have gotten to this point.
Michael you have never spoken to me on this topic and I have stated on social media that all the candidates are pro DEI as you can see on social media. I hope people will go to Croton Point and see my actual statement. I’m sorry I’ve engaged here. And again I will state to anyone that I believe that Leslie and Alison are pro DEI and would never have been part of the lawsuit.
You have privately misrepresented their position and I stand by my statement. I may be publishing a community newspaper but I do not have to accept dishonesty in public discourse. You may have said publicly that Allison and Leslie are not part of the PDE lawsuit, that is not what I am referring to; I am referring to private statements you make to people that they are not pro DEI. This is a small village and people talk to reporters.