Likely Placer school board seat winner was previously fired by district. Why?
A candidate who previously stated he was dropping out of the campaign for Placer Union High School District appears to have publicly embraced his candidacy in the final hours before the polls close.
Jeremy Jeffreys told the Sacramento Bee in September that he was dropping out of the race for Trustee Area 1 due to health- and family-related reasons, but he pulled out too late to have his name removed from the ballot. A group that has yet to reveal its members took advantage of the situation by campaigning on his behalf, and the campaign has only picked up steam since the candidate publicly washed his hands of the race.
He previously told his opponent, Gayle Hamm, that he would not accept the oath of office should he be elected. His attitude appears to have shifted.
Jeffreys made his first public appearance as a candidate at a meet and greet event for Foothills area conservative school board candidates hosted by the Placer County Republican Party in Auburn Monday night. A picture of him at the event holding his own campaign sign was posted to the Facebook page created on his behalf.
He said Tuesday that he went to the event to support other candidates and asserted that he was given the sign to pose with and that the photo was taken before he was aware of what it said.
When asked if his public decision to drop out was a means to run a covert campaign, Jeffreys said “absolutely not.” Jeffreys continues to claim no knowledge of the outside effort to get him elected.
“I’ve been very clear with everyone,” he said. “I haven’t been campaigning, I have closed my Facebook page. I’m being true to my word that I had nothing to do with anything anyone else was doing.”
His campaign has retained the support of local elected officials like Colfax Mayor Pro Tem Sean Lomen, Colfax Elementary School District candidate Diane Greene and Roseville City School District Trustee Jonathan Zachreson.
“I was one of the first people to endorse him and I still believe he’s the best candidate,” Lomen said in an earlier interview. “He hasn’t asked me to rescind my endorsement.”
Both Hamm’s and Jeffreys’ campaigns have claimed the endorsement of current seat holder Casey Jeffreys, who is also Jeremy Jeffreys’ brother. Casey Jeffreys has not returned a request for comment on who he has chosen to endorse. Jeffreys did not ask any of his endorsers to rescind their support.
“When I stopped campaigning and closed my Facebook page, I stopped talking politics altogether,” he said. “I felt both awkward and uncomfortable talking about any of that. I figured it would all die down after my loss.”
Shift in perspective
Despite his staunch denial that he was running a stealth campaign, Jeffreys’ stance on whether he would accept the oath of office should he win has changed. He said Tuesday that he hadn’t considered what he would do should he be elected. He called it a “moot point,” saying that he believed Hamm’s active campaigning meant she would win.
At the time Jeffreys said he was dropping out of the race, he stated that he would not accept the position in the event he was elected, which would prompt the Placer Union High School District board to appoint someone instead.
He attributes this shift to growing concern about Hamm as a candidate. He disagrees with Hamm’s position on the district’s adoption of competency-based education and her support of Placer Union High Superintendent Jeffrey Tooker.
“After having some conversations with Gayle Hamm, I think maybe I somewhat realized that she and I are on very different pages about what needs to happen to run for students and staff,” he said.
Hamm, a retired occupational therapist who has worked at schools around the county, denies any prior involvement with Tooker or that she would be deferential to him as a board member.
If he wins, Jeffreys plans to have a one-on-one conversation with Hamm to ask her to consider some of his policy decisions. If she doesn’t budge, he would look into recommending a local conservative be appointed to the board.
“Ultimately if I were elected, which I don’t think is remotely possible, I would want to make sure whoever the board appointed is going to address those issues.”
Colfax voters unaware of Jeffreys drama
A number of voters interviewed Tuesday in Colfax were unaware that Jeremy Jeffreys had left the race or hadn’t heard of the unnamed group’s efforts to keep his abandoned campaign alive.
“I didn’t know that. He may have had a change of heart,” said Rod Beidler, as a steady stream of voters filed into the Colfax Veterans’ Center on Sunset Avenue just before noon to cast their ballots. Beidler, a volunteer supervising the polling place inside the veterans’ center, did not disclose his vote.
“I don’t know the man, though I read comments about him in our elections guide,” Beidler continued. “I thought both (Jeffreys and Hamm) were equally qualified. But I thought Jeffreys was more qualified because of his experience.”
Bonnie Sue Linden and husband Rolf were heading out the door after casting their ballots but stopped to talk with a reporter. Linden knew about Jeffreys withdrawing from the school board race.
“I checked out a lot about the candidates before I voted,” she said. When asked to talk about Jeffreys decision, Linden chose her words carefully inside the polling place. “Some words are harsh. It doesn’t help the candidate.”
Others were like Michael Thompson, Stephanie Hicks and daughter Jacquelyn Thompson. The family from Dutch Flat drove into Colfax to vote Tuesday.
“I had no idea” that Jeffreys had withdrawn or why, Michael Thompson said. “But we know people in politics and it’s pretty rough.”
“Poor guy,” Jacquelyn Thompson said.
“Does it surprise me? There’s been so many changes this year,” Michael continued, a nod to President Biden’s decision not to seek reelection. “There’s been a lot of changes already from local races all the way up.”
Hicks shrugged in answer. “I did not know” about Jeffreys’ decision not to run, she said, before asking a question of her own: “Would it have mattered?”
This story was originally published November 5, 2024 at 6:16 PM.
