Hi all,
Does anyone know about local school district elections? I live in the Great Valley School District in Malvern, PA and am watching one of the races for a great valley school district board member position.

My questions is really about one candidate Steve Wicke. School board directors don't get paid, right? So do the people running for positions want to either help the community, or do they have higher political goals in mind? I ask because Steve Wicke lists his current job as "consultant", he doesn't clarify if he has full-time work. Why does steve wicke want to be on the great valley school board? Normally I'd assume he just wants to help!

but then I found that Steve Wicke has donated tens of thousands of dollars to political candidates over the past few years, all to one party. Wicke maxed his contributions each year, and his wife matched wicke's contributions too.

Steve Wicke donated $2300 to Bob Roggio's primary, $2300 to Roggio's general, and the same double contributions $2300 to Obama. Over the years, wicke has given double max contributions to people like Democrats Hoeffel, Clark for president, the DNC, and even moveon.org.

If you add up Steve Wicke's donations with his wife, I see over $30,000 in donations to democrats. This is all publicly listed on donor sites.

I'm not judging his political party choices, but I'm questioning his motives for running for the school board. If steve wicke gives that much money to democrats, is wicke just seeking a great valley school board seat because he wants to start a political career? Is this reason to question his commitment to the great valley school board when he is really just trying to make political connections? Should non-democrats be concerned? He seems extremely biased!

School boards are somewhat notorious as places where people who are new to "politics" first throw their hat in the ring. They then use the position to make contacts and run for a higher position with a salary. Most boards don't pay their board members, so it really attracts one of two people: those that really do want to help their community, and those that have other motives.

I can't speak for your district, but certainly someone like this steve wicke who maxes out his campaign donations year after year would raise questions with me too. People have rights to donate though, so dont punish him to much. Is he running on the democrat ticket too? If he was running as a republican, then I'd say he doesn't care about politics and does just want to help. Something tells me he'd probably running as a democrat though, so if you really don't know anything else about him or the other candidate, maybe it's safer not to vote for this Wicke guy.

It looks like someone else has taken the investigation further than me now, there is a short blog about Steve Wicke and his involvement with the teacher's union and personal money donations.

http://stevewicke.blogspot.com/

I wonder if he saw my post!!