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These board members – Deanna Weeks, Bill Garrett and Rick Alexander – have saved taxpayers money, brought new facilities to both Grossmont College and Cuyamaca College, reduced student fees, attracted excellent faculty and staff, continued to make sure that students are the No. 1 concern and priority and have received numerous recognitions for their outstanding fiscal management.

Unfortunately, there is opposition from a group that wants a slate of candidates who wish to waste money, stop construction, and elect a rubber stamp board that will agree with higher costs to the detriment of students and quality education.

Wendell would be dismayed to learn that their last-minute scare tactics seem to include lying to citizens, making irresponsible false charges and destroying signs. They have no track record of fiscal accountability or service to community college students and have no moral foundation to be running a campaign, much less to be elected.

Returning Deanna Weeks, Rick Alexander and Bill Garrett to office would be the most significant educational vote district voters would make for decades to come. Arkan Somo is the best candidate to fill Wendell's open seat.

LAWRENCE E. CUTTING
(brother of Wendell Cutting)
San Jacinto

I have been concerned for a long time about what is happening with the Grossmont-Cuyamaca Community College District board. These are elected officials who have forgotten that they answer to the community they serve.

In December 2005 they fired the president of Grossmont College. They have yet to tell me, a voting citizen, why they fired this president who was strongly supported by the faculty and staff.

They have pitted one college against the other and that, too, is a shame. Now I understand that the chancellor of this district may have rewritten his contract without the knowledge of the board. This is a good community college district and in my opinion it is time for a change.

I will be voting for Mary Kay Rosinski, Shannon O'Dunn, Larry Octon and Greg Barr.

JANET ARNOLD
Santee

As president of the Associated Students of Cuyamaca College (ASCC), I attended nearly every governing board meeting and I have seen firsthand the three incumbents' commitment to students and to excellence.

Chancellor Omero Suarez lobbied for equalization funding because it is a fact that we as a district were in the bottom third in regards to state funding. He could not have done that without help from the governing board. The three incumbents also fought for Proposition R, which provided funding that made new buildings, repairs and renovations at both colleges possible.

Re-elect the people who we know would put students first, Deanna Weeks, Bill Garrett, and Rick Alexander.

ROSALYN JOHNSON
ASCC President (fmr)
Spring Valley

Grossmont-Cuyamaca Community College District trustee Rick Alexander is indulging in some very wishful thinking if he believes that the acrimony that is tearing the district apart is due to a handful of faculty members (“Race shaped by tensions in district,” Oct. 6).

As a former administrator at Grossmont College, where I worked for over 11 years and was in daily contact with teachers, support staff and fellow administrators at both Grossmont and Cuyamaca, I can testify that the discontent with the chancellor and board of trustees is deep and wide.

PETER WHITE
San Diego

It has been over 20 years since I attended Grossmont and Cuyamaca community colleges in the early 1980s. I am saddened that faculty and staff at Grossmont are still playing politics by trying to either shut down or discredit Cuyamaca College.

The more things change, the more they remain the same.

BOBBI EVERETT
(student trustee 1982-83)
El Cajon

The incumbents in this race are Rick Alexander, Bill Garrett and Deanna Weeks. They, and Arkan Somo in the race for the open seat No. 5, are fiscal conservatives who have broad experience in managing multimillion-dollar budgets with transparency and integrity. They deserve your vote.

The challengers are teachers who have received thousands of dollars from the teachers union in the district. They lack the broad perspective and budget experience of the incumbents.

PAT SETZER
Lemon Grove

I would like to commend your editorial on the situation involving the board and Chancellor Omero Suarez.

What Suarez did with his contract would have gotten him fired in the real world. I agree with you that the voters of East County owe a big thank you to trustee Tim Caruthers for bringing this travesty to the public's attention.

You mentioned that the voters should consider trustee Deanna Weeks' actions in this situation as she essentially signed off on it and passed off the backlash as “dirty politics.” Well, you should have further said that voters should look into why her partners on her re-election slate, trustees Rick Alexander and Bill Garrett, have remained silent, thus giving a rubber stamp to the status quo at the district.

