Mark Smith (Pennsylvania candidate)
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Mark Smith was a candidate for an at-large seat on the Allentown City Board of Directors in Pennsylvania. The seat was up for general election on November 3, 2015. There was a primary election on May 19, 2015. He filed to run in both the Democratic and Republican primaries. Smith won a nomination in the Republican primary.[1] Mark Smith lost the general election on November 3, 2015.
The Allentown mayor Ed Pawlowski created the Citizens for a Better Allentown PAC to support school board candidates Elizabeth Martinez, Audrey Mathison, Marc Telesha and Charlie Thiel in the primary election. Telesha was defeated in the primary election, but the other candidates supported by the PAC faced Smith, Ce-Ce Gerlach, Scott Armstrong, and Robert Smith. in the general election.[2]
Smith participated in Ballotpedia's 2015 survey of school board candidates.
Biography
Smith is a graduate of the Allentown City School District. He is an inductee into the district's sports hall of fame. He is the owner of Hawthorne Real Estate.[3]
Elections
2015
Five of the nine seats on the Allentown City Board of Directors were up for election in the general election on November 3, 2015. There was a primary election on May 19, 2015. The seats represent the district at-large.
Incumbents Ce-Ce Gerlach (D/R), Elizabeth Martinez (D), Robert Smith (D/R) and Charlie Thiel (D/R) won re-election to their seats. Newcomer Audrey Mathison (D) also won. Incumbent Scott Armstrong (R) and Mark Smith (R) were defeated in the general election.[4][1][5]
Candidates Jonah Adamcik (D/R), Carmen Cheriz (D), Frank Nickischer (D), Timothy Ramos (D/R) and Marc Telesha (D/R) were defeated in the primary elections.
Results
| Allentown City School District, At-Large, General Election, 2015 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Vote % | Votes | |
| Democratic/Republican |  Ce-Ce Gerlach Incumbent |
19.9% | 7,158 | |
| Democratic/Republican | Robert Smith Incumbent |
17.5% | 6,317 | |
| Democratic/Republican | Charlie Thiel Incumbent |
16.8% | 6,037 | |
| Democratic | Elizabeth Martinez Incumbent |
13.4% | 4,846 | |
| Democratic | Audrey Mathison |
12.8% | 4,596 | |
| Republican | Mark Smith | 10.3% | 3,704 | |
| Republican | Scott Armstrong Incumbent | 9.4% | 3,383 | |
| Total Votes | 36,041 | |||
| Source: 'Tiffany Rouse, "Email correspondence with Lehigh County Chief Clerk of Registration and Elections Timothy Bento," December 17, 2015 | ||||
| Allentown City School District, At-Large Democratic Primary Election, 4-year term, 2015 |
||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Vote % | Votes | |
| Democratic | Ce-Ce Gerlach Incumbent |
16.2% | 2,266 | |
| Democratic | Elizabeth Martinez Incumbent |
11.3% | 1,581 | |
| Democratic | Charlie Thiel Incumbent |
10.7% | 1,500 | |
| Democratic | Audrey Mathison |
9.8% | 1,366 | |
| Democratic | Robert Smith Incumbent |
9.5% | 1,335 | |
| Democratic | Mark Smith | 8.7% | 1,215 | |
| Democratic | Scott Armstrong Incumbent | 6.7% | 931 | |
| Democratic | Frank Nickischer | 6.7% | 931 | |
| Democratic | Marc Telesha | 6.5% | 909 | |
| Democratic | Carmen Cheriz | 4.8% | 666 | |
| Democratic | Timothy Ramos | 4.7% | 651 | |
| Democratic | Jonah Adamcik | 4.6% | 640 | |
| Total Votes | 13,991 | |||
| Source: Lehigh County, Pennsylvania, "Municipal Primary - May 19, 2015," accessed July 7, 2015Ballotpedia confirmed these results are official by phone. | ||||
| Allentown City School District, At-Large Republican Primary Election, 4-year term, 2015 |
||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Vote % | Votes | |
| Republican | Robert Smith Incumbent |
16.2% | 956 | |
| Republican | Ce-Ce Gerlach Incumbent |
15% | 884 | |
| Republican | Scott Armstrong Incumbent |
13.9% | 819 | |
| Republican | Charlie Thiel Incumbent |
11.5% | 676 | |
| Republican | Mark Smith |
11% | 646 | |
| Republican | Audrey Mathison | 7.7% | 451 | |
| Republican | Elizabeth Martinez Incumbent | 6.7% | 397 | |
| Republican | Jonah Adamcik | 6.7% | 394 | |
| Republican | Marc Telesha | 6.7% | 393 | |
| Republican | Timothy Ramos | 4.6% | 271 | |
| Total Votes | 5,887 | |||
| Source: Lehigh County, Pennsylvania, "Municipal Primary - May 19, 2015," accessed July 7, 2015Ballotpedia confirmed these results are official by phone. | ||||
