Dump dumb Boxer

Dear Editor:

We can strike hard at the Democratic Party by dumping California’s 18-year toxic asset, Senator Barbara Boxer. We can also keep Jerry Brown from becoming governor again.

Boxer is the Democratic Party at its worst – and she represents no one else, despite her grossly misleading, now-repudiated “VFW PAC” endorsement. She is an unthinking, non-listening, surly leftist hack who disgraces her office and appears to despise large sectors of our society. She is widely considered among the dumbest members of the Senate, but there she sits, one of the most powerful people in the country. Her career is built on an irresponsible 2 + 2 = 22 federal spending philosophy we will be paying for endlessly, on tyrannical over-regulation and government by trial lawyers, on pro-abortion absolutism and methodically trashing any opponent whose conscience suggests a different approach to the issue, and on the type of callous ultra-environmentalism that’s killing the Central Valley.

To see and hear what is wrong with America, look at our toxic asset Boxer. If you want to do something about it, replace her with sensible, decent business executive Carly Fiorina. If you don’t, stop complaining about such malfeasances.

As for Jerry Brown, consider the company he keeps, agrees with, and owes allegiance to: the crowd that backs Boxer and has come very close to wrecking California. Meg Whitman – who is pragmatic, mature, tough, brilliantly successful in the private sector Brown doesn’t get, and unlike Brown owes nobody anything – gives our state a fighting chance to turn around before it’s too late.

David Frisk

Change needed on County Board of Education

Dear friend,

I am a candidate for the Contra Costa County Board of Education – Area 5 and I ask for your vote.

My goal is to change the incumbent’s many, many years of lackluster representation of our children from Antioch, Bay Point, Bethel Island, Brentwood, Byron, Discovery Bay, Knightsen, Oakley and Pittsburg.

I am running against a 20-year incumbent (whom no one seems to know) who avoids public contact. He has failed as a trustee to establish checks and balances necessary for the Contra Costa County Office of Education to operate effectively.

• The incumbent has consistently voted to raise the salary of the superintendent without question; even with impending lay-offs and unfilled vacancies.
• I will require a performance evaluation as well as a comparative study of Bay Area county superintendents total compensation packages prior to voting for or against a salary raise for the superintendent.
• The incumbent has not advocated for improving disciplinary appeals procedure, despite past controversies.
• I will advocate to improve the disciplinary appeals procedure to guarantee due process and consistent enforcement.
• The incumbent has ignored the growth of cities and school districts, resulting in an incoherent and gerrymandering Area 5 with the cities of Antioch, Pittsburg and Bay Point each split to two different representative areas of the Office of Education.
• I will advocate to consolidate individual school districts to a single represented Area of the Office of Education to ensure active representation.

With your support, I will work hard to maintain fiscal solvency, improve academic performance, provide career-oriented education and promote transparency and accessibility. For more information, visit www.cynthiaruehlig.com or e-mail cynthia.ruehlig@gmail.com.

Yours truly,

Cynthia Teves Ruehlig
County Board of Education, Area 5 candidate