It’s really a simple equation when you boil it all down. 

It doesn’t have to come down to people sitting on a dais taking pot shots about how information gets skewed and misconstrued and the truth gets bended because scandal is sexy and it somehow improves rack sales. 

I’m talking about the bold – and honestly, surprising – words of Manteca Unified School Board Trustee Alexander Bronson who felt compelled to speak out at the district’s board meeting last week about stories and allegations about improprieties regarding him, his residency and his election to the board of trustees.

Well, maybe that’s not exactly what he was talking about, but his remarks about this newspaper and hints at this reporter in particular were shrouded no doubt in that matter in particular. 

And here’s why his previous tactic of just keeping his mouth shut and avoiding any and all questions regarding the subject was probably his best move. 

There has been no official statement from any agency with investigative or prosecutorial powers on the matter of Bronson’s election to the Manteca Unified school board. 

The San Joaquin County Registrar of Voters’ office has said that they have no power to pursue either Bronson or Ashley Drain – who, on paper, appears to have improprieties of her own – and can only refer the matter on to the California Secretary of State’s office for recommendation. 

If you ask the California Secretary of State’s office, they’ll tell you that they can’t tell you whether there’s an investigation. 

It’s all one big runaround. 

But here’s what I know. The Bulletin printed a story that included the address that Bronson listed on his nomination paperwork because it’s also the address – interestingly enough – that Drain wrote on hers, crossed out, and then wrote a Stockton address in. 

It links the two together. And when we ran the address, I got a call from the homeowner – who I had already spoken to prior and had been told that his tenant had no idea who Bronson was – that the person living there was upset about what ran in the paper because they had no connection whatsoever to Bronson. 

That’s very interesting information. Here’s a candidate running for school board that listed an address on his application and the person that owns that home claims that he has no clue who he is. The person living there also claims they have no clue who he is. And another school board member that claims from Day 1 that they’re all about representing Stockton just so happens to write in that address – a Manteca address – on her paperwork, crosses it out, and then write in the correct address?

Was there a nomination paperwork party and the two somehow got mixed up and the general idea among the group was, “No big deal – we’ll just cross it out and write in the right address.”

Possible. But on the scale of probability, it’s really not tipping. 

Bronson had become a shadow candidate during the election because he essentially said nothing and followed the same line when he was first elected. Upset about the stories that the Bulletin ran – which ran concurrently with complaints were filed with the Registrar of Voters’ inquiring into election fraud – he refused to answer any questions about anything to a different Bulletin reporter who wanted to speak to him about a relatively routine and mundane subject. 

Drain has gone the opposite direction entirely and hasn’t won very many fans along the way. Not a single administrator or teacher that I’ve spoken to has been a fan, and seldom have I brought up the subject.

Leaving a paper trail that looks like a smoking gun tends to rile people up – especially those that spent their entire careers molding the lives and the minds of young people and don’t like the idea of the young and idealistic and often unfounded coming in and trying to tell them the best way to do their jobs. 

Some would say that’s just upsetting the Old Boys Network. That education needs a shakeup. And maybe that’s true. But there’s a right way to do it. 

This isn’t that way. 

Fire away Mr. Bronson. Fire away. 

To contact reporter Jason Campbell email jcampbell@mantecabulletin.com or call 209.249.3544.