Funding
Smith reported no contributions or expenditures to the Lehigh County Voter Registration Department in the election.[6]
Endorsements
Smith received an official endorsement from the Lehigh County AFL-CIO.[7]
Campaign themes
2015
Ballotpedia survey responses
Smith participated in Ballotpedia's 2015 survey of school board candidates. The following sections display his responses to the survey questions. When asked what his top priority would be if elected, the candidate made the following statement:
| “ | Community relations and the insulation of the teacher/student relationship[8] | ” |
| —Mark Smith (2015)[9] | ||
Smith also included the following statement with his responses:
| “ | There are no simple answers to any of these question. But one thing for sure is that the education of our society should not be treated as a commodity in a "free market" environment. Education is too important to let those with money enjoy its benefits and influence it. EVERYONE needs access to a good education.[8] | ” |
| —Mark Smith (2015)[9] | ||
Ranking the issues
The candidate was asked to rank the following issues by importance in the school district, with 1 being the most important and 7 being the least important. This table displays this candidate's rankings from most to least important:
| Education policy |
|---|
 |
Click here to learn more about education policy in Idaho. |
| Education on the ballot |
| Issue importance ranking | |
|---|---|
| Candidate's ranking | Issue |
| Closing the achievement gap | |
| Expanding arts education | |
| Expanding career-technical education | |
| Improving college readiness | |
| Improving education for special needs students | |
| Balancing or maintaining the district's budget | |
| Expanding school choice options | |
Positions on the issues
The candidate was asked to answer 10 questions from Ballotpedia regarding significant issues in education and the school district. The questions are in the left column, and the candidate's responses are in the right column of the following table:
| Question | Response |
|---|---|
| "Complete overhaul of the program" | |
| "No" | |
| "No" | |
| "No" | |
| "Community outreach with a strategy to involve as much of the community as possible giving them a stake in its success. This especially includes parents and family members of the students" | |
| "Expulsion cases must be viewed on a case-by-case basis rather than the district having an overarching policy." | |
| "No" | |
| "Set up a mentorship program for the underperforming teacher with a more experienced teacher in the district." | |
| "Hold board meeting in the communities of those that feel disenfranchized and make sure they feel welcome in the district." |
What was at stake?
2015
There were five seats up for election in the Allentown City School District. While the incumbents of those seats ran for re-election, a political action committee started by Allentown Mayor Ed Pawlowski (D) backed only two of the incumbents. The candidates supported by the PAC filed to run in the Democratic and Republican primaries but were identified by the PAC as Democrats.[2]
The PAC was shut down after the FBI began an investigation into contributions made by a local developer that were allegedly in exchange for city contracts.[10]
Issues in the election
Citizens for a Better Allentown PAC
Despite most candidates running in both parties' primaries as a result of cross-filing, partisan lines were clearly drawn in the 2015 primary election for school board. Allentown Mayor Ed Pawlowski, along with State Reps. Michael Schlossberg (D-22) and Peter Schweyer (D-132), created a political action committee called Citizens for a Better Allentown to support candidates running for the five open school board seats and three open city council seats. The candidates supported by the PAC were Elizabeth Martinez, Audrey Mathison, Marc Telesha and Charlie Thiel. All of the candidates supported by the PAC were identified as Democrats.[2]
Incumbents Ce-Ce Gerlach, Scott Armstrong and Robert Smith were not endorsed by the PAC. Armstrong and Smith identified as Republicans, but Gerlach identified as a Democrat. All three incumbents have had disagreements with the mayor in regard to his Neighborhood Improvement Zone project, which promoted downtown revitalization through tax incentives.
