Menifee School Board - Election Results
The tally as of 3:18pm this afternoon... RANDALL T. FREEMAN 5,905 20.12% RON ULIBARRI 5,621 19.16% JERRY BOWMAN 5,339 18.19% VICTOR GIARDIN...
http://www.menifee247.com/2008/11/menifee-school-board-election-results.htm
The tally as of 3:18pm this afternoon...
RANDALL T. FREEMAN 5,905 20.12%
RON ULIBARRI 5,621 19.16%
JERRY BOWMAN 5,339 18.19%
VICTOR GIARDINELLI 5,276 17.98%
PHOEBA A. IREY 5,068 17.27%
MANOLITO V. VITUG 2,135 7.28%
That's with 76 out of 76 precints reporting.
Considering the registrar of voters likely has more mail-in ballots and provisional ballots to count, it may take another month to count everything, considering Riverside County had a 50% voter turn out.
But I think it's safe to say that Freeman and Ulibarri have cemented their victories. It's still reasonable that Giardinelli could overcome Bowman depending on what the other ballots come up with. However, after monitoring the updates throughout the day, I've noticed Bowman extending his lead over Giardinelli little-by-little.
And based on your comments below, it sounds like Giardinelli and Irey lost their seats due to their incumbency. The budget problems we've had at Menifee Union was largely the fault of Sacramento, and even of Washington DC with the foreclosure mess. You could also say that Barack Obama's theme of "change" drew out voters that would have otherwise stayed home, and those people could have very well extended that theme against incumbents on the school board.
For those of you who voted for school board, I'd love to hear from you on what motivated you to vote for candidates you chose.
RANDALL T. FREEMAN 5,905 20.12%
RON ULIBARRI 5,621 19.16%
JERRY BOWMAN 5,339 18.19%
VICTOR GIARDINELLI 5,276 17.98%
PHOEBA A. IREY 5,068 17.27%
MANOLITO V. VITUG 2,135 7.28%
That's with 76 out of 76 precints reporting.
Considering the registrar of voters likely has more mail-in ballots and provisional ballots to count, it may take another month to count everything, considering Riverside County had a 50% voter turn out.
But I think it's safe to say that Freeman and Ulibarri have cemented their victories. It's still reasonable that Giardinelli could overcome Bowman depending on what the other ballots come up with. However, after monitoring the updates throughout the day, I've noticed Bowman extending his lead over Giardinelli little-by-little.
And based on your comments below, it sounds like Giardinelli and Irey lost their seats due to their incumbency. The budget problems we've had at Menifee Union was largely the fault of Sacramento, and even of Washington DC with the foreclosure mess. You could also say that Barack Obama's theme of "change" drew out voters that would have otherwise stayed home, and those people could have very well extended that theme against incumbents on the school board.
For those of you who voted for school board, I'd love to hear from you on what motivated you to vote for candidates you chose.
This race has tightened substanitally with the 3:45 am posting of returns.
ReplyDeleteFREEMAN is a lock with a comfortable 322 vote lead.
BOWMAN is 37 votes behind GIARDINELLI who is in 2nd.
BOWMAN is currently 3rd and is only 4 votes ahead of IREY in 4th.
ULIBARRI is only 11 votes away from a school board seat and in 5th.
WOW - Anyone want to predict that FREEMAN, BOWMAN and ULIBARRI win the three open seats? The one certain surprise is FREEMAN at the top of the list. So much for MTA's endorsement of candidates.
58/76 76.32%
Vote Count Percent
RANDALL T. FREEMAN 3,255 20.27%
VICTOR GIARDINELLI 2,933 18.26%
JERRY BOWMAN 2,896 18.03%
PHOEBA A. IREY 2,892 18.01%
RON ULIBARRI 2,885 17.96%
MANOLITO V. VITUG 1,200 7.47%
Total 16,061 100.00%
I voted against the recommendation and endorsement of candidates by the Teacher's Union.
ReplyDeleteI did not vote for any incumbant because this district is not doing well and is not putting kids first. The cuts they made have directly affected the students. Class sizes are huge in the 4th and 5th grade and I know students who are in desperate need of counseling at the elementary level. I hope a fresh brain on the board will help turn things around. The MTA begins negotiating again next year and hopefully they will get what they deserve, a contract that actually supports and protects them.
