Dax Choksi

List of Local Candidates to Receive Democratic Endorsement in Alameda County

 List of Local Candidates to Receive Democratic Endorsement in Alameda County  ACDCC, Politics  No Responses »
Sep 102016
 
acdccendorsed

Of course, this post is not endorsed by the ACDCC – this is just a graphic 🙂

Every election, the Alameda County Democratic Central Committee (ACDCC) endorses candidates for non-partisan local offices in the County; only registered Democrats can apply for the endorsement.  Well over a hundred candidates were interviewed by the Executive Committee, and over 70 were put on the consent calendar to be automatically endorsed by the Party at the September 17th meeting, around 30 more candidates were nominated for the endorsement and will be interviewed by the full Committee on that date.  It takes two ACDCC members to either pull a candidate from the consent calendar or nominate them for endorsement – and this election most ACDCC members were very reluctant to do so: only four candidates were pulled from the consent calendar and only 8 candidates were nominated, I participated in all but one of these actions.

Below is a list of the candidates on the consent calendar, and those who have been nominated and will be interviewed on the 17th.  Links are to their questionnaires, when they’ve submitted one.  The comments are my own.

On Consent Calendar (will receive the Democratic Endorsement)

ALAMEDA COUNCILMEMBER (elect 2)  Hon. Marilyn Ezzy Ashcraft, Malia Vella (pulled both, no second – Vella is an ACDCC associate member)
ALAMEDA AUDITOR  Mike McMahon (McMahon replied satisfactorily to my question as to why he was running against the Libertarian incumbent)
ALBANY COUNCILMEMBER (elect 3)  Hon. Peter Maass, Hon. Nick Pilch, Erik Giesen-Fields (challengers are registered as No Party Preference)
BERKELEY COUNCILMEMBER DIST. 2  Hon. Darryl Moore (pulled, no second)
BERKELEY COUNCILMEMBER DIST. 3  Ben Bartlett (pulled, no second)
BERKELEY RENT STAB. BD. COMM. (elect 4)  Hon. Alejandro Soto-Vigil, Christina Murphy, Leah Simon-Weisberg, Igor Tregub (did not send questionnaire for this race, Tregub is an ACDCC associate)
DUBLIN COUNCILMEMBER (elect 2)  Mona Lisa Ballesteros, Melissa Hernandez-Strah (pulled both, no second)
EMERYVILLE COUNCILMEMBER (elect 3)  John Bauters, Ally Medina, Hon. Christian Patz (pulled Bauters & Medina and nominated John T. Van Geffen, no second)
FREMONT MAYOR  Hon. Bill Harrison (no Democratic opponent, Harrison is an ACDCC alternate member)
FREMONT COUNCILMEMBER (elect 2)  Raj Salwan (nominated Cullen Tiernan, no second – Salwan is an ACDCC alternate member)
LIVERMORE COUNCILMEMBER (elect 2)  Hon. Stewart Gary
NEWARK MAYOR  Hon. Alan L. Nagy (no opponent)
NEWARK COUNCILMEMBER (elect 2)  Hon. Maria “Sucy” Collazo, Hon. Luis L. Freitas (no opponents)
OAKLAND CITY ATTORNEY  Hon. Barbara Parker (no opponent)
OAKLAND COUNCILMEMBER DIST. 1  Hon. Daniel Kalb
OAKLAND COUNCILMEMBER DIST. 7  Hon. Larry Reid (pulled, no second)
PIEDMONT COUNCILMEMBER (elect 2)  Hon. Jonathan Levine, Hon. Robert McBain
SAN LEANDRO COUNCILMEMBER DIST. 2  Bryan Azevedo
SAN LEANDRO COUNCILMEMBER DIST. 6  Pete Ballew (pulled, no second)
UNION CITY MAYOR  Hon. Carol Dutra-Vernaci (pulled, no second)
UNION CITY COUNCILMEMBER  Gary Singh
CHABOT-LAS POSITAS CCD TRUSTEE AREA 7  Hon. William Macedo (no Democratic opponent)
ALAMEDA USD DIRECTOR (elect 3)  Hon. Gray Harris, Matt Hettich, Jennifer Williams (pulled Hettich & Williams, nominated Dennis Popalardo & Anne McKereghan, no second)
BERKELEY USD DIRECTOR (elect 2)  Hon. Beatriz Levya-Cutler, Hon. Judy Appel
CASTRO VALLEY USD DIRECTOR (elect 3)  Hon. Jo A. S. Loss (pulled & nominated Tojo Thomas, no second)
DUBLIN USD DIRECTOR (elect 3)  Hon. Amy Miller
DUBLIN USD DIRECTOR (short term)  Hon. Sameer Hakim
EMERY USD DIRECTOR (elect 2)  Barbara Inch, Cruz Vargas
FREMONT USD DIRECTOR (elect 3)  Hon. Ann Crosbie (Crosbie is an ACDCC associate member)
HAYWARD USD DIRECTOR (elect 3)  Hon. Annette Walker, Todd Davis (pulled Walker, no second)
NEW HAVEN USD DIRECTOR (elect 3)  Hon. Michael Ritchie, Sharan Kaur, Lance Nishihira (no Democratic opponents)
OAKLAND USD DIRECTOR DIST. 1  Hon. Jody London (pulled, no second)
OAKLAND USD DIRECTOR DIST. 7  Chris Jackson
PLEASANTON USD DIRECTOR (elect 3)  Hon. Valerie Arkin, Stephen Maher (drama about pulling Maher to be discussed later, Arkin is an ACDCC alternate member)
SAN LORENZO USD DIRECTOR (elect 3)  Hon. Penny Peck, Kyla Sinegal, Marilyn Stewart
A.C. TRANSIT DIRECTOR AT-LARGE  Hon. H. E. Christian Peeples
A.C. TRANSIT DIRECTOR WARD 2  Hon. Greg Harper
ALAMEDA COUNTY WATER DIST. DIRECTOR (elect 3)  Hon. Marty Koller, Aziz Akbari (did not send questionnaire)
BART DIRECTOR DIST. 7  Lateefah Simon
EAST BAY REG. PARK DIST. DIRECTOR WARD 4  Ellen Corbett
ORO LOMA SANITARY DIST. DIRECTOR (short term)  Hon. Rita Duncan (pulled & nominated Chike Udemezue, no second)
WASHINGTON TWP. HEALTH CARE DIST. DIR. (elect 2)  Hon. Pat Danielson, Chitra Ramanathan (did not send questionnaire, no Democratic opponents – Danielson is an ACDCC elected member)

