Linda Ruiz-Lozito

October 15, 2010

Cell (510) 375-3607
lozito@sbcglobal.net

Special interests and the school board: failing our students

West Contra Costa Unified School District, WCCUSD
2010 School Board Race Campaign Contributions

Special interests are capturing all levels of government, starting at lower

levels such as school boards entrusted with our children’s education, and
all the way up to Federal agencies that should be protecting the public.

Three incumbents for the WCCUSD school board election on November 2, 2010, have received contributions
from fourteen firms who received $134,470,000 in no-bid contracts from the District. The Seville Group Inc., is
one of the largest contributors and is the construction manager overseeing the $1,389,579,060 bond program.
• Ms. Kronenberg has received contributions of $115,800 from firms with no-bid contracts.
• Mr. Ramsey has received $13,500 from firms with no-bid contracts.
• Ms. Miles has received $2,500 from firms with no-bid contracts.
* See worksheets page 2 & 3 of this PDF
The other three candidates in the race, Mr. Cowens, Mr. Freeman and Ms. Merriweather, have received a
total of $8,107 all from various individuals. For the Nov. 2, 2010 election so far:
• Mr. Ramsey (incumbent) has received contributions of $98,050 all from labor unions. These unions are
located throughout California and in Washington, DC. None of these unions are located in the District.
The largest contribution was $15,000.
• Ms. Kronenberg (incumbent) has received contributions of $67,397 of which $51,500 was from eight firms
that do business with the District. The largest contribution was $15,000.
• Ms. Miles (incumbent) has received $6574, $2,500 from the Seville Group that services the Bond program.
• Jason Freeman has received $6288
• Mr. Cowens has received $990.
• Ms. Merriweather has received $829
This list does not include loans candidates gave to themselves
* See 460 Campaign forms, visit www.cocovote.us, http://64.166.146.18
On March 3, 2010 Mr. Ramsey motioned and voted to put a another construction bond on the June ballot for
$380,000,000. The incumbents knew that this could endanger the passage of a much needed Parcel Tax,
Measure M, on the November 2010 ballot, and went against the recommendation of the consultant they hired.
WCCUSD has five construction bonds totaling $1,389,579,060. This is the third largest program in California
(after Los Angeles and San Diego) and in the top ten in the nation. In the 1990s the WCCUSD identified schools
with a “high probability of collapse”. (see: www.districtguide.org/seismic) In 2002 the WCCUSD School Board
established ‘Life, Health and Safety’ as the primary criteria for prioritization and sequencing of projects, instead
other schools were fixed based more on political reasons. When the Bond program began construction interests
gave large campaign contributions to WCCUSD school board candidates in 2002, 2004, 2006, 2008, and 2010.
It seems the education and safety of our students has not been the top priority of the school board incumbents.
Special interests groups are taking over our school board members and school districts for their own interests.
###
WCCUSD Contribution Limits
Candidates Contributions Received
Firms receiving no-bid contracts from WCCUSD
10/14/10 8:28 PM

Total Amount
No Bid
Contributions from Firms awarded Contracts
no bid contracts by WCCUSD Kronenberg Miles Ramsey Total Awarded Note
Amanco, Inc.
4,500
-
-
4,500
- A
Arthur Tam & Associates
3,000
-
3,000
6,000
- A
Baker Vilar Architects
10,000
-
-
10,000
6,136,956
Daviller-Sloan, Inc
7,500
-
-
7,500
- A
Deems, Lewis, McKinley
17,500
-
-
17,500
6,690,556
Don Todd and Associates
5,000
-
-
5,000
5,198,423
First Student/Laidlaw Transit, Inc.
-
-
500
500
7,062,584
Hibser Yamauchi Architects
5,000
-
-
5,000
10,367,344
Powell & Partners Architects
11,000
-
3,000
14,000
8,643,015
Quattroochi & Kwok Architects
5,000
-
-
5,000
2,429,523
RGM and Associates
-
-
1,000
1,000
805,710
The Seville Group
35,000
2,500
3,000
40,500
46,246,723
Vallier Design Associates, Inc.
500
-
-
500
538,366
WLC Architects
11,800
-
3,000
14,800
40,351,353
Total
115,800
2,500
13,500
131,800
134,470,553

Sources
WCCUSD payments to firms were provid ded by WCCUSD in n response to a C
CA Public Records s Request. Additional requests w
were made
over no bid contra
for the missing data. These requests co act expendituress for the period Ja
anuary 1, 2002 through August 31, 2010.

Contributions data comes from Form 46

60 forms filed by candidates.

Note A: The amount of no bid contracts

s awarded to thes
se firms has been requested from
m WCCUSD with a CA Public Recorrd Requests.
WCCUSD Contribution Limits
School board campaign contributions

10/13/10 10:57 PM

Contributions
Kronenberg Miles Ramsey
Incumbent Incumbent Incumbent Cowens Freeman Merriweather Total
Firms awarded no bid contracts
115,800
2,500
13,500
-
-
-
131,800
Firms, other
31,600
1,992
30,899
-
-
-
64,491
Individuals
5,650
2,700
2,300
990
6,288
829
18,757
Unions
14,750
7,089
251,033
-
-
-
272,872
Total
167,800
14,281
297,732
990
6,288
829
487,920

Election cycles Included in this table

Kronenberg Miles Ramsey
Year Incumbent Incumbent Incumbent Cowens Freeman Merriweather
2002 X
2006 X X X
2010 X X X X X X

Includes Form 460 Campaign Sta

atement, Schedu
ule A Monetary
y Contributions
s Received

Election 2010 Contributions - 10.9.10 - aj - aj

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