I have the choice of LeBoeuf or Lamas for school board. I will not vote for LeBoeuf per her inclination to support Trump which tells me she has a disconnect with honesty. As for Lamas she is supported by Anna Marie Farias who was a terrible city council member not to mention an obnoxious person. She will undoubtedly be behind the scenes pulling Lamas’ strings. Therefore I can’t in good conscience vote for either one as a matter of integrity. I am done with the same old same old. I believe Brianne Zorn is by far the best candidate for mayor.
Allow me to squash this misconception immediately. Anamaria does not control me, nor am I her puppet. Anamaria does not pay my mortgage, she does not feed my children, she does not pay my bills. I do. Anamaria did not earn my my degree from UC Berkeley or my Masters degree. Anamaria does not raise my children. I do. Anamaria does not go to work every day to ensure my children have a roof over their heads. I do. I don’t allow anyone to control me. I had a very controlling husband and I got rid of him. No one controls me and no one ever will. Anamaria is helping me, as are countless other people. I highly respect Anamaria for her political knowledge and her courage and because she stand up for what she feels is right. But, believe me when I tell you that I am my own person and I make my own decisions. She will probably get mad at me when she reads this and that is okay because I need to make it very clear that only I control my decisions.
There's this really naive perception in Martinez that everyone is in cahoots with someone else when it comes to politics, and we stick with our tribes (or puppets) no matter what. Maybe that's how things work with old Martinez politics, and politics in general, but it's not how a lot of us operate. Believe it or not, many of us simply want to do what we believe in our hearts is right, and that means we see eye to eye on some things and work together when we do, and we don't on other things, and that's the way it should be. You and I have allied on issues where we agreed and clashed where we disagreed. Same with Anamarie and plenty of others around town. Maybe it's the town puppet masters who really believe we're all each other's puppets because that's the way they've always rolled? Old Martinez rubbing Old Martinez's back? If true, how sad.
Thankfully, everything I’ve achieved I’ve earned via my hard work. All the doors, I’ve had opened, I’ve had them opened because I have proved how invaluable I am. I owe no one any political or nepotistic favors.
Lead effort to remodel the junior high, retrofitted city hall, campaign for Franklin Hills, keep feeder tail no 1 from developer. Ran a success Toxic waste initiative. Which helped defeat the toxic waste incinerator. Approved the construction of the intermodal. Placed creek and wildlife protection in city policy. Delayed redevelopment which resulted in saving the downtown as the governor canceled redevelopment. Helped pass the open space initiative. You asked I may have missed something.
'lead' effort to remodel Jr. High? before my time I guess. City Hall, you forget I have every tiny record on that building including city proceedings and actually it was the Historic Society when they were a real historic society and Gus Kramer as chair of Plan Com that led that effort. How much of this was just stuff you had to vote on as a council member? I would not blame you as particularly Lara D. is claiming all this stuff that happened while she was on council and not because she was on council. You may have helped delay redevelopment, but you yourself did not do it nor lead it. You kind of showed up around the periphery of it, as is your way and certainly had no effect on Jerry Brown. You did contribute some money to Old Towne plaques, you left that off. And the Open Space initiative....hmm, I remember you bailing on it when Christine Dean put their feet to the fire in court and other places. Mike Menesini also approved the construction of the intermodal. Its what you do when you are on the dais, just say yes or no to something. You were once a great advocate of your own history, which belongs to many--you did that too.
Anamarie is my friend, too. We agree on some things, disagree on others. When we disagree, we go our separate ways. When I decline to support her on something, she respects that, and vice versa. She has always been very nice to me and my family. I'm guessing Yazmin's experience has been similar to mine.
FYI - Courtney was supported by Anamaria when she ran for School Board and won and Brianne was also supported by Anamaria when she ran for city council and won and it appears you’re voting for Bri again. Numerous other candidates have been supported by Anamaria too. “It’s the company we keep” - right? People are sitting in their elected seat because of Anamaria’s help. Did you know that? Guess they snuck in without old martinez” knowing. Whoops.
