Print
E-mail
Comment
Rate
Share
Candidates spar at first joint meeting
 |
| FORUM — Candidates Cheryl Scholar, Julie Adamson, Debora Fudge and Lee Dysart participated in a candidates’ night sponsored by The League of Women Voters. School board and Fire board candidates also participated. - Photo by Matthew Hall |
by Matthew Hall
News Editor
An otherwise cordial candidates’ forum ended on an unusually personal note Sep. 30 when candidate Debora Fudge came under attack from a challengers.
During his closing statement, candidate Lee Dysart accused Fudge of “political trickery” for writing a letter than endorsed candidate Cheryl Scholar. “I object to that,” said Dysart. “It’s political trickery. If she would raise money for me I would feel beholden to her and I think Cheryl will find herself in the same position. I don’t think that’s right. I’m running on my own.”
Dysart closed his statement pointing his finger saying “Shame on you Debora Fudge.”
Fudge had also sparred with former councilmember Julie Adamson who took aim at the current council, repeatedly questioning spending priorities and the financial judgment of the council since she departed in 1994. Adamson also singled out Fudge by name while discussing increases in fees and her response to some problem businesses in town.
Fudge chose not to directly engage her critics but defended council decisions during her responses and Former school board member Cheryl Scholar did not participate in any of the inter-candidate exchanges.
The question and answer format allowed candidates to express their platform while discussing the most important issues facing Windsor, support for Measure N, unifying east and west Windsor, handling fiscal problems, increasing child safety, sound walls on 101 and limiting businesses in town.
Scholar cited her school board experience as evidence of her legislative knowledge and said she was well equipped to help the council collaborate with other elected officials at the local, county and state level. Scholar said her focus would be on preserving Windsor’s family friendly atmosphere.
Adamson said she was motivated to run because she felt the town was still “spending extravagantly” despite an impending decline in property tax revenue. She voiced support for the long gestating community pool project and said opportunities had been missed to overcome the financial obstacles faced by the program.
Fudge reinforced her commitment to environmentally friendly policies and said Councils of the last 12 years had been able to reign in growth, take a leadership role within the county and start to look toward providing a future for Windsor’s children. Fudge said most residents were happy with her work but said more work needed to be done.
Dysart established a strongly pro-business platform and said he planned to tackle Windsor’s poor reputation among the wider business community. He cited his more than 40 years of experience working in Windsor and praised the business community for providing services, paying taxes, generating jobs, funding schools and redeveloping empty into useful space.
All four candidates voiced support for Measure N, a proposed increase in Windsor’s transit occupancy tax. The candidates said the increased fee attached to hotel rooms would be paid by tourists, not Windsor residents and said the revenue would be welcome in a worsening fiscal climate. Dysart said if Measure N passed, he would like to see some revenue invested in attracting more tourists, which would snowball into still more occupancy tax for the town.
The event also included a forum with candidates for the Windsor Unified School District Board and brief statements by two of the five candidates running for Windsor Fire Protection District Board.
School board candidates Ted Seche, George R. Valenzuela and Shari Kirichenko-Egan voiced similar opinions on many issues. All three cited establishing policy as the Board’s primary role in effective governance and all supported Windsor’s cluster configuration although Valenzuela said the system needed to be evaluated to see if it can handle the quantity of incoming students.
“It is an equalizing influence as well as allowing staff the unique opportunity to be collaborative at a grade level,” said Egan.
In response to an audience question, Valenzuela and Kirichenko-Egan voiced support for the idea of lockers at WMS and WHS although both candidates said funding would be an issue. Seche said research and discussion of lockers had occurred before construction at both campuses and his experience as a teacher had shown him lockers were not used enough to justify their installation.
The group also expressed universal admiration for Superintendent Steve Herrington, praised Cali Calmécac Language Academy and voiced strong commitment to serving Windsor’s youth.
Only two of the five candidates for Fire Board attended the event and due to a last minute schedule change, the pair read statements but were not asked to answer questions. John Nelson said his most significant achievement as a member of the board was his repeated participation in labor negotiations which had resulted in increased trust between firefighters and the board.
Adam Brolan praised the professionalism and training of Windsor firefighters but said ongoing budget problems at the state level meant the Windsor department operated on a razor tight budget. Brolan said he wanted to develop a more transparent budget process that would make it easier to explain funding issues should the department have to ask residents for more funding in the future.
The forum, sponsored by the League of Women Voters and WUSD, was recorded and will be rebroadcast on Oct. 9 and 27 at 6:30 p.m. The League also provides more information on their website, www.smartvoter.org.
