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MAIL YOUR CHECK TO “SAVE SIERRA COLLEGE”, P.O. BOX 5544, AUBURN, CA 95604 Bring back integrity, experience and non-partisan leadership.

Four years ago, the radical right bought and paid for control of the Sierra College Board of Trustees. They spent nearly $100K of far-right money in electing two inexperienced and unqualified young partisans for control of the board majority.

They embarked on a campaign of lies and distortion that have damaged the college.

• They invented the phony issue of fiscal mismanagement, adopted a primitive and dishonest definition of “balanced budget” that only a politician can love, and then crowed endlessly and self-servingly about their so-called “achievement”. In the meantime, the percentage of reserve funds has actually decreased.
  
• They defamed the college leadership, made irresponsible and untrue public charges, and squandered $600 thousand to rid themselves of a President they disliked.
  
• They have added another $800 Thousand in debt service to the college’s already strained operating budget.
  
• Two years were wasted focusing on a failed attempt to get one of themselves elected to higher office.
  
• They concocted a phony and inadequate bond issue that was even rejected by the college’s home city of Rocklin.
  
• For the first time in its history, the college is on accreditation warning in part because this board majority failed to perform even its most basic planning obligations. Then they suppressed reporting the accreditation warning to the public which still hasn’t been officially informed.
  
• In the meantime, thousands of students are denied enrollment in courses they need while the college’s outmoded half-century old facilities have decayed for another four years without a meaningful plan for renovation. The ratio of full-time faculty per student is among the worst in the state.

This is a shameful record of partisan mismanagement and self-serving distortion of the truth. The facts don’t lie. The public deserves better for its only significant local institution of higher learning. About 40% of local high school graduates will begin their higher education at Sierra and the college’s enrollment is forecast to double to 40,000 by 2035. The November election in two trustee areas is pivotal in determining the college’s direction for decades. Once again, the radical right is offering up two highly partisan candidates. If we care about higher education in our community, we must defeat them. But we need your help.

In Elaine Rowen and John Vodonick, we have two experienced and highly-qualified candidates, both committed to the importance of public higher education. But running for the Sierra Board is a daunting task since the election is held at large over the district’s 260,000 voters. It will take time and money to help Elaine and John gain even the minimum recognition that they need to have a chance. The far right defamation machine has already gone to work smearing Elaine and John with pure lies.

Here are three things you can do to help.

1. Send your check today, payable to “Save Sierra College”, P.O. Box 5544, Auburn, CA 95604.
   
2. Then distribute this note to your own e-mail list and encourage everyone you know to vote for Elaine and John.
   
3. Finally, if you can donate a few hours, visit www.savesierracollege.com and volunteer your time.
   
   Sierra College is a vital and productive resource for all of us. We must return its leadership to people who care more about public higher education than they do about their own political future and imposing their partisan viewpoint.

Cheryl MakiSave Sierra College Committee, # 1286925