I am sorry you feel that way. You’ve never met me so you only have “old martinez” rumors to base your assumptions on. It unfortunate that you allow such closed-mindedness to sway your opinions. I guarantee that if you met me you’d like me. I guarantee that if you asked anyone that has actually met me or truly knows me, they’d vouch for me. In fact, my last job, I had a CEO fly out from New York to interview me. If I weren’t a person with strong morals or character, that CEO would not have spent time flying out to California to meet me.
Anamarie is a monster and has no sense of "right"; just that you are frightened of her getting mad indicates this. And yes, I know that has nothing to do with you Yazmin. It seems you do make your own decisions.
Just because one supports Trump, or even some of his values such as those about immigration, does not mean s/he is disconnected from the truth. This is too binary. Too reactionary. Too Fox vs. CNN-ish.
Why not? Trump may be smug about it, but he did not engineer it. Those individuals chose those actions. The point is that someone can support a candidate based on one or some or all of those candidate's values. All choices are value-based. And would you still want to be part of England?
No one talks about Sean Trembly whose first ambition was to be a County board of supervisor. I saw him in action around the Old Jail and the almost wild look in his eye when he got to play Monopoly with Martinez with that warlock County administrator, Eric Angstadt. Sean has a similar relationship with new City Manager Mike Chandler. He also influences the Planning Commission, outside of public meetings, on decisions and this is a violation of Brown Act. The General Plan update as with the Old Jail, public concerns were just swept away with a very self serving hand. The commission and the PRMC are not interested in facts and are very passive. Led by Trembly, they worry more about being on the 4th of July float then they do about wretched corrupt inaccuracies in the general plan. I have fluctuated about Trembley, but the GPU & EIR cemented my first impression of him: one who would serve self before the office. He is very charismatic and in real life has an imposing and football player like presentation. However, his flyers do not exude this and he looks like the chubby shy guy from high school in them. Looks matter and it is interesting to weigh Delaney's trying too hard against Zorn's National Parks monument plainness. Being I am a Judeophile, I vote for COHEN-Zorn's beak.
This newsletter has devolved into nothing more than hit piece. Campaigning on false implications concerning views outside of local school board qualifications. LaBouef. With years of work directly with youth in school settings ,on a daily bases, puts her above a known divider, Llamas, who can not decide what political aspirations to pursue.
lol, isn't it amazing how people love the newsletter until I express opinions they don't like? Then it's just a hit piece because it doesn't serve their political agendas.
Well, it's a free country, anyone can start up their own "objective" newsletter in which candidates who give money to efforts to overthrow elections and topple democracy are just engaging in "political discourse." I've provided a lot of valuable information that voters can use or ignore as they see fit. If they don't like the opinions I've offered, they're free to ignore them or offer up their own. I'm not going to pretend I don't have political views or values on various issues. Unlike a lot of political hacks locally and nationally, I'm not making up any facts. They are what they are. People are welcome to come to different conclusions from the facts and information I've provided than I have, but to call anything I write a "hit piece" simply because it doesn't further your own agenda is really quite silly.
I'm all for balance when it involves legitimate conservativism that respects truth and decency. That's not what MAGA is. It's a movement of extremists who have no respect for basic truths or norms of political behavior or democracy itself. Saying there should be a balance with MAGA politics is like saying there should have been a balance with McCarthyism or George Wallace segregationism. There are the politics of respectful ideological debate based on non-negotiable facts, where we need balance, and there are the politics of hate based on lies, which serves no purpose other than to divide and demonize.
There is point when a dominate party is out of control. And the only way to change that is remove the dominance. At times parties need to be on equal footings to stop wasting of time and money. There is so much demonizing that is uncalled for. I hope we are able to rise above that. Both parties are turning off their long time members. And they will turn to other alternatives outside there long time party affiliations.