We as voting citizens have had enough! We should vote for challengers Mary Kay Rosinski, Larry Octon, Shannon O'Dunn and Greg Barr.

PETER ANDERSON
Santee

I am disappointed with the Union-Tribune's editorial attacking the board president and chancellor. Over what could be perceived as a procedural error, one that did not have any monetary consequences for the district, the newspaper called for the removal of the chancellor and a board member who have provided leadership and financial improvement to the district.

As a Cuyamaca College faculty member for 27 years, I would like the public to hear some facts about the chancellor and board president:

1) The current board, along with the chancellor, led a coalition that will bring over $10 million of equalization funds to the district over the next few years.

2) The current board has received flawless reports in the 14 most recent and regularly scheduled financial audits.

3) The San Diego County Taxpayers Association has twice hailed our citizen bond oversight committee for its responsible guardianship of Proposition R funds.

4) The current board has approved the highest salaries in the district's history while maintaining a fiscally prudent reserve.

5) The current board has approved the hiring of 63 full-time faculty during the past two years.

6) The current board is pursuing the visions set by the late, universally admired Wendell Cutting to have two comprehensive community colleges with a board that responds to the needs of the citizens of the district, not to a few disgruntled faculty members.

BRAD MONROE
Program Coordinator
Ornamental Horticulture
Cuyamaca College

Help Santee schools by passing Prop. R

After careful consideration, the San Diego County Taxpayers Association has endorsed Proposition R, the ballot measure to upgrade Santee School District facilities, because it's a good deal for taxpayers.

As all Santee School District parents and staff already know, there is clear evidence of a genuine and urgent need for this ballot measure. The Santee School District has not generated any new local bond revenue since the 1960s. All nine of the district's campuses are between 30 and 50 years old. Despite dilapidated classrooms with decades-old technology, students within the district continue to perform well academically. However, Santee students cannot continue to perform at such high levels in these conditions.

Santee School District facilities are in need of immediate upgrades and modernization in order to provide students with the type of 21st century learning environment necessary to prepare them for future success. Passage of Proposition R would fund much-needed classroom renovations, media centers, computer and science labs and athletic facilities.

The district is asking local taxpayers to fund only a portion of the cost for the total $165 million modernization project. The district can take advantage of available state matching funds only by passing Proposition R. District strategies for funding the modernization plan involve accessing all available resources including state matching funds, selling excess property and acquiring developer fees.

The San Diego County Taxpayers Association is particularly supportive of Proposition R because it contains important taxpayer protections, including an independent citizens' oversight committee and yearly independent performance audits.

Proposition R would greatly benefit the entire community by improving property values and creating school district facilities that are efficient, attractive and available for community use, including new media and technology centers and ball fields.

The San Diego County Taxpayers Association recommends a Yes vote on Proposition R.

CHRIS CATE
San Diego County Taxpayers Association

Burns for Santee school board

I am a resident of Santee and a veteran teacher for the Santee School District. It gives me great pleasure to support Dustin Burns for Seat 3 on the Santee School Board.

Serving for the last four years on the board, Burns has proven himself to be an effective leader. Since he has been part of our school board, there has been a great attitude change among teachers who not so long ago had little faith in our school board.

ROSEMARY E. HUTZLEY
Teacher and Santee Resident

I am a former student and current teacher in the Santee School District. I am plagued with worry about our schools and students.

First, the Santee City Council has long had tense relations with the Santee School District. The council has been most unreasonable with the recent land issue, blocking all attempts of the district to make use of its own assets. And now the council members openly oppose Proposition R, another attempt by the district to secure funds for its students. Why doesn't the City Council want its schools to be successful?

Second, a candidate for Seat 3 endorses Grossmont Union High School Board President Jim Kelly. Kelly's record needs little explanation.

If you want a truly concerned community member who has been actively involved in the schools his entire life, re-elect Dustin Burns. He volunteered countless hours for multiple Santee schools many years before his interest in being a school board member.

CAMERON WILLIAMS
Santee

Time to taste something new in El Cajon

If the decision for mayor of El Cajon next Tuesday comes down to a “choice of vanilla ice cream or vanilla ice milk,” as stated in the Union-Tribune's East County editorial of Oct. 12, then I would suggest there is little risk, if any, in choosing to select the one you haven't tried.

