The Swarm: Woo's latest mailer makes nonpartisan race explicitly partisan

The Swarm

Mix it up with The Bee's editorial board.

October 29, 2010

Woo's latest mailer makes nonpartisan race explicitly partisan

California's Constitution states that, ""All judicial, school, county and city offices shall be nonpartisan" (California Constitution, Article II, Section 6a).

Most candidates attempt to abide by this spirit of nonpartisanship even if they are registered and active in a particular party - and even if they are endorsed by a political party.

It is highly unusual for a candidate in a nonpartisan race to make a crass partisan pitch on his own behalf - turning a nonpartisan campaign into an explicitly partisan one.

Darrel Woo, running in the Pocket/Greenhaven area for the Sacramento City Unified school board has done just that. He sent out a mailer highlighting his affiliation as a "Registered Democrat" who is "Endorsed by the local Democratic Party." He lambasts one of his opponents as a "Registered Republican" who is "Endorsed by the local Republican Party."

Nonpartisan local elections were a legacy of California's progressives who didn't want party bosses dominating local offices. With his mailer, Woo has signaled that his party affiliation matters more than the nonpartisanship of the school board office, a bad sign.

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Woo's latest mailer also uses this line to attack his opponent: "Has no children in our public schools." Neither does Woo. So what is this about? His opponent attended Joan Didion Elementary, Sam Brannan Middle and Kennedy High School (Class of 1992), so it's not about his knowledge of local public schools. His opponent also has been active for eight years in the Greenhaven Soccer Club, with 120 teams serving 1,400 kids. So it's not about his opponent's understanding of or working with kids. What point is Woo trying to make here?

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This latest mailer reinforces earlier concerns The Bee's editorial board has expressed about Woo. See "Missing: Candidate sense of decency" (Oct. 22) and "For Sacramento schools -- Bell, Corso, Singh" (Oct. 13).

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