CANDIDATE PROFILE: Sean Maher

By Jesse Duarte
STAFF WRITER

Sunday, January 03, 2010

Sean Maher helped raise more than $7 million for the Boys & Girls Club’s Tainter Street facility, so he’s pretty sure he can help the St. Helena School Board keep track of its finances.

As board president from 2004 to 2006, Maher along with Andy Beckstoffer led the capital campaign that financed the Boys & Girls Club’s Tainter Street facility, which today serves 800 kids.

Following a roughly five-year exploratory phase and a two-year fundraising drive, Maher and the rest of the Boys & Girls Club board reduce the size of the proposed building in response to neighbors’ concerns.

Maher, who’s seeking the school board seat held by Trustee Ines DeLuna in the Feb. 23 recall election, said he would apply that same spirit of listening and cooperation to the school board.

If the recall succeeds, people can expect the board to be more receptive to input “and listen to the parents, who we work for,” said Maher.

As a founding partner with Maher and Associates, Maher assists wine-related businesses with long-term planning and asset management. He’s also coached youth baseball, basketball and soccer, and still sits on the Boys & Girls Club board.

Maher’s family moved to St. Helena in the mid-1970s. He moved away to attend college, but came back to raise a family.

“We live in a very special part of the world, and I want to make sure it stays that way,” he said. “I’m committed to doing anything I can to improve it.”

Maher’s two children attend St. Helena primary and elementary schools. “I’d like to make sure that my kids, and all kids, have every opportunity to do their best,” he said.

This year Maher managed the school board campaign of Kevin Alfaro, a pro-recall candidate who won two-thirds of the vote and took over Jim Haslip’s old seat.

Maher said the recall was mounted because of the board’s lack of communication, particularly when they hired then-Assistant Superintendent Robert Haley to replace the retiring Superintendent Allan Gordon over the objections of many parents.

“Like a lot of people, I feel that process was flawed,” said Maher, adding there’s “a reasonable chance” the recall could have been avoided if the board had hired Haley on an interim basis and conducted a search for other candidates.

Maher also questions the board’s fiscal priorities. As the state’s financial situation deteriorates, the district could face tough times, especially if it loses its Basic Aid status, said Maher.

“In future budgets we’re going to have to look hard at expenses and having an appropriate reserve,” he said. “I see some tough years ahead of us, and we need to be sure we’re spending money in the right places.”

Giving expensive retirement packages to Gordon and former high school Principal Jim Zoll was an example of poor financial decision-making, said Maher.

“I have no problem paying for experience and talent,” he said. “But I question giving out excessive packages when you hear about the need for more elementary school aides and after-school tutoring.”

As far as curriculum is concerned, Maher is worried about the district’s special education students. Several lawsuits are pending, at substantial cost to the district, and “that whole situation needs to be reviewed,” he said.

“I’m concerned that there might be a culture of threats and lawsuits,” said Maher, referring specifically to a now-resolved dispute with neighboring school districts involving special ed funding.

“I’m not sure it was prudent to spend all that to get money that it appears to me we would have gotten eventually anyway — and we probably would have gotten it quicker,” he said.

Maher said that if he doesn’t win DeLuna’s seat, he’d run again in a future election.