THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, April 18, 1996 TAG: 9604180355
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B3 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY ELIZABETH THIEL, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: CHESAPEAKE LENGTH: Long : 114 lines
When the Chesapeake Education Association handed out its coveted endorsements to candidates for City Council and School Board recently, there was more grumbling than usual from those who didn't receive the teachers group's nod.
That's because one of the association members who helped choose the slate is also the campaign manager for a candidate that won the teachers' backing.
Kay L. Dezern, a teacher at Deep Creek Intermediate School and a member of the education association's political action committee, is running council candidate Elizabeth P. Thornton's campaign.
Dezern abstained from the PAC's interviews and discussions of Thornton, and the vote on whether to endorse her. But she participated in the deliberations and votes for Thornton's running mates on the Democratic ticket, Mayor William E. Ward, Dwight M. Parker and Edward L. Hall Jr.
The PAC voted to endorse all four. Three of them are vying with six others for three council seats. Ward is defending his mayor's seat against one challenger May 7. The association also endorsed four candidates for the School Board.
Thornton, Dezern and other association representatives who participated in the endorsements say Dezern's activities did not sway the decisions. The fact that the whole Democratic ticket was endorsed was coincidental, they said.
``It's kind of like choosing the student of the month at school,'' Dezern said. ``The ones that don't get it think you've done something wrong in selecting the ones that did.''
But other candidates dispute that view, and now are raising broader questions about the teachers group's influence.
``I don't know what their motivation is,'' said Vice Mayor Robert T. Nance Jr., who is running for re-election on a Republican-backed ticket. ``All I can assume is that it's politics.''
The group also was criticized during the city's first School Board elections in December, because its endorsements were made even before the deadline for candidates to file for the race. The association moved early to back all four incumbents who were running, plus one newcomer. All won.
The association has 1,400 members, primarily teachers, from among the 4,300 school system employees. The group traditionally has endorsed candidates for council races.
The association's ability to persuade large groups of voters is widely acknowledged, and is one reason why the endorsements are so competitive.
In School Board elections and races where turnout is low, the group wields even more power as a voting bloc. During School Board elections in December, for example, the association's slate dominated, in a race where voter turnout was a dismal 10 percent.
``I think we do have a tremendous amount of influence as an organization,'' said Chesapeake Education Association Director James D. ``Jim'' Caruth. ``I think the citizens of Chesapeake respect our process, and I think they put a lot of validity into those individuals that we recommend.
``I think citizens in general are comfortable that when we make a recommendation, we are making it in the best interests of the school system.''
Caruth said the association looks for candidates who are concerned about school safety, teaching kids basic skills and preparing students for jobs.
``Those are the things that citizens are concerned with,'' he said.
But candidates disgruntled about the group's endorsement process say its power is unfair and possibly misleading in low-profile local elections, where voters lack the time or the means to learn candidates' qualifications and so rely on community groups to sort through the lineup.
As a professional association, the teachers group has some agendas that might differ from the public's on education issues, said mayoral candidate John A. Cosgrove.
``Let's be real,'' he said. ``The CEA is a teachers union.''
Such questions were raised in Virginia Beach after the May 1994 School Board elections. The Virginia Beach Education Association's six endorsed candidates won handily. One was later convicted of a misdemeanor ethics violation and was accused of exaggerating his education credentials.
Caruth dismissed the possibility that such a thing would happen in Chesapeake.
``It's two totally different worlds,'' Caruth said.
Still, the Chesapeake association uses essentially the same process other cities' teachers groups use to screen candidates for endorsement.
The candidates are issued a questionnaire, then interviewed individually by a committee of the association's PAC members and officers. Using that information, the committee then makes recommendations to a meeting of the whole PAC - this time, about 20 people participated - which votes on the final endorsements. ILLUSTRATION: Edward L. Hall Jr.
Dwight M. Parker
Elizabeth P. Thornton
William E. Ward
KEYWORDS: CHESAPEAKE SCHOOL BOARD CHESAPEAKE CITY COUNCIL ENDORSEMENT
ELECTIONS CANDIDATE
by CNB