In all of Fort Wayne history, there may never have been a more successful grass-roots organization than Code Blue Schools, which last year collected 33,345 signatures and easily thwarted Fort Wayne Community Schools' well-funded campaign to raise $500 million for building repairs.

But when the organization tried to translate that populist appeal into political clout, the attempt failed miserably, with all three of its favored candidates - including an incumbent and the leader of the petition drive - losing in this week's school board race.

The question is: Why?

Was it really just a simple lack of money and name recognition, as the losers insist?

Or did their initial success ultimately undermine their own relevance and appeal?

“When there's a presidential election, nobody hears messages (in local races), so it's all about name recognition. And we were outspent 4 to 1,” said Jon Olinger, the only board member to vote against the building plan, who lost to former YWCA Executive Director Becky Hill in District 3. “My issue was spending, but they (Write Yellow Right Now) got their message out better than we did.”

On the surface, the numbers bear that out. When financial reports were filed last month, winners Hill and incumbents Steve Corona in District 5 and John Peirce in District 2 had raised $33,031 - more than three times the amount raised by Olinger, Code Blue founder Evert Mol and former member Don Schaab. It's also true that the victors' donor lists included the teachers' union, business leaders and professionals who do business with the schools or would like to.

But 400 Code Blue volunteers had contacted more than 33,000 potential voters and donors only a year earlier. Why did the organization's slate have so little to show for it on Election Day?

Mol admits the lack of financial and electoral support greatly disappoints him, especially after his organization's efforts had saved the public a half-billion-dollar property tax increase. But in hindsight, he said, the indifference makes perfect sense.

“We saved a lot of people a bunch of money. But money is all they cared about. How many of them have kids in the schools?” he asked.

In other words, it's hard to interest people in improved academics if their own children aren't sitting in the classroom.

“I spent $1,500 of my own money on the campaign, but I wasn't willing to spend $10,000 if other people weren't going to care (to donate),” Moll said.

With Olinger leaving the board in January, will the FWCS board lose its last outspoken watchdog? Mol fears so.

“You need some dissent. That's the only way you ever improve, and the only way to get people to move back into the city. But we're headed where (schools in) Indianapolis and Gary already are. If test scores don't come up, more people will flee,” Mol said.

“The only check and balance will come from (Indianapolis),” Olinger agreed.

Not surprisingly, board President Mark GiaQuinta sees things differently - with a large dose of irony thrown in for good measure.

“Today's board is focused on academics, and you can credit (Code Blue) with that,” GiaQuinta said.

When FWCS was forced to abandon its building program - which even school officials acknowledged was not intended to improve student performance - the board knew it would have to reassure the community FWCS was worthy of its trust and support. One way it did that was to implement its “Balanced Scorecard” program establishes academic goals and measures progress toward those goals.

Even Mol acknowledges the improvement, although he said “it's not enough, and five years late.”

GiaQuinta - who most observers agree has been instrumental in setting the board's agenda - laughs at the notion that the Olinger-less board will lack a watchdog, or spend uncontrollably.

“Spend what? We're $19 million underfunded according to the state's own formula,” he said, noting that state law now requires voters to approve major capital-improvement requests - something that makes future petition drives unnecessary, further weakening Code Blue's appeal. “Olinger's been very supportive of what the board's been doing, (but) I question a lot of things.”

With Mol defeated and Olinger gone, let's hope so. Every government agency needs watchdogs, and not just in the press.

“All movements go too far,” said British philosopher Bertrand Russell - and he was right. Code Blue was not the first organization to discover that success in one mission does not guarantee success in another. It will not be the last.

But even in electoral defeat, its legacy of increased academic focus and public involvement in school financials seems secure. That should be enough to temper its supporters' disappointment.