November 11, 2005

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Palo Alto Online

Fong, Swenson win; Casas Frier appointed

by Molly Tanenbaum

With the community-college district facing numerous challenges in the coming years, voters favored the experience of incumbent Paul Fong and retired math professor Bruce Swenson, whose combined service in the district adds up to about four decades.

Swenson was the top vote-getter for the two open seats on the Foothill-De Anza board, garnering 34.3 percent. Fong was close behind Swenson, earning 30.7 percent. Candidates Julia Miller and Laura Casas Frier fell further back, gathering 20.4 and 14.4 percent of the votes, respectively.

"You can imagine that I'm feeling pretty good right now," Swenson said Tuesday evening, still a bit hesitant to admit victory even though friends assured him the race was over and he had come out on top.

A fifth seat, which was left vacant after the recent death of trustee Andrea Leiderman, was given to Casas Frier by a unanimous vote during the Nov. 9 morning board meeting. Both Miller and Casas Frier had applied for the seat, along with Barry Cheng and Fred Fowler.

"I'm just thrilled to death," Casas Frier said.

Fong, a 12-year incumbent and a political science professor at Evergreen Valley College, predicted he would win, due to the good current state of the district.

"The district is in fine shape and when the district is in fine shape, the incumbent is in fine shape," he said. "There haven't been any catastrophes; we've balanced the budget; we have our reserves; we're not laying off people; we're providing quality education; and we remain one of the top colleges in the state and in the nation.

"I think we're doing a fine job, and I think the voter recognizes that. I'm appreciative of the voters."

One of Fong's immediate plans for his fourth term is to push for a $400 million bond issue, already in the works, which would go toward finishing construction and rehabilitation of existing buildings, as well as creating new buildings at NASA-Ames in conjunction with UC Santa Cruz and San Jose State University.

Fong's optimism, however, contrasted with issues discussed by candidates before the Nov. 8 election.

California's community-college districts face gloomy financial prospects, despite the fact that the 109 campuses serve 2.5 million students, making it the largest educational system in the world. According to a 2004 study by the Public Policy Institute of California, the state's two-year colleges are among the most poorly funded in the country.

Both Swenson and Fong pledged to lobby the state more aggressively for funds if elected.

Swenson will join Fong and the rest of the Foothill-De Anza board members for his four-year term in early December, replacing Sandy Hay who decided not to run again after two terms. The two will work with Betsy Bechtel and Hal Plotkin, who were both elected in 2003.

Miller, a former mayor and current council member in Sunnyvale, was a student at De Anza, while Casas Frier became involved in lobbying for funding for the district after she moved to Los Altos from Southern California four years ago.

Swenson had taught math at Foothill for almost two decades and later served as a dean as well as a vice president of finance in the district. Swenson is eager to begin work on his campaign goals, which included strengthening ties between high schools and the colleges to ensure a smooth transition for students. He also wants to work on long-term financial planning, which means, "to make sure we find a proper bond to recommend to the community -- properly sized, well-thought out," he said.

"I'm very anxious to work with the rest of the board to make that happen," Swenson added.

Molly Tanenbaum is a staff writer for our sister paper in Mountain View, The Voice.

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