BREAKING: Hillsborough Election Results Are In, Valdes Wins, Kurdell Doesn’t

I’m on a slightly political bent, so I’ll call this fairly good news.

It’s a non-partisan primary, but if a candidate gets a majority, they win. If there’s no majority selection, the top two finishers runoff in November.

With 90%+ precincts reporting, we’ve got the following results:

Susan Valdes over Schmidt. Good, she’s alright. I guess this means Faliero’s childish attacks didn’t work. Sorry, Jennifer.

Carol Kurdell doesn’t win - and thank God for that. Kurdell is the posterwoman for do-nothing, self-satisfied, status quo school board members nationwide. You can read about all 3 candidates - Gorham, Kurdell and Mims - here.

Stephen Gorham is a great choice. He’s young, well-educated, confident, experienced - good stuff all around. The thing I like least about him is that he doesn’t live in my school district. Hillsborough County Schools need him very, very badly.

Jason Mims has been a dedicated community member and hopefully isn’t too disappointed with 17%. He’s made his concerns known about minority issues in Hillsborough’s schools, and I’m sure he’s not going anywhere.

And Carol Kurdell, whose hobbies seem to be rubber-stamping, bloviating and dishonesty, got what she has long-deserved. This edu-huckster is going to bed tonight without a win.

It might seem that I’m a bit hard on Kurdell. In truth, I actually feel guilty for not railing against her weeks [months?] ago because her in/actions warrant it.

Most recently, Carol Kurdell touted in campaign literature her success in cutting property taxes and fuel prices [one can only assume that her having ended the Cold War and liberating Europe in WWII wouldn't fit on the flier]. Oh, the pander, the pander! And had any of it been true, I’d have praised her.

Unfortunately for Kurdell, not everyone in the Tampa area is an idiot. The St. Pete Times cut her down in short order by pointing out that the FL legislature - not local districts - set the tax rate, and that she’d flubbed the fuel prices. Her response?

It [campaign lit] doesn’t note that she was one of seven elected officials involved in the decision.

“Well, you know. The board did it. I was part of the board,” Kurdell said.

Let’s hope that Mr. Mims’ supporters get behind Mr. Gorham in the runoff, and then “was part of the board” can stick to Kurdell. 16 years of mediocrity - including coddling, with the occasional turning of a blind eye, of an ineffective Superintendent - is enough.

Tagged as: carol kurdell, dave schmidt, hillsborough county school board election, jason mims, jennifer faliero, stephen gorham, susan valdes