Especially when the one you've had for the last eight years has left a bad taste in your mouth.

That's why I am urging all El Cajon voters to cast their ballots for Charles Santos for El Cajon mayor.

Santos served on the City Council for six years and before that as a city planning commissioner, so he is well known. Santos is a hard-working, compassionate, common-sense kind of public official who cares more about the property rights of residents and the safety and character of neighborhoods than he does about giving developers whatever they want. For too long, City Hall in El Cajon has been almost like an ATM for local developers: They deposit their contributions and out comes the approved project they want.

Only when citizens have stood up at City Hall has the current mayor paid attention. And when things don't turn out his way, then Mayor Mark Lewis becomes Mayor Sore Loser. Case in point, the rejection of the Home Depot project on East Main. It was voted down by LAFCO this summer after a fair and open hearing of the facts.

Yet the mayor – who flip-flopped on the issue and voted for the project after he voted against it years before – decided to spend city money on a lawsuit against LAFCO. In effect, he is sticking city residents with the legal bills.

It is a sign of the current mayor's arrogance toward the people of El Cajon. That is why we now need to elect someone with experience and integrity like Charles Santos who opposed the Home Depot project because he cares about neighborhoods and because he cares about the citizens of El Cajon.

Yes, Charles Santos will bring a whole new flavor to City Hall. But he needs your vote to do it.

CLIFF ALBERT
El Cajon

Citizens of La Mesa were kept in the dark

Regarding “Lack of publicity criticized,” Local, Oct. 20:

It is time for La Mesa Mayor Art Madrid to go. In response to women complaining about the lack of publicity concerning a recent attack on a woman as she left her La Mesa place of business, the mayor says, “This is probably the most egregious type of politics.”

He has turned this around to be all about him and claims the real reason for their outrage is to attack his reputation. My vote will be for someone who cares about my rights and personal safety.

LYNN SWANSON
La Mesa

I am appalled to read La Mesa Police Chief Alan Lanning's irresponsible comment that the reason why the residents of La Mesa were not informed of a sexual assault that occurred in the early morning of Sept. 20 was because of lack of description of a suspect. Yet a month later this article is written stating a possible description.

Regardless of whether there was a description, the Police Department and the city of La Mesa have an obligation to inform the residents of their safety so we can heighten our awareness.

MAGGIE BARRAGAN
La Mesa

Maxwell for mayor in nine reasons

Why the city of La Mesa needs Craig Maxwell as mayor:

1. Our city has increasing graffiti, thanks to our current mayor bragging that La Mesa does not have a graffiti problem.

2. Our senior citizens are struggling more and more with less and less support.

3. Homeless are increasing in numbers and becoming more aggressive as our city ignores them.

4. Small businesses are not celebrated nor promoted to improve the foot traffic in the downtown area.

5. Parking fees have been increased and now discourage shopping.

6. Car thefts, burglaries and assaults have increased.

7. Our future Post Office will be smaller and less convenient.

9. Art Madrid does not believe in term limits for himself. La Mesa needs to have term limits to bring fresh ideas and new strengths for our community to grow.

Our city could be so much more! We need to look outside the box to rebuild and renew. Craig Maxwell for mayor of La Mesa is our chance to do this.

PEAR and PAT KARLSGODT
La Mesa

Sweep incumbents out of El Cajon council

I was appalled to see your newspaper endorse Mark Lewis for re-election to mayor of El Cajon. He and his City Council have outraged many residents of El Cajon over the past few years.

First we pass a sales tax increase and then we get a homeless transition center shoved down our throats. Then they allow Home Depot to come back in and try to destroy a neighborhood.

Lewis and Kendrick need to be voted out this election and then the rest of the council as their time comes. It is time to clean house in El Cajon and get people in office who will support what their constituents want.

I, like many residents of El Cajon, hope that voters replace Lewis and Kendrick. My suggestions are Charles Santos for mayor and Anthony Chuisano for council.

DENNIS NOTTINGHAM
El Cajon