As you may know, there is an election on Tuesday, including the relatively unknown Los Angeles Community College District (LACCD) Board of Trustees.
This time, the election is of critical importance to all Los Angeles County residents.
Under normal circumstances, voting for LACCD does not create much interest among the general public. But as we now know from the horror stories contained in the recent front page articles in the Los Angeles Times, http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-build1 20110227,0,1763444.story, these Trustees have been completely negligent (or worse) in overseeing the spending of billions (with a “b”) of dollars of bond funds that taxpayers will be repaying for decades.
Unfortunately, almost all of the campaign contributions for the election come from the construction contractors and labor groups who have benefited from the wasteful spending. http://laccd.latimes.com/#!/contracts
These groups are supporting a slate of four candidates, Mona Field, Steven Veres, Scott Svonkin and Miguel Santiago, which can be thought of as the “incumbent slate.” It includes the only two incumbents with enough nerve to stand for re-election who generally say that while there may have been a few glitches in the past, everything is fine now.
One article this week, http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-college-election-20110302,0,5692491.story contrasts the incumbent slate with a “reform slate” that wants to dramatically increase oversight over construction spending and make significant changes at the District.
At a forum earlier this week sponsored by several Culver City homeowner groups, we were impressed with several candidates who clearly want to make a difference and end the appalling and incompetent behavior demonstrated by the current board
We want to strongly encourage you to vote on Tuesday. While there are several good candidates running against the “incumbent slate,” the Culver Crest Homeowners Assn., the Raintree Home and Condominium Assn.s and the Lakeside Homeowners Assn. endorse the following candidates:
Seat 1: Ozzie Lopez
Seat 3: Joyce Burrell Garcia
Seat 5: Lydia Gutierrez
Seat 7: Erick Aguirre
As this election does not draw many voters, it is possible for us to get these candidates elected or at least to gain a runoff position. It is therefore imperative everyone vote and vote wisely.
Forward this message to your entire list of friends and family. The only way we will succeed is by this grassroots approach. We must get the word out and get voters to the polls.
Mr. Bauer, Vice President and Director of Communications, Culver Crest Neighborhood Assn., may be contacted at culvercity99@aol.com
