Mark Ridley-Thomas (left), Alex Johnson

* UPDATED

Barely a week after losing to George McKenna for an LA Unified School District board seat, Alex Johnson is eying another board seat.

His former boss, LA County Supervisor Mark Ridley