Candidate Would Keep His Eye on Taxpayer Dollar

Those who govern community colleges today must reconcile exploding demands with vaporizing resources.

The budget for all 112 campuses has shrunk statewide by $800 million over the past three years. Deep cuts to course offerings resulted in more than 600,000 students being turned away this semester.

Against this backdrop, six candidates, including three incumbents, have chosen to run for three open seats on the San Mateo County Community College Board. They include businessman Michael Stogner.

Stogner, 61, worked in the real estate business for 27 years. A self-described government watchdog, he also advocates for victims' rights (primarily for children and underage victims of sexual trafficking and abuse).

Stogner filed as a candidate only after being urged to do so by supporters. If elected, he said he will serve as a taxpayer advocate and a voice for transparency on the college board.

Stogner was outraged by the board’s decision to ask voters to pass a $546 million bond, based on a poll of 800 voters.

“What if 700 of those voters were college students?” he said. “I have high regard for teachers and the education industry, but I know many people whose children are grown, many whose children are in private school.”

A strong supporter of the state’s Brown Act and open meeting laws, Stogner, a pension reform proponent, said he would extend transparency to all negotiations.

Campaign endorsements by unions can compromise an elected official’s ability to put the taxpayer first, he said.

“I like to do what’s called a balanced budget,” he said. “Whatever money comes into your budget is what you have to spend. I don’t believe in unfunded benefits.”

Supporters include Peter Carpenter, a former Stanford Medical Center executive director and U.S. Air Force and Marine Corps master parachutist who served on the U.S. Office of Budget and Management.

Carpenter now sits on the Menlo Park Fire Protection District. He backed Stogner in his bid to become a county supervisor and champions his run for the community college board.

"He is dedicated to transparency, is not beholden to donors or the unions," Carpenter said in an email message. "And he cares."

He’s a San Mateo native who grandmother used to take him to Bay Meadows when she babysat him. The “proud parent of two children,” he lost a daughter to cancer, and enjoys a good relationship with his son, 26.

Stogner's frugality dates back long before his run last spring for San Mateo County Supervisor. And if he's tight with a governmental buck, he also scoffs at the money candidates spend on campaigns.

Although he spent less than $400 on his campaign, he placed second in Atherton and countywide finished right behind a candidate whom he says spent $163,000.

He balked at ponying up $4,000 to file a candidate’s statement in the voter pamphlet for this race: “My father would roll in his grave if he knew I would be spending that much money to brag about myself,” he said, chuckling.

“I’m a lone wolf,” he said. “I like stuff to be out in the open. I’m a taxpayer advocate, a landowner advocate. I know a lot about our local government, the judiciary, law enforcement, the supervisor system. I’ve done a lot of different things.

“Voters will have to do 10 to 15 minutes of research” to understand the issues as he sees them, and his website will show them how, he said. “I think San Mateo County voters are up to that task."