During his closing statement, candidate Lee Dysart accused Fudge of “political trickery” for writing a letter than endorsed candidate Cheryl Scholar. “I object to that,” said Dysart. “It’s political trickery. If she would raise money for me I would feel beholden to her and I think Cheryl will find herself in the same position. I don’t think that’s right. I’m running on my own.”
Dysart closed his statement pointing his finger saying “Shame on you Debora Fudge.”
Fudge had also sparred with former councilmember Julie Adamson who took aim at the current council, repeatedly questioning spending priorities and the financial judgment of the council since she departed in 1994. Adamson also singled out Fudge by name while discussing increases in fees and her response to some problem businesses in town.
Fudge chose not to directly engage her critics but defended council decisions during her responses and Former school board member Cheryl Scholar did not participate in any of the inter-candidate exchanges.
The question and answer format allowed candidates to express their platform while discussing the most important issues facing Windsor, support for Measure N, unifying east and west Windsor, handling fiscal problems, increasing child safety, sound walls on 101 and limiting businesses in town.
Scholar cited her school board experience as evidence of her legislative knowledge and said she was well equipped to help the council collaborate with other elected officials at the local, county and state level. Scholar said her focus would be on preserving Windsor’s family friendly atmosphere.
Adamson said she was motivated to run because she felt the town was still “spending extravagantly” despite an impending decline in property tax revenue. She voiced support for the long gestating community pool project and said opportunities had been missed to overcome the financial obstacles faced by the program.
Fudge reinforced her commitment to environmentally friendly policies and said Councils of the last 12 years had been able to reign in growth, take a leadership role within the county and start to look toward providing a future for Windsor’s children. Fudge said most residents were happy with her work but said more work needed to be done.
Dysart established a strongly pro-business platform and said he planned to tackle Windsor’s poor reputation among the wider business community. He cited his more than 40 years of experience working in Windsor and praised the business community for providing services, paying taxes, generating jobs, funding schools and redeveloping empty into useful space.
All four candidates voiced support for Measure N, a proposed increase in Windsor’s transit occupancy tax. The candidates said the increased fee attached to hotel rooms would be paid by tourists, not Windsor residents and said the revenue would be welcome in a worsening fiscal climate. Dysart said if Measure N passed, he would like to see some revenue invested in attracting more tourists, which would snowball into still more occupancy tax for the town.
The event also included a forum with candidates for the Windsor Unified School District Board and brief statements by two of the five candidates running for Windsor Fire Protection District Board.
School board candidates Ted Seche, George R. Valenzuela and Shari Kirichenko-Egan voiced similar opinions on many issues. All three cited establishing policy as the Board’s primary role in effective governance and all supported Windsor’s cluster configuration although Valenzuela said the system needed to be evaluated to see if it can handle the quantity of incoming students.
“It is an equalizing influence as well as allowing staff the unique opportunity to be collaborative at a grade level,” said Egan.
In response to an audience question, Valenzuela and Kirichenko-Egan voiced support for the idea of lockers at WMS and WHS although both candidates said funding would be an issue. Seche said research and discussion of lockers had occurred before construction at both campuses and his experience as a teacher had shown him lockers were not used enough to justify their installation.
The group also expressed universal admiration for Superintendent Steve Herrington, praised Cali Calmécac Language Academy and voiced strong commitment to serving Windsor’s youth.
Only two of the five candidates for Fire Board attended the event and due to a last minute schedule change, the pair read statements but were not asked to answer questions. John Nelson said his most significant achievement as a member of the board was his repeated participation in labor negotiations which had resulted in increased trust between firefighters and the board.
Adam Brolan praised the professionalism and training of Windsor firefighters but said ongoing budget problems at the state level meant the Windsor department operated on a razor tight budget. Brolan said he wanted to develop a more transparent budget process that would make it easier to explain funding issues should the department have to ask residents for more funding in the future.
The forum, sponsored by the League of Women Voters and WUSD, was recorded and will be rebroadcast on Oct. 9 and 27 at 6:30 p.m. The League also provides more information on their website, www.smartvoter.org.
Share this Article
 |
 |
|
| Schools promoting health with ‘walk and roll’ program | People and Places |
Article Rating
Reader Comments
The following are comments from the readers. In no way do they represent the view of sonomawest.com.
You must register with a valid email to post comments. Only your Member ID will be posted with the comments.
Registered users sign in here: |
Become a Registered User |
