Elections
Trustee Mike Winsten thanks his supporters and reflects on tonight's election results
Nov 02, 2010
Dear Friends:
Wow, what an interesting election night!
Who could’ve predicted the outcome in CUSD? Not me, at least not the way it all seems to have played out. I think many of us though it would be all or nothing for the competing slates, and instead it was a seriously split decision.
Thankfully, the Reform Board Conservatives held onto their majority of 4 seats, with Anna Bryson and Ellen Addonizio looking like victors in their re-election campaigns. Anna and Ellen will keep working with Sue Palazzo and Jack Brick to oversee our school district and provide very important checks and balances over the entrenched public education bureaucracy which has serious room for improvement. Anna, Ellen, Sue and Jack are a great team, and along with Superintendent Joe Farley, I know CUSD is in excellent hands. Among the important work they will all undertake next year will be re-drawing the trustee area boundaries based on the results of the 2010 census, which will be uber-important now that the voters in CUSD have decided to adopt Measure H and embark on an experiment in democracy by electing future trustee elections by trustee area only.
On a national perspective, we have to be happy that the Republican Party has become the majority party in the House of Representatives, which will restore a seriously needed check and balance to the Executive Branch and the Senate. Here in California there is still a serious lack of checks and balances, as it looks like the Democrats will retain control of Sacramento and we will be subjected to more tax and spend insanity. Locally, some of my favorite people in our community have been elected or re-elected to many of local City Councils, although not necessarily all of my preferred candidates won, and certainly not here in my home town of San Clemente. Read More...
Comments
OC Register Urges Voters to Reject Takeover in CUSD
Oct 30, 2010
Today’s
excellent editorial in the OC Register confirms:
• The teachers union and their so-called “Children First” group have now spent more than $350,000 since September 30th trying to buy control of CUSD – $67,000 more this week alone – this is an obscene amount of money for a local school board election!
• The powerful teachers union is outspending the conservative Reform Trustee incumbents more than a 16 to 1 margin!
• The Register found the Teachers Union had even this month begun funneling thousands into a newly formed Political Action Committee – an obvious effort to hide from voters and the press the unprecedented union spending in CUSD.
• Voters have a very simple choice -- They can continue to support the conservative incumbents and the policies they promote, or they can choose the candidates and positions that are endorsed and promoted by the teachers union.
Choose the conservative incumbents:
• VOTE NO on the Union’s Recall of Winsten & Lopez Maddox• VOTE NO on the Union’s Measure H• RE-ELECT THE “ABC TRUSTEES” (Addonizio, Bryson & Christensen)
READ the full OC Register Story
READ the second OC Register Story
READ the initial OC Register Story
• The teachers union and their so-called “Children First” group have now spent more than $350,000 since September 30th trying to buy control of CUSD – $67,000 more this week alone – this is an obscene amount of money for a local school board election!
• The powerful teachers union is outspending the conservative Reform Trustee incumbents more than a 16 to 1 margin!
• The Register found the Teachers Union had even this month begun funneling thousands into a newly formed Political Action Committee – an obvious effort to hide from voters and the press the unprecedented union spending in CUSD.
• Voters have a very simple choice -- They can continue to support the conservative incumbents and the policies they promote, or they can choose the candidates and positions that are endorsed and promoted by the teachers union.
Choose the conservative incumbents:
• VOTE NO on the Union’s Recall of Winsten & Lopez Maddox• VOTE NO on the Union’s Measure H• RE-ELECT THE “ABC TRUSTEES” (Addonizio, Bryson & Christensen)
READ the full OC Register Story
READ the second OC Register Story
READ the initial OC Register Story
"Look For The Union Label"
Oct 29, 2010
Some CUSD
voters have received the following
mailer from the California Taxpayer
Advocate asking voters to stop
the union takeover of our school district by
voting “NO” on Measure H, “NO” on the Recall of
Reform Trustees Ken Lopez Maddox and Mike Winsten,
and by Re-Electing the incumbent “ABC” Reform
Trustees (Ellen Addonizio, Anna Bryson and Larry
Christensen). The mailer also praises the
incumbent Reform Trustees for the numerous
accomplishments they have made for the benefit of
students, parents and taxpayers of CUSD.
Read More...
Read More...
"Stop Union Power Grab in Capo Unified"
Oct 28, 2010
Today, “ABC”
Reform Slate Trustee Anna Bryson published a
new political advertisement
in The
Orange County Register, reminding voters about the
accomplishments of the incumbent CUSD Reform
Trustees on behalf of students, parents and
taxpayers, and debunking some of the false claims
being circulated by the teachers union and their
so-called “Children First” front group who are
currently trying to take control of the district
by unseating the Reform Trustees.
Alpay False and Misleading - He IS the union candidate...
Oct 23, 2010
This guy
can’t talk for two minutes without repeatedly
stretching the truth. Watch closely...Alpay is so
steeped in union talking points, he can’t help but
humiliate himself. Of course, as a lawyer he must
know something about telling “the truth, THE WHOLE
TRUTH, AND NOTHING BUT THE TRUTH.” Somehow, this
noble concept has escaped this pitiful, stealth union
candidate. Oh, that’s right, this is a political
campaign, we’re just the public and this shyster’s
not under oath. What in the world were we thinking?
Never mind.
Erin Kutnick talks about manipulating teachers at Capo Unified
Oct 23, 2010
Arrogant,
condescending and manipulative to a fault...the
teacher union’s so-called “Children First” group
leader Erin Kutnick just being herself.