ReplyDeleteI only voted for Freeman. The reason he got my vote was due to this website. I read & listened to everything that was posted by all candidates and he just felt real to me. Honestly, I would not have voted for anyone if it weren't for this website, so thank you menifee247.com!!
ReplyDeleteI didn't vote any incumbents as well.
ReplyDeleteI did not vote the incumbents, sans Freeman
ReplyDeleteWhat a come back! Ulibarri from 5th to 2nd place. He had some great campaigning. Love the grassroots!!! Him going to the schools made me feel like he cared.
ReplyDeleteI only voted for both incumbents, because I *do* believe that this district is doing great. The cutbacks were unfortunate but neccessary. I went to each of the board meetings where cutbacks were discussed, and they put a lot of thought into what had to be cutback. They couldn't keep it all, they did what they had to do.
ReplyDeleteAs a teacher in this district there are some things that families that are only part of one school would not see. Both Giardinelli and Irey are strong supporters of the schools. There are many programs that the public likes that they brought to the district. During the budget problems last February they visited all the schools and talked to teachers and parents. Both of them consistently attend functions at all the school during the day and the evenings. I voted for them because of their involvement in the schools and in the community. They are both honest and hard working people that has been my privilege to know. I continue to wish them good luck as the votes are counted.
ReplyDeleteOh, and as a continuation to my last post, congratulations to Randy Freeman. Seems you are still in the lead! I know you are also an involved parent and support our kids in this district.
ReplyDeleteI'm sorry to hear that voters may have just gone against incumbents without getting to know the candidates. One of the reasons we took the time to create the videos of the candidates was to encourage folks to get to know the candidates. If you have some constructive feedback perhaps you can let the candidates and board know specific issues you have with the Menifee Board. I have my own issues with the Menifee Teachers Association, so that wasn't an endorsement I had any faith in either. I watched each video and listened from the heart.
ReplyDeleteAs I write this it is still unknown as to who may end up winning the third seat on the school board. With the number of votes I expect need to be counted it is still up in the air.
ReplyDeleteIf things stay as they are I am saddened by the loss of two people who have given so much to this District, VICTOR GIARDINELLI with over 20 years on the Board and PHOEBA IREY with more than 40 years of service as a teacher in the District and service on the Board. Their experience and dedication to the students of our community will be sorely missed.
This is not to say that all of the candidates don't bring unique experiences and expertise to our District and our Board. They do and we as a Board will move forward and work together (who ever that may end up being)to address the issues we will face in the coming months. We are fortunate to still have the leadership of Bob O'Donnell and Rita Peters to help when we are faced with these issues.
My confusion lies with why the community voted as they did? If there are/were real concerns regarding their (our) decisions let us know. The Board has gone to REAL efforts to get feedback from the community before making these decisions. Many, and I am sure future decisions, are not easy and may not be ones that can make everyone happy, but as Steve pointed out the financial problems we face are not of our doing, we simply are in the position of dealing with them as best as possible.
I really hope the vote was not change for the sake of change!We can't know if you do not speak up and voice those concerns!
It has really been a pleasure getting to meet many of you during this campaign and I do thank you for your support of my short tenure on the Board and (hopefully) my continued service to the District and Community.
I also would like to thank Menifee 24/7 and Menifee Live for doing the interviews of the candidates, hopefully time was taken to "get to know" each one of us and was helpful in making your choices.
Jerry Bowman
MUSD Trustee
Jerry@Bowmanconsultinginc.com
The three I voted for are winning their seats so far and deserve them as well. I did not vote VICTOR GIARDINELLI, incumbent or not, because he declined to interview..why? Sounded a bit arrogant to me, or at least that is how it felt. If he has no problem going out to the schools and meeting parents why decline a simple interview so that someone like myself who's kids arent in school yet can get to know you. For all I know he may have been a better candidate but I didnt get to see it because he declined to show me and since I have only lived in Menifee for a year and a half this website is a key source of information for me until I figure other sources out. As far as PHOEBA IREY was concerned, I didn't vote for her because of the way she answered in the interview. When asked how she would handle any of the various items brought up in the interview she was able to very poignantly bring up examples of previous board action but never used the examples to discuss how she would handle the present or future issue. I hesitated with this because I needed to see someone who was thinking ahead and willing to address the here and now even if that meant taking a page from the past to adapt, but what I got was what appeared to be someone who wanted to try and ride the wave of what was done and never actually answer the question as to the now. So whether or not the candidate was an incumbent or not had no bearing on my vote but rather what these candidates said to me in their interviews helped me pick. Thanks Menifee 24/7!
