Stevenson High board hopefuls give same answers on questionnaire

Three candidates for the Stevenson High School board provided identical answers to a trio of questions on a Daily Herald questionnaire.

Kim Brady, Charles Cardella and Kathy Powell gave the same answers as each other when they were asked to name their top three campaign issues. In all three cases, the candidates cited fiscal responsibility, excellence in education and fresh leadership. They then provided identical supporting comments.

The candidates’ responses were even formatted in the same unusual manner. Most people answer questions on candidate questionnaires with a few sentences. In this case, the answers were curt responses followed by three supporting points.

Brady, Cardella and Powell are running as a team and are seeking to unseat three veteran incumbents. Their answers to those three questions are identical, Brady said, because the group wanted to present a single platform.

“Those are the three (top) issues for all of us,” Brady said. “It’s not sharing answers as much as (that) we’re a team.”

The other four candidates in the race for four seats on the Lincolnshire-area school board are running as a group, too. They are: incumbents Bruce Lubin, Terry Moons and Merv Roberts, and newcomer David Weisberg.

The answers they gave to the same three questions were independent and varied.

The seven candidates were asked five additional questions covering a variety of topics, including ethnic diversity on campus, the district’s finances and censorship. For those questions, all the candidates gave individual answers.

Lubin was critical of the opposing group’s three joint answers.

“They’re running as a slate, so I would expect them to have the same mindset. But to have the exact same answers doesn’t show any independent thinking,” he said.

Cardella disagreed.

“We are all independent thinkers and we have various and different backgrounds,” he said. “But we are running on the fiscal issues — there are no ifs, ands or buts about it.”

On his own questionnaire, Lubin cited maintaining academic excellence, helping every student be successful and continuing a culture of inclusion and tolerance as his top issues.

Moon cited continued fiscal restraint, the need for experienced leadership and continuing the school’s record of success as her top concerns.

Roberts’ top issue was the need to elect candidates who can continue to improve the performance of the school. He cited fiscal concerns and the need to support the school’s mission and vision as his second and third top issues.

Weisberg cited educational excellence as his top concern. He identified the need for continued, prudent financial management of the school’s finances as his second key issue and the need to maintain the school’s culture of tolerance and respect as his third campaign priority.

Moons said she wasn’t surprised Brady, Cardella and Powell shared answers.

“I think they have a specific point of view, and they’re probably not going to vary much from that point of view,” she said.

It’s unusual for candidates to have identical answers on these questionnaires, even if they are running as a group.

The situation isn’t unique to the Stevenson High race, however. Three candidates running for the Lake Zurich village board in April provided the same answers as each other to eight questions on their Daily Herald survey, the newspaper reported Tuesday.