Is West Sacramento School Race Harbinger of Thing To Come For Elk Grove Dems?

Across the river in West Sacramento, the Washington Unified School District (WUSD) will be holding a mail-in special election to fill a vac...

Across the river in West Sacramento, the Washington Unified School District (WUSD) will be holding a mail-in special election to fill a vacancy on that board. Normally a school board election in an adjoining county might have no significance for Elk Grove, but this one could be a harbinger of things to come for Elk Grove Mayor Gary Davis.

What caught our attention last week was a tweet from the Democratic Party of Sacramento County. The tweet read "Read who employs Sarah Kirby-Gonzalez for School Board's well-funded opponent, and we're sure you'll join the..." A click to the link led to a profile of one of the five WSUD candidates.

There are two interesting aspects of the candidate, Francisco Castillo, linked in that tweet that warranted closer examination. Those two things were his apparent party affiliation and his employer.

According to Castillo's biography, he previously served as Director of Communications for Lieutenant Governor Gavin Newsom. The other interesting thing about Castillo is his current job with the Michelle Rhee led pro-charter school anti-teacher union group, Students First.

While the Democratic Party of Sacramento does not visibly offer endorsements outside of this county, last week's tweet pointing out Castillo's employer is telling. Obviously the Sacramento Democrats, which has strong labor backing, wants to point out Castillo's employer to WUSD voters.

So what are the implications for Elk Grove Democrats and Mayor Gary Davis?

Given their stance on Castillo and his employer on a race outside of Sacramento County, we can't help but wonder what the leadership of Democratic Party of Sacramento County thinks of Davis' choice of employment with the pro-charter school, and by implication anti-union, advocacy group EdVoice? After all EdVoice and Students First are twin siblings of different donors. 

Furthermore, given his sandbagging of Democratic Party supported Nancy Chaires appointment to the city council in favor of the old Elk Grove connected Roy Herburger-backed Robert Trigg to the Elk Grove City Council, we can't help but wonder what exactly is Davis' standing with local Democrats.

It will be interesting to see if Davis can dig himself out of this hole or will the his employment by the anti-union anti-public school EdVoice and sandbagging of Chaires grind his aspiring political career to a halt. 

Post a Comment Default Comments

12 comments

Capt. Benjamin L. Willard said...

Either readers of this site have vacated Elk Grove for the three day weekend or they just don't care.

Having said that, let me say this about Mayor Davis. Since his election in 2006 he has steadily declined in my book of integrity. I certainly would not him in my foxhole - Charlie would have killed me but not him - he would have fragged me. That's a whole other story.

Davis came in with great promise and hope and now he is nothing but just another political hack.

In retrospect the Mayor has acted in a purely political expedient manner - count the votes, cover your as* and look for the next elected office.

If the analysis suggested here is anywhere near correct, we have a good-news bad-news scenario. The good news, or Gospel as the Mayor might say, it that his political aspirations as a member of the Sacramento Democratic Party are dead. The bad news in this scenario is Elk Grove is stuck with him.

Crystal Ball said...

Fluff Davis follows Steinberg to Washington as a high paid staffer, and the education agenda gets thrown out the window in favor of bigger fish to fry (i.e. make money from). That's my laser focused prediction!

Anonymous said...

Did Lynn Wheat write this article or mouth feed this story to one of your writers? Acting very much as a sore loser, Lynn whined about this on a fading community discussion forum.

Anonymous said...

Ms. Wheat, watch your back. It sounds like The Jim Jones cult, oops I mean Gary Davis cult, is scoping you.

Anonymous said...

Lynn has been the poor loser since the election. She attacks Gary every opportunity she gets.

Bob L said...

To be totally objective, Gary Davis has been a huge disappointment so far and he's taking on water like the Titantic. Lynn Wheat has stood by her beliefs and thoughts related to where our city is headed. She hasn't wavered. To call her a poor loser is unfortunate. She may be the last bastion of reasonableness and pragmatism that still cares about our community. Most of the others have already given up.

Marie said...

I have to agree with the Capt. and Bob L.
Lynn seems to be the only one left fighting for what she sees as the city's lack of proper and smart planning. All we seem to get from the council is payback to their donators who couldn't care less about what gets built within our city limits.

Thanks, Lynn, for keeping the boys on their toes up on that dais.

Anonymous said...

Unlike Mr Davis, Ms Wheat has not wavered on issues she champions. She does not attack, merely presents facts to back up her opinions. Her ire is not only with Davis but with the council when they fail to uphold the General Plan; bend over for developers; accept tons of cash which usually leads to votes that reward the developer at the cost of the citizen....can you say "catholic church"??? Lynn does not whine; simply uses the podium to point out, time and again, how this council fails miserably when it comes to policy, procedure and transparency.

Steve L said...

Interesting how all the Lynn Wheat bashers are "anonymous," yet the majority of Lynn's supporters have the moxy to leave their names.

Seems the bashers are too scared / reluctant to leave their names and stand by their disparaging comments. - I guess I shouldn't be surprised.

Joe S said...

I'm another person discouraged by Lynn. All one needs to do is read her posts on EGO. I haven't seen any other ex candidates or current council members post on EGO. Makes one wonder. And Steve, I will use my name.

Capt. Benjamin L. Willard said...

Joe, Thanks for the dialogue. It is a good thing.

Do you actually think any of the other candidates, think Ms Montgomery, can hold a candle to Ms. Wheat? Lets be honest, I don't even think Mayor Davis much less anyone on the dais has the depth of knowledge, much less the passion Ms. Wheat possesses.

All I know if I was back on a PRB in Vietnam I would much rather have Ms. Wheat covering my back than any of the mayoral candidates much less any of the jarheads currently on the current council.

But, that is just one man's opinion. Tell me Joe, do you actually think any of the other mayoral candidates are in the same league as Ms. Wheat?

Steve L said...

Thanks, Joe. Glad to see you standing up for what you believe in.

Regarding the fact that no other ex-candidate or current council members post on EGO, that is my point, exactly. Lynn is the only one informed and engaging! No of the others (ex-candidiates)care to show up at the meetings, engage the council, study the issues and projects coming forth and inform the public.

You may not agree with her point of view, but she does know her stuff...better than the council in many respects.

She does her own homework, while some on the council rely on staff to keep them informed.

Follow Us

Popular

Archives

Elk Grove News Minute






All previous Elk Grove News Minutes, interviews, and Dan Schmitt's Ya' Gotta be Schmittin' Me podcasts are now available on iTunes

Elk Grove News Podcast




item