Compared with the monstrously long—somewhere in the neighborhood of two years—presidential campaign that wrapped up last November, the election for the three at-large seats for the Buffalo school board always seems to come like a thief in the night. For one thing, the election is held in May. For another, there’s less than one month between the time when candidates file their petitions and the actual election day.

Maybe that’s why only 12,904 people voted in the last at-large school board election, in 2004—or 8.3 percent of city voters. Still, that’s more than the 7,756 (five percent) who voted in the 2007 district school board elections, and nearly four times as many as the 3,620 (2.3 percent) who voted in 2001.

Nevertheless, let’s take a look back at this year’s election season, starting way back on April 17, when I spent $1.75 on some public documents down at the Erie County Board of Elections office on Eagle Street. It seems like only yesterday…

That’s the day I learned that every single candidate challenging the three incumbents had had objections filed on their nominating petitions. Who filed the objections to the challengers’ paperwork? Herbert Bellamy Jr., Elaine Mootry, and Cassandra Cosby. Bellamy objected to the petitions submitted by Patricia E. Devis and Frank Yellen. Mootry objected to the petitions submitted by Rebekah A. Williams and John B. Licata. Cosby objected to the petitions submitted by Rosalind J. Hampton and Bryon McIntyre.

All the paperwork was notarized by Glenn S. Aronow, all on the same day: April 13. At the time, I didn’t know who Aronow was, but it didn’t seem like a coincidence. I poked around and discovered that he had a Facebook page, and that he was a fan of another Facebook page called “Chris Jacobs—Supporters for Buffalo Public School Board,” and also a fan of the facebook page called “Catherine Collins, Chris Jacobs & Florence Johnson for Buffalo School Board.”

I posted that info on the AV Daily blog, and on April 20, I read a reply to that post from Chet Morton, letting everyone know that Aronow “is the former Republican Niagara County Legislator who was also on the GOP payroll of the State Senate and who has worked for the past 2 years as director of government relations of the Buffalo Niagara Partnership.”

In the meantime, I’d received a slick mailer at home, advertising the accomplishments of the incumbents. As I always do when I slip on one of these things, I glared at the return address. It was from something called Buffalo Students First. Soon, I was on the phone with Aronow, asking if he could explain why a group known as Buffalo Students First shares the same address (665 Main Street, Suite 200) as the Buffalo-Niagara Partnership.

He explained that he was in Washington, DC, and couldn’t talk. I asked him again the next day. He said he’d call me when he got back to town. I called him Thursday, and he told me not to call him on his cell phone anymore. He said he was at a lunch, and couldn’t talk to me. He reminded me that he told me he’d call me when he returned from DC. I asked him if he was in town. He said yes. I pointed out that he hadn’t called me.

Aronow called back later in the afternoon, and said he’d send me an email response to my questions: What is Buffalo Students First, and why all the aggressive challenges to every school board candidate who’s not an incumbent?

The email he sent is now also known as “Exhibit E” in a Show Cause Order filed April 29, but I’m getting ahead of myself.

Let’s see…last Wednesday as we were going to press, after requesting the school board candidates’ filings from the Buffalo Public Schools, we received a letter from from BPS Assistant Legal Counsel Kelly Gale Eisenried explaining why they wouldn’t immediately release public documents pertaining to the school board election that was then just 13 days away. The letter offered me the opportunity to “examine” the records, so last Thursday morning I went to City Hall, where Chief of Staff James Kane handed me a slim folder of public documents. I was allowed to look, but not to have copies.

The hand-written notes I took are now also known as “Exhibit C” in the same Show Cause Order mentioned above, which was filed Wednesday, April 29, by attorney Peter A. Reese, seeking to impel the release of financial information pertaining to the upcoming Buffalo school board election on May 5, among other matters.

The court date is set for 11am on Monday, May 4, with Hon. Frederick J. Marshall, J.S.C. presiding.

That should give everyone plenty of time to understand how this campaign has actually been run before stepping into the voting booth the next day.

The bottom line is this: Money has already played a big role in this school board election, which unfolds over so brief a period but is so important. Those already in power have spent a lot on advertising—or have had advertising lavished upon them, in possible violation of the law—while those who would challenge this status quo have found their efforts challenged every step of the way by political operatives. My inspection of the challengers’ financial filings indicated that none of them received much in donations, and most were already in the hole. And despite the pesky petition signature objections, only challenger Fred Yellen has been struck from the ballot because of them.

Here are your choices for at-large school board members in the May 5 vote: Bryon McIntyre, Rebekah A. Williams, Patricia E. Devis, Christopher L. Jacobs, Florence D. Johnson, Rosalind J. Hampton, Catherine Collins, and John B. Licata.

To read more details of this short, sordid election, visit the AV Daily blog at Artvoice.com, and sound off.

Also visit www.buffalojwj.org, and download the school board voter’s guide offered by the Coalition for Economic Justice. If you happen to read this story in time, make a point of attending the candidates forum being hosted by the Buffalo Local Action Committee on Thursday, April 30, from 5:30 to 7:30pm at the Frank Merriweather Library, 1324 Jefferson Ave. Buffalo 14208.

One never knows, this little election could be like the last presidential one. It could be about change. If some powerful people don’t make it about cash.

—buck quigley