Source: Orange County Register
By SCOTT MARTINDALE
2010-05-03 13:23:04
SAN JUAN CAPISTRANO – A group of Capistrano Unified activists attempting to recall two district trustees from office this November has collected more than 32,000 petition signatures per trustee from community members, about 50 percent more than the minimum number required to put the issue on the ballot, organizers said.
The signatures will be submitted to the county registrar by the end of the month to be counted and verified, organizers said. If a minimum 21,850 signatures are declared valid, the politically fractured school district will face its second recall election in as many years.
"The response was just huge," said Pete Espinosa, a spokesman for the Parents for Local Control recall group. "It was very satisfying to see the amount of signatures collected in that short period of time. It shows parents really know what's best for their children."
Capistrano Unified's latest recall attempt – the third in the past five years – is the product of mounting frustration by a group of community activists angry at the school board's handling of fiscal and policy issues.
The group says it's disturbed by what it characterizes as "out-of-control spending" by Capistrano's "reform"-minded school board, purported conflicts of interest by trustees and alleged nepotism.
Parents for Local Control says it is targeting trustees Ken Lopez-Maddox and Mike Winsten because their terms aren't up until 2012 and because it is cumbersome to try to recall more trustees. Also, three different trustees will be up for re-election this November.
Lopez-Maddox and Winsten, who have adamantly defended their track record, say they are being targeted by the district's influential teachers union, which has long opposed them and the rest of Capistrano's school board.
Parents for Local Control denies any direct connections to the teachers union, but many teachers individually support the recall effort, especially in the wake of a crippling, three-day teacher strike a week ago, when many teachers blamed the school board for the bitter standoff.
Also, during the strike, many teachers helped gather recall petition signatures, including some who took time off from their picket line during the school day to assist with signature gathering.
The Orange County Republican Party's 73-member governing body, meanwhile, in February condemned the recall attempt as a "union-backed effort to remove the new regime that has brought fiscal accountability to the district."
TRUSTEES REACT
Winsten said Monday his track record spoke for itself and that voters should not be misled by the recall group.
"The unsolicited support reaching out to me has been overwhelming," Winsten said.
"I'm very confident of my record and of the increasing support for myself and my colleagues," Winsten said, referring to the school board's decision to unilaterally impose a 10.1 percent pay cut on the district's teachers. "We have taken the rights steps to ensure a sustainable future for our school district."
Lopez-Maddox said Monday he was skeptical the group has collected as many signatures as it says it has. The group collected the signatures over a two-month period, using less than half of the time it was legally allotted.
"I'm doubtful they've collected that many signatures," said Lopez-Maddox, who was brought to office in a 2008 special recall election. "I'm calling their bluff. It's time to put up or shut up. They need to turn those signatures in for qualification now."
Parents for Local Control says it intends to continue collecting signatures and submit them by the end of this month, likely by May 21.
Orange County Registrar of Voters Neal Kelley said that if the group is seeking to put the recall on the Nov. 2 ballot, organizers should submit their signatures to his Santa Ana office by June 1. This will ensure that the signatures can be counted in time for the recall to be placed on the November ballot, assuming the recall qualifies.
Parents for Local Control said the short, two-month time span it took to gather the required signatures was "unprecedented" for Capistrano Unified.
In the district's last recall election in 2008, the CUSD Recall Committee group also collected about 50 percent more signatures than required, but took a full five months to do it.
Kelley said that if the group indeed has collected 32,000 signatures per trustee in a two-month window, it would be the shortest turn-around time in Orange County that he has seen since becoming the county registrar six years ago.
YEARS OF RECALL FERVOR
Capistrano Unified's 2008 recall election has its origins in the district's "reform" movement, which was started in 2005 by a group of parents weary of what they viewed as poor planning and fiscal mismanagement by district administrators and the school board.
Although their first effort – a 2005 recall of all seven Capistrano Unified trustees – failed, the "reform" movement focused attention on facilities needs, fiscal accountability and the leadership of Superintendent James Fleming, who was eventually indicted on charges of creating "enemies lists" of the school board's political opponents.
Galvanized and popularly received, the CUSD Recall Committee, as it became known, replaced three trustees in November 2006 with candidates Ellen Addonizio, Anna Bryson and Larry Christensen, and two more in a June 2008 recall election with Lopez-Maddox and Sue Palazzo. They were joined by "reform" candidates Winsten and Jack Brick in November 2008.
If the recall qualifies for the Nov. 2 ballot, it will be the second issue Capistrano Unified's 220,000 registered voters will be asked to consider. A separate group of activists, Capistrano Unified Children First, will bring a ballot measure to voters that seeks to restrict voters to electing one trustee to represent their geographical area, instead of voting for all seven in an at-large election. The switch is intended to improve accountability and to give voters a chance to get to know the candidates better.
Contact the writer: 949-454-7394 or smartindale@ocregister.com
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