Armstrong had the following response to the news that he was not being supported by the PAC:
| “ | The mayor controls the city, now he wants to control the school district? Pawlowski is supporting those people because he can get exactly what he wants from them.[8] | ” |
| —Scott Armstrong, 2015, [11] | ||
Smith told reporters that he did not take it personally, and Gerlach gave no comment regarding the situation.[11]
Three of the candidates endorsed by Citizens for a Better Allentown won nominations and advanced to the general election. Elizabeth Martinez and Audrey Mathison both won a nomination in the Democratic primary. Charlie Thiel won nominations in both primaries. Marc Telesha did not advance to the general election.
Shortly after the primary election, the FBI began an investigation into Mayor Pawlowski and his involvement with potentially unlawful city contracts. A local developer pleaded guilty in September 2015 to contributing to the mayor's PAC in exchange for contracts from the city.[10]
Since the FBI investigation began, the PAC was shut down and the candidates who were previously supported by the PAC received no more funds. A local political consultant who allegedly supplied the information to the FBI that led to the indictment of the developer shut down his office and moved out of his house the day after the FBI issued subpoenas to people within the city. As of October 2015, the mayor had not been charged with any crime.[12]
Recent news
The link below is to the most recent stories in a Google news search for the terms Mark Smith Allentown City School District. These results are automatically generated from Google. Ballotpedia does not curate or endorse these articles.
See also
- Allentown City School District, Pennsylvania
- Allentown City School District elections (2015)
- Embroiled incumbents see differing outcomes in May 19 school board elections across five states (May 21, 2015)
- Incumbency no guarantee of success in Nov. 3 school board elections (November 6, 2015)
- What happened in Nov.'s top board elections? (November 4, 2015)
External links
Footnotes
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 The Morning Call, "Crowded School Board Races in Allentown, Bethlehem, Easton," March 12, 2015 Cite error: Invalid
<ref>tag; name "candidates" defined multiple times with different content - ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 Citizens for A Better Allentown, "Who We Are," accessed April 6, 2015
- ↑ The Morning Call, "Allen graduate announces run for Allentown School Board," February 18, 2015
- ↑ Allentown City School District, "Allentown City School District Board of Directors," accessed March 11, 2015
- ↑ Lehigh County, Pennsylvania, "Election Results," accessed November 4, 2015
- ↑ Lehigh County, Pennsylvania, "Campaign Finance Reports," accessed February 3, 2016
- ↑ Lehigh Valley Labor Council, "PA AFL-CIO Endorsed Candidates for 2015," accessed October 30, 2015
- ↑ 8.0 8.1 8.2 Note: This text is quoted verbatim from the original source. Any inconsistencies are attributable to the original source.
- ↑ 9.0 9.1 Ballotpedia School Board Candidate Survey, 2015, "Mark Smith responses," May 13, 2015
- ↑ 10.0 10.1 The Morning Call, "Allentown Mayor Ed Pawlowski implicated in FBI probe," September 10, 2015
- ↑ 11.0 11.1 The Morning Call, "Pawlowski, other top Allentown Dems form PAC to fund local candidates," January 28, 2015
- ↑ The Morning Call, "Under FBI's cloud, Allentown election season is subdued," October 29, 2015
| 2015 Allentown City School District Elections | |
| Lehigh County, Pennsylvania | |
| Election date: | Primary election: May 19, 2015 General election: November 3, 2015 |
| Candidates: | At-large: • Incumbent, Scott Armstrong (D/R) • Incumbent, Ce-Ce Gerlach (D/R) • Incumbent, Elizabeth Martinez (D/R) • Incumbent, Robert Smith (D/R) • Incumbent, Charlie Thiel (D/R) • Jonah Adamcik (D/R) • Carmen Cheriz (D) • Audrey Mathison (D/R) • Frank Nickischer (D) • Timothy Ramos (D/R) • Mark Smith (D/R) • Marc Telesha (D/R) |
| Important information: | What was at stake? • Key deadlines • Additional elections on the ballot |
