3 for Community College Board

The Los Angeles Community College District is the largest two-year college system in the nation, with a half-billion-dollar annual budget. Seven candidates are vying for three open seats on its board of directors, but you’d be hard pressed to know it, given the low profile of their campaigns for the April 10 election.

Neither of the two candidates running for the first open seat, District Office No. 2, can match the skills of departing incumbent Elizabeth Garfield, a labor lawyer with close ties to Sacramento who successfully decentralized decision-making in the late 1990s.

Michael Waxman, a cable TV company public relations director and son of Rep. Henry A. Waxman (D-Los Angeles), has won endorsements from dozens of state, federal and county leaders. Waxman, however, has yet to step out of his father’s shadow by taking unique stands on community college or other social issues.

His opponent, Dan Rosales Jr., has an intimate connection to the colleges. The oldest of three sons educated at Los Angeles-area community colleges, he served on the committee that supervised the successful expansion of Mission College, which helped the college woo benefactors and strengthen ties to the Latino community. Rosales, Councilman Alex Padilla’s field deputy for the northern San Fernando Valley since 1999, has a law degree and support from some state legislators, including Assembly Speaker Bob Hertzberg.

Rosales’ solid reform ideas include building more partnerships with surrounding industries and local businesses, applying for community development block grants the colleges do not compete for now and lobbying to change state funding formulas that favor suburban community college districts. He is an underdog but the superior choice in this district.

Incumbent Kelly Candaele, who is running unopposed in District Office No. 4, has been a vigorous leader with a record of success in hiring capable new college presidents, in tying faculty salary hikes to performance and in forging new partnerships between the district and large employers like DreamWorks and the Los Angeles County Probation Department.

The candidate for District Office No. 6 will fill an office that has been vacant for several months, since the resignation of trustee Althea Baker. Mark Gonzaga, who describes himself as a producer, and Nancy Pearlman, a part-time instructor at West Los Angeles College and perennial candidate for this post, are neophytes without concrete reform proposals. Deborah LeBlanc, a public administration instructor at National University, is an affable education advocate, but her reform ideas also do not rise above the general.

The strongest candidate, Samuel J. “Joey” Hill, is chief of staff to state Sen. Kevin Murray (D-Culver City). Hill helped craft successful legislation to award grants to community college districts that meet clear performance measures. He says his key goal would be expanding outreach to lure inner-city students to the community colleges and then encourage them to complete a four-year degree. With a long list of endorsements, he has the political support to back his ideas.

The Times endorses Dan Rosales Jr., Kelly Candaele and Samuel J. Hill.