Posted on 06/13/2002 6:58:50 AM PDT by w1andsodidwe
Republicans on the Stockton Unified school board acknowledged Wednesday that partisan politics played a role in their decision to be likely the first district in the country to name a school after President George W. Bush.
Trustees defended the merits of their decision against criticism Bush hasn't established a legacy worth memorializing.
"We have a tradition in Stockton Unified of naming our schools after presidents, and George W. Bush is one of the most dynamic presidents in our recent history," said board President Glen Dolberg, who made the motion for Bush's name and voted in favor of it. "How wonderful it is to name a school after someone who's still alive. There's the potential he or his family may visit at its opening."
William Casey, a Stockton man who says he votes his conscience and not along party lines, was outraged over the decision.
"I would rather have seen a school being named for someone who's done something for Stockton," he said. "Especially when it became a 4-3 vote. Why they didn't drop it is baffling.
"It should be something that's apolitical, and it seems like it's not."
Trustees on Tuesday named seven schools that will be built in the next five years. The debate over George W. Bush Elementary School overshadowed the other namings.
Dolberg, Clem Lee, Katrina Rios and Ed Garcia -- all declared Republicans -- voted in favor of the presidential naming. Trustees Clarence Chan, Vicki Brand and Louis Gonzales voted against it.
White House spokesman Ken Lisaius couldn't confirm whether Stockton's is the first school named after Bush -- whose term is just a year and a half old -- but he said he isn't aware of any others.
In Bush's home state of Texas, six schools bear the Bush name. Three are named after his mother, Barbara Bush; two for his father, George Herbert Walker Bush; and one for a deceased Houston teacher of no relation, Audrey Judy Bush.
"The president's top priority has always been education and, to that extent, it's flattering and an honor when school districts choose to name a school after someone," Lisaius said.
School board politics, in most California districts, are nonpartisan. Stockton Unified trustees do not declare what party they belong to when they run for office.
But Dolberg and Lee both noted the political undertones of the decision.
"I'll be honest: Choosing (Bush's) name is politically motivated, because I am a conservative," Dolberg said. "I respond very favorably to things that are patriotic."
Lee said the partisan vote is rare.
"Partisan politics doesn't normally filter its way to the school board dais, but it did last night," he said. "We stay away from that 99.9 percent of the time, but (Tuesday) night it came down to George Bush is our guy, and he's our nation's president during this difficult time.
"The best way for me to characterize my vote for George Bush is that is really for something bigger than George Bush," Lee added. "It's kind of an 'America now' vote. Through that vote, I was attempting in some way to articulate my patriotism, love of country, deference and respect for the current president and the huge task that faces him."
Stockton Unified School District voters are 54 percent Democrat, 37.2 percent Republican, and 5.9 percent of registered voters decline to state a political party, according to the San Joaquin County Registrar of Voters.
State Board of Equalization member and Republican Party operative Dean Andal waged a letter-writing campaign promoting a school named after Bush. Several of the letters went to people who don't live within district boundaries.
"The following is a great opportunity for the Stockton community to recognize President Bush and his efforts to preserve and protect our country," Andal wrote in a letter obtained by The Record. "Please consider taking a few minutes out of your day to send a note to The Record voicing your support for naming a school after our 43rd president."
Campaign-finance documents kept by the county Registrar of Voters show that Andal's own election committee, Citizens for Andal, gave $17,960 to Dolberg and Rios when they were running for election.
Andal's political-action committee, the Central Valley PAC, gave Garcia $7,217 for his run.
Stockton developer Alex Spanos, one of the leading Republican Party contributors in California, has been a regular donor to the Central Valley PAC. He also supported naming a school after Bush, writing a letter to the editor of The Record, proclaiming: "I sincerely believe that naming one of the schools after President Bush is an appropriate and deserved tribute to a man who at the right time gave our nation the inner strength to move forward."
Spanos said Wednesday he was pleased with the decision.
"It's a great tribute to our president, George W. Bush," he said. "I want to thank the board for making this happen. They did a great job."
Spanos said he in no way influenced the outcome of the vote. "All I did was write a letter," he said. "I did no more than that."
Dolberg said finances had nothing to do with his decision.
"I was excited that we thought the same way," he said. "I interact with (Andal and Spanos) and know them. After all, we know that Mr. Spanos is a close friend of President Bush, as well."
Lee acknowledged the influence of prominent Republicans in the community but said he never received a specific order to vote a certain way.
"Am I aware of Mr. Spanos' preference for (the name) Bush school? Absolutely," Lee said.
"Does it enter into my thinking? Absolutely it does," he added, noting that the wishes of the Latino community influenced his decision to favor the name Cesar Chavez for the district's new high school.
"This is the thing that confounds me a little bit," Lee said. "Everyone has an opportunity to express their opinion and their druthers, but if certain people express their opinion or their druthers, that somehow taints the process. That's just nonsense."
Chan, one of the three trustees on the losing end of the vote, said there was a clear political bent to the result, adding that while Bush "is our leader, I don't think he's a great leader."
"If the Republicans wanted to honor a president in Stockton Unified, they could've done George Herbert Walker Bush, or they could have done Ronald Reagan; he's at least a Californian," Chan said. "Or even (Richard) Nixon. If we're not looking at legacies, it doesn't matter. He was the president, period."
Brookside resident Steve Prato was rankled over politically connected citizens making a decision for a largely minority, largely low-income school district.
"I think it would anger me even more" if I lived in the district, he said. "These people aren't even in my income class, and they're making decisions on what to name my neighborhood school."
Marcelino "Monty" Martinez, chairman of San Joaquin County's Democratic Central Committee, said he could understand that the Stockton school board would name a school after Bush, "because he's always in the news, and he took such a strong stand against the terrorist situation."
But Martinez said he thought the school naming was premature, because Bush is only in the second year of his presidency.
"This (presidency) is still evolving," he said. "I'm just glad they didn't name one after the former president, Clinton."
* To reach reporter Victor Balta, phone 546-8272 or e-mail vbalta@recordnet.com
while Bush "is our leader, I don't think he's a great leader."
Steve Prato was rankled over politically connected citizens making a decision for a largely minority, largely low-income school district.
"I think it would anger me even more" if I lived in the district, he said. "These people aren't even in my income class, and they're making decisions on what to name my neighborhood school."
Of course none of the oppositions comments are partisan. I note that none of the Republican's made disparaging remarks about the naming of the other school after the liberal Cesar Chavez.
It is politically correct to disparage conservative icons, but not liberal ones.
Yep! And the really scary part is the liberals lack the critical thinking skills to see their own hypocrisy.
BTW, I thoroughly disapprove of naming anything after a living president -- or any politician or any so-called activist -- even President Bush, of whom I am extremely fond.
Part of me agrees with you, but I remember schools being named after X42. W is certainly a much better role model for the children who will attend the school. And education is one of the things W is trying to better.
BTW, just how many schools are named for Bill ?
Schools must have a name.
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