Author, Speaker, Instructor, Radio Host
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Stop Common Core, Bring Back Civics in the Classroom
__________________________________________I have lived in my same home in the Temecula Valley/French Valley region since 1989. I bought my home new, and watched it be built from the ground up. Murrieta incorporated into a city in 1991. My little corner of Southwest Riverside County paradise was annexed into the city in 2001.
My kids grew up attending Murrieta Schools. During the 1990s, while my children were attending Rail Ranch Elementary School, I served as Parliamentarian for the local Rail Ranch PTA. At the time I was the sole-male member of the body. When I entered the construction industry in 1995, my schedule no longer allowed for me to spend time being as involved as I would like to be in the school district, but my wife (because she was a stay-at-home mom at the time) began to be a regular visitor to the school to make sure our children were receiving proper attention (both began life with speech disabilities, of which our oldest outgrew, and our youngest learned to compensate for).
In 2006 I began this website, in 2007 I began broadcasting on online radio, in 2008 I began teaching Constitution Classes to interested adults in Temecula at Faith Armory Gun Shop, in 2009 I began public speaking at events and clubs regarding the U.S. Constitution, and in 2011 I moved my radio program to AM Radio (first to a station in San Bernardino, and now I am on the air with two programs in Banning on KMET 1490-AM).
I ran for Murrieta City Council in 2010, specifically so that I could be a voice for three initiatives that were on the ballot, C, D, and E. They proposed term limits for members of the city council in Murrieta, limits and rules regarding expenditures by council members on the city dime, and limits on administrative employee wages and expenditures (linking them to the median income of the city's population). While I did not succeed in winning a seat on the council (at the time I was a Sand and Gravel Truck Driver, so my designation was "trucker" on the ballot), all three initiatives won by greater than two-thirds of the vote, so I was satisfied and considered my first run for political office a success.
In 2014 I considered running for Congress, even though Ken Calvert was a strong candidate, and tends to be supported by most Republicans. First elected in 1992, Calvert was a part of the Republican Revolution that worked with Newt Gingrich, and positively influenced Bill Clinton so that he didn't run off in a crazy leftist direction like he may have wanted to. At the time, Calvert's conservative rating ranged between 90% and 96%. The rating has plunged as low as 0% with the John Birch Society, 33% with Eagle Forum, and it currently sits at 48% with FreedomWorks. While I am nowhere near Calvert in the terms of political office experience, my conservative and constitutional prowess seems to be much more solid than his. The problem is, when I began talking to various PACs and Republican donors during an exploratory committee, I learned that I "may" be able to raise $50,000 in a run for a seat in the 42nd Congressional District. With Calvert able to throw millions of greenbacks into his campaign, and three Democrats, led by Tim Sheridan, in the race, I didn't wish to fight an unwinnable fight, nor risk bringing down Calvert's numbers so much that somehow, with the jungle primaries in place, it allowed two of those Democrats to squeeze in to face off in November. So, I decided not to run.
Due to my political involvement, especially in local politics, people are always asking me to run for something. They know I am an honest individual, a classic Christian Conservative, and a staunch constitutionalist ... for some, exactly the kind of person they want representing them. However, I live in a fairly conservative area. I'm not going to run against Melissa Melendez for Assembly. She's awesome. Why would I seek to dislodge her? I would not consider running against Jeff Stone for State Senate. Not only does he have vast resources, but also I have gotten to know him, I like him, I like his voting record, and I've teased the former Temecula City Councilman that being desk-mates with Mike Morrell in Sacramento has actually made Stone more conservative than he was before. We've already talked about Congress. Until the day Calvert retires, that is likely Ken's seat with ease, each and every election. Finally, when it comes to City Council, this year is the first year that the elections are no longer "at large." Due to a ridiculous threat of a lawsuit by a Malibu lawyer, our city cowardly gave in and went to districts. In 2018, in my district, among the candidates for City Council is Harry Ramos. The former Mayor of Murrieta is a conservative Republican, but was railroaded out of his seat in the past with false charges that ranged from sexual harassment to mistreatment of members of the staff (all of the charges were not supported by any viable evidence, and after reading the statements by the woman who accused Ramos of groping her, his innocence is more than obvious), and now that he has decided to try to get back on the council, there is no way I would run against him.
I am not the kind of person who craves political office, or has a desire to fight my way into any office when you consider how crazy the liberal left has gotten in recent years, but nonetheless, folks would like to see me run for something.
Someone, this year, suggested that I should run for Murrieta Valley Unified School District Board of Trustees (school board). Like the city council game, the positions are no longer elected at large; the school board election has moved to districts, as well. My district, which was actually not supposed to be up for election until 2020, experienced the death of its member, and a woman named Linda Lunn was appointed to hold the seat temporarily until a new election put someone into the seat so as to fulfill the term until its original ending date. Therefore, rather than run for a four-year term, my seat, should I win, would be for the two remaining years of the seat. My only competition is the woman who was appointed, Linda Lunn.
I don't know a whole lot about my competition, yet, but from reports I've been getting from my ears on the ground, she's a part of the good-ol'-establishment club that pats each other on the back and does what they can to help each other, because they are in it to begin their climb up a political ladder, rather than serve because the Lord called them to do such a thing. She's running her campaign by hob-knobbing with the current city council, and hanging out with her good friend, Democrat in Republican disguise, Kris Thomasian (I ran against Thomasian's husband, Gary, in 2010 for council. Neither one of us succeeded against Rick Gibbs, Kelly Bennett, and local homegrown favorite son Alan Long).
I began teaching homeschoolers "Government" in 2018, and will begin teaching Economics in 2019, so, while I am not the typical candidate you would see run for school board, I am involved in education, and I am a teacher (though not a public school teacher). Both of my kids did spend all of their school years in the Murrieta Valley Unified School District, and I currently have three of my seven grandchildren (all three of whom currently live in my household) in the school district.
My frustration has been that while Murrieta touts having great schools (and compared to what we see in surrounding areas, its a brag-worthy thing), there are a number of problems going on. I have to ask, for example, why the Murrieta school board seems to be fine with so many of our students ending up in the Menifee school district due to overcrowding of Murrieta schools? Granted, Menifee has its own problems, since it is the area's fastest growing city, and it still has no new high school (with most Menifee students at Heritage High School in a far corner of Menifee near Romoland (and, consequently, is in the Perris Union High School District). How is it that a lifeguard in our school district allowed the death of a student in a drowning accident through his non-action, and then used the excuse he was "not on the clock"? What kind of people is our school district hiring to allow such a thing?
The primary concern of most parents I have spoken to is the completely unacceptable common core curriculum, the hard left indoctrination that goes on in America's schools, and attacks by a very militant homosexual agenda movement in this country. While we have a fantastic Secretary of Education in Betsy DeVos, are our schools in Murrieta following her lead, or are we continuing to follow down the destructive path for education laid out by the Barack Obama administration?
As a member of the Murrieta Valley Unified School District school board, I believe I can be a new voice for these concerns, and a new set of eyes when it comes to recognizing what is best for our local public schools in the future.
My name is Douglas V. Gibbs, and I am running for the Murrieta Valley Unified School District Board of Governors, Trustee District #4. If you are in my district, I would love to have your vote in November.
The campaign website is currently under construction. I will post dates for upcoming events regarding my campaign here on Political Pistachio, the new campaign website, and www.douglasvgibbs.com.
-- Political Pistachio Conservative News and Commentary
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