Election results: Perez, Kinnamon lead for COD Board of Trustees seats
One incumbent and one challenger are leading Wednesday morning for two College of the Desert Board of Trustees seats in a race that has seen unusually high campaign spending.
Returns in Trustee Area 1 showed board chair Ruben Perez, a first-term trustee and fieldworker for Assemblymember Eduardo Garcia, leading with a substantial margin over Larissa Chavez Chaidez, a former student trustee at COD and current CSUSB student. Perez was leading with 2,169 votes (60.8%) to 1,398 votes for Chavez Chaidez (39.2%). Trustee Area 1 represents the east valley.
"We're cautiously optimistic," Perez said around 10:20 p.m. Tuesday night.
In Trustee Area 4, former COD President/Superintendent Joel Kinnamon was leading incumbent Aurora Wilson, who has been a trustee since 2013. Kinnamon has 7,429 votes (54%) to 6,334 votes for Wilson (46%). Trustee Area 4 represents the mid-valley.
At stake: where COD should invest hundreds of millions of dollars raised in bond measures to build education centers across the valley; how to address a drop in enrollment since the COVID-19 pandemic began; and, fixing cybersecurity issues that have led to at least two very damaging hacks against the school since 2020.
More: Elections 2022: COD trustee candidates spar over Palm Springs campus plans, transparency
The results of either election could swing board politics in a new direction.
Last summer, Kinnamon alleged that politics tainted the search for his successor after the board voted 3-2 to appoint Martha Garcia as superintendent/president, with yes votes from Perez, Wilson and Area 2 representative Bea Gonzalez.
In recent months, Kinnamon's husband and campaign manager, Christopher Parman, has been running a website that accuses those three trustees and Garcia of failing to do their jobs properly and leading campaigns of "deceit, delays and disinformation."
The college sent Parman a cease-and-desist letter to turn over the rights of the website, collegeofthedesert.com, as opposed to the college's real website, collegeofthedesert.edu.
Parman refused, claiming his website is parody and protected by the First Amendment.
At a recent candidates' forum, Perez accused Kinnamon of “casting a dark cloud over the institution with lies and fear-mongering.”
More: Elections 2022: COD trustee candidates spar over Palm Springs campus plans, transparency
More: COD board candidate's husband says he has right to operate 'parody' website
More: College of the Desert lawyers tell Kinnamon's husband: Take down lookalike website
This is a developing story and will be updated as results of the Nov. 8 election are available.
Jonathan Horwitz covers education for The Desert Sun. Reach him at jonathan.horwitz@desertsun.com or @Writes_Jonathan.
Desert Sun reporter Eliana Perez contributed to this report.
This article originally appeared on Palm Springs Desert Sun: Election results: Four vying for two COD Board of Trustees seats