Here we go with the both sidesisms. Everything you say would make sense if this were the Republican Party of George Bush, John McCain and Mitt Romney. It's not. Not even close. You cannot reason with people who occupy alternate universes and don't respect the outcomes of elections that don't go their way. We're supposed to tolerate outright racism and white nationalism just because we need to have two parties to maintain "balance"? There's plenty of legitimate arguments and differences of opinion within the Democratic Party, political independents and non-MAGA Republicans to accomplish that (I spend more time arguing with fellow liberals than wasting time with the MAGA crowd, who just want to engage in character assassination and sewer talk). We don't need to justify movements that are unjustifiable just because we're afraid that the other movement will become dominant. Every Trump outrage and indecent action over four years wasn't enough. Jan. 6 wasn't enough. I guess nothing is ever going to be enough. The problem here is not with the Democratic Party of politicians like Obama and Biden who act with decency and respect basic norms regardless of their individual flaws. The problem is with a MAGA movement that respects neither decency nor civility nor basic principles of democracy. And the more folks like you try to justify that as normal and an acceptable part of party politics, the more you put the survival of our democracy at risk. The Republican Party of the 1950s had the courage to turn against Joe McCarthy because it had someone greater in Dwight Eisenhower. The Republican Party of today doesn't have that courage and decency. And we don't have to keep excusing that, or excusing the people who support the MAGA movement that tried once to destroy our democracy and will surely try again.
Julian, dear rancher of many generations, please shovel your own sh....Lazzeretti, you are appreciated. The information is directed, at least, unlike totally random FB pages.
At least $10,500 in contributions related to Velvet specifically that I found (he played a key role in their approval when on the Planning Commission).
On that topic, the Public Health Institute came out with their annual report cards last week on how well cities are implementing cannabis policies that protect youth and advance social equity and Martinez again got a terrible score.
Craig, there are growing suspicions that Martinez has two spoilers in this race. Both of whom have the least noted public support.
An argument has been made these distasteful mailers targeting the three incumbents is less about electing a candidate and more about clearing the field for cleaner hands. Food for thought.
Maybe. That might require a level of sophistication that is beyond the reach of Martinez politicians, but I guess anything is possible. I'm not sure negative ads/flooding mailboxes with mailers works quite as effectively as it once did, but I guess we'll begin to find out on Tuesday.
Can you supply a break down on school board candidate funding. Lamas in particular. Some outside interests talk is surfacing. Or is it from the $75 a person fund raiser. A lot of money in a short time for a small town school board. It does not fit her narrative.
I included whatever I could find from the county elections campaign finance portal in this post. I could not immediately find any independent expenditure filings; that doesn't mean they don't exist. Folks can search for themselves on the county portal: https://public.netfile.com/pub2/?AID=CCC
For context/background, I was the candidate for this seat in 2018 and I spent a grand total of $400 on my race. I challenged the incumbent to accept no contributions from organized interest groups that could benefit directly from her votes on the board; instead, what happened was the IBEW (electrical workers union that had benefited from her support for a project labor agreement) spent over $4k on a mailer in her support (misspelling her name in the process).
This year, what we've seen is that incumbent, the teachers union and other political figures in town, including the mayor, line up in support of Llamas' opponent in what seems to be another clear example of old Martinez politics trying to keep those outside the Martinez political establishment who threaten to rock the political boat out of office. I don't begrudge Llamas at all and her supporters from seeking "outside" support to boost her campaign to counter the influence of Martinez "insiders" who for too long have controlled city and school board politics for their own interests. I tried to get big money out of our school board races four years ago, and the Martinez "insiders" wouldn't have it; they're in no position to complain now that they're being outspent by others who don't share their political values. Just my humble opinion.
Personally, i think it is "brown" scare. But you have to understand what a poison (na)Farias left on our plates in the past. It is part of that. No doubt.
The IBEW has been the dominant spender in school district/board elections for many years. The fact they gave money to Llamas is no different from all the other candidates they gave money to whom they believed would have their back on project labor agreements. The problem is that school board elections are supposed to be about children and students, not labor, building or any other organized interests. When they become the focus, issues involving students and education move to the back of the line. In 2019, Llamas played a pivotal role in rallying parents to demand action on the bullying issue at the junior high school, which the board at the time was sweeping under the rug because it wasn't a focus. She and others (including myself and current board member Courtney Masella-O'Brien) got the school board to take action that they should have done earlier on their own. That's why I believe Llamas will be the better candidate for putting the interests of all students (including marginalized students) first, regardless of what contributions she received from building or other organized interests.
