NORTHWEST LABOR PRESS | May 1 , 2015 | PAGE 3
OREGON
UNION VOTER GUIDE
There’s an election this month in Oregon: an off-year “special” elec-
tion to decide who will hold nonpartisan board positions for com-
munity colleges, school districts, educational service districts, and
fire and water districts. These are low-profile races, in a low-turnout
election, so union voters can really make a difference: electing can-
didates who will side with working people, and passing measures
that will put union members to work building infrastructure or pro-
viding public services. The following candidates and measures have
asked for union support, and have received the endorsement of one
or more labor organizations.
DON’T FORGET! Ballots were mailed out starting April 29, and
must be received by county elections departments by May 19.
MULTNOMAH COUNTY
WASHINGTON COUNTY
Multnomah Education Service
District
Hillsboro School District
Position 6, at large: Stephen Marc
Beaudoin (Portland Association of
Teachers; Northwest Oregon Labor
Council; MESD Education Association)
Position 7, Zone 3: Siobhan Burke
(Portland Association of Teachers;
Northwest Oregon Labor Council; MESD
Education Association, AFT-Oregon)
Portland Community College
Zone 3: Michael Sonnleitner
(Northwest Oregon Labor Council; PCC
Federation of Faculty and Academic
Professionals; PCC Federation of
Classified Employees)
Portland Public Schools
Zone 1: Julie Esparza Brown (Portland
Association of Teachers)
Zone 2: Paul Anthony (Portland
Association of Teachers)
Zone 3: Bobbie Regan (Portland
Association of Teachers; Northwest
Oregon Labor Council; Columbia Pacific
Building Trades Council)
Corbett School District
Position 6: Lacey Auble (Corbett
Education Association)
Reynolds School District
Measure 26-164, Capital bond:
Support (Northwest Oregon Labor
Council)
CLACKAMAS COUNTY
North Clackamas School
District
Position 2: Lee Merrick (North
Clackamas Education Association)
Position 3: Trisha Claxton (North
Clackamas Education Association; North
Clackamas Chapter 71 of Oregon School
Employees Association; UFCW Local
555)
Position 7: Steven Schroedl (North
Clackamas Education Association)
City of West Linn
Mayor: Thomas Frank (Northwest
Oregon Labor Council; UFCW Local 555)
Position 4: Kim Strelchun (Hillsboro
Education Association)
Position 5: Lisa Allen (Northwest
Oregon Labor Council; Hillsboro
Education Association)
Position 7: Jaime Rodriguez
(Northwest Oregon Labor Council;
Hillsboro Education Association; PCC
Federation of Faculty and Academic
Professionals)
Beaverton School District
Zone 3: Melissa Potter (Beaverton
Education Association)
Zone 6: Becky Tymchuk (Beaverton
Education Association)
Daniel Vazquez (Northwest Oregon
Labor Council)
Tualatin Valley Fire & Rescue
Position 4: Randy Lauer (Tualatin Valley
Firefighters Union, IAFF Local 1660)
Position 5: Brian Clopton (Tualatin
Valley Firefighters Union, IAFF Local
1660)
COLUMBIA COUNTY
Port of St. Helens
Position 1: Robert Keyser (Columbia
Pacific Building Trades Council;
Northwest Oregon Labor Council; UFCW
Local 555)
Position 2: Mike Avent (Columbia
Pacific Building Trades Council;
Northwest Oregon Labor Council; UFCW
Local 555)
Position 3: Colleen DeShazer
(Columbia Pacific Building Trades
Council; Northwest Oregon Labor
Council; UFCW Local 555)
Electing labor’s own
Four graduates of the Oregon Labor Candidates School are on the ballot this month. With
funding from 11 labor unions, Oregon Labor Candidates School was set up as a non-profit
in May 2012 to train rank-and-file union members to run for all levels of public office. Since
then, 60 union members have gone through the training program, 16 have run for office, and
six have won election: State Rep. Rob Nosse (Oregon Nurses Association); Hillsboro City
Council member Kyle Allen (Working America); Scappoose School Board member Joseph
Lewis (AFSCME); Parkrose School Board member Erick Flores (Oregon Education Asso-
ciation); Multnomah Education Service District board member Francisco Acosta, Jr. (Amer-
ican Federation of Teachers); and Klamath Falls Community College board member Austin
Folnagy (Service Employees International Union).
