Sprenger casts herself as 'outsider' in Assembly bid - Santa Cr...

[Marvin]

Sprenger destroyed a thriving community by closing schools. She is shrewd and astute, so, as a politician, is good. Would she represent the best interests of the community she represents? NO! Hardly. Her development company is Orchard Hill Partners. In the process of 'consolidating' the schools, she fudged numbers, and attempted to give preference/favoritism for awarding potential contracts with school renovations, when a perfectly good, new award-winning school was shuttered and left to rot. Can you spell/smell kick-back? Follow the money! It would be a terrible shame for the central coast to have her in office. Do not be fooled by a wolf in a sheep's cloak. Her ideas, on paper, sound terrific. But there is a good reason she has not run for supervisor. She has screwed too many people locally both in and out of 701 Ocean. She would never win the 5th district seat. But many in Monterey have no idea who she is and what she so handily destroyed for her own self interest. So, she runs for Lairds seat. Be afraid, be very afraid!

[Lianne]

"She has screwed too many people locally both in and out of 701 Ocean"

Is that why she calls herself an outsider? She's previously boasted about being the consumate insider - pulling strings at the County building due to her "connections".

I think the Senile got it right with its suggestion that she changes with the wind. Reinventing herself every couple of years is interesting. But what is she going to be in 2 years? I don't think I want that kind of imbalance in the Assembly.

[Marvin]

I think she calls herself an outsider because it is politically convenient, and, makes herself attractive to those who do not know any better.

Senile is not off base on this one. Interesting that they endorsed the candidate from Monterey county.

[Another SLV Parent]

SLV Parent wrote:

I would never vote for her, remembering the Redwood Elementary School closing, and the number of families that left the school district because of it.

That whole school closure thing was a nightmare for everyone, but from what I can tell, it was the best of a bad bargain, as enrollment has continued to shrink, as the demographic expert predicted at the time.(And this is in spite of fewer students leaving on inter-district transfers.) It was a shame that some families left, but think only a handful permanently did.

In fact, one of the reasons I support Barbara is her leadership during that horrible time.

[SLV Resident]

All this talk about Sprenger supporting socialized housing is crazy. The South County Housing Initiative that she supportds is designed to create INDIVIDUAL home ownership! Barbara understands what needs to be done in Sacramento to turn things around. She has hundereds of endorsements! Check it out for yourselves and see where she REALLY stands on the issues www.sprenger2008.com She has my vote!

[Ben]

Oh, what a pathetic plug. The South County Housing is designed to create severely restricted title, no land ownership, no equity, no touching the daisies, no kids riding bikes. It's more like a prison than home ownership. Compare her endorsements to Monnings...um, never mind. There is no comparison.

Yes, I agree with the other posters who know that Sprenger advocates for a socialist world, except for herself and her cronies. She is must more bad news in an already corrupt political arena.

[Ben]

Sprenger's endorsements are Valley Womens Club. Mutual back scratching.

[Marvin]

Sprenger's railroading of political process and numbers fudging is the reason while there was a so called decline in enrollment. Had the district's curriculum standards and offerings been up to snuff, there would have been fewer families seeking a better quality of education for their children. The decline in enrollment was not due entirely to families moving. However, families fled after she led the board to close 2 schools, remember? It was TWO schools. And that mighty hand's action merely provided a self fulfilling prophecy which opened flood gates of an exodus further. Do your research. Howmany demographic studies were done, when were they done and what was the connection between board members (ie Sprenger) and the company hired. Follow the money and political connections. If this type of "leadership" you find an attractive political option, I wish you best of luck.

And FYI the superintendent she 'ousted' actually retired; unless you know something the rest of us don't.

[Another SLV Parent]

Marvin, are you implying that ANY school board member had ties to the demographers? I followed that whole thing very closely and there were no hints of that at the time. And Barbara was not president of the board during the school closings, nor did she take any leadership role on the closings. I think you are just making stuff up.

Frankly, I don't think there are many California public schools I'd be very thrilled with, but the SLV district does offer a lot of options through the charter programs, the high school has a lot of great AP classes, and we've been happy with the outcome, though it took some extra work and hunting on our part. Would we have been better off in Santa Cruz or Scotts Valley? I really don't think so -- we know plenty of families in those districts, and there is nothing to do handsprings over in those places. I think in any California school system you have to take an active role to find the good teachers, etc.

If my memory serves there were some big meetings between Drew and the board before he "decided to retire", but no, I'm not privvy to anything special there.

[Alvin Vanne]

There are 4 candidates in this race. Three are marginal, one is the choice of the powers that be. Some say it is his turn.(Monning).

It is good for the local economy that Ms. Springer is using some of her own money to fund her campaign, so there is that.

In a four way race, it is tough to get 50% plus one vote in the primary, but I bet Monning will do it. He has the endorsements, the name recognition, and a positive reputation.

The others, not so much.

[And another SLV parent]

Hellllooooo? Barbara Sprenger was the ringleader of the school closing shenanigans. She wanted to make Redwood Elementary school into government subsidized housing just like she wants government subsidized housing on the Felton meadow.

[realist]

BS also, when in the school board, tried to "gerrymander" district boundaries to boost her own property values by getting her property into Scotts Valley district. She was caught and rebuked, and thereafter had to excuse herself.

However, there really is no excuse.

Bad BS.

[Katherine]

Did you know that her San Lorenzo Valley property, the one she considers Scotts Valley is used for logging? Yet she sides with the Valley Women's Club against anyone else logging their own land. These are the biggest bunch of hypocrites I've ever met.

She wants to get rid of prop 13 and make parcel tax measure pass with a simple majority rather than 2/3 vote. She's not a friend to anyone who
has worked hard to own a home.