Letter: Some tips on tipping the referendum balance

To the editor:

Tony’s tips for referendum failure:

Form an “advisory” committee of community members (some can be from outside the district); advise having another referendum for $2 million more than the one that failed; hire a company as they have 85 percent success passing referendums and they have “tricks” to do so (we’ll call them A-K); take a busload of people (include some students) to two large and brand-new schools that A-K worked on; have students at a community meeting say to support referendum as they are ashamed of W.H.S.; have A-K guy from Twin Cities use scare tactics such as “a shooting could happen;” A-K guy adjourns meeting, thereby cutting off any debate by residents; have superintendent in paper article put down residents (taxpayers) as “intimidating;” A-K painting a wonderful picture of 14 trades giving lots of free stuff as long as we hand over a million-dollar building to them and spend $560,000 to fix it up; allude to many tax breaks (but how many can qualify?); demonize any who have a different opinion; use all to advance the referendum, such as community meetings that are one-sided — yours; use community [school] newspaper (paid for by taxpayers) but not any others who pay for it but have a different opinion.

Tony Sheda, Wrenshall