Wednesday, May 16, 2007

What of "Republican" Mark Brentley???

I’ve been frantically looking to see results for Mark Brentley, the sometimes-quirky School Board Director from District 8 who ran unopposed in Tuesday’s election.
He didn’t get much ink, as would normally be the case in these kinds of elections. That being said, a frustrated Brentley switched his party registration from ubiquitous Democrat to Republican a year or so ago.
In the Post-Gazette’s Voter’s Guide, Brentley is officially listed as an (I) for Independent, but as is the case for School Board Director, he can run as a Republican AND Democrat simultaneously.
Does this mean that the bow-tie-wearing African-American Brentley, who (I found some results) received more than 1,000 Democrat votes and more than 100 Republican votes in a predominately-D district, has left the Republican Party as well?
The co-creator of the “Take Your Dad To School” festivities (along with one-time Republican Mayoral candidate Jim Carmine) in the Pittsburgh Public Schools, Brentley sometimes champions fairly Republican measures, but he is also known to throw the race-card around in truly non-conservative fashion. That being said, I’ve considered Mark to be great addition to the Republican movement in the city.
I’m disappointed if he’s changed his registration again, perhaps in a pre-cursor to a quiet return to Pittsburgh’s Democratic party that has often shunned him.
Sure, the Republican Party within the city of Pittsburgh has stumbled in the past year, to the point in which we didn’t even officially field a candidate for Mayor—I did write in Mark DeSantis only after giving much consideration to touch-padding my own name—but having Brentley win as a Republican would have meant a lot to the Republican Party and to him. If he’s resorted to scrambling back to the Democrats, he goes back into a crowded field.
If he stays Republican, he immediately becomes a leader.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

You are too kind, Mark Brentley is all about race,to the harm of education. Catch the school board meetings on TV to get a load of him. He is a hater and a racist. It is a pity that he runs unapposed, but I think the media gives his a pass. He should be exposed for his outragous conduct! PS, I look forward to your return to city council chambers