Activism
Questions About Contributions to Kyra Mungia’s District 6 School Board Campaign
District 6 school board candidate Kyra Mungia’s opponents in District 6, Valarie Bachelor and Joel Velasquez, are allied with the movement against school closings and are critical of charter school expansion in Oakland. The Oakland Post asked Mungia several questions about these issues, including why she failed to disclose a $1,000 contribution she received from Gonzales immediately after Gonzales formally announced she was resigning from the Board.
By Ken Epstein | Post News Group
The Oakland Post recently received a copy of an ethics complaint filed with the Oakland Ethics Commission about the funding of District 6 school board candidate Kyra Mungia, including whether she failed to report two campaign contributions as legally required.
In addition, some public-school advocates are raising concerns about contributions she received from local charter school leaders and an Independent Expenditure of nearly $50,000 from a Political Action Committee (PAC) controlled by former Mayor and Governor Jerry Brown, a long-time supporter of charter schools and school privatization.
Mungia, a former Oakland teacher, works as Mayor Libby Schaaf’s deputy director of education. Mungia was appointed in June to the board to fill the remaining months of the term of District 6 Boardmember Shanthi Gonzales, who resigned before completing her term.
Mungia’s position in the mayor’s office is funded by the Oakland Public Education Fund, often associated with corporate privatizers and charter schools.
Mungia’s opponents in District 6, Valarie Bachelor and Joel Velasquez, are allied with the movement against school closings and are critical of charter school expansion in Oakland.
The Oakland Post asked Mungia several questions about these issues, including why she failed to disclose a $1,000 contribution she received from Gonzales immediately after Gonzales formally announced she was resigning from the Board.
According to Board President Gary Yee, Gonzales, a strong backer of school closings, “stayed on [in Oakland] for an extra month so we could prepare for this process” of appointing a new school board member, during which time Mungia filed her original papers allowing her to run in November.
Gonzales then resigned on May 2 and contributed to Mungia’s campaign on May 3. Ultimately, Mungia was appointed by the board to fill the last six months of Gonzales’ term. Some view this as a political ploy to give Mungia a leg up in the November race by allowing her to run as an incumbent.
Gonzales also contributed campaign email lists to Mungia, which is an in-kind donation and legally also must be reported as a contribution.
In her reply, Mungia wrote, “My campaign did receive a contribution check for $1,000 from Shanthi Gonzalez’s campaign committee, Gonzales for School Board 2018, in May 2022. However, because the contribution amount was over the limit, we didn’t deposit the check.”
Her response does not completely resolve potential issues. First, if the check from Gonzales came from her campaign account, it is legally permissible up to $1,800. Second, if she has not cashed it but still has not returned it, it is possible that she should have disclosed the contribution because reporting requirements are based on receipt of contributions, not when they are deposited in the bank.
Further, Mungia did not explain why she failed to report the in-kind contribution of Gonzales’ email addresses.
The Public Ethics Commission complaint filed by an Oakland resident also alleged that some email addresses contributed by Gonzales to Mungia’s campaign did not come from Gonzales’ campaign contacts but from residents who contacted her only in her capacity as a school board director. The use of those emails in an election campaign is not permitted.
In reply Mungia wrote, “I did receive some email addresses from Shanthi Gonzales, which she forwarded to me from her personal email address and many of which I already had. I understood these emails to belong to friends and personal contacts that she had acquired over time.”
She continued, “I had no reason to believe, and did not believe, that Ms. Gonzales obtained these email addresses in connection with her official position as an elected official. Moreover, I still do not know that to be the case.”
During her campaign, Mungia has been publicly critical of charter schools and the impact of the high number of charters in the school district, but she has received the financial backing of charter school leaders.
Her campaign is also backed by an Independent Expenditure of $51,200 by Jerry Brown’s PAC, United Teachers of Oakland Supporting Resnick and Mungia.
Mungia’s reply to the Post is as follows:
“My commitment is to quality education for all of our students … I am proud that I have more than 250 individual donors and the only PAC money my campaign has accepted is from labor unions.
“If individuals want to support me, then I’m of the belief that that is because they know my focus is on quality education. Receiving dollars or support does not equate to a mutual endorsement.”
She continued: “As far as Independent Expenditures go, as I imagine you know, Independent Expenditures are not made in cooperation or consultation with candidates, so I do not have control or say over what is put out in that regard. I did not know that Jerry Brown would be creating a PAC to support me – I’ve never met or talked to Jerry Brown.
While Mungia may not know Jerry Brown, her boss, Libby Schaaf, is a close political ally of the former Oakland mayor.
Activism
Oakland Post: Week of March 13 – 19, 2024
The printed Weekly Edition of the Oakland Post: Week of March 13 – 19, 2024
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Activism
Oakland Post: Week of March 6 – 12, 2024
The printed Weekly Edition of the Oakland Post: Week of March 6 – 12, 2024
To enlarge your view of this issue, use the slider, magnifying glass icon or full page icon in the lower right corner of the browser window.
Activism
Who are the Alameda County District 4 Supervisor Candidates’ Top Campaign Contributors?