NOMINATED (need 60% of vote to receive Democratic endorsement)

BERKELEY MAYOR  Hon. Jesse Arreguin, Hon. Laurie Capitelli (Arreguin is an ACDCC elected member, he has been endorsed by Bernie Sanders)
BERKELEY COUNCILMEMBER DIST. 5  Sophie Hahn, Stephen Murphy
BERKELEY COUNCILMEMBER DIST. 6  Hon. Susan Wengraf, Fred Dodsworth (I pulled Wengraf and nominated Dodsworth, was seconded by Pam Drake)
FREMONT COUNCILMEMBER (elect 2)  Hon. Vinnie Bacon, Laurie Manuel (Bacon is an ACDCC elected member, not seeking Democratic endorsement)
OAKLAND COUNCILMEMBER AT-LARGE  Hon. Rebecca Kaplan, Margaret “Peggy” Moore, Bruce Quan (I nominated Bruce Quan, was seconded by Pam Drake)
OAKLAND COUNCILMEMBER DIST. 3  Hon. Lynette V. Gibson-McElhaney, Noni Session (I pulled Gibson-McElhaney and nominated Session, was seconded by Pam Drake)
OAKLAND COUNCILMEMBER DIST. 5  Hon. Noel Gallo, Viola Gonzalez
PLEASANTON MAYOR  Julie Testa (no Democratic opponent, I nominated Testa, was seconded by Jeff Nibert)
PERALTA CCD TRUSTEE AREA 6  Nick Resnick, Karen Weinstein (Weinstein is an ACDCC associate member)
ALBANY USD DIRECTOR (elect 3)  Kim Trutane (no Democratic opponents, I nominated Trutane, was seconded by Jesse Arreguin)
CASTRO VALLEY USD DIRECTOR (elect 3)  Monica Lee, Lavender Whitaker (both nominated by J. Smith/Trullinger)
FREMONT USD DIRECTOR (elect 3)  Hon. Michele Berke, Hon. Desrie Campbell, Dax Choksi
HAYWARD USD DIRECTOR (elect 3)  Hon. John Taylor (pulled Taylor from consent, seconded by Corina Lopez and Rocky Fernandez; nominated David Goldstein, no second)
OAKLAND USD DIRECTOR DIST. 3  Benjamin Lang, Kharyshi Wiginton
OAKLAND USD DIRECTOR DIST. 5  Hon. Roseann Torres, Mike Hutchinson (I pulled Torres and nominated Hutchinson, was seconded by Diana Prola)
PLEASANTON USD DIRECTOR (elect 3)  Hon. Jamie Hintzke
BART DIRECTOR DIST. 3  Hon. Rebecca Saltzman (Saltzman is an ACDCC alternate member)
BART DIRECTOR DIST. 5  Hon. John McPartland, Jennifer Hosterman
CASTRO VALLEY SANITARY DIST. DIRECTOR (elect 3)  Hon. Daniel M. Akagi, Hon. Timothy McGowan, Hon. David Sadoff, John Maher (did not send questionnaire)
EAST BAY REG. PARK DIST. DIRECTOR WARD 2  Audrey V. Jones-Taylor, Dionisio “Dee” Rosario

