Current Colonial School Board Leadership Announce Re-election Bid

Colonial School Board President Felix Raimondo and Vice-Present Leslie Finegold have announced that they are seeking re-election to the school board in 2019. Both were recently re-elected by fellow board members (vote 5-4) to a second year as the board’s leadership.

Raimondo and Finegold announced their re-election bid through an email invitation for a fundraiser set for Saturday, January 12th at Franzone’s in Conshohocken.

Raimondo and Finegold’s leadership style has split the all-Democrat board. There have been serious disputes over the selection process of the board’s solicitor, Michael Clarke, and the approval of a bidding process that the opposing board members believe was a way to limit which contractors could bid on construction work and thus reward union donors.

Under their leadership the board also chose to switch from a major renovation of Colonial Middle School to building a new school.

What is interesting about this announcement is that there are five seats up for election. Three other Democrats currently hold the other three seats. Either additional candidates haven’t been announced yet, or the Democratic Party is having a problem finding candidates to run with Raimondo and Finegold.

Of the three other incumbents, only Mel Brodsky has announced he will not seek re-election. Susan Moore and Cathy Peduzzi have not yet publicly stated their intentions.

What you could see is a very competitive primary between two factions of sitting school board members, with new candidates having to choose a side to support. No Republican candidates have been announced yet.

Note that in school board elections candidates can cross-file and appear on the primary ballots for both parties. The primary will be held May 21st and the general election will be November 5th.

A second interesting thing to note about the announcement is that Montgomery Country Treasurer Jason Salus’ name was not included among the other elected officials on the invitation. He is the Area Leader for the the Democrats for the communities within the Colonial School District. Someone is either trying to be sly by making it appear he is not behind this campaign or they have determined his name is toxic (remember this).

Over the past year, lots of Democrats have expressed concerns to us about how the Colonial School Board is being run. If this includes you, look at the elected Democrats supporting this campaign. If you believe Raimondo and Finegold are an issue, these are the party elders protecting and endorsing them.

Below is the fundraiser announcement: