San Bernardino City Unified School District Election 2011: Candidate Willard A. Hughes Speaks
October 26, 2011 Leave a comment
By Michael Reiter, Attorney at Law
I have heard from some of the candidates who are running for election in the November 8, 2011 election. Some are solely because of this site; I have heard from one San Bernardino City Clerk candidate, two San Bernardino Unified School District candidates, one candidate for San Bernardino City Council, and one current member of the San Bernardino City Council. I also have had contact with other candidates during the election, but not related to this site: two candidates for San Bernardino City Council, one candidate for City Clerk and one candidate for San Bernardino City Attorney.
This site is neutral, as I explained in the post “Why We Try To Keep Partisan Politics Out of These Postings“ These postings are provided as a community service, and not to push a particular candidate, or slate of candidates. Informed voting and participation, if informed, is crucial to the workings of democracy. Look at a public agency like the San Bernardino International Airport, a public entity wherein no one is directly elected.
On that note, here is a comment left on my post about “The San Bernardino City Unified School District Election November 8, 2011.” It is from candidate Willard A. Hughes. I invite any candidates (using their real names only) that have comments on the posts or the observations on this site to talk to me or post a comment. Willard A. Hughes left this comment:
Mr. Reiter, I was led to your informative blog by Facebook’s page analysis tool. Someone apparently clicked on your link to my Facebook campaign page, and Facebook picked up on it.
In any event I wanted to clarify a point you made in this post. The Registrar of Voters has very strict requirements about what can be used as a “ballot designation.” In my case, this time around, there was not any description I could have used that would have been relevant to my campaign, so I decided not to fill in anything at all. The candidate statements are published at the candidate’s expense — to the tune of a few thousand dollars. I’m doing well if I have a few pennies left over at the end of the day, so that was out of the question.
You have probably also noticed (if you pay attention to these things) that you don’t see any billboards, lawn signs, or junk mail floating around town with my name on it. That is also intentional. Folks in San Bernardino are struggling to make ends meet, and I’m not about to go around begging them to give me money so I can go waste it on uninformative lawn signs or on oversize postcards that typically go straight from mailbox to gutter.
I’m a father of four kids who attend San Bernardino schools and I taught in the district in 2007-08. I had a principal who needed another math teacher, and I was a non-tenured Cadet Corps teacher, so she replaced me. Since then I have been mostly among the millions of unemployed Southern Californians, except for the year and a half of respite I had working for the Census Bureau and a more recent six-month stint as a uniformed security officer. (That gig ended when my car decided it needed a new engine; the job was in Palm Springs and Omni doesn’t go that far.) So I can relate to the plight of the out-of-work, working-class families whom we have so many of in our district. I have learned very well over the last three years to do more with less. That experience and a dose of common sense is precisely what the school board needs to get this district back on its feet and back in the business of truly educating our students. My Facebook campaign page, which I hope you’ve had a chance to check out, lays out some of my specific objectives for the Board.
Your posts here are insightful, informative and valuable. Thank you for providing this service to our voters, and feel free to publish any or all of what I’ve written here — and/or to contact me with any questions or concerns.
Willard A. Hughes
If you want to find out more about candidate Willard A. Hughes or any other school board candidate, here is the contact information from the earlier post:
Damon L. Alexander, Law Enforcement Officer, Website, Facebook, Email,
Anna M. Cox, Community Volunteer, No online contact information.
Dan Deane, Retired Police Officer, Facebook
Mike Gallo, CEO/Aerospace Executive, No online contact information.
Margaret B. Hill, Assistant Superintendent, Facebook, Email, Phone Number from campaign postcard: 909-820-6177)
Willard A. Hughes, No Ballot Designation, Facebook, Email, Phone Number (from public Facebook: 909-251-8559)
Juan M. Lopez, Assembly District Director, Website. He has a Facebook profile, but strangely you must login to see the profile.
Gil Navarro, Education Advocate, Phone Number (from postcard: (909) 888-4870), Email
Henry William Nickel, Financial Analyst, no online contact information for this election.
Teresa Parra, Board Member, San Bernardino City USD, Facebook, Website, Phone Number (from website) (909) 425-2219, Email.
Sharon “Bobbie” Perong, Educator/Parent, Facebook, Phone Number (from campaign flier): (909) 553-5992, Email.
Lynda K. Savage, Incumbent, Website, Email.
Elsa Valdez, College Professor, Website, Phone Number (909) 880-0236 (from door hanger), (909) 534-5643 (from website), Email, Facebook.
The information you obtain at this blog is not, nor is it intended to be, legal advice. No attorney-client relationship is established by reading or commenting on this blog. You should consult an attorney for advice regarding your individual situation.