It will be clear to anyone who takes a look that she has contributors from both in and out of Martinez, individuals as well as labor unions. I see absolutely nothing out of the ordinary looking at her contributions compared with other typical candidates. She does seem to be receiving some broader degree of independent support because of the fact that her opponent was a regular contributor to Donald Trump and the MAGA movement, including the period where they were spreading the Big Lie about 2020 election being stolen and even 2 days after the Jan. 6 insurrection. It's not surprising that groups committed to democracy and decency in politics who are concerned about the MAGA influence on our schools would take an interest in this race.
Perhaps they wanted to preserve their reputation? Giving money to a MAGA supporter doesn't play well in much of this community, even if it does with certain old Martinez types. I hate the presence of special interest money in school board politics and tried to get rid of it four years ago, so I might have been open to her candidacy if she hadn't proven herself to be a supporter of a movement (MAGA) built on lies, hate, racism and a disrespect for democracy itself. MAGA is not a legitimate political ideology, imho, it's a hate group that fosters domestic terrorism.
I have the choice of LeBoeuf or Lamas for school board. I will not vote for LeBoeuf per her inclination to support Trump which tells me she has a disconnect with honesty. As for Lamas she is supported by Anna Marie Farias who was a terrible city council member not to mention an obnoxious person. She will undoubtedly be behind the scenes pulling Lamas’ strings. Therefore I can’t in good conscience vote for either one as a matter of integrity. I am done with the same old same old. I believe Brianne Zorn is by far the best candidate for mayor.
Allow me to squash this misconception immediately. Anamaria does not control me, nor am I her puppet. Anamaria does not pay my mortgage, she does not feed my children, she does not pay my bills. I do. Anamaria did not earn my my degree from UC Berkeley or my Masters degree. Anamaria does not raise my children. I do. Anamaria does not go to work every day to ensure my children have a roof over their heads. I do. I don’t allow anyone to control me. I had a very controlling husband and I got rid of him. No one controls me and no one ever will. Anamaria is helping me, as are countless other people. I highly respect Anamaria for her political knowledge and her courage and because she stand up for what she feels is right. But, believe me when I tell you that I am my own person and I make my own decisions. She will probably get mad at me when she reads this and that is okay because I need to make it very clear that only I control my decisions.
There's this really naive perception in Martinez that everyone is in cahoots with someone else when it comes to politics, and we stick with our tribes (or puppets) no matter what. Maybe that's how things work with old Martinez politics, and politics in general, but it's not how a lot of us operate. Believe it or not, many of us simply want to do what we believe in our hearts is right, and that means we see eye to eye on some things and work together when we do, and we don't on other things, and that's the way it should be. You and I have allied on issues where we agreed and clashed where we disagreed. Same with Anamarie and plenty of others around town. Maybe it's the town puppet masters who really believe we're all each other's puppets because that's the way they've always rolled? Old Martinez rubbing Old Martinez's back? If true, how sad.
Thankfully, everything I’ve achieved I’ve earned via my hard work. All the doors, I’ve had opened, I’ve had them opened because I have proved how invaluable I am. I owe no one any political or nepotistic favors.
This is a false narrative promoted by those that have no record of Martinez accomplishments.
And what of your accomplishments, Julian?
Lead effort to remodel the junior high, retrofitted city hall, campaign for Franklin Hills, keep feeder tail no 1 from developer. Ran a success Toxic waste initiative. Which helped defeat the toxic waste incinerator. Approved the construction of the intermodal. Placed creek and wildlife protection in city policy. Delayed redevelopment which resulted in saving the downtown as the governor canceled redevelopment. Helped pass the open space initiative. You asked I may have missed something.