This month, four of the school’s graduates are on the ballot. They’re all working people
who are active in their unions, so if they ever have a role to play in a public fight over workers
rights, they’ll know which side they’re on.
Sonnleitner
Jaime Rodriguez, 52, is running for Hillsboro School Board, Position
7. Rodriguez has worked since 1999 as a career specialist at Portland Com-
munity College’s Rock Creek campus, helping students and unemployed
workers assess their interests and skills, and advising them on a career
path. He’s a member of American Federation of Teachers Local 2277
(PCC Federation of Faculty and Academic Professionals) and serves as
vice president of political action for both his local and for AFT-Oregon.
He also represents Local 2277 as a delegate to the Northwest Oregon La-
bor Council. Rodriguez ran for a different at-large position on the Hillsboro
School Board in 2013, and finished second in a three-way race with 40
Rodriguez
percent of the vote. Now he’s challenging one-term incumbent Wayne
Clift, who ran unopposed four years ago. Rodriguez is the only Latino candidate running
this year, in a district where 40 percent of students are Latino and many are speakers of Eng-
lish as a second language. And with incumbent Adriana Cañas not running for re-election,
he’d be the only Latino member on the seven-member school board. facebook.com/JaimeRo-
driguezforSchoolBoard
Siobhan Burke, 46, is one of two candidates running for an open board
seat in Zone 3 of the Multnomah Educational Service District. Burke
is a special education aide at Pioneer Alternative School in Portland, and
serves as a work site representative with her union, Portland Federation
of School Professionals (AFT Local 111). She’s also a former staff organ-
izer for Chicago Jobs with Justice. She has two children in Portland Public
Schools, and last year got involved with the Portland Parent Union, a group
that formed to support Portland teachers as they prepared for a possible
strike. Burke says there’s a lot to disagree with about MESD’s current lead-
ership, including aggressive bargaining postures it’s taken toward union
Burke
workers, and the recent controversial firing of Brett Bigham, a 2014
teacher of the year. siobhanburkeformesd.com
Susan Hardy, 70, is running for school board in Oakridge, Oregon, a
town of 3,200 an hour east of Eugene. Hardy, a member of Oregon School
Employees Association, retired after many years as a family advocate at
Head Start of Lane County. Now she works part-time for Head Start co-
ordinating a child passenger safety program, and she’s active in the OSEA
retiree group, ROSE. Hardy was bothered a few years ago when the
Oakridge School District contracted out its school bus operation. Now,
she’s running because she loves kids and wants to make a difference.
facebook.com/susanhardyforOakridge
LANE COUNTY
Eugene School Board
Position 4: Eileen Nittler (Oregon
School Employees’ Association, Eugene
Chapter 1; AFSCME Local 191)
Position 5: Kevin Cronin (Lane County
Labor Council; Graduate Teaching
Fellows AFT Local 3544; SEIU Local 503)
Position 7: Mary Walston (Oregon
School Employees Association, Eugene
Chapter 1)
Michael Sonnleitner, 65, is one of two candidates challenging the incum-
bent for a position of the board of Portland Community College (PCC),
representing Zone 3, which runs from Johns Landing to outer Southeast
and Northeast Portland. Sonnleitner is a member of the PCC Federation
of Faculty and Academic Professionals (AFT Local 3922) and has taught
political science at PCC for 27 years. Under state law, he’d have to quit
his job at PCC if elected to its board. But he says that’s a sacrifice he’s
willing to make. Sonnleitner says the current PCC board too often rubber-
stamps proposals from the administration; he opposes a recently approved
series of tuition increases, and wants management to tighten its belt.
zone3pcc.com/
Hardy
Oregon Labor Candidates School is organizing canvasses to help its graduates get elected.
The next one is for Hillsboro School Board candidate Jaime Herrera at 2 p.m., Sunday, May
3, meeting at 1931 SE 55th in Hillsboro. To get involved, contact Sara Ryan at 503-957-
0306 or by email at sara@oregonlaborcandidateschool.org. And find out more about the
school at oregonsvoiceonline.com/olcs/