According to an article in the SMDJ Web Link "Faro said the results show that voters rejected Hickey, his slate and the push for dissolution. His own re-election was less important than rejecting candidates he said ran on misinformation and misstatements of fact, he said." I responded to that assessment in an LTE published in today's DJ Web Link
"I don’t feel rejected at all. How rejected must Faro feel, having now twice finished in third place more than 1,500 votes behind Hickey? I congratulate Shefren and Faro for their stealth campaign which avoided forums and let union phone banks and a strategically timed, taxpayer funded, annual report to the community do the job for them."
With an advance copy of my letter, Faro's vitriolic LTE response also appeared below mine: Web Link
The issue of the strategically timed, taxpayer funded, annual report to the community has come up in prior elections. I have requested in the past, and again in this election, that the report mailing be delayed until after the election. Request denied. At our August meeting, I asked CEO Lee Michelson to delay the mailing until after the election. He declined my request. Then, when the board was considering a motion to adopt policy changes, I sought an amendment to policy which would establish a 60 day moratorium on PR activity, including mailing of the annual report, prior to an election. That amendment was rejected by the maker of the original motion, Art Faro.
Faro was telecommuting from his Oregon Ranch, sitting on his porch watching deer in the field while having a glass of wine. (meeting audio available on request) Mr. Faro also rejected another amendment which I proposed which would have eliminated the $14,400/year health insurance benefit which directors receive, and replace it with a stipend for meeting attendance as is done by Peninsula Healthcare District. Faro rejected that amendment also commenting "I don't care what Peninsula does." (same audio)
In his LTE, Faro says; "He(Hickey) should resign" I suggest the opposite, for reasons which have been posted in this forum, not the least of which is the fact that he Chair's the Sequoia Hospital Board of Directors.
If I was independently wealthy, I would have obtained an injunction to stop the mailing until after the election. IMHO, if that had been done, Art Faro would have been defeated. That still would have left me one short of a majority, but at least I might find a second to my motions, and maybe even have Shefren occasionally join in support.
My priority now is to create a dialog among stakeholders to resolve the “transitional”status of both healthcare districts. I will be meeting with Rich Gordon in December. I have also been in contact with the SMC Office of Education which has an interest in resolving the issue of a funding imbalance, between school district’s in the county, created by the two pre-prop 13 healthcare districts.
I have asked President Shefren to place an agenda item for our December meeting to iniate that dialogue. Voter’s re-elected JerryShefren because the trust him to do the right thing. I hope he won’t disappoint them.