ReplyDeleteIt is unfortunate that people base their vote on one interview from a blog website. There were a number of ways to get to know candidates. The incumbants have public email addresses that you could use to ask them anything you wanted. I would be willing to bet that both would have been willing to meet with you to discuss issues.
ReplyDeleteDon't push fault onto a candidate because you didn't have the time to get informed.
I just want to thank Mr. Vic Giardinelli for all the work, support and listening He has given to everyone in the Menifee Union School District. This is a man who cares 100% about the children and the staff of our District. We will miss having such a wonderful honorable man on our School board! Mr. Giardinelli you have truly made a difference Thank You
ReplyDeleteI just spoke with the Registrar of Voters. There are 150,000 absentee ballots and 47,000 provisional ballots for all of Riverside County to still be counted. That combined total is 197,000. They started opening those and counting them today. There will be a late afternoon update to post on the Registrar's website.
ReplyDeleteIn contrast, this past June's election, there were only 18,000 absentee and provisionals left to count after the polls closed.
Therefore, while there is no way to sort out how many of that 197,000 are from Menifee Precints, the chances of some substantial movement in the School Board race is high.
Ummm... last I checked they were the ones running for seats on the board and I am pretty sure that the idea behind campaigning is so that the candidate can make the effort to get themselves out there so I can get to know them or at least the key points that they want to put out there and emphasize. So the fact that I have been able so far to find this website to "help" keep myself informed so that I can make an educated decision speaks more for me than just saying I didnt vote for them because they were incumbents.
ReplyDeleteI agree with an earlier post. To vote for a candidate based solely on one video posted by a blog website saddens me. I am grateful to Steve for posting these, but they are not the end-all-be-all for deciding on the Board of Trustees. I believe if you are going to vote for a person and you don't know them - go to the public school board meetings and watch them work. They all are very public people and are quite willing to talk and share ideas.
ReplyDeleteIf one or either of them are not re-elected, I hope that Mr. Giardinelli and Mrs. Irey will put their name in the MUSD hat again. It is sad to lose people who really care so deeply about our district.
Actually the sad thing is that anyone would want to discount another persons reason for a decision based on their best effort to make an educated decision. And if any of you want to continue to discount the worthiness of this site to provide information then you need to re-examine why you are even visiting. The video interviews weren't the only things posted here or many other places around the internet either, not to mention the local newspapers. I was able to not only read some valuable information posted by the site but also the valuable comments posted by the people who visit so any decision made with the help of this site is far from a whim like a few of you would like to make it sound. I would also have to point out that I must not be the only one to have felt the way I did to cause me to vote for the candidates I did; the results point out that there was a majority of people who felt a need for change for one reason or another and like was mentioned if Mr. Giardinelli or Ms. Irey are to run again then "they" get another chance to show us why they would be the best candidate.
ReplyDeleteDave,
ReplyDeleteIn your original post you stated the only reason you didn’t vote for Mr. Giardinelli was because he denied one interview.
And the reason you didn’t vote for Mrs. Irey was because of what she said in one interview.
Damned if you do, damned if you don’t. Huh?
Absentee, mail-ins and provisional ballots keep getting counted. Giardinelli was down to Bowman by 64 votes from the Nov 5 update and he has closed the gap to 10 votes with still more ballots to count.
ReplyDeleteIt is not over!
Menifee Union SD Governing Bd. Mbr.
76/76 100.00%
Vote Count Percent
RANDALL T. FREEMAN 6,601 20.17%
RON ULIBARRI 6,303 19.26%
JERRY BOWMAN 5,887 17.98%
10 Vote Spread Between 3rd and 4th
VICTOR GIARDINELLI 5,877 17.95%
PHOEBA A. IREY 5,691 17.39%
MANOLITO V. VITUG 2,375 7.26%
Total 32,734 100.00%
Well Anonymous...
ReplyDeleteYup, got me there and that is my fault because now that you say that and I go back and read it I did only talk about the interviews, must have been an association thing of the interviews with the site.... but it doesn't discount that it was an interview given by that candidate and a chance for those of us that can't make a 4 in the afternoon board meeting to get to see the candidate and listen to them respond to questions. Right?
