The Contra Costa County Elections Division has not posted the Form 460 finance report for the period from October 1 to October 20 of the campaign to support the West Contra Costa Unified School District’s $360 million Measure E. This campaign committee is known as “For the Children of West County.” Someone is going to drop by the county elections office in Martinez to obtain the paper copy of the report for me to analyze and provide to the public on this blog.
The county has posted the list of contributions since the June 5, 2012 election (for the period ending June 30, 2012 and the period ending September 30, 2012) to this perpetually-operating campaign committee. They total $608,650. Apparently a lot of people care about the children of West County! See the list below.
No one seems to care about the taxpayers of West County. Currently, they owe $1.77 billion in debt service for money borrowed by the West Contra Costa Unified School District through bond sales authorized by five previous ballot measures (see page 15). Here’s the history of bond measures that this school district has brought before voters since 1998.
|
Bond Measures for West Contra Costa Unified School District |
||||
|
Authorized Bond Amount. Does Not Include Interest and Fees |
Date of Election |
Ballot Designation |
Outcome |
|
| $40 million | June 2, 1998 | Measure E | Approved by 76.0% of voters | |
| $150 million | November 7, 2000 | Measure M | Approved by 77.5% of voters | |
| $300 million | March 5, 2002 | Measure D | Approved by 71.6% of voters | |
| $450 Million | September 16, 2003 | Measure C | Rejected in a special election because only 59.1% of voters approved the bond measure, which needed two-thirds voter approval | |
| $400 million | November 8, 2005 | Measure J | Approved by 56.9% of voters | |
| $380 million | June 8, 2010 | Measure D | Approved by 62.6% of voters | |
| $1.27 billion | Total from five bond measures from 1998 to the present. | |||
| $360 million | November 6, 2012 | Approved for consideration by district voters through a resolution of the school board on August 1, 2012 | ||
As you might guess, a school district of 27.500 students (see page 53) willing to accumulate debt of this magnitude despite the economic distress of the district’s residents is also eager to require its construction contractors to sign a Project Labor Agreement with unions as a condition of working on its projects. West Contra Costa Unified School District was the first educational district in Northern California to include a Project Labor Agreement in bid specifications (beating out Vallejo City Unified School District, Oakland Unified School District, and East Side Union High School District in San Jose.)
|
Project Labor Agreement Policies for West Contra Costa Unified School District |
|
| May 3, 2000 | Board votes 5-0 to approve a policy that the school board will consider a Project Labor Agreement for each individual construction project of $1 million or more. (An administrative regulation for this policy was implemented on August 2, 2000.) |
| December 6, 2000 | Board votes 5-0 to approve its first Project Labor Agreement, for the construction of a middle school. |
| July 11, 2002 | Board votes 5-0 to amend its Project Labor Agreement to put the responsibility on the contractors (instead of the unions) to find local apprentices. |
Here’s the list of contributors to the campaign to pass Measure E, through September 30, 2012.
