By David M. Greenwald
Executive Editor
Sacramento, CA – Governor Newsom announced late on Friday that he was appointing Mary Sandy to the Yolo County Board of Supervisors, District 3.
Her husband, Gary Sandy, passed away unexpectedly in mid-August.
According to the release by the Governor’s office, Mary Sandy has served as Executive Director of the California Commission on Teacher Credentialing since 2011. She was Executive Director of the UC Davis School of Education CRESS Center from 2007 to 2011 and Associate Director of Teacher Education and Public School Partnerships in the California State University Chancellor’s Office from 2004 to 2007.
She was a Consultant in program evaluation and research; Administrator for Teacher Development Programs; and Director of Professional Services with the California Commission on Teacher Credentialing from 1992 to 2003. Sandy was an Associate in Postsecondary Education Studies with the California Postsecondary Education Commission from 1986 to 1991.
Sandy earned a Doctor of Education degree in Leadership for Education Equity from the University of California, Berkeley; a Master of Arts degree in Education from the University of California, Davis; and a Bachelor of 
Arts degree in Philosophy from Sonoma State University.
According to an article in the Sacramento Bee, three women were looking to get appointed to the seat, Xóchitl Rodriguez Murillo, Mary Vixie Sandy and Mayra Vega. In addition, all three women have plans to run in the upcoming March primary.
“I do believe that the community is split as to who might be the best representative,” Supervisor Oscar Villegas told the Bee.
“Mary has a real good grasp of the issues affecting the Latino community and community in general,” said Jesse Ortiz, former Yolo County superintendent of schools.
But Matt Rexroad, who Gary Sandy succeeded, was supporting Vega.
Rexroad told the Bee that Sandy’s support stems from her husband’s legacy.
“These conversations are happening to not only put somebody in the place but then also deny the opportunity for a Latina to serve on the board,” Rexroad said. “This is not something that’s royalty where you get a seat because of lineage.”
On the one hand, Sandy’s appointment solves one embarrassing problem for Yolo County—there have been no women on the Board of Supervisors since 2010 when Helen Thomson retired and was replaced by Don Saylor. Two years prior, Mariko Yamada was elected to the State Assembly and Jim Provenza was elected.
While the Bee made a big deal out of the fact that no Latina has served on the Yolo County Board, there are two Latinos currently—Angel Barajas and Oscar Villegas.
Regardless, in March, there figures to be a hotly contested election.
Rexroad is right, everyone knows one should get the seat based on their sex, race and/or specified gender.
That wasn’t quite where I thought you were going to go
Where do you think I went?
Where I thought you were going to go was a question or comment with respect to Newsom selecting a white woman over two Latinas.
Look up, what you see is my comment flying over your head.
I got it initially, wasn’t quite where I was expecting you to go. Emphasis on “quite”
Interestingly enough, if you look at the first half of Rexroad’s quote, he clearly sees value in diversity whereas he sees no value in lineage. You on the other hand, seem to discount both.
You need another cup of coffee this morning.
I need A cup of coffee. But that’s aside from the point.
Question: on what qualities should an appointment be selected in your view?
The best qualified based on experience and education regardless of one’s sex, race and/or specified gender.
Would you agree that part of being best qualified is finding someone with commensurate views and goals?
If that’s your parameters then you would have to agree that Laphonsa Butler should never have been selected as Senator being that only 6% of California is black and only 9% identify as LGTBQ+.
what does that point have to do with finding someone with commensurate values? All I’m suggesting is that a Republican is going to appoint someone conservative and a Democrat is going to appoint someone more liberal. That it’s not strictly “qualification” but rather what we might call “bounded qualifications.”
There is almost never a “best” qualified candidate. People bring different skill sets to a political position. The governor or voters choose from among those skill sets.
When Laphonsa Butler was chosen by Newsom he wasn’t basing it on “skill sets”, he made it publicly known he was going to select a black woman.