Below, we’ve listed each candidate’s 10 highest campaign contributors. For Miley, two of his top campaign donors also bought their own advertisements to support him and/or oppose Esteen through independent expenditures. Such expenditures, though separate from campaign donations, are also public record, and we listed them. Additionally, the National Organization of Realtors has spent about $70,500 on their own independent expenditures to support Miley.
By Zack Haber
Nate Miley, who has served on Alameda County’s Board of Supervisors since 2000, is running for reelection to the District 4 supervisor seat.
Jennifer Esteen, a nurse and activist, is seeking to unseat him and become one of the five members of the powerful board that sets the county’s budget, governs its unincorporated areas, and oversees the sheriff, Alameda Health System, and mental health system.
District 4 includes most of East Oakland’s hills and flatlands beyond Fruitvale, part of Pleasanton and unincorporated areas south of San Leandro like Ashland and Castro Valley.
Voting is open and will remain open until March 5.
In California, campaign donations of $100 or more are public record. The records show that Miley has received about $550,000 in total campaign donations since he won the previous District 4 election in March 2020. Esteen has raised about $255,000 in total campaign donations since she started collecting them last July. All figures are accurate through Feb. 20.
While Miley has raised more money, Esteen has received donations from more sources. Miley received donations of $100 or more from 439 different sources. Esteen received such donations from 507 different sources.
Below, we’ve listed each candidate’s 10 highest campaign contributors. For Miley, two of his top campaign donors also bought their own advertisements to support him and/or oppose Esteen through independent expenditures. Such expenditures, though separate from campaign donations, are also public record, and we listed them. Additionally, the National Organization of Realtors has spent about $70,500 on their own independent expenditures to support Miley.
Nate Miley’s top campaign contributors:
The California Apartment Association, a trade group representing landlords and investors in California’s rental housing business, has spent about $129,500 supporting Miley’s election bid through about $59,500 in ads against Esteen, $55,000 in ads supporting Miley, and $15,000 in campaign donations.
The independent expenditure committee Preserve Agriculture in Alameda County has spent about $46,025 supporting Miley through about $27,200 in their own ads, and $18,825 in donations to his campaign. Preserve Agriculture has supported reelection efforts for former Alameda County DA Nancy O’Malley, and Sheriff Greg Ahern, a republican. It’s received funding from Chevron, PG&E, and a the California Apartment Association.
Organizations associated with the Laborers’ International Union of North America, or LiUNA, have donated about $35,000 in total. Construction and General Laborers Local 304, a local chapter of the union representing which represents over 4,000 workers, donated $20,000.
Laborers Pacific Southwest Regional Organizing Coalition, which represents 70,000 LiUNA members in Arizona, California, Hawaii and New Mexico, donated $15,000.
William ‘Bill’ Crotinger and the East Oakland-based company Argent Materials have donated $26,000. Crotinger is the president and founder of Argent, a concrete and asphalt recycling yard. Argent’s website says it is an eco-friendly company that diverts materials from landfills. In 2018, Argent paid the EPA $27,000 under a settlement for committing Clean Water Act violations.
Michael Morgan of Hayward, owner of We Are Hemp, a marijuana dispensary in Ashland, has donated $21,500.
Alameda County District 1 Supervisor David Haubert has donated $21,250 from his 2024 reelection campaign. He’s running unopposed for the District 1 seat.
SEIU 1021, which represents over 60,000 workers in local governments, non-profit agencies, healthcare programs, and schools in Northern California, has donated $20,000.
UA Local 342, which represents around 4,000 pipe trades industry workers in Contra Costa and Alameda counties, donated $20,000.
The union representing the county’s deputy sheriffs, Deputy Sheriff’s Association of Alameda County, has donated $17,000.
Becton Healthcare Resources and its managers have donated $14,625. Becton’s mission statement says it provides “behavioral health management services to organizations and groups that serve the serious and persistent mentally ill population.”
Jennifer Esteen’s top campaign contributors:
Mary Quinn Delaney of Piedmont, founder of Akonadi Foundation, has donated $20,000. Akonadi Foundation gives grants to nonprofit organizations, especially focusing on racial justice organizing,
Bridget Galli of Castro Valley has donated $7,000. Galli is a yoga instructor and a co-owner of Castro Valley Yoga.
Rachel Gelman of Oakland has donated $5,000. Gelman is an activist who has vowed to redistribute her inherited wealth to working class, Indigenous and Black communities.
California Worker Families Party has donated $5,000. The organization’s website describes itself as a “grassroots party for the multiracial working class.”
David Stern of Albany has donated $5,000. Stern is a retired UC Berkeley Professor of Education.
Oakland Rising Committee—a collaborative of racial, economic, and environmental justice organizations—has donated about $3,050.
Fredeke Von Bothmer-Goodyear, an unemployed resident of San Francisco, has donated $2,600.
Robert Britton of Castro Valley has donated $2,500. Britton is retired and worked in the labor movement for decades.
Progressive Era PAC has donated about $2,400. Its mission statement says it “exists to elect governing majorities of leaders in California committed to building a progressive era for people of color.”
East Bay Stonewall Democrats Club has donated $2,250. The club was founded in 1982 to give voice to the East Bay LGBTQIA+ communities.
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