C-R-E-E-P-Y...and just in time for Halloween! We
wonder how many union folks are aware that, in
Kutnick’s mind, they are merely pawns in her grand
Recall-Measure H scam. We remember how Kutnick
arrogantly proposed to deny voters a say on a
proposal to take away their right to vote for six of
their seven trustees by turning the decision over to
her Old Guard buddies and their friends on a county
committee and bypassing the voters entirely! Thank
goodness the incumbent Reform Trustees protected the
voters and put a stop to this. Now, listen as this
little narcissist explains how union members need to
be manipulated to act against their will to become
part of “the (translated “her”) solution.” Kutnick’s
corrupt Old Guard mentor, former Fleming trustee
Marlene Draper, must be mighty proud.
An Appeal From Anna Bryson
Oct 16, 2010
Anna Bryson
Candidate for Trustee Area 4
Capistrano Unified School District
The ballot for the upcoming November elections will be crowded with important choices. If you are a taxpayer with children or grandchildren in the Capistrano Unified School District (CUSD), if you believe we must provide the best possible public education possible within our means, and if you agree that a well-educated workforce will benefit everyone in our area, I wanted to make sure you are aware of a key race.
I’m running for re-election to the CUSD Board of Education, where I’ve served for the past four years as trustee and president. During that time, we boosted academic achievement to the highest level in the state among large districts, we introduced many new programs that included special training for teachers at schools that needed to improve performance, and we brought a financial budget that was running at a deficit back into balance. Read More...
"NO on Recall for the Good of the District and the Children"
Oct 11, 2010
Apparently,
if you don't agree with the union and it's
anti-reform supporters, you must be “stupid,” or it
would appear that way based on the conduct of some
reform opponents. Watch "NO on Recall for the Good of the
District and the Children,“ another video
posted on YouTube by CapoKidsFirst, to see why.
"Reality check for PTA parents"
Oct 11, 2010
The reform
supporters at CapoKidsFirst have posted
“Reality Check for PTA
Parents” on
YouTube. It’s a video that exposes more of the
union lies being spread about the Reform Trustees
and Measure H by teachers and members of the PTA
-- another reminder to Vote NO on the Recall and
Vote NO on Measure H.
Video Exposes the Union Threat to Our School District
Oct 09, 2010
Here’s
another video posted on YouTube by the reform
supporters at CapoKidsFirst. "CUSD Teachers Union NO on H and NO on
Recall”
exposes the dogmatic mindset of the union members
in CUSD who are blindly following the dishonest
leaders of the CUEA and the CSEA as they
disrespect and deceive students, parents and
taxpayers, and attempt to derail positive district
reforms that are long-overdue.
O.C. Elections: Candidates Reveal Their Core Principles
Oct 01, 2010
Questions of principle
Capo Unified Sch Dist, Area 3, Recall Election
Mike Winsten
Party Non-partisan office
What is the role of government? How do you see yourself in the position you seek fulfilling that role?
The role of our government is to protect the rights of the people as guaranteed to them by the United States Constitution and the California Constitution. The role of a public school district trustee in this process is profound in protecting the rights of individual students, parents, taxpayers, voters and other constituents from the education bureaucracy that has been constructed and perpetuated by those who economically benefit the most from a large centralized education bureaucracy controlled by lifetime career ‘‘stakeholders” under the tutelage and architecture of the National Education Association, the California Teachers Association, the California Federation of Teachers, the California School Employees Association and all of their affiliated and related organizations. Read More...
"Fem-Bot Campaign Melts Down"
Sep 29, 2010
The reform
supporters at CapoKidsFirst have posted
"Fem-Bot Campaign
Meltdown" on
YouTube. It’s a new 3 1/2 minute video that
exposes the dishonest
Union-Wolves-in-Republican-Clothing strategy the
CUEA and the CSEA are using to deceive the voters
in their current door-to-door campaign. The video
depicts the shallow, deceitful campaign being
waged by these union-talking-point lemmings. Take
a look, it's funny.
Voters Have Clear Choice - Conservative Reform Trustees or Liberal Union Candidates
Jul 03, 2010
One by
one,
Fran Sdao of the
teacher union’s so called “Children First"
coalition and member of the South County Democratic
Club introduced the five candidates they are
endorsing in their effort to take over control of the
CUSD Board of Trustees in the November General
Election. They include a failed Democratic
Nominee for a State Senate seat who ran with
widespread union support on a platform calling for
same sex marriage, increased rights to abortion and
higher taxes; an 18 year old kid that just graduated
from high school 35 days before he filed papers
seeking to be elected; and an outspoken supporter and
apologist for CUSD’s indicted former Superintendent
James Fleming.
Meet the Union Candidates:
Gary Pritchard: a failed Democratic Nominee for a State Senate seat in 2008 who ran with widespread union support on a platform calling for same sex marriage, increased rights to abortion and higher taxes. Pritchard's ballot statement was paid for by the ultra liberal publication “Daily Kos” and his wife writes for the equally liberal Huffington Post. READ OC Register Story
Saam Alikhani: an 18 year old kid that just graduated from high school 35 days before he filed papers seeking to be elected as a CUSD Trustee. He has been a vocal supporter of the unions. Here is Alikhani's platform when he ran for student body president a few months ago: Read More...
Meet the Union Candidates:
Gary Pritchard: a failed Democratic Nominee for a State Senate seat in 2008 who ran with widespread union support on a platform calling for same sex marriage, increased rights to abortion and higher taxes. Pritchard's ballot statement was paid for by the ultra liberal publication “Daily Kos” and his wife writes for the equally liberal Huffington Post. READ OC Register Story
Saam Alikhani: an 18 year old kid that just graduated from high school 35 days before he filed papers seeking to be elected as a CUSD Trustee. He has been a vocal supporter of the unions. Here is Alikhani's platform when he ran for student body president a few months ago: Read More...