Correction, Newsom wasn’t basing it “only” on skill sets…
Ah, the mythology of “meritocracy” which is has turned out to actually be a mechanism to perpetuate the advantages of a certain class of individuals who get 75% of their advantage from who their parents are and the community that they grew up in. And if that statement was true, more than one person who was elected President, most recently in 2016, wouldn’t have even made it through the primaries. On the other hand, Obama clearly check all of those boxes in 2012, yet there was tremendous opposition from those who claimed “merit” should be the societal test for leadership. Inconsistent application of that criteria undermines the credibility of those who seem most enamored with the concept.
The real objective of making an appointment to a vacated elected position is to choose someone who would be most representative of an electoral contest, which means reflecting partisan choices as well as other considerations of qualifications. Given the recent elections in California, that would be a non-white individual of either gender.
“When Laphonsa Butler was chosen by Newsom he wasn’t basing it on “skill sets”, he made it publicly known he was going to select a black woman.”
Which came first the chicken or the egg?
When I read Butler’s CV and saw how fast the Governor appointed her after Feinstein’s death it became clear to this observer that Newsom knew long ago, when he said he would pick a black woman, who he would appoint should a vacancy occur. She worked with the Vice-President, sat on the Board of Regents, worked at SEIU and ran Emily’s list. But somehow you are stuck on the pre-announcement and can’t imagine that when he said it he already had decided who he would appoint.
As usual, your resentment about identity politics impairs your ability to see beyond the red flag held up by the toreador.
Ron G
What’s truly ironic is the Keith O is a strong proponent of identity politics–it’s just that his tribe is white men.
Richard, how so? Did you read my comment above:
That’s the total opposite of identity politics, which apparently you are a strong proponent of.
LOL, right, if you believe that Newsom knew in early 2021 when he made the announcement that he was going to appoint a ‘black women’ to Feinstein’s seat that he already knew it was going to be Butler then I have a bridge for sale.
So likewise, if Newsom already had a white woman in mind in 2021 would he have promised he was going to appoint a ‘white woman’?
How would that have gone over?
PUHlease…
I believe he said that if Feinstein didn’t finish out her term – which I think everyone knew there was a decent chance that she wouldn’t… he would appoint a black woman.
Yes, Newsom stated that in early 2021, so what’s your point besides backing mine?
So Newsom narrowed his list of potential candidates in 2021 and started looking for the most qualified individual to represent the various communities that he wanted to focus on. Lived personal experience is one of the qualifications that makes an individual “best qualified.” Turns out he had over 2 years to do that. What’s the problem with that approach?
Don’t Latinos, Asians, whites and other races also have lived personal experiences that would make them “best qualified”? Why narrow it down to one race?
You need to remember that there are only two senate seats per state, so you cannot create equity within the state delegation. Newsom had two appointments – which most Governors don’t get any – he selected on Latino and one Black.
The way to look at is right now, there are 88 white members of the Senate, 6 Latino, 4 Black and 2 Asian.
I don’t buy that there is an objective best qualified candidate. There is a pool of highly qualified candidates and room within that pool to choose candidates that can help achieve better equity.
The “best qualified” is solely in the eyes of the beholder. Keith wouldn’t be questioned this completely legal appointment if we had a Republican governor.
In this case the “best qualified” had to be a black woman because if they were a man or any other race they weren’t even considered.
Couldn’t that be one qualities he was looking for in a candidate?
So David, if Newsom had said that one of the “qualities” he was looking for to take Feinstein’s seat was a ‘white woman’ you would’ve been okay with that?
He wouldn’t have said “white” and there is a reason for that. In the history of the Senate, Butler is just the 12th Black person. IN THE HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. Even now with four Blacks in the Senate, it is far below their share of the population and four is the most ever. You keep wanting there to be a “white” comparison point, but there just isn’t.
Soooooo, um, thanks to Mary Sandy for her willingness to step up and finish out Gary’s term. She brings a lot of great job skills and I’m sure Yolo County will be well served by her presence on the board of supervisors.