The Union: Citizens' group forms to launch recall of newly elected Sierra College trustee

By: Ryan Sabalow, Journal Staff WriterTuesday,
February 15, 2005 12:02 PM PST

A citizens' group is working to recall Sierra College Trustee Aaron Klein. More than 35 concerned community members and Sierra College faculty gathered Thursday at Hacienda Mexican Restaurant in Rocklin to discuss how to best recall the newly elected, 26-year-old trustee.

Kent Pollock, a part-time Sierra College journalism instructor and past director of the California First Amendment Coalition, said the group decided to meet again this week to appoint a steering committee to lead the charge against Klein.The meeting's date, time and location will be announced later this week, he said.

The group also bought the rights to the domain for Web sites www.recallaaronklein.com and www.recallaaronklein.org and will be putting Web pages together soon, Pollock said.Pollock said Thursday's meeting most importantly served as chance to vent frustrations against Klein, who after being sworn-in this January, led the charge to pressure former Sierra College President Kevin Ramirez to resign.

Officials say Ramirez's settlement could cost the college close to $500,000."There was a lot of anger expressed at the meeting," Pollock said. "People don't like to see bullies win."

Klein declined to comment on the recall effort Monday, issuing instead an e-mail that echoed previous statements to the Journal.

A recall would be costly for Sierra College. According to figures from the Placer County Elections Department, if a special election was called by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, it would cost the college at least $325,000. If a standalone election were called, it could cost as much as $909,000. Recall proponents would also need to gather at least 26,000 signatures from its district, which extends into Placer, El Dorado, Nevada and Sacramento counties. And any action taken would have to be after March 3 - 90 days after Klein's official swear-in date.

Pollock said he acknowledged that a recall would be costly and logistically challenging for Sierra College, but it would be worth every penny. He said Klein was working to further his own political aspirations when he filed paperwork with the Placer County Elections Department in January, which stated Ramirez unethically used a non-profit agency to fund campus bond measures. Klein's allegations have yet to be substantiated, and Ramirez denies any wrongdoing.

Pollock said he was also concerned Klein would take more actions similar to Ramirez's buyout that would negatively affect the college financially."Three-hundred-twenty-five-thousand dollars, though not a small number, might be worth it to save more wasted money," Pollock said.

..those in attendance at Thursday's meeting say Klein's role in Ramirez's resignation was enough to oust the trustee. "I think we should stand up and say 'You're out of line,'" said Brent Moore, 46, of Rocklin, who is considering sitting on the steering committee. "We need to send a message back that says ... you're going to be held accountable." Linda Hall, chairwoman of the Placer County Democratic Central Committee, expressed interest in sitting on the steering committee as well after attending last Thursday's meeting, although she said her fellow Democrats have yet to come to an official consensus on the recall.

"In my opinion, (Klein) slandered Ramirez using inflammatory language and half-truths," Hall said. "The whole way he went about this just reeks of a personal agenda." She said the committee will hold a regular meeting at 7 p.m. Feb. 24 at the Placer County Elections Office to discuss and make a decision on whether to back the recall.

Although Democrats may have a personal grudge against Klein, who received more than $30,000 from Placer County Republican groups for November's election, Pollock said the recall effort isn't about partisanship. "An awful lot of Republicans don't agree with what the board did," he said. "I don't want this to come across as the Democrats against Republicans, because that's not what it is."