Story by Nick Ng and Marcos Novoa

SAN MARCOS–As the candidates for the Governing Board set the stage for change at Palomar College, their decisions will affect the next five years.

As of Wednesday afternoon, it appears that all but one of the Palomar Faculty Federation’s (PFF) endorsements were defeated by voters. The Union leaders also endorse Prop. 15, which had been voted down statewide. This means Palomar will lose extra funding of $8.4 million.

In District #2, Christian Garcia is neck-and-neck with Nina Deerfield, leading with 17,253 votes (51.15%) while Deerfield trails with 16,479 votes (48.85%).

District #3 tells a similar story with Roberto Rodríguez in the lead with 29,520 votes (51.02%) and David W. Vincent with 28,340 votes (48.98%)

Among the four candidates in District #4, Brian E. Olson leads with 20,856 votes (38.08%), followed by John Santhoff with 17,459 votes (31.88%), Lee Dulgeroff with 13,954 votes (25.48%) and Evan Krausz with 2,503 votes (4.57%).

The PFF, a teachers’ union at Palomar College, currently endorses Rodríguez.

“We are rooting for him,” Laughlin said, who is the co-president of PFF.

Laughlin mentioned that Garcia never contacted the PFF so they know almost nothing about him. Meanwhile, Olson had contacted the organization, but the PFF had already endorsed Dulgeroff.

Regardless of who fills the Trustee positions, their first job would be to unite the board members, who have been divided in recent years.

“I am confident we can work with whomever are the Trustees,” Laughlin said.

With more than 370,000 uncounted ballots in San Diego County, it is too early to tell who will win the Governing Board elections.

“I expect and hope simply to be heard by the Trustees,” Laughlin said. “I know we may not always agree on policies, but if we have a chance to present faculty and student priorities to the Trustees, they will make better choices.”