'lead' effort to remodel Jr. High? before my time I guess. City Hall, you forget I have every tiny record on that building including city proceedings and actually it was the Historic Society when they were a real historic society and Gus Kramer as chair of Plan Com that led that effort. How much of this was just stuff you had to vote on as a council member? I would not blame you as particularly Lara D. is claiming all this stuff that happened while she was on council and not because she was on council. You may have helped delay redevelopment, but you yourself did not do it nor lead it. You kind of showed up around the periphery of it, as is your way and certainly had no effect on Jerry Brown. You did contribute some money to Old Towne plaques, you left that off. And the Open Space initiative....hmm, I remember you bailing on it when Christine Dean put their feet to the fire in court and other places. Mike Menesini also approved the construction of the intermodal. Its what you do when you are on the dais, just say yes or no to something. You were once a great advocate of your own history, which belongs to many--you did that too.
Unfortunately we are judged by the company we keep and Yazmin is very attached to Farias. No one can convince me otherwise.
Anamarie is my friend, too. We agree on some things, disagree on others. When we disagree, we go our separate ways. When I decline to support her on something, she respects that, and vice versa. She has always been very nice to me and my family. I'm guessing Yazmin's experience has been similar to mine.
FYI - Courtney was supported by Anamaria when she ran for School Board and won and Brianne was also supported by Anamaria when she ran for city council and won and it appears you’re voting for Bri again. Numerous other candidates have been supported by Anamaria too. “It’s the company we keep” - right? People are sitting in their elected seat because of Anamaria’s help. Did you know that? Guess they snuck in without old martinez” knowing. Whoops.
Or in spite...I disdain Delaney and Shroder, but would back them if it was them vs. Ana Marie.
I am sorry you feel that way. You’ve never met me so you only have “old martinez” rumors to base your assumptions on. It unfortunate that you allow such closed-mindedness to sway your opinions. I guarantee that if you met me you’d like me. I guarantee that if you asked anyone that has actually met me or truly knows me, they’d vouch for me. In fact, my last job, I had a CEO fly out from New York to interview me. If I weren’t a person with strong morals or character, that CEO would not have spent time flying out to California to meet me.
Anamarie is a monster and has no sense of "right"; just that you are frightened of her getting mad indicates this. And yes, I know that has nothing to do with you Yazmin. It seems you do make your own decisions.
Just because one supports Trump, or even some of his values such as those about immigration, does not mean s/he is disconnected from the truth. This is too binary. Too reactionary. Too Fox vs. CNN-ish.
Not to be too reactionary but anyone who is okay with an insurrection cannot claim to have any values.
Why not? Trump may be smug about it, but he did not engineer it. Those individuals chose those actions. The point is that someone can support a candidate based on one or some or all of those candidate's values. All choices are value-based. And would you still want to be part of England?
Not so sure he didn’t help engineer it. He lies more than he tells the truth. He has no redeeming qualities.
I appreciate your efforts!
No one talks about Sean Trembly whose first ambition was to be a County board of supervisor. I saw him in action around the Old Jail and the almost wild look in his eye when he got to play Monopoly with Martinez with that warlock County administrator, Eric Angstadt. Sean has a similar relationship with new City Manager Mike Chandler. He also influences the Planning Commission, outside of public meetings, on decisions and this is a violation of Brown Act. The General Plan update as with the Old Jail, public concerns were just swept away with a very self serving hand. The commission and the PRMC are not interested in facts and are very passive. Led by Trembly, they worry more about being on the 4th of July float then they do about wretched corrupt inaccuracies in the general plan. I have fluctuated about Trembley, but the GPU & EIR cemented my first impression of him: one who would serve self before the office. He is very charismatic and in real life has an imposing and football player like presentation. However, his flyers do not exude this and he looks like the chubby shy guy from high school in them. Looks matter and it is interesting to weigh Delaney's trying too hard against Zorn's National Parks monument plainness. Being I am a Judeophile, I vote for COHEN-Zorn's beak.
Enough . You’re not getting my vote
This newsletter has devolved into nothing more than hit piece. Campaigning on false implications concerning views outside of local school board qualifications. LaBouef. With years of work directly with youth in school settings ,on a daily bases, puts her above a known divider, Llamas, who can not decide what political aspirations to pursue.
lol, isn't it amazing how people love the newsletter until I express opinions they don't like? Then it's just a hit piece because it doesn't serve their political agendas.
