Candidate Would Keep His Eye on Taxpayer Dollar

The six candidates running for three open seats on the San Mateo County Community College Board will need to reconcile mounting demands with vaporizing resources if elected.

Enrollment is swelling as skyrocketing state university costs are spurring students to complete all the requirements they can at community colleges. The newly unemployed and job market newcomers are taking classes to develop up-to-date skills. And high school graduates are seeking to make up credits or catch up in subjects that have given them trouble.

At the same time, the community college budgets have shrunk statewide by $800 million over the past three years.

Each day for six days, Patch will profile each candidate and how they envision the challenging job as a community college board member.

We begin today with 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.

He’s a San Mateo native whose grandmother took 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 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.”

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

Carpenter now sits on the Menlo Park Fire Protection District board. 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."

Stogner's frugality dates back to before his run last spring for San Mateo County supervisor. Just as he would be tight with the government's buck, he 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 who 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.

Stogner said for voters to get to know him and his positions, they "will have to do 10 to 15 minutes of research” and his website will show them how, he said. “I think San Mateo County voters are up to that task."