Truitt to seek run-off
Cathy Truitt announced that she will seek a run-off with John Tedesco for the District 2 school board seat.
Cathy Truitt and her supporters met at Garden Gate Cafe Tuesday night. BARRY E. MOORE, GCNT
As of 9:30 p.m. Tuesday, Tedesco had garnered 49.38 percent of the vote; Truitt had 23.72 percent. (Horace Tart and Carlene Lucas trailed at 22.83 and 3.54 percent, respectively.)
A candidate needs 50 percent plus one vote for an outright win. Tedesco fell short of that mark by 42 votes.
Truitt said her decision was based on what’s best for the students.
“The kids of Wake County are too important, and not allowing Wake County schools to return to a segregated system was too important,” she said.
Responding to her decision, Tedesco said, “Tonight, I’m going to get some sleep and I’m going to pray about it. Tomorrow I’m going to talk with some friends and pray about it some more. I hope Dr. Truitt will do the same, for the good of the children and citizens of District 2.”
He told NBC-17 that he will ask for the official numbers from the Board of Elections before entering into a run-off.
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I am surprised at Dr. Truitt’s statement as quoted here…
“The kids of Wake County are too important, and not allowing Wake County schools to return to a segregated system was too important,” she said.
Who in their right mind would ever suggest that Wake County or any county in this country would move toward segregation?
Although, in my opinion, Dr. Truitt, has taken an unclear stand for or against the current diversity system…, so much so that it has caused even the sitting members of the School Board to prefer the re-election of Horace Tart over Dr. Truitt. At the earliest of meetings Dr. Truitt would not answer as to her position on the Diversity Issue; later she was against the current system and having our children on buses for this issues; then in front of select audiences her position became less clear. Two days ago she stood with the diversity folks and in favor of the long bus rides to keep the status quo… and now, when she is handed a substantial defeat she wants to talk about going to SEGREGATION!
I think that this is a very clear SCARE tactic and well beneath her.
Based on the numbers, Dr. Truitt would need ALL of her current supporters, ALL of Mr. Tart’s supporters, and some from the other candidates’ supporters as well… and maybe even SCARE a few out of the woodwork by using a Race Card like ‘Segregation.’
John Tedesco works with children and families of all races and socio-economic backgrounds on a daily basis and if anyone is not going to push our children toward segregation, John is the person to protect us from it.
By the way… Who loses in a run-off race?
In a close race… where the voters are split in their thoughts, no one loses. You must get a clear understanding of what the desire of the voter base is…
But, In a Race where candidates #2 and #3 combined do not have enough votes to defeat #1 then the voice of the public is clear… taken in combination with the rest of the Districts it is easy to see that most of the voters in all 4 of the voting school districts see a benefit to moving the School Board down a new path. A path that will move all of the children of Wake County toward success, together, as communities, not separated but united in goal, effort and achievement.
In a race like this one, where Dr. Truitt needs to pull votes from everywhere, even at the expense of racism, which is what segregation is and not what John Tedesco is about, says a lot to me as a parent and a voter in Wake County.
Who will lose if Dr. Truitt wins this school board seat, since she is willing to use our children as a pawn in the race for the school board seat, it is clear, every child does.
According to the polls, Cathy Truitt led Horace Tart by 59 votes. If you added every vote she got to every vote Tart won, she STILL wouldn’t have enough to pass Tedesco’s votes. Obviously her political consultants want her to go on… consultants usually bill more when they get to work more! When members of the school board don’t know where you stand, you flop on the biggest issue everyone is focusing on, and you change your tune to match the crowd of people still willing to vote for you, this election becomes more about the candidate and less about the kids.
First of all, John did not receive a majority of the vote in a contest where majority wins. It is likely that Dr. Truitt will pick up Mr. Tart’s and Ms. Lucas’s votes and win with a majority. Having spoken to both Ms. Truitt and Mr. Tedesco, I believe Ms. Truitt to be in this race for the children while John is in it for his political career. To end the diversity policy and go to neighborhood schools will hurt individual student performance. John made this a political race and it should not be one based on politics, it should be based on the children.