Well, it's a free country, anyone can start up their own "objective" newsletter in which candidates who give money to efforts to overthrow elections and topple democracy are just engaging in "political discourse." I've provided a lot of valuable information that voters can use or ignore as they see fit. If they don't like the opinions I've offered, they're free to ignore them or offer up their own. I'm not going to pretend I don't have political views or values on various issues. Unlike a lot of political hacks locally and nationally, I'm not making up any facts. They are what they are. People are welcome to come to different conclusions from the facts and information I've provided than I have, but to call anything I write a "hit piece" simply because it doesn't further your own agenda is really quite silly.
Hyperbole … so many reasons to want a balance in politics.
I'm all for balance when it involves legitimate conservativism that respects truth and decency. That's not what MAGA is. It's a movement of extremists who have no respect for basic truths or norms of political behavior or democracy itself. Saying there should be a balance with MAGA politics is like saying there should have been a balance with McCarthyism or George Wallace segregationism. There are the politics of respectful ideological debate based on non-negotiable facts, where we need balance, and there are the politics of hate based on lies, which serves no purpose other than to divide and demonize.
There is point when a dominate party is out of control. And the only way to change that is remove the dominance. At times parties need to be on equal footings to stop wasting of time and money. There is so much demonizing that is uncalled for. I hope we are able to rise above that. Both parties are turning off their long time members. And they will turn to other alternatives outside there long time party affiliations.
Here we go with the both sidesisms. Everything you say would make sense if this were the Republican Party of George Bush, John McCain and Mitt Romney. It's not. Not even close. You cannot reason with people who occupy alternate universes and don't respect the outcomes of elections that don't go their way. We're supposed to tolerate outright racism and white nationalism just because we need to have two parties to maintain "balance"? There's plenty of legitimate arguments and differences of opinion within the Democratic Party, political independents and non-MAGA Republicans to accomplish that (I spend more time arguing with fellow liberals than wasting time with the MAGA crowd, who just want to engage in character assassination and sewer talk). We don't need to justify movements that are unjustifiable just because we're afraid that the other movement will become dominant. Every Trump outrage and indecent action over four years wasn't enough. Jan. 6 wasn't enough. I guess nothing is ever going to be enough. The problem here is not with the Democratic Party of politicians like Obama and Biden who act with decency and respect basic norms regardless of their individual flaws. The problem is with a MAGA movement that respects neither decency nor civility nor basic principles of democracy. And the more folks like you try to justify that as normal and an acceptable part of party politics, the more you put the survival of our democracy at risk. The Republican Party of the 1950s had the courage to turn against Joe McCarthy because it had someone greater in Dwight Eisenhower. The Republican Party of today doesn't have that courage and decency. And we don't have to keep excusing that, or excusing the people who support the MAGA movement that tried once to destroy our democracy and will surely try again.
Julian, dear rancher of many generations, please shovel your own sh....Lazzeretti, you are appreciated. The information is directed, at least, unlike totally random FB pages.
How much of Trambley's money comes from marijuana dispensaries?
I wrote about that in a previous post: https://lazzeretti.substack.com/p/the-money-rolls-in-for-mayor-and
At least $10,500 in contributions related to Velvet specifically that I found (he played a key role in their approval when on the Planning Commission).
On that topic, the Public Health Institute came out with their annual report cards last week on how well cities are implementing cannabis policies that protect youth and advance social equity and Martinez again got a terrible score.
https://gettingitrightfromthestart.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/Martinez22.pdf
Craig, there are growing suspicions that Martinez has two spoilers in this race. Both of whom have the least noted public support.
An argument has been made these distasteful mailers targeting the three incumbents is less about electing a candidate and more about clearing the field for cleaner hands. Food for thought.
Maybe. That might require a level of sophistication that is beyond the reach of Martinez politicians, but I guess anything is possible. I'm not sure negative ads/flooding mailboxes with mailers works quite as effectively as it once did, but I guess we'll begin to find out on Tuesday.
Craig, there's been vote splitters for as long as I have been watching.
You have NOT included info on Mr.Ayers which arises my personal suspicions. I do not support this individual yet i would appreciate on thus inquest.
