This is not about the stupidity of school boards. This is about the stupidity of the reporters that cover them and their elections. Case in point. The Journal Register blew the Phoenixville School Board elections not once but twice in the two papers that service Phoenixville.

From today's Phoenix and the sharp mind of Dennis Wright:

PHOENIXVILLE — As a result of Tuesday's Primary Election, Jan Potts, Betsy Ruch, Josh Gould and Daniel J. Cushing will be vying for positions on the Phoenixville Area School Board.

With 216 of 224 precincts reported in around 11:45 p.m., Potts, Ruch, Gould and Cushing were the top four vote-getters out of seven candidates for the School Board.

Combining both Democratic and Republican votes, Potts had 1,140 total votes, with Ruch finishing second with 1,073 votes.

Coming in third place was Gould with 848 votes, and rounding out the top four was Cushing with 840 votes.

And from today's Mercury and the sharp minds of their combined staff:

Phoenixville School Director: Jan Potts took the most Democratic and Republican votes with 474 and 818, respectively, followed by Betsy Ruch, 469 among Democrats, 726 among Republicans. Theresa Johnson took 459 Democratic votes and 371 Republican votes. Josh Gould took 408 votes among Democrats and 509 votes among Republicans. Wendy Kelly took 358 Democratic votes and 357 Republican votes. Donna Jackson took 348 Democratic votes and 357 Republican votes. Daniel Cushing took 280 votes on the Democratic line and 698 Republican votes. Potts, Gould and Ruch are guaranteed seats. Johnson and Cushing will face off in the fall.

For those of you that are a bit more tuned into the ways of the political world, you know that both of these stories are lazy pieces of bullshit put forward by reporters that are way too lazy to make a phone call inquiring about the process and editors that are too preoccupied with their wacky conservative OP-ED page to proof read an article. First off, we have primaries so that each party can select their candidates for the general election. Thus Dennis got it completely wrong when he combined the two votes. In a way I can see the thought process even though it leads in the opposite direction from a rational thought process.

The Mercury on the other hand, just made shit up. There is no base of reality there. Do we wonder why the Journal Register is in trouble?

The real facts are that the Republicans elected Potts, Ruch, Gould and Cushing to be their candidates and the Democrats chose Potts, Ruch, Gould, and Thompson to be theirs. That means that Potts, Ruch, Gould, Thorton-JOhnson, and Cushing go onto the November ballot and we can all make our decision then. Got it?

PS Anyone But Gould!