Parse and evade: Is that a lie?

March 2nd, 2009 at 10:06am Linda Grist Cunningham

What in the world possessed Rockford Mayor Larry Morrissey and the Rockford School Board members to “evade” discussing publicly the involvement of Paul Vallas in the search for a new school superintendent?  These folks, all of whom I consider smart, caring, and community-committed, tried to pull off contortions that would have made an Olympic gymnast cheer. And, the parsing of sentences? Lands, Perry Mason would have been proud. Read it here.

The whole evasion thing makes absolutely no sense. Getting Vallas involved was a brilliant move. Making sure the mayor – one of the school district’s most vehement critics – had a seat at the table, whether he forced himself in or not, was strategically superb. Getting some local business power brokers (like Sunil Puri and Cyrus Oates) inside the circle? Equally excellent.

The misstep was not standing shoulder to shoulder at a press conference back in the fall and shouting from the podium: We are all committed to finding the absolute best superintendent. We include the board, the city, the search firm, business leaders and nationally known educators, traditional and alternative. We are going to do the right thing for our children, our community and our future, and we’re doing it together in the sunshine because you – the public, parents and taxpayers – need to understand and we need your input.

Instead, they did it the Rockford Way: play it close to the vest, shut out the public, and when questioned, parse and evade. And, oh, yes, be sure to repeat the mantra: It’s the newspaper creating the problem by asking all these questions that we leaders would prefer not to answer.

And, so they didn’t. They went straight to parse and evade, pretending not to understand the questions. Pretending they were shocked the reporters would even think to ask such a thing. They opened their eyes wide and said to us with straight faces, “nah, didn’t happen.” And, behind their backs they crossed their fingers. But, it did happen – and, guys, it was a good thing. Unfortunately, you’ll get no credit for the smarts it took. Instead, your parse and evade approach raises doubts and hints at collusion and exclusionary behavior that once again isolates the leadership of the community from its followers.

The Register Star’s news coverage has been neutral even to the point of being compassionately gentle; its reporters used the word “evade.” Were I writing it, I’d have said you lied to us. Sins of omission (parse and evade); sin of commission (lie).

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