Dave,
ReplyDeleteI do agree that it was one opportunity to get to know the candidates.
And if the votes stay the way they are, Mr. Giardinelli maybe should have accepted the interview.
I still have to question though that even if Mr. Giardinelli had done the interview and I was able to get that little bit extra to back up some of the good things I had read and he got my vote instead of me feeling odd that he would "decline" to interview... my vote is by no means a deciding factor (well, I shouldnt say that with how close this is) so what is it that turned the rest of the residents off enough to not vote for him or fired the residents up enough to vote for someone who wasnt an incumbent?? Most people dont try to fix what isnt broken. What have other residents seen or had to deal with that would make them not vote for Giardinelli or Irey ??? I have read plenty of things that say that MUSD is by no means the best but it is by no means the worst either, so I have done my best to read all the articles I can find about the schools and the school district and talk to my friends that have lived here for a number of years with children in the schools and all of this is why I recently moved my family to menifee. I do have an interest in the MUSD and wanted to and still want to know that if Giardinelli and Irey were such outstanding board members (and I really have read some nice postings from others in this string alone) then what is it that has the residents not voting for them. And there really cant be that many parents upset about having their out of district transfer request denied to make them want to get rid of board members so there has to be something else wrong
ReplyDeleteDave,
ReplyDeleteThis was actually a deciding factor for me. At every board meeting there seem to be parents requesting transfers. I wasn't one of them, but I didn't like that the loss of money to the district was often the deciding factor. It may sound like parent convenience isn't a big enough issue to honor a request, but if parents work outside of Menifee and keeping children in the MUSD meant inconvenience or no adult supervision til after the commute hours, it is a big deal for every parent that asked.
Each request was an opportunity to understand the family needs in the district.
We now have many more after school programs which could help, and many of those parents may be able to work with those solutions, but I don't like policies where money comes before student or family needs. What sounds like parent convenience to the board may mean a whole lot more to the family.
Jules
Dave I agree with you and the lady about the transfers. By not accepting an interview Giardinelli seemed to feel he was above it all. I too wanted them out and the rest of them when their seats come up. None of them truly stand of for the kids or parents. Transfers should have been granted but the school board acted like Wardens instead of caring comunity leaders. Out with the old and in with the new...we need a change..I am concerned about Freeman he was a hot head in the previous debate and may be a teacher sympathizer..teachers rallied to vote him with the help of his wife who works in the district. Good luck with that one. But overall we did it right by booting out the bad lunch, poor transportation and through it all..teachers kept their salries and the Superintendent received a raise..Think people think.
ReplyDeleteI couldn't disagree more. The Menifee district is THRIVING. Look at surrounding districts who were in such bad shape they had to be taken over by the state!!! It is a compliment to the school board and district administration that teachers kept their salaries!!!! How is that even a problem?? The district has thriving test scores during an economic time where teachers have to be creative with their curriculum since there isn't much money for supplemental teaching tools. I am very interested to know if the people that voted out the incumbents ever went to a single board meeting? Have you ever volunteered at a school event and seen each of these board members participate, knowing students by name??? Well let me tell you, I have been at 90% of the board meetings for the past two years, and I have seen first hand the incumbents strive for and focus on the good of the Menifee district. I have been a Menifee resident for 20 years, I've seen this district as a student myself, and now a parent. I now work in public education in a neighboring district, and I only WISH that the board were as much for the children as the current board that my community has so ignorantly voted out. I encourage my community to go to the board meetings, participate in school functions, see the dynamics of a district for yourself instead of basing your vote on a limited interview on a local website.
ReplyDeleteIt is concerning that someone would be worried about a "teacher sympathizer." For heaven sakes who in the world does he/she think is working their behinds off for his or her kids all day, evenings, weekends etc? Should we work without a paycheck? Of course teachers kept their paychecks? MUSD is incredibly competitive academically because the teachers put up with and rise above the criticism and pressure they get from ALL sides: parents, the board, the administration, the kids, the media, negative public opinion, and of course NCLB and it's idealistic demands.
