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Politics & Government

Democratic Committee Votes on School Board, Other Endorsements

Incumbents Virginia Pollard and Diane DiBonaventuro, as well as new faces Marissa Golden, Robin Vann Lynch, and Subha Robinson were endorsed by the committee Tuesday night to run for school board.

Tuesday night at Narberth Borough Hall, the Democratic Committee of Lower Merion and Narberth voted on its first ballot to endorse Diane DiBonaventuro, Marissa Golden, Robin Vann Lynch, Virginia Pollard, and Subha Robinson for election to the five Lower Merion Board of School Directors seats up for grabs in November. Ben Driscoll and Maureen O'Leary were the two finalists who failed to garner the necessary votes.

"I am very, very excited. They asked if I would run, I said I would, and this makes it official," said Pollard, who was selected to fill a vacated school board seat in late-October and, with the prospect of a full term now even closer, said she is eager to continue the work she's only just begun.

"I believe I can help build bridges between the community and the school board... and I can help the district build on its successes and best serve each child in the district," Pollard told the assembled before the vote.

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Vann Lynch, who holds a PhD in Educational Policy and Leadership, said that if elected, she would make a point of listening to her constituents.

"I [hope to] get a better sense of what the community thinks we do well as a district, and what things they think we could improve upon," Vann Lynch said, adding, "I'm excited [to get the endorsement], but I'm ready to get to work."

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DiBonaventuro, Golden, Vann Lynch, Pollard, and Robinson will be competing for the five open seats against not only incumbents Lisa Fair Pliskin and Susan Guthrie --two former Democrats who chose to run as Independents this cycle-- but possibly Driscoll and O'Leary as well, both of whom also filed as Republicans for the coming election.

What could potentially be a field of nine effective Democrats prompted the issuance of a cautionary note from committee co-chair Bill Leopold. After the formal endorsement, he reminded the committee people that any member who actively campaigns for a non-endorsee would face penalties, including a possible forfeiture of member status.

Warning aside, Jill Stein, who along with Leopold co-chairs the committee, said that both she and the committee members were very pleased with the candidates they chose to endorse.

"This is a very exciting night. We had several ballots just in case, but we ended up in the very first ballot with five, which is a real statement that there were five solid candidates," said Stein.

Earlier in the evening, the committee also voted to endorse Michael Quinn, Michael Alexander, and Bob Weisbord to sit on the Narberth Borough Council and Daniel Bernheim, Paul McElhaney, Cheryl Gelber (who is running unopposed in the general election and didn't attend), Elizabeth Rogan, George Manos, and Brian McGuire, incumbents all, to hold their seats on the Lower Merion Township Board of Commissioners.

All but Rogan's nomination went unchallenged.

Rogan, the board president who has represented the Seventh Ward since 2004, is facing a primary challenge from Ted Erfer. Erfer declined to seek endorsement from the committee, but did, according to several committee members, circulate a letter to committee members encouraging them to forgo making an endorsement altogether in the Seventh Ward race in order to "foster a more vigorous debate."

To that end, a committee member proposed a motion to have a written ballot with, in addition to the option of endorsing Rogan, an explicit "no endorsement of any candidate" option. Following a protracted debate on the matter, one whose conclusion drew cheers merely for the fact that it had concluded, the committee rejected the motion and endorsed Rogan.

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