At the September 1, 2010 Board meeting I expressed my concern that WCCUSD has no campaign contribution limitation for elections for Board candidates, bond measures or parcel tax measures.
At that meeting, I suggested three action steps:
- Board of Education Workshop – After the last meeting President
Kronenberg was quoted in the newspaper that, “the Board needs to think
about” this issue. Board Member Medrano was also quoted suggesting that
the Board discuss this matter in more depth at its next retreat or study
session.
- Study of Campaign Contributions – this study has started. Preliminary
results will be reported tonight.
- Ask candidates to pledge to adopt a contribution limit
Support limit: Mr. Cowens, Mr. Freeman, and Ms. Merriweather
Do not support limit: Ms. Kronenberg and Mr. Ramsey
No response: Ms. Miles
Mr. Ramsey has received contributions of $98,050 all from labor unions. These unions are located throughout California and in Washington, DC. None of these unions are located in the District. The largest contribution was $15,000.
Ms. Kronenberg has received contributions of $67,397 of which $51,500 was from eight firms that do business with the District. The largest contribution was
$15,000.
Mr. Cowens has received $990.
Ms. Merriweather has received $829.
As of yesterday, Mr. Freeman and Ms. Miles have not filed their contribution
reports.
During the period of the study (January 2002 to June 2010) a total of $2,596,000 was contributed to candidates and For the Children of West County as follows:
Category |
Amount |
Percent |
Firms doing business with WCCUSD |
$1,181,000 |
46 |
Unions |
839,000 |
32 |
Firms not doing business with WCCUSD |
485,000 |
19 |
Individuals |
90,000 |
3 |
Parent Teacher Organization |
1,000 |
– |
Total |
$2,596,000 |
100 |
Firms doing business with WCCUSD made contributions of $1,181,000 or 46% of
the total contributions. Ten companies doing business with WCCUSD contributed
$893,000 or 76% of that total. These same ten companies were awarded by
WCCUSD contracts valued at $139,200,000:
Company |
Amount of
Contributions
|
Amount of
WCCUSD
Contracts |
The Seville Group |
$330,000 |
$46,200,000 |
WLC Architects |
272,000 |
40,400,000 |
Hibser Yamauchi Architects |
49,000 |
10,400,000 |
Powell & Partners Architects |
77,000 |
8,600,000 |
First Student/Laidlaw |
18,000 |
7,200,000 |
Deems, Lewis, McKinley |
61,000 |
6,700,000 |
Baker Vilar Architects |
37,000 |
6,100,000 |
Don Todd and Associates |
25,000 |
5,200,000 |
Richmond Sanitary Services |
11,000 |
4,700,000 |
Miller, Brown & Dennis |
13,000 |
3,700,000 |
Total |
$893,000 |
$139,200,000 |
Unions made contributions of $839,000 or 32% of the total contributions. Of this
total $776,000 were made by twenty-eight (28) unions located in cities outside of
the District: Alameda, Benica, Burlingame, Concord, Dimond Bar, Dublin, El
Monte, Fresno, Hayward, Livermore, Martinez, Napa, North Hollywood, Oakland,
Pasadena, Pleasant Hill, Pleasanton, Riverside, Sacramento, San Diego, San
Francisco, San Jose, San Rafel, San Ramon, Vallejo, Ventura, Washington, DC,
and Whitter.
This is a preliminary report on the study results to date. Contributions received for
the period July to September 2010, that were due yesterday at the Contra Costa
County Election Division, need to be added to the contributions data base. In
addition, the following issues need to be studied:
- What interest do the twenty-eight unions from throughout California and
Washington, DC have in our bond elections?
- Is there a relation of union support for bond elections and the promotion of
project labor agreements throughout California?
- What is the relationship, if any, of campaign payments to individuals who
endorse bond and parcel tax measures?
- What are the legal and ethical issues, if any, of elected District officials
soliciting and accepting contributions from firms doing business with
WCCUSD?
- Survey of Board candidates 1991 to 2010.
- Survey of firms doing business with WCCUSD.
This report and the database are available
This is my report for tonight.
|
