Dot Connections

I love when politicians can be observed in situations where they don't think they are going to be accountable that expose their true character as people.

According to this article in the August 18, 2006 edition of the Fort Lauderdale Sun-Sentinel:

[Ordinary citizen] Anita Borrero e-mailed Broward County School Board
member Darla Carter in August 2004 asking for help with problems she was facing
regarding the school bus. She told Carter in the e-mail that she was not
satisfied with the way the district's transportation department had treated her.
Carter forwarded the e-mail to the transportation officials, which left Borrero
unsatisfied.

"I am extremely disappointed in your response -- I would have preferred
none at all," Borrero wrote.

Carter's answer: "Believe me, It's people like you that we as Board Members
really HATE to try and help because they're NEVER THANKFUL FOR A DAMN THING!! Boy, I feel sorry for your kids, you must be under a lot of stress. … Gee, Maybe you need a Doctor or a Psychologist, maybe you need to email them and ask what you need to take???"

When reminded of the conversation Wednesday, Carter was unrepentant.: "Oh,
I'm proud of myself. I'm honest, upright and blunt and I don't play games. I'm
there for the people. I work for the students. And if they're unhappy with one
answer that I give them, then so be it. You can't please all the people all the
time."

Darla Carter, who is married to waste management executive Butch Carter, probably assumed, if she thought about it at all, that her response to Ms. Borrero would never see the light of day. For Mrs. Carter, a school board member, to have sent such a repugnant e-mail to a constituent demonstrates that it is Mrs. Carter who was under a lot of stress and may have needed some kind of medication. The fact that Mrs. Carter was so unrepentant about her e-mail speaks volumes about her true character as a person: arrogant, conceited, haughty, and condescending. This type of behavior by Mrs. Carter is why some people see her only as the jumped-up wife of a garbageman. The bright side is that at least she didn't try to deny she sent the e-mail or try to make up some ridiculous story as an excuse or justification. I guess sometimes what you see is what you get.

Update: In the September 6, 2006 election, Darla Carter was voted out of office. Voters favored a politically-connected former teacher and lobbyist named Jennifer Gottlieb whose campaign was better financed and who received endorsements from the teachers' union and some incumbent school board members. Carter told the Miami Herald (here) she does not plan to run for any other office and blamed her loss on what she called attacks from Gottlieb, the third candidate, and the rain.