Sacramento County education board races hotly contested
Published: Sunday, Jun. 3, 2012 - 12:00 am | Page 1B
A once-sleepy school board election – in which candidates often ran unopposed and rarely accumulated large war chests – has turned into a hotly contested race bringing in nearly $175,000 and prompting armies of volunteers to call their neighbors and walk the streets promoting candidates.
Teachers unions are throwing tens of thousands of dollars into the races of three candidates running for seats on the Sacramento County Office of Education board. The election is Tuesday.
Businesswoman Heather McGowan in Area 5, lobbyist Estelle Lemieux in Area 4 and incumbent Harold Fong in Area 7 have received more than $91,000 in donations since Jan. 1 – about half from teachers and unions. Even California Teachers Association President Dean Vogel contributed $100 to the Lemieux campaign.
The unions hope the candidates will help them stop a network of charter schools operated by
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- AREA 4
• Eleanor Brown: $34,396
• Estelle Lemieux: $37,337
AREA 5
• Anthony Andrade Jr.: $1,000 or less
• Heather McGowan: $39,504
• Edith Crawford: $1,000 or less
• Penny Schwinn: $30,544
AREA 6
• John Scribner: $10,674
AREA 7• Harold Fong: $14,797
• Christina Shipman: $5,481*
* Final campaign contribution statement for period ending May 24 not available.
