Romey Defends Mailer, Draws Opponents’ Ire in Schools Race

West Valley school board candidate Barbara Romey denied Sunday that she publicly pledged not to use the name of her opponents in her campaign literature, a pledge five other candidates said she broke.

“I did not raise my hand; I did not say a word,” Romey said at a hastily called press conference. “I didn’t make that promise because a campaign needed to be run and people deserved to know the facts about each of the candidates, they needed to be able to compare their backgrounds and their stands.”

But, earlier in the day, five other candidates running for the West Valley school board seat agreed that Romey had taken the pledge along with them.

Back-to-back press conferences were the final shots before Tuesday’s election in which seven candidates seek the seat now held by Tom Bartman, who was appointed for a year and opted not to seek election.

Bunny Field, Julie Korenstein and George St. Johns, who were named in the last-minute Romey mailer, said in a joint statement that it was “riddled” with inaccuracies and “loaded with blatant lies and distortions.”

Douglas Wolf and Mark Isler, two candidates not named in the Romey mailer, joined in criticizing it at the press conference as a distraction from the issues. The seventh candidate, Marilynn Mayer Neville, did not appear.

The mailer lists the purported stands on year-round schools, violence on campuses and mandatory busing for desegregation for Romey and three other candidates, identified only as “Bunny,” “Julie” and “George.”

Field, Korenstein and St. Johns said their positions and backgrounds were deliberately misstated in Romey’s literature. But Romey, defending the mailer, supplied material that she maintained backed it up. Appearing with her were Gerald E. Horowitz, principal of Robert Frost Junior High School in Granada Hills, and one other supporter, who said they were at the forum where the “clean campaign” promises were made and that Romey did not make such a pledge.

“This morning, members of the press were treated to a display of what’s been wrong about Valley school board member--they whine and complain, but rarely get anything accomplished,” Romey said.

“If they can’t handle documented facts, how are they going to handle the job of representing our children and taxpayers?” she asked.

“Barbara Romey lied to the public. She lied to the media who were present at that forum and heard her agree to the pledge,” said St. Johns at Sunday’s conference.

The mailer “demeans our political process,” Korenstein said. “A school board campaign should set a standard in integrity because we are examples to our students that in our American democracy, problems are solved reasonably through intelligent discussion and the exercise of the vote.”

Field called on newspapers and others to withdraw their endorsements of Romey. “The real injured party in all of this is the public. They have been victimized by a candidate who would rather sling mud,” she said.

Wolf said it was “unfortunate” that Romey had to use tactics such as the mailer instead of debating issues with candidates.