To: FormerWCPSSStudent … Think about the conclusion that you are jumping to… you are assuming that Dr. Truitt will pick-up every vote that Hoarce Tart received. That makes no logical sense what-so-ever. Not only is it not likely that every vote will go to Dr. Truitt but it is virtually impossible that every vote would go for Dr. Truitt and in fact would require that almost every single vote go her way in order for her to win. Just looking at numbers alone it makes no sense for Dr. Truitt to request a run-off. If she had shared a close vote % with John Tedesco then yes… but not with the win that he carried. You must realize he only missed the true needed majority by 42 votes and that is because of 10 write-in votes. With-out those he only missed the majority plus one by 36 votes… still not convinced…
Dr. Truitt missed the Majority plus one by 1730 votes …
That means a ratio of 42 to 1730 or also known as 42:1730 or approximately 1:41. If John Tedesco captures 1 out of every 42 of Horace Tart’s voters he wins…. is it reasonable to think that he could convince 2 people in 80 to vote for him? It must be… he was able to get 3247 of them to vote for him in a 4 person race… there is no doubt he will pick up at least 2 out of 80 of the remainder.
Finally, You said, “John made this a political race and it should not be one based on politics, it should be based on the children.”
In case you are not aware… this is a political race… it always has been. Even when it benefits children, it is still a political race.
It was a political race the night that Dr. Truitt, John Tedesco and myself all met before the Wake Executive GOP seeking their endorsement for the School Board race… Each of Us knew then it was a political race.
John has not hired a Political Consultant for this endeavor… both Dr. Truitt and Horace Tart did… that does not make them bad people, they just had money to spend on their political race.
Don’t put on blinders, don’t be fooled, don’t drink the kool-aid.
It was always political… if you don’t believe that … ask Dr. Truitt, why else would she have paid a professional consultant?
Ms. Truitt seems to be only doing this to sooth her own ego. The N&O had an article today that said if she won, she would be a “kingmaker” – both sides would have to come to her if they wanted to win a vote.
Tedesco received MORE than twice as many votes as Ms. Truitt when this was the ONLY issue on the ballot. It is a pipe dream to expect that Ms. Truitt would get every other vote that was out there.
Ms. Truitt is going to cost the taxpayers of Wake County thousands of dollars (it costs a few thousand per precinct to open them for an election) for a runoff that only she needs.
She said today that she wanted the conversation to continue. Well, the voters decided yesterday that the time for talking was over.
AMEN to Concerned Citizen on the last comment submitted….the voters have decided…..why waste the money and drag it out…..might it be just to get her name out there? Hmmmmmm…….
Again, Dr. Truitt has shown who she is…..
When the Race began… Dr. Truitt could NOT answer if she was for or against Forced Bussing
As the Campaign progressed she became unclear on the bus issue.. sometimes yes, sometimes no…
The Day before the election Dr. Truitt stood with the Diversity Bussing group for a photo opportunity taking a stand… and she was handily beaten…
The Night of the Election she was all about being the decision maker the votes at the Board of Election was now going to be 4 to 4 and she would be the “King Maker” she would be able to guide by her power of her vote if elected in… She planned on drawing Horace Tart’s followers to her side of the election for the run-off in an effort to try and win against John Tedesco… but … at a 1:41 ratio it did not look like she could pull that off either….
So What was Left for Dr. Truitt….?
TAKE A STAND!!!!!
“School Bussing Is DEAD!” she declared.
Wait… NOW she decides that School Bussing is not an issue…. So she is going to try and take an issue away….
But, wait…. Yesterday she said that John Tedesco’s position was going to cause SEGREGATION in Wake County…. How exactly was John going to do that… if not by removing the bussing issue that she now has agreed to kill?
Dr. Truitt…. Something here just doesn’t look right….
Maybe the time has come to call it a day…
No one is backing Dr. Truitt into a corner by Dr. Truitt…
The Art of War says that you always allow your enemy a means of escape … it would appear that there is a way out and still save face… the time is now to make a better judgement… the voices are screaming for a better decision.
A Run-off for School Board in District 2 is not a Good Decision… come back in four years. If the voters are unhappy they will consider you then.
FormerWCPSSStudent, I guess she fooled you. Truitt’s FOR neighborhood schools now.
Perhaps you need to reconsider your vote since she’s obviously not who she originally told you she was.
A point of note regarding the all candidates stance on bussing. What EVERYONE in EVERY race in Wake County has failed to mention is that less than 1/2 of 1% of the students who are bussed right now are bussed because of diversity. That’s it. Less than 1/2 of 1%. It is a FACT. The majority of students currently bussed are bussed due to overcrowding of schools. You can have your own opinion, but you can’t have your own facts. What this means is that for every candidate who supports neighborhood schools, they will STILL have the students bussed due to overcrowding. This will not go away.