CUSD Update

Union leaders may have surprised a lot reform-minded people by qualifying a recall of two Capo USD trustees for the November 2 ballot. The Registrar of Voters on June 21 announced that enough valid signatures had been collected to trigger a recall election for Trustees Ken Lopez-Maddox and Mike Winsten. Approximately 33,000 signatures were collected per trustee, and the Registrar of Voters used a random sampling technique to determine that at least 21,641 per trustee were valid.

A June 22 OC Register article about the signature count can be found at http://www.ocregister.com/articles/recall-254590-election-district.html

Related recall articles can also be found on the Capistrano Dispatch at http://capistranoinsider.typepad.com/beyond_the_blackboard/

Some statements point to a union-driven effort despite the union’s claims it was not in back of the recall. For example, campaign finance reports show that those contributing to the recall signature drive were school district employees. In the union’s claim that 80 percent of the signature gatherers were parents, perhaps it means 80 percent of its members have children.

In response to questions about potential challengers in the recall election, the list will not include Erin Kutnick, who was defeated in the 2008 General Election when she ran against Jack Brick. CUSD trustees represent specific geographic areas, and Kutnick doesn’t reside in either Area 3 (Winsten) or Area 5 (Lopez-Maddox). Kutnick has been a central figure in the current effort to recall the two trustees.