Stop the Union Takeover Attempt in CUSD
by Mike Winsten, Trustee, Capistrano Unified School District

Powerful union leaders and their supporters are campaigning to take control of our school district on Election Day – seeking to replace your existing conservative Reform Trustees with a new pro-union majority, and with their ballot initiative known as Measure H, to literally take away from every voter 6 of our 7 school board votes. Let me explain.

Unions Seeking Control of the Board.
Three of your Reform Trustees are up for reelection in November – the “ABC Reform Trustees” (Ellen Addonizio, Anna Bryson and Larry Christensen). The union is campaigning aggressively to replace each of these well-respected trustees. However, the union didn’t just want to gain three seats – they wanted to gain control of the seven member board in one single election. That is why they spent months and thousands of dollars to place an early recall election on the November ballot for two more of your Reform Trustees – CUSD Trustees Ken Lopez-Maddox and myself.

As a result, if the union succeeds in electing their five pro-union candidates to the Board, they will have effectively taken control of your school district in one election. This is bad. But it gets worse – much worse.

Measure H – Union Seeking To Take Away 6 of Your 7 Votes.
The unions also spent months working to get Measure H on the November ballot – they want to reduce the board’s accountability to voters throughout the entire school district by changing the way your school board representatives are elected in the future.

Today you get 7 votes -- 1 for each of your school board members. If the union’s Measure H passes -- you will lose 6 of your votes. That’s right, they would take away six of your votes! Passage of Measure H would diminish your voice and reduce board accountability – your vote will only influence 1 board member (not 7). You could lose the right to vote for the trustee representing the area where your children attend school – or the area where your Mello Roos taxes are spent (resulting in taxation without representation).

No other Orange County school district elects their school board this way – but dysfunctional L.A. Unified does. Local control by voters would be severely diminished – while union influence would be increased. Keep in mind, unions spend more on politics than anyone else – it is not in the best interest of students or taxpayers to increase their power.

Many prominent elected officials and organizations have come forward to officially oppose Measure H, including:
Pat Bates, Orange County Supervisor, Fifth District
California Republican Assembly
Tony Beall, RSM Mayor Pro Tem and OC Republican Party Central Committee Member, 71st Assembly District
Family Action PAC
Robert Ming, Laguna Niguel City Council Member, Co-Author, Vote SAFE Now Initiative and Author, Voter ID Act
Committee to Reform CUSD
Jack Anderson, Assistant Orange County Sheriff (Retired.), Former Planning and Traffic Commissioner, City of Mission Viejo, and OC Republican Party Central Committee Member, 71st Assembly District
Lincoln Club of Orange County
Craig Alexander, OC Republican Party Central Committee Member, 73rd Assembly District

The CUSD Board Has Implemented Many Positive Reforms.
Over the past three consecutive elections, voters elected each of the seven current members of the CUSD Board of Trustees to restore honesty, integrity and accountability to CUSD – and we’ve accomplished much. 

Bringing reform and positive change is especially difficult in a district which spends approximately 85 percent of its budget on salaries/benefits for public employees – most of whom are represented by powerful union leaders fighting to preserve an unsustainable status quo.

Despite continuous union opposition, we have successfully balanced the budget; stopped deficit spending; refused to increase taxes; reduced bloated administration; reduced union contract expenses by 10.1 percent; enacted strong anti-nepotism policies; created a district-wide facilities assessment; promoted conservative fiscal policies and family values; and fought to keep smaller class sizes.

This year, student achievement in CUSD soared to its highest levels. In fact, this year Capistrano Unified was the State’s highest-achieving large school district!

Help Stop the Union Takeover Attempt.
For the sake of each student and taxpayer in our district, I urge you to:
Re-elect the “ABC Reform Trustees” -- (Addonizio, Bryson & Christensen).
Vote NO on the Recall of Mike Winsten.
Vote NO on the Recall of Ken Lopez Maddox.
Vote NO on the Union’s “Measure H”

Learn more: www.CUSDfacts.com