Faculty to Weigh in on Elections

By Jorge Casuso

June 2 – With the faculty mounting an orchestrated campaign and two of the three incumbents out of the running, the race for three seats on the College Board of Trustees will likely be wide open and hotly contested.

On Wednesday night, the Santa Monica College Faculty Association and the Santa Monica-Malibu Teachers Association -- united as Santa Monica’s Education Team -- are scheduled to make their endorsements for the November 2 elections.

With incumbents Annette Shamey and Graham Pope deciding not to seek reelection, incumbent Margaret Quinones will vie with four candidates for the faculty endorsements.

The endorsements come in the wake of a battle over budget cuts that pitted college employees and the board, which eliminated eight vocational programs. The decision to cut the programs contributed to a vote of no-confidence for SMC President Dr. Piedad F. Robertson and the board.

“The faculty will be getting involved to a much higher extent because the stakes are much higher,” said Kelly Hayes-Raitt, a spokesperson for the education team. “The goal is to elect a board of trustees that’s more supportive of academics, the students, the faculty and the staff.”

Restoring the vocational programs eliminated by the board will be “the litmus test” for candidates seeking the faculty endorsement,” said Hayes-Raitt.

Other key issues are shared governance and better oversight of the president’s office and college administration, she said.

Made early because teachers will soon go on summer break, the endorsements come more than one month before candidates can begin pulling papers from the City Clerk on July 12.

As a result, faculty organizers acknowledge that the field could change long after Wednesday night’s endorsements.

“Of course anything could happen,” said Hayes-Raitt. “Any of these people could decide not to run.”

A committee comprised of three members of the SMC Faculty Association’s Political Action Organization and three counterparts at the school district will choose from an early field of five potential candidates.

Besides Quinones, the candidates are Rent Control Board member M. Doug Willis; Bayside District Board member Rob Rader, retired SMC faculty member Charlie Donaldson, and Susan Aminoff, a benefits negotiator for the LA Community College District.

Quinones -- who was appointed by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger to the powerful California Community Colleges Board of Governors in April -- would be an unlikely choice, since she is viewed as being part of the college guard the faculty has been battling.

On the other hand, Aminoff, who lives in Santa Monica, will likely win an endorsement, since she was recruited by the faculty to run.

Aside from the endorsements, the faculty’s nod could prove valuable in August when Santa Monicans for Renters’ Rights (SMRR), the powerful tenants group, holds its endorsement convention.

The group -- which successfully lobbied SMRR last month to include in the group’s platform a call for restoring the college’s vocational programs -- has signed up between three and four dozen new members eligible to vote at the convention, Hayes-Raitt said.

“There was a concerted organizing effort to have members join SMRR,” she said. “They’ve been doing some good organizing down at the campus. People don’t realize how deteriorated the relationship has gotten between the administration and the faculty.

“It’s a good opportunity for SMRR to embrace these new members and issues,” she added. “I would hope that SMRR would look at this as an opportunity and not a threat.”

The faculty likes its chances to elect at least two allies to the seven-member board, Hayes Raitt said.

“There’s much more opportunity and possibility now,” she said. “We have a good crop of candidates, and we’ve been doing a lot of work in the community.”

The field opened up after incumbent Shamey announced on May 25 she would not seek a fourth term on the board.

On Tuesday, Pope -- who was appointed by the board in November to fill a vacant trustee seat -- confirmed rumors he would not run in November.

“I am not going to be a candidate for the board of trustees in the November election,” Pope told The Lookout. “This is due mainly to increased business commitment requirements and other matters that are making it inappropriate for me to run at this time.”

In addition to making its endorsements for the college board Wednesday night, the education team will interview five candidates for three seats on the School Board.

The early candidates are two incumbents, Board President Jose Escarce and Maria Leon Vazquez, and challengers Ana Maria Jara, Kathleen Wisnicki and Tom Carter.

The education team will make its endorsements for the School Board next week.