Wow, has it been a week since I’ve blogged?

No blog post for almost a week. I didn't intend for that to happen, but it did.

It's late, and I'm bone tired. A lot happened today.

Whenever an attack ad would hit late in a campaign, Bill Clinton had a saying I always had to chuckle at: "If you see a turtle sittin' on a fencepost, it didn't happen by accident!" In other words, there's a reason the attack happens to be coming extraordinarily late in the campaign, and it probably has to do with the fact that there's no truth to it.

We've been dealing with that today, and issued a tough response so that voters knew the facts and understood why false attacks were happening. I wanted this campaign to stay upbeat and positive the entire time, but it wasn't entirely to be. Hopefully, the last four days of this race can shift back to the positive as we close.

It's amazing to sit back and look at the bigger picture of what is happening in our country. As I walk door-to-door and talk to voters, they are so fed up with how things are going nationally. And it's true — Republicans and Democrats alike have been influenced by the special interests, and have spent the people's money like drunken sailors (my apologies to any sailors reading this blog).

The good news for our campaign? People really do seem to feel that Sierra College is one part of government that's working. They know we've been making some big changes for the last four years, and they want those changes to continue. I feel good about our chances because of that.

But you never know. People may just vote against all incumbents, whether they are doing the work of change or not. We'll find out on Tuesday, and I'll trust the verdict of the voters. The absolute worst thing that can happen to me personally is that I get more time with Cacey and Spencer. So I'm either going to win, or I'm going to win.

Tomorrow, we'll be out door-to-door again. Hope to see you along the way.

Busy Weekend

Another busy weekend out meeting voters at various events, or door-to-door. The reception was warm from Republicans, Democrats and independents alike.

I ran into a small number of people who had heard the constant negative message of our opponents, and the common reply was, "don't worry — we know Sierra College is doing great, and we appreciate what you are doing to make it stronger!"

So it's days like those that make me feel like we're headed for a solid win in eight days, but we're going to fight on hard until the last hour of the last day, and not take anything for granted.

A great debate last night…

Our debate on Nevada County Public Television went incredibly well last night. I’m told it will be posted on the web soon, and I’ll share it with you here on the blog.

We kept it very positive, and didn’t stoop to their level. Frankly, we didn’t need to — the facts are on our side.

Sierra College is growing by leaps and bounds. We’re serving 7% more students this year than we did last year, and over 18% more students than when I took office. It’s just not accurate to say the college is "turning students away" in some inappropriate way. We can’t meet every single demand — the state is only funding 3% growth this year, and our balanced budget is carrying the rest.

Sierra College did balance the budget. Six out of seven trustees, voting across party lines, affirmed that a balanced budget means spending less than you bring in. And that’s exactly what we’ve done that for four years in a row.

Sierra College’s accreditation is secure. The college’s accreditation is not on probation, as our opponents have said. Earlier this year, the state commission gave our staff a sense of urgency about finishing the job on some of the reforms we started four years ago, and it worked – their recommendations were substantially completed as of October 15. Our opponents should be thanking our faculty and staff for their hard work, not attacking them.

11 days to the finish line!

Debate went VERY well

More of an update later…

Newcastle Candidate Forum

The final drive to election day is in full swing. I’m going to try and do some short and sweet blog posts over these last twelve days. The schedule is full, and the events are never-ending, but it’s good to get out and see so many friends.

The Newcastle Candidates Forum was great the other night. Special thanks to Elinor Petusky, Michael Landes, and the association and the school for putting it on. The other side packed the room, but we had some undecided voters there too, and it was great to talk with everyone.

Our opponents went harshly negative that night and the following morning. I guess it shouldn’t surprise me — they haven’t had any good things to say about the incredible progress we’ve made at Sierra College for the last four years. But it’s mildly amusing to watch them torture the definition of words like "balanced budget" in their negative attacks.

Ah, well…only twelve more days, and the circus comes to an end.

Yesterday was the Sacramento Bee Editorial Board meeting. Suffice it to say, their minds appear to have been well made up before they invited me in. I fully expect to continue my record of never having received an editorial board endorsement — and winning anyway.

We rolled out our latest ad, "Economy". You can catch it on the home page at AaronKlein.com. Take a gander.

Tonight is another debate on Nevada County Public Television. Tune in to the Jackie Mason Show if you get NCTV. I’m going to strive to stay on our positive message, unless their attacks get harshly personal and we’re forced to respond. Let’s hope we can keep the tone of this campaign a little higher than that, though. We’ll see.

UPDATE 2:45PM: The show is not live tonight, so no need to tune in. It will air some time next week…

Auburn Journal updates on accreditation

So as many of you probably saw, I continued my streak of never having received a newspaper editorial board’s endorsement. The Auburn Journal has never been a big fan of mine. Suffice it to say, I was not incredibly surprised, except for the part where they called me "knowledgeable and articulate." 

That being said, so far, their coverage has been pretty fair this year. And today, they ran an update story on the accreditation process that has been wrongly used as a political football by one particular trustee, and his hand-selected candidates for the Board. Fortunately, it’s been another in a line of tactics that haven’t worked out too well for them.

As I said in my last video blog, our faculty and staff heard the sense of urgency from the commission, and stepped up their efforts on all of these areas, which are substantially completed now. We still have a lot of work to do in building "student learning outcomes" at the course level, but with hundreds of courses, that’s a mammoth task being undertaken by our faculty, and I can understand why it’s taken them some time to get it right.

Frankly, our staff deserve our support and thanks for their hard work on all of these issues. It’s unfortunate that some trustees are so driven by their personal political agendas that they’ve resorted to trying to tear down the very ship they are supposed to be helping to steer.

But, only 15 more days, and the circus leaves town.   Here’s a clip from the article:

In January, the Accrediting Commission for Community and Junior Colleges, Western Association of Schools and Colleges made the recommendations, and on Wednesday the college will submit its progress report in an effort to maintain its accreditation.

“I think we’re making substantial progress,” said Leo Chavez, Sierra College president. “I think what the accrediting commission has done is basically speed up the work we’ve already initiated.”

» Read the Complete Article

My favorite part of the campaign

I’m behind on blogging. If only there were more hours in the day…

All day on Saturday, we were door to door again, meeting voters and talking about the issues facing Sierra College.

Of all the people I met — and it was a lot of folks — I only encountered one negative guy, who said "When will this election end?"  I’m guessing I interrupted his dinner.

Everyone else was incredibly friendly, and had such positive things to say about Sierra College. I’m proud that we’ve made it just a little bit better over the last four years.

By the way, we took a trip out to Bierwagen’s Pumpkin Patch today to pick out a pumpkin, with Cacey and Spencer, as well as Cacey’s cousin, husband and two kids. Had a lot of fun, and who would we run into but one of my favorite State Senators, Sam Aanestad, who was there with his lovely wife and two grandkids. Sam told me that Ernie Bierwagen was one of his earliest political supporters. It was a fun day, and great to see Senator Sam.

Why I’m Running

Looks like the Placer Herald was at the Rocklin Candidate Forum, and they captured my speech on video — even the part when I didn’t notice the "time" card and had to end quickly!

» Watch the Video