Documents | Miracosta College Faculty Assembly

ENDORSEMENT

ENDORSEMENTS

Legislative and Political Endorsement Process

The MiraCosta College Faculty Assembly (FA) is a nonpartisan organization; our endorsements are made solely on a candidate’s position or legislative stance on education and labor issues that impact our fair and equitable working conditions — issues like community college funding, fringe benefits, compensation, and faculty evaluation.

Guiding Principles

The Professional Relations Committee has proposed and adopted guiding principles for legislative and political endorsements to guide our decision-making when considering endorsements of candidates, initiatives, referenda and related matters.

Endorsements for public office and other ballot measures rests with the Faculty Assembly Committee (FAC), with deference given to recommendations received from FA members with direct employment-related interests. Recommendation and endorsement decisions shall utilize these principles when considering candidates for public office or issues under consideration by the electorate. (This is not a ranked listing.)

Respect for the value of public service and for maintaining or expanding public education, services, and infrastructure.
Support for equal employment opportunity that promotes and guarantees hiring and promotion based on qualifications and competitive examination.
The relative qualifications of the candidate for the office sought.
Accessibility of the candidate to union leadership on matters of concern to the membership.
Actual record, if any, of employee relations and bargaining with the union as well as other issues important to the union and organized labor generally.
Support for, or promotion of, maintenance and improvement of public goods and services in relation to higher education.
Support for, or advancement of, government openness and accountability.
Initiatives or referenda that promote the interests of community college faculty and their unions.

Process for Endorsement of Candidates

The FA is currently only considering endorsing candidates running for MiraCosta College’s Board of Trustees. Candidates seeking FA endorsement should do the following:

Complete the FA Political Endorsement Questionnaire at least 60 days prior to the election.
After the FA Executive Board reviews the questionnaire, the candidate may be extended an interview with the Professional Relations Committee and any other interested members.
Next, the Professional Relations Committee will make a recommendation to the FAC after the interview that includes checking the candidate’s track record on FA’s guiding principles.
The FAC will review the recommendation and take a vote to adopt or reject the endorsement. A vote of ⅔ of the FAC is needed for endorsement.

What does an Endorsement from the FA mean?

An endorsement means that the FA has thoroughly vetted the candidate and that their interests and values align with those of the FA.

Endorsed candidates will receive the following benefits:

A formal endorsement will be sent to all full-time faculty members via personal email.
A formal endorsement will be posted on any FA related social media accounts.
Candidates will be allowed to use the official FA logo in pre-approved marketing materials.
The FA will provide, when possible, member volunteer support for the candidate’s campaign.

Process for Endorsement of Legislation

Currently, the FA is a member of the California Community College Independents (CCCI), a collective of independent unions. We contribute financially to the CCCI and through this collective we have contracted a legislative analyst and advocate. At the biannual CCCI plenary held in October and April, we receive legislative updates and vote to endorse relevant legislation based on our guiding principles.

If you want to learn more or be a part of the endorsement process for the next election, email Luke Lara, chair of the FA’s Professional Relations Committee, or Mary Gross, FA President.