Sorting through all the negative messages can be exhausting. Even more so when a candidate and committee is purposely creating a misleading or downright dishonest message to try and sway your vote.

We can’t possibly keep up with all the false claims made on the Internet, and there are many wonderful resources available to understand larger national issues. You can find links to many of them on our Resources page.

Here, we’ll address Lowell School Board-specific messaging that is intentionally designed to mislead or misinform voters. We hope you find these quick examples helpful in understanding some of the charged claims being made.

Issue:
Who paid for the candidate forum?

Posted on Facebook 10-29-2022

For the Record:
It’s no secret that Lowell’s First Look hosted the candidate forum .

Here we go again — another post designed to introduce controversy where none exists. No smoking gun here, just someone with an opinion that wants very much for her opinion to become your opinion.

When your only tool is a spoon, everything looks like it needs to be stirred up.

Let’s unpack this post and establish a few things:

  • The author of this social media post is not a district resident; she has no vote on this millage.

  • A school millage is an investment in the development of area youth. The author of this post describes herself as an advocate for children, yet she actively works to undercut their school’s funding. She has an ax to grind with the Board and has no problem if area kids and their programs are collateral damage.

  • The irony of her asking who paid for the forum does not escape us — Frankly, it looks like she’s projecting. And deflecting (signs? ads?).

  • The organizer of the forum is not in question; it was Lowell’s First Look — they ran an amazing event.

  • The operating millage information in the handout was an outline of the millage renewal. It explains the request on your ballot. Information was provided to inform, not “sway”. You will note that the poster isn’t disputing or correcting any information on the document, because its accurate and factual.

  • What the poster is doing is ‘predicting’ a negative impact in order increase your blood pressure, make you angry or worried and actually “sway” your vote. See what she did there: accused someone else of an intent and then did it herself...

  • If she can “most definitely” tell you what will happen to you when the millage passes, that’s impressive.

Our goal is not to sway your vote on this issue; it’s to keep the dialogue honest. Vote for what you think is best. But beware the people who need you to be angry or frightened in order for their message to land. They’re not treating you with respect.

If you’d like to know more about the millage, you can review this easy-to-read FAQ and summary.