He has filed no campaign finance filings that I know of (at least none that were sent to me from the City Clerk's Office).
He was driving around yesterday with sound equipment blasting to vote for him.
Craig.
Can you supply a break down on school board candidate funding. Lamas in particular. Some outside interests talk is surfacing. Or is it from the $75 a person fund raiser. A lot of money in a short time for a small town school board. It does not fit her narrative.
I included whatever I could find from the county elections campaign finance portal in this post. I could not immediately find any independent expenditure filings; that doesn't mean they don't exist. Folks can search for themselves on the county portal: https://public.netfile.com/pub2/?AID=CCC
For context/background, I was the candidate for this seat in 2018 and I spent a grand total of $400 on my race. I challenged the incumbent to accept no contributions from organized interest groups that could benefit directly from her votes on the board; instead, what happened was the IBEW (electrical workers union that had benefited from her support for a project labor agreement) spent over $4k on a mailer in her support (misspelling her name in the process).
This year, what we've seen is that incumbent, the teachers union and other political figures in town, including the mayor, line up in support of Llamas' opponent in what seems to be another clear example of old Martinez politics trying to keep those outside the Martinez political establishment who threaten to rock the political boat out of office. I don't begrudge Llamas at all and her supporters from seeking "outside" support to boost her campaign to counter the influence of Martinez "insiders" who for too long have controlled city and school board politics for their own interests. I tried to get big money out of our school board races four years ago, and the Martinez "insiders" wouldn't have it; they're in no position to complain now that they're being outspent by others who don't share their political values. Just my humble opinion.
Personally, i think it is "brown" scare. But you have to understand what a poison (na)Farias left on our plates in the past. It is part of that. No doubt.
Most of Llamas’ contributions are from outside of Martinez,Including building interest. AnaMaria Avila Farias Is an exception loaning money.
The IBEW has been the dominant spender in school district/board elections for many years. The fact they gave money to Llamas is no different from all the other candidates they gave money to whom they believed would have their back on project labor agreements. The problem is that school board elections are supposed to be about children and students, not labor, building or any other organized interests. When they become the focus, issues involving students and education move to the back of the line. In 2019, Llamas played a pivotal role in rallying parents to demand action on the bullying issue at the junior high school, which the board at the time was sweeping under the rug because it wasn't a focus. She and others (including myself and current board member Courtney Masella-O'Brien) got the school board to take action that they should have done earlier on their own. That's why I believe Llamas will be the better candidate for putting the interests of all students (including marginalized students) first, regardless of what contributions she received from building or other organized interests.
Here is the link to Llamas' campaign finance statement. https://acrobat.adobe.com/link/review?uri=urn:aaid:scds:US:b08e4f8a-921c-3561-9ce7-c8722c78c5f9
It will be clear to anyone who takes a look that she has contributors from both in and out of Martinez, individuals as well as labor unions. I see absolutely nothing out of the ordinary looking at her contributions compared with other typical candidates. She does seem to be receiving some broader degree of independent support because of the fact that her opponent was a regular contributor to Donald Trump and the MAGA movement, including the period where they were spreading the Big Lie about 2020 election being stolen and even 2 days after the Jan. 6 insurrection. It's not surprising that groups committed to democracy and decency in politics who are concerned about the MAGA influence on our schools would take an interest in this race.
Twice as many out of town contributors 20 than in Town 10. And the money; more than 3 times from outside of Martinez contributors.
Craig, I would like to think that, but in my "Farias" folder are screen shots of Ana Marie making statements against whites and white students.
That is not even surprising. Sadly.
They gave no money to Lebouef…
Perhaps they wanted to preserve their reputation? Giving money to a MAGA supporter doesn't play well in much of this community, even if it does with certain old Martinez types. I hate the presence of special interest money in school board politics and tried to get rid of it four years ago, so I might have been open to her candidacy if she hadn't proven herself to be a supporter of a movement (MAGA) built on lies, hate, racism and a disrespect for democracy itself. MAGA is not a legitimate political ideology, imho, it's a hate group that fosters domestic terrorism.