A St. Mary’s candidate for the board of education is stating she wasn’t given a fair shot at being endorsed by the Education Association of St. Mary’s County.
Elena Brewer, who is running for the non-partisan District 2 seat against incumbent Cathy Allen, stated she wasn’t given a chance to fill out a questionnaire or interview with the county’s teachers union like other candidates.
“Of note is that I was not offered the opportunity to participate,” Brewer wrote in a letter sent earlier this month to several media outlets. “I did not receive the questionnaire or an invitation to be interviewed. Was I politically stonewalled. Why?”
In a telephone interview, Brewer said she never received an email, phone call or a request to be interviewed by EASMC.
“I just watched what they did, and watched some of the interviews they did and just kept waiting for them to contact me and they never contacted me,” she said, adding that she adamantly believes the oversight was “100% on purpose.”
Brewer’s bio on the state website lists her email address, telephone number and address.
“They have all the information for every single candidate,” the Hollywood resident said, “and the way they contacted everyone else they could have contacted me.”
Brewer said she firmly believes she was overlooked because she is against LGBTQ–themed lessons, books and clubs in public schools.
“Oh absolutely,” she said. “I looked up all [EASMC President Sarah Penrod] social media accounts and it’s all LGBTQ propaganda,” Brewer alleged. “The teachers’ union for the month of June had changed their logo with the LGBTQ propaganda, and so I believe that they did not contact me because they know I would confront them about it.”
Responding to an interview request sent on Aug. 8, Penrod wrote, “I am aware of [Brewer’s] allegations and am investigating. EASMC will decline further comment as it is a private matter between Ms. Brewer and the association.”
And that frustrated Brewer even more.
“Yes, it’s frustrating because this is a public process,” Brewer said. “They can say it but it’s not a private matter. It’s a public matter. This is about elections, this is about electing representatives, so when someone is not even given the chance, completely ignored, and when they were confronted about it and even after that they didn’t reach out. That tells me that not only are they not giving me a chance but they completely disregard me as a candidate. This is discrimination at its highest so the teachers’ union that teaches or promotes diversity does not want diversity of thought.”
EASMC ultimately endorsed Allen for the seat.
“I’m not disappointed that they did not endorse me,” Brewer said. “I think they made it clear what they endorse and what they don’t. I’m disappointed [they never sent me a questionnaire], but at the same time it clarifies it for me exactly who they are.”
An email sent Tuesday to Penrod asking if questionnaires are sent to every candidate received the following response: “It is the established EASMC policy and procedure to invite all candidates to participate. Not all candidates choose to do so.”
Penrod said in a telephone call that administrative mistakes can happen, and she has tried to contact Brewer and is waiting on talking to her before making any comment on this specific incident.
Another candidate had earlier contacted EASMC about not receiving a questionnaire, and the union put its endorsement process temporarily on hold while the candidate was able to fill out and return it, Penrod said.
“As demonstrated by the EASMC, the non-partisan nature of school board elections is a pretense,” Brewer wrote in her letter. “In general, there is no adherence to even the spirit of the law. The EASMC was unconcerned to show even the appearance of fairness.”
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