My email to Sharin Wallin, IUSD Board President

Worth reading.....I read Sharon Wallin's comments in the 2/24 edition of the Irvine World News and had to respond. She's written back asking for my number.

Hi Sharon --
Two things:

When you get ready for another go-round on a parcel tax, please know we're still on the same side of this issue and we have traction dating back to the Measure A and Measure B campaigns. I am happy to lend my time and support to a parcel tax campaign that succeeds this time.

But secondly, per your comments in today's paper, you're wrong about what the community at large wants in regards to the special election. We failed because we really only had three people doing any significant signature gathering. I carried my clipboard with me everywhere and collected 125 signatures -- 10 percent. All in 10 minutes a day. I had only 5 "no, I won't sign it" responses and only one from someone I didn't know. Of the five that wouldn't sign, three expressed concerns that the Board would retaliate against their kids or school. One works closely with the district and supported the board. Others who signed wanted the board to know that they had. There is still an undercurrent of anger.

Several residents asked why the petition wasn't a recall of the entire board. I said "we just had an election."

John Burger did not gather a single signature, and frankly, this hurt our efforts too (I told John flat out if he didn't gather signatures to not bother running in a special election). With a little more time and a little better weather, and a few more committed volunteers and we would have gotten the job done and the voters would have decided the seat. I was still collecting signatures as of yesterday.

Many people were *happy* to sign and I had so many, "I'm so glad I ran into you. Can my husband/wife/significant other also sign?" I ran into a number of citizens who weren't registered to vote. I think you missed a huge opportunity to bring these disenfranchised voters/residents back to the tent. I think Carolyn tried to do this, but only after validating the selection process and it comes off as arrogant.

I'm really sorry this effort failed because I know some board members would view this as a validation of your decisions. And if Letters to the Editor in IWN are any indication, the city is split in half on this...there is no overwhelming support for the board's decision to appoint or for a special election. Some mandate.

Quite frankly, I am still waiting for *any* board member to have the intellectual honesty to admit they just didn't want John Burger on the Board. While the California Code did spell out your options, it also says "elections are always preferable." And the board, with Carolyn's urging, chose to ignore the election results. Let's see you adopt new rules to handling future vacancies because this process divided the community.

I'm glad you're relieved we don't have to go through a special election. I'm just disappointed, and worse, I'm disappointed that this board isn't reaching out to the thousands of voters who voted for Burger, Rodarte, Quinlan and others.

Dan Chmielewski