I also nominated Hari Titan for Piedmont School Board, but was unable to find a second. No other candidates for this race were nominated or put on consent.

Dax Choksi: Common Sense Choice for Fremont School Board

 Dax Choksi: Common Sense Choice for Fremont School Board  Politics, Schools  No Responses »
Oct 232014
 

Dax Choksi

My last written recommendation for this election goes to Dax Choksi who is running for Fremont City Council.  This is based on his answers to the questionnaire I sent to him.  The Fremont School Board was mired in controversy earlier this year after they approved a sex education textbook that was too graphic for some puritanical parents, though it had the overwhelming support of health education teachers.  The Board voted to go back and use the previous textbook, which contained inaccurate information.

Dax is an involved parent in Fremont schools and a man with common sense.

1) What do you think is the biggest challenge facing your School District and how would you tackle it?

The following are the biggest challenges for the Fremont Unified School District:

* Facilities – our facilities are in dire need of repair and upgrade. In several schools the infrastructure is not adequate to provide an environment where students can thrive and receive education effectively. In addition to this, we have schools with huge waiting lists and this problem is persisting.

* Overcrowding – the class sizes are under pressure. This is not going to be an easy problem to solve but I would work to constantly strive to reduce the class sizes.

* Technology – We need to work to bring Fremont schools to the 21st century. Thy are currently lacking in several technology areas including computers, desktops and communication devices.

* Academics – We need to work on successful implementation of common core and ensure that there is equity in education.

2) Do you believe there are systemic problems with racial/sexual/gender-based or other discrimination in your district’s schools? How would you tackle them?

* I do not believe that there is a systemic problem with racial/sexual/gender discrimination. However, the problem could exist without a lot of people knowing about it. We need to take steps to ensure that this is prevented proactively:

* I would prevent this by continuing to enforce the existing regulations prohibiting discrimination and recommend disciplinary action against any person who is found to be violating the regulation.

* I would also seek to educate the youth about the negative impact of discrimination and how it could create a severe blow to the self-confidence of the victim of this injustice.

3) Do you support school dress codes? Specify.

We live in a democratic country thereby providing the right to people to dress as they please. However, there are certain guidelines essential in a school environment to ensure that there is no provocative dressing and the that the dressing adheres to a certain common decorum. There are existing dress code guidelines in FUSD and I would ensure that the guidelines are enforced in all the schools without exceptions.

4) What’s your position on the controversy over the health education books thought to be too risque by some?

I am strongly in favor of the textbook. I believe our first and foremost responsibility is to protect our youth. We can only do so by educating them. If we don’t educate them, we are leaving them ignorant and vulnerable to getting false/erroneous information from secondary unreliable sources. In the interest of the well being of our youth, I strongly support the book.

5) Do you believe religious texts, practices or songs should be part of the school’s curricula? If yes, please specify how.

No. Religion has no place in the school curricula. I believe in separation of church and state
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See also: David Bonaccorsi & Raj Salwan best Choices for City Council

See Marga’s 2014 Voter Guide for recommendations on propositions and other local endorsements.