Your opinion piece on August 30th [New High Buy-In Make Emery School Board Elections Exclusive], brought attention to the fees charged by the Alameda County Registrar of Voters to candidates for the Emery School Board of Trustees. I am newly appointed to the Board and I'm a candidate for the position in the November general election. Your story accurately stated, candidates for Emery School Board must pay $832 if they want to have their candidate statement published in the voter guide.
As someone who was impacted by this fee, I agree with the concept that we need to keep money out of politics. I am not sure this plan solves the problem. While your plan would help the first three people, it does not offer relief to everybody. The biggest challenge I had in filing my paperwork was getting to the office during business hours. Once there, I had to decide if I could afford the outlay of the fee. On that day, I felt I could not. This may hurt my election chances, but it was the right decision at the time. An alternative that I could support is what they do in other races; pay the fee or present registered voter's signatures. I think the community should decide if the District should pay for the publication of a candidate’s statement.
Christian Patz, Ed.D.
Appointed Incumbent and Candidate for Emery School BoardChristian R. Patz (Ed.D.) is on the Emery Unified School District Board of Trustees, appointed to the position last June to fill in for outgoing Board member Josh Simon. Mr Patz is currently a Special Education Administrator at the Mt Diablo Unified School District and he is running for election to the Emery School Board in November. His campaign website is HERE.
Christian lives in Emeryville with his wife and young child.
does this apply to all school districts in alameda county? the article implies it is only emeryville. if so, why should candidates pay $832 to run for the school district and have their candidate statement published? why can't candidates present signatures of registered voters who support the candidate? this is getting to be a rich man's (or woman's) race. please do a follow-up story, brian.
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