ReplyDeleteYes, I hope someone on the board sympathizes with teachers. We are on the front lines feeling overworked and underappreciated. Perhaps, more than a few of you should spend some time in a classroom near you and witness the challenges we face every minute of the day.
The state economy takes a downturn, hard decisions have to be made, and you question teachers salaries because your kid has to be driven to school? Get real! Would you rather have a bus or your kid in a classroom of 20 with a teacher who is not distracted by his or her lack of paycheck at the end of the month? If you haven't noticed Mr. Anonymous, the state budget is not getting better. Harder decisions will soon have to be made. The lack of transportation may pale in comparison to 32 to 34kids in every classoom.
Our district has done extremely well budgeting its money but it can only go so far.
Our board did the best any board could. The responsibility of budget cut decisions is incredible and closing Menifee Elementary was not popular with teachers. It cost many teachers more than you can imagine. But we see the bigger picture.
Now we have an inexperienced board facing an unprecidented budget crisis.
We will need more than a hope and a prayer to keep the cuts away from the classroom next year.
Is Menifee going to be a community that supports its local public education or be another "heavy" to contend with. When you support the schools and its teachers you support the kids and the community wins. I am very disappointed in the negative, critical tone of many of these posters. We are fortunate to have good schools in our community. Let's not drag them down.
I'm thrilled with the new board mix. I think there is a nice mix and sites like this, although it does bring out a lot of negative posts, help to show the community what the concerns are.
ReplyDeleteWe have excellent schools because we have some excellent teachers...but we also have some teachers who are ineffective.
I'll be glad when No Child Left Behind gets revised a bit... and any teacher that proudly teaches to the test... please stop it. we all understand that NCLB has a problem with how it's interpreted. Any district that allows teaching to the test is way off the mark.
Help children achieve their potential and arm them with the basics please in education and life skills. Can you try to keep them from dropping out without using handcuffs? 30% dropout rate doesn't happen when you have great teachers and schools.
anita
To those who posted about "experience what a teacher does"... well that is one area I do have some experience (not to the 100% like a real teacher because I bailed out when I realized I was not going to make enough money to survive) but I went to college and went thru the credentialing processes and did my classroom assisting and student teaching so I do know what teachers go thru and all the extra hours and difficulties of over crowding. And I do understand how important a persons paycheck is and I have never been able to understand why a teachers salary is such a hard thing to justify!!!! These educated people are the ones teaching our children!!! Why dont they deserve some of the best salaries around??? Sure saying that I would have to say that there would need to be a better system to get rid of the ineffective teachers but I would have to agree that the board would have to have some people on board that are willing to let the voice of the teachers be heard and I dont think I would call that being a teacher sympathizer. The teachers in our schools are the ones who have the first glimpse of something not working or something that needs more attention especially in these times of financial hardship like a bunch of you have pointed out is only going to get worse. I would look to the teachers as a very valuable source of direction when it comes to what can be cut or should be held onto as well as what it is that they need to be able to do the job that we are asking them to do for us. But I do also agree with the notion that a families well being needs to be considered, even if you want to cheapen the idea that someone needs something for a reason by calling it a convenience and if that is what the board did when parents asked for transfers then I can see why so many people wanted a change. Whether it was the right one or not when you start imposing on people and making it hard for them they are not going to support you even if you are the best one for the job because their focus now isnt on what to do in the district it is about how to maintain the family. We all have jobs so we can have lives and we all have lives so we can have families and the families gives us the kids and so on.... but when someone else starts affecting the chain in a way that makes things difficult I have to side with the family view even though I understand the teacher and district side of this... I am one of those people who gets drastically affected by things financial when even the smallest thing changes so I would have to do what i needed to in order to make it work and if someone else thought it was their right to impose something on me that did not help me or allow me to do what I needed to then you had better believe I would also change my mind on who "I would choose to represent me as a public official". What good is the board to take care of my district if they are affecting my ability not just provide for my family but take care of and be there for my family, that is disrupting the chain, disrupting the self supporting circle which in turn eliminates my need for that board. Part of my question is starting to be answered here.... I was wondering why so many others felt the need for change. They have been a very effective board and possibly been the best for the job but I am hearing a lot of people pointing out that the human aspect of this was removed. It isnt just a business. These are parts of our lives that we are giving these board members power over and when they forget that it is people they are dealing with and not just a numbers I can see the need for change. Now I am sure someone is thinking, "but you should be willing to do what ever you need to for your kids", your right.... I would. But what more is there to do when I have already sold the second car so now two working parents are trying to make that work as well as cut back everything else I possibly can? This being a newer community there arent as many Jobs jobs here yet which means my commute to riverside and my wifes commute to santa ana are necesary which also means that if we needed to have our child go to school closer to the family which will have to take care of them because i cant afford daycare and the district doesnt give me my transfer... okay.... i either move and then menifee loses all the money i put into the community or i get my district transfer and they only lose the money for the student from the state. Boy, I dont know about this one folks.
