Living in Salem, I don't have a dog in the fight for PPS schools, but I would not vote for anyone connected to ethanol in any way for any position of responsibility, especially over the future of young people, because supporting or working in the ethanol fuels business means, at best, one of two things (and at worst both):

1) you don't understand the energy field at all, and have swallowed whole the ethanol myths that are so destructive;

2) you dont care whether you understand energy or why ethanol is so foolish; all you know is hey, if they're passing out subsidies, you're not going to argue.

The biofuels craze is even leading to the destruction of one of Oregon's premiere resources, the specialty organic seed business down here in the valley; the subsidy hogs and the grass growers have pushed hard and convinced Oregon Ag Dept. to ok growing genetically modified rapeseed (canola) right in the middle of one of the top world seedbed sights for organic brassicas.

In other words, we're going to trade a priceless and irreplaceable world resource that supports many small, independent growers in Oregon, all to grow a commodity crop that is all but entirely worthless except with the foolish, destructive subsidies that we lavish on these subsidy "biofuel" farmers.

On top of John's comments, which quite correctly evaluates the hideous ethanol scam, we have here an individual who spent time as a 'community organizer' and ran an election campaign for Earl Bluemanure. What better qualifications could we ask for in a school board member?
The whole political scene in this state becomes more surreal all the time. I expect Felini's clowns to show up any moment.

John Gear,
I was so sorry to hear about this.
That entire GMO push is going to come back to haunt us, it already has.
Some countries don't want our products, I heard that Europe was very much being pressured to do GMO.

Tom Koehler was a co-chair of the finance committee for Eileen Brady's million dollar failed campaign.

In looking at the SOS site, Brady has over $335K in outstanding personal loans she made to her campign.

Wondering how Koehler's keen insight into running failed campaigns and business acumen selling ethanol and coupon books will translate to the district.

John Gear's assessment that "ethanol myths that are so destructive" is spot on. If Koehler is willing to earn his keep off a suspect system that rewards "green" investments with incentives that IMO border on fraud, not sure I can vote for the guy.

Here is the campaign site for Koehler.
http://tomforschoolboard.com/

Here is the site for his opponent Saragoza
http://saragozaforschools.info/priorities.html

Koehler sounds better than Saragoza.

Teresa, I don't know, I think the Hispanic lesbian educator first-in-the-family to go to college is far more likely to be open to the kind of thinking that leads to concluding "more of the same isn't working."

The other guy claims that ethanol is about "renewable energy," which is so misleading and deceptive as to nearly be an outright lie. Ethanol is the use of land, petrochemicals, petrofertilizers, and fossil fuels to grow subsidies and exhaust prodigious quantities of greenhouse gases, at a tiny energy profit (if any at all, doubtful in Oregon, since ethanol feedstock is all imported).

The difference between Bernie Madoff and the ethanol industry is that Madoff had the decency not to steal from anybody except those trying to get something for nothing. If this guy sits on the school board, he's got an instant conflict of interest, because his business is nothing but harvesting the subsidy river, while destroying the future of the children the district is supposed to be educating.