| DONOR | INTEREST | AMOUNT |
| WLC Architects | Architect | $195,000 |
| Deems Lewis McKinley | Architect | $50,000 |
| International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local Union No. 302 | Construction trade union | $35,000 |
| Fred Powell, architect with Powell & Partners | Architect | $35,000 |
| The Seville Group (now rebranded as SGI Construction Management) | Construction management | $30,000 |
| Quattrocchi Kwok Architects | Architect | $25,000 |
| Hibser Yamauchi Architects | Architect | $20,000 |
| Interactive Resources | Architect | $15,000 |
| Baker Vilar Architects | Architect | $15,000 |
| Sheet Metal Workers Local Union No. 104 | Construction trade union | $10,000 |
| Hamilton + Aiken Architects | Architect | $10,000 |
| Lathrop Construction Associates | Construction contractor | $10,000 |
| Northern California Carpenters Regional Council | Construction trade union | $10,000 |
| Orbach Huff & Suarez | Law firm for school districts | $10,000 |
| District Council of Ironworkers of the State of California and Vicinity | Construction trade union | $7,500 |
| Employers’ Advocate | Construction labor relations | $7,500 |
| HMC Architects | Architect | $6,950 |
| Northern California District Council of Laborers | Construction trade union | $5,000 |
| Interface Engineering | Engineering | $5,000 |
| GCR | Law firm for school districts | $5,000 |
| Jack Schrader & Associates | Consultant for developer fees | $5,000 |
| John P. Grossman and Associates | Architect | $5,000 |
| KNN Public Finance | School financing consultant | $5,000 |
| Powell & Partners | Architect | $5,000 |
| Amanco | Construction management | $5,000 |
| Atkinson Andelson Loya Ruud & Romo | Law firm, works for WCCUSD | $5,000 |
| AE3 Partners | Architect, engineering | $5,000 |
| AEKO Consulting | Information technology installation | $5,000 |
| Kam Yan & Associates | Engineers | $4,500 |
| Davillier-Sloan | Construction labor relations | $4,000 |
| Arcala Land Company | Affiliated in some way with Davillier-Sloan | $4,000 |
| Carducci & Associates | Architect | $3,500 |
| CBX Technologies | Information technology installation | $3,000 |
| Brelje & Race Consulting Civil Engineers | Engineering | $2,500 |
| Cal Communication Service Company | Construction contractor | $2,500 |
| [Plumbers & Pipefitters Local Union No. 159] TRICO Pipes | Union-affiliated labor-management cooperation committee | $2,500 |
| Del Monte Electric | Construction contractor | $2,500 |
| H&M Mechanical Group | Engineering | $2,500 |
| O’Mahony & Myer | Engineering | $2,500 |
| ZFA Structural Engineers | Engineering | $2,500 |
| Contra Costa County Electrical Industry Trust | Union-affiliated labor-management cooperation committee | $1,500 |
| Vallier Design Associates | Architect (landscape) | $1,500 |
| Total School Solutions | School district administration consultant | $1,500 |
| Thornton Tomasetti | Engineering | $1,500 |
| Sprinkler Fitters & Apprentices Local Union No. 483 | Construction trade union | $1,250 |
| WHM | Engineering | $1,200 |
| Cammisa and Wipf Consulting Engineers | Engineering | $1,000 |
| 15000 Incorporated | Engineering | $1,000 |
| Bay Area Consulting Engineers (BAC Engineers) | Engineering | $1,000 |
| Skinner for Assembly 2012 | Politician | $1,000 |
| Kleinfelder West | Engineering | $1,000 |
| ISSA Structural Engineering | Engineering | $1,000 |
| McCracken & Woodman | Engineering | $1,000 |
| Mechanical Design Studio | Engineering | $1,000 |
| PMC | School finance consultant | $1,000 |
| Security by Design | Engineering | $1,000 |
| Cornerstone Structural Engineering Group | Engineering | $750 |
| David L. Gates & Associates | Architect | $500 |
| Brokaw Consulting Electrical Engineering | Engineering | $500 |
| Bricklayers & Allied Craftsworkers Local Union No. 3 | Construction trade union | $500 |
| Kronick Moskovitz Tiedemann & Girard | Law firm for school districts | $500 |
| Ingraham DeJesse Associates | Engineering | $500 |
| Miller & Associates | Construction contractor? | $500 |
| Sally Swanson Architects | Architect | $500 |
| Alexander Murdoch, executive with School Facility Consultants | School finance consultant | $500 |
| Matthew Pettler, executive with School Facility Consultants | School finance consultant | $500 |
| Luk and Associates | Engineering | $300 |
| SOHA Engineers | Engineering | $250 |
| RGA Environmental | Hazmat consultant | $250 |
| Willie Robinson | Construction management | $250 |
| Alan Kroop & Associates | Engineering | $250 |
| Ninyo & Moore | Engineering | $100 |
| KPFF – San Francisco | Engineering | $100 |
| Not itemized | $0 | |
| TOTAL | $608,650 | |
