Thursday, 28 March 2024

Lake County Democratic Party issues endorsements for November election

LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – The Lake County Democratic Party membership voted at its Sept. 6 business meeting to endorse five candidates in races for local Lake County office for the Nov. 6 general election.

“We could not be prouder of this team,” the party said in a statement. “Every person in Lake County will be well served by the election of these candidates.”

At the same meeting, the party strongly reaffirmed its endorsement of Shanda Harry for Lake County Superior Court jdge. Harry was top vote getter in the June Primary.

The county party voted to endorse Dirk Slooten for Clearlake City Council.

Slooten, a native of the Netherlands, obtained a degree in engineering Amsterdam and immigrated to the USA in 1972. He owned Slooten Consulting, a firm focused on land surveying and engineering. Slooten and wife Karen have owned property in the city since 1996 and became full time residents in 2012.

He currently serves on the Clearlake Planning Commission, the Measure V Oversight Committee and the city's steering committee to oversee the city's zoning codes. He is current president of the Clearlake Rotary. As chair of the Lake Area Rotary Clubs Association Slooten helped raise more than $1 million for county fire relief.

Slooten's priorities are the to enhance the city's economic development plan by attracting business, to work with all stakeholders in the city and county to address our homelessness issue and to fast track Measure V, the city's street improvement project.

Madelene Lyon has been endorsed by the party for District 5 member of the County Board of Education.

Lyon is a longtime Kelseyville resident and incumbent on the County Board.

She attended UC Davis, and received her B.S. degree from USF. Her service to Lake County includes, chairing the Clear Lake State Park Interpretive Association, volunteering for the Kelseyville Food Pantry and volunteering for Lake County Hospice. She and her family having been farming in the Kelseyville community since the 1930s.

Lyon is intimately familiar with the oversight responsibilities of the County Board and its long term vision for education in Lake County. She is committed to the principles that regardless of gender, special needs, or social, ethnic, language or economic background, each Lake County child, has a right to a high-quality education that challenges the students to achieve to his/her fullest potential.

The board’s responsibility includes oversight of the Lake County superintendent of schools and introducing and implementing county wide education programs for schools and students.

Larry Allen received the party's endorsement for Middletown Unified School Board

Allen is a retired teacher who served for 32 years in the Middletown District, teaching students at almost every grade level.

He was president of the Middletown Teachers Association and served on the California Teacher's Association's as a state council representative teachers in Lake County. Allen served on the NEA's board of directors and the CTA Board of Directors, representing teachers on the North Coast.

Allen believes that students and student support are foremost in a school, and that there is no school without students and those who serve them. Teachers, bus drivers, cooks and custodians are essential personnel to a school's daily operation. Allen is a fierce advocate for public education and its role in the foundation of democracy.

Ana Santana, running for Upper Lake School Board, received the party’s endorsement.

Santana, a first generation Mexican American immigrant, has lived in Lucerne for 38 years. She graduated from Upper Lake High School in 1988.

he received her bachelor's degree in Early Childhood Education from Pacific Union College. She has worked with families and children in various advocacy roles for 29 years. Santana now serves as program director for Healthy Start Youth and Family Services.

Santana believes strongly in the value of public education. Santana's goals include retaining and recruiting highly qualified teachers, developing and supporting academic initiatives that will prepare all children, and to ensure our taxpayer dollars are spent directly in the classroom.

Herb Gura, an incumbent on the Konocti School Board was endorsed by the party.

Gura, a Brooklyn native, moved to Lake County in 1977. He became a volunteer for the Senior Law project in the 1980s, and took classes at Northwestern California University School of Law.

He was hired by AWARE in 1986, where he provided legal services to victims of domestic abuse.

In 1987, Gura founded the Self Help Law Center in Clearlake where he continues to provide free and low cost legal assistance to unrepresented Lake County citizens. He is a trained mediator and earned Lake County's first "Mediator of the Year" award in 1995.

Gura has served on the Konocti Board of Trustees since 1994. He lists the board’s accomplishments the establishment of career-based learning with KEC, a career-based school for careers in health and performing arts, the free breakfast and lunch for every student regardless of income, state of the art facilities thanks to the community's support of our bond measures and the ability to provide the community use of our facilities during fires.

Gura’s goals for the next term will be focused on improving academic performance, the continuation of support for music, and the arts and other elective programs and more parent and community involvement.

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03.30.2024 9:00 am - 2:00 pm
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