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Candidates
lacking for TCC's best interest
The upcoming elections for the TCCD board of trustees has caused quite
a stir, as two of the men running for a seat may not be well-suited
to the district.
This year, the board’s most prominent and long-standing member,
Dr. J. Ardis Bell, who represents the district around NE Campus, is
retiring from his position, and his hand-picked successor, Conrad Heede,
is facing unprecedented aggressive opposition from another contender,
Joe Hudson.
Also up for reelection, Kristin Vandergriff,
who represents north and central Arlington and parts of Euless, has
faced a seemingly ruthless opponent in Jerry Pikulinski.
Both Hudson and Pikulinski are running
on a platform of opposition to the new downtown campus. While Joe Hudson
has said that the scale of the new campus needs to be minimized, Pikulinski
wants to scrap the entire campus and sell off the land.
Vandergriff and Heede are a good fit
for the board for many reasons, including their vision and concern
for TCC and its students and employees.
But let’s concentrate on why Hudson and Pikulinski are not, including
misinformation and exaggerations in political mailers regarding the
state of TCCD.
Pikulinski’s mailer suggests that SE Campus is in such disrepair
it may have to be shut down ... far from true.
Pikulinski’s other major platform is a reduction in tuition to
$40 per credit hour. This is $10 less than the current rate, which
is already below the national average.
This $10 reduction would make a very
minimal reduction for a student over a two-year period, but the effects
to the TCCD budget would be devastating.
Secondly, Pikulinski’s plan to completely stop construction on
the downtown campus would lead to a huge loss for the taxpayers and
serve as a huge disappointment to many of the people the board represents.
Finally, Pikulinski may have shown his
true colors in a series of angry e-mails he sent to the League of Women
Voters after it was announced that a candidate forum was to be held
on South Campus.
Another aspect to Pikulinski’s campaign is the theft of Vandergriff’s
political signs in Arlington.
Vandergriff has repeatedly put signs
in the yards of supporters, only to have them vanish in a few days’ time.
Hudson’s campaign has been kept to a minimum, but issues regarding
his ethics have been raised after a report surfaced from www.CampaignMoney.com
showing that during an unsuccessful 1998 run for the U.S. Senate, Hudson
raised no money for his campaign and left an unpaid debt of more than
$16,000.
Hudson has touted his experience with
TCC having taught here in 2007. What he often neglects to mention is
that he was here for only one semester. Half a year in a TCC classroom
makes him less experienced than most of our students about the inner
workings of the TCC board.
It is doubtful either candidate could
join the board without causing a serious rift because of their focus
on the new downtown campus.
The board needs creative solutions from
cooperative members to help rein in costs and get the downtown project
back on track.
The time for arguments about whether
the campus should have been built has expired.
Pikulinski and Hudson could bog down
the process and prevent anything useful from being accomplished.
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