There are 10 candidates running for 3 seats on the West Contra Costa Unified School District Board of Education. 2 incumbents are running; Charles Ramsey is not running for re-election.
One aspect of the campaign process is getting endorsements from various organizations and the main local paper. Just like I did in 2012, here is the current scorecard:
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| El Cerrito Democratic Club (0) | ||||||||||
| Central Labor Council (2) | X | X | ||||||||
| County Democratic Party (3) | X | X | X | |||||||
| UTR (3) | X | X | X | |||||||
| Local One (4) | X | X | X | X | ||||||
| Contra Costa Times (3) | X | X | X | |||||||
| SFER Action Network - West Contra Costa (2) | X | X | ||||||||
| CCSA Advocates (2) | X | X |
The Candidates
- CHESTER R. STEVENS (Hercules)
- MISTER PHILLIPS (Richmond)
- ELIZABETH “LIZ” BLOCK (El Cerrito)
- OTHEREE CHRISTIAN (Richmond)
- PETER NICHOLAS CHAU (Richmond)
- VALERIE CUEVAS (Richmond)
- ELAINE MERRIWEATHER (Richmond, Incumbent)
- RAQUEL DONOSO (Richmond)
- AYANA KIRKLAND YOUNG (Hercules)
- MADELINE KRONENBERG (El Cerrito, Incumbent)
The Endorsers
- The Democratic Party is pretty much The Party in West County. The El Cerrito Democratic Club has been an active party club in the district for a long time. (New ones for Hercules and West County have started.) Endorsements require a 60% threshold, which may explain the lack of any endorsement this time.
- The Central Labor Council is the county version of the AFL-CIO. They are connected through the construction program for the school and the unions for employees. They are a big “door hanger” presence, too.
- The county Democratic Party has an elected Central Committee. As I was saying, the Democratic Party is The Party around here.
- The United Teachers of Richmond (UTR) is the district’s teachers’ union.
- Public Employees Union, Local One is the union for most of the non-teacher employees in WCCUSD.
- The Contra Costa Times is the local paper that pays the most attention to WCCUSD.
- SFER Action Network – West Contra Costa is a local summer-only student project of the Students for Educational Reform, a group some consider an “astroturf” group.
- CCSA Advocates is the advocacy arm of the California Charter Schools Association. It’s a state-wide organization, but some people are making them an issue at the local level this election.
Update: 10/16/2014