ReplyDeleteDave,
ReplyDeleteI think you have been misinformed. The two people on the board that care most about people’s lives are Mrs. Irey and Mr. Giardinelli. If anyone has taken the time to speak with them they would know this.
It is unfortunate that there is a business side to a school district. But to say that the current board has left out the human side of it is just wrong in the case of these two.
I think it's unfair to say that Irey and Giardinelli are the two that care the most about kids. I'm sure Freeman, Bowman, Ulibarri and Vitug will all say they care about kids just as much.
ReplyDeleteThe difference is that for those of us who've attended school board meetings, we've gotten to know Irey and Giardinelli pretty well, and that gives them an advantage as incumbents. For example, if Vitug had sat on the school board, you'd get to know him pretty well also, and might form the same opinion.
I've gotten to know Rita Peters, and she can't claim she cares. Well, and have anyone believe it anyway.
ReplyDeleteWell, that is what I started to think. That perhaps I had done myself a disservice and not dug deep enough (not that I can make the 4pm board meetings that everyone keeps telling me I should have gone to) because of all of the positive things I started to hear people saying about Ms. Irey and Mr. Giardinelli. And perhaps I spoke a bit too generally but "I" cant blame these two for what I am referring to as the removal of the human aspect here but what I will go back to is that there seem to be a lot of people who do blame them. There seem to be a whole lot of people that took the boards actions about the transferring very personally and were left with a bad taste over it all. And sure there is a business side to this, that cant be denied. Nor can the fact that the business side of this type of thing almost needs more attention than usual but what I am hearing from these people is what sounds like a group of people that are angry because they have been hung out to dry... that the human aspect of this has been ignored and the majority of people in this community felt the same way and wanted a change. Now as far as a change in board... if these two are the best that should have been on the board how come they are not getting the votes they needed to retain their seats?? If the bad taste in peoples mouths isnt from these two then why arent all these people that are supposedly going to the board meetings urging their selected board representatives to enact the will of the community? A majority of people obviously thought that these two needed to be removed, well how come if these two were the best on the board are they gone rather than the community urging them to lead the board in a different direction?? That scenario doesnt seem to be happening because the community seems to feel that the change the board needed was these two replaced. It looks like the community felt that the board should head in a new direction by having new people on it and this obviously just isnt my take on this otherwise these two would not be losing their seats. So whether it is misinformed or uniformed or that "I" just didnt put enough time into getting to know.... there seems to be a whole lot of us that not only felt the same way but took the time and respected the privilege to go and vote for what we felt was right.
ReplyDeleteI don't know how people picked who they were voting for.
ReplyDeleteIf you were to attend an average baord meeting you would have a hard time finding a seat amongst the ones and twos of peolpe in attendance.
So, yes it would be nice for the community to get invloved and let the board members know what they want. Since they haven't, the members are making choices that they think are best.
Giardinelli just overtook Bowman by 25 votes with results posted at 5:30 pm this afternoon. Freeman and Ulibarri comfortably hold onto their spots. The sprea worsens for Irey. Looks like the third spot will clearly come down to Bowman and Giardinelli.
ReplyDeleteSee, my take on things is just one side of it. If Mr. Giardinelli is who I have heard you all claiming he is (because I have not seen it from what I have been able to read about the candidates, and once again.. no, i am not able to make the 4 in the afternoon board meeting times so i have had to go on what i was able to find on the candidates and about the board in general) then the voters will show how they feel, just like they are, and if Giardinelli prevails then I would just have to say that he is supposed to be there and see what happens next.
ReplyDeleteI work full time, 55+ hours a week, but I made it a priority to educate myself about these board members so I could make an educated decision with my vote. So several times a year, I made arrangements so I could attend the board meetings. No, I couldn't attend every one, but come on, these meetings are ONCE a month, don't tell me that it's impossible, ever, to attend ONE, or TWO. It's only our kids education on the line, right?
ReplyDeleteJust a little correction. Menifee Union School Board meets twice a month on the second and fourth Tuesdays at 4:00 pm.
ReplyDeleteThen I guess that gives the community twice the opportunity to voice concerns to our elected board.
ReplyDeleteBowman passes Giardinelli yet again with a 53 vote swing! Election update 11/12/08 @ 8:08 pm.
ReplyDeleteOn election day, Bowman was up by 64. Then on 11/10/08 Giardinelli surges to a 25 point margin. Last night's update puts Bowman back ahead of Giardinelli by 28 votes. I do not know how many more mail-ins, absentee and provisional ballots remain to be counted. Stats are:
76/76 100.00%
Vote Count Percent
RANDALL FREEMAN 8,141 20.12%
RON ULIBARRI 7,834 19.36%
JERRY BOWMAN 7,264 17.96%
VICTOR GIARDINELLI 7,236 17.89%
PHOEBA A. IREY 7,035 17.39%
MANOLITO V. VITUG 2,945 7.28%
Total 40,455 100.00%
If there are more ballots to be counted, this could easily switch again.
Dear Dave and anyone else that is wondering why Mr. Giardinelli declined a video interview. The author of the post failed to inform the public that Mr. Giardinelli had laryngitis on the night of the forum meeting where the interviews were held. Mr. Giardinelli informed the author directly that he was ill and would not be able to attend. In fact, I believe it was Mr. Giardinelli who initially suggested to the author that he use the forum night to conduct his videos for the convenience of all the candidates being at the forum. It's too bad, the author / video guy did not request another time to meet and interview Victor, and even more of a shame that the author perhaps swayed some of the Menifee voters by journalizing only part of a story - it clearly should have been written "Victor Giardinelli declined due to laryngitis (or illness)". PS: There isn't anything arrogant about Victor Giardinelli - he is one of the most humble souls that I know and has no other agenda but to serve the students and their families of this community.
ReplyDeleteWell that is actually a shame that it wasn't stated as to why Mr Giardinelli declined. But I still dont think it is a strong enough reason to be causing such a tight race.
ReplyDeleteIf you look at the videos, they were done on different days. I think the candidates could have been interviewed if they choose to.
ReplyDeleteUpdated vote tallies posted this evening still show a tight race, with Bowman maintaining a slim lead...
ReplyDeleteJERRY BOWMAN 7,819 17.92%
VICTOR GIARDINELLI 7,806 17.89%
In response to Christine M., claiming that Giardinelli declined our interview request due to laryngitis, is not accurate. Giardinelli phoned me on October 3, and simply said that he didn't want to do an interview because he had already done several interviews already, and recommend that we videotape the forum instead. He mentioned nothing to me about laryngitis at that time.
Also, the interviews we did were conducted on October 10, and October 17. The forum was held on October 15.
If Giardinelli felt well enough on October 3 to recommend videotaping the forum, then certainly he felt well enough to do an interview. I didn't explain this before the election, because I didn't want this to affect the outcome of the election.
Just so you know...it isn't over, til it's over. It isn’t over until it’s over, and with such a close race for School Board members, it’s not yet appropriate to declare the winners.
ReplyDeleteI spoke to Doug at the Registrars office this morning to clarify a press release that several local elections warranted a mandatory check of either 1% or 10% of the precinct votes. It's mostly a manual quality control check that's done with close elections. He assured me that the results will NOT be certified until Dec 2nd, maybe a day or so earlier.
County wide there were over 47000 provisional BLUE ballots still to be researched and counted, and even if only a small percentage were Menifee, the margins are such that there could still be some changes in the outcome.
Provisional ballot research does not begin until November 24 and there was a very high % of last minute registrations that contributed to the high number of provisional ballots.
The tally of qualified write-in candidates will begin the week of Nov17th. Provisional ballot research will begin the week of Nov 24th. Final Ballots include
Provisional and uncounted duplicated ballots will be counted Nov 28th – Dec 1st.
well, looks like his declining affected the outcome all on its own.
ReplyDeleteI voted for Ron Ulibarri! Glad to know a trusted and honorable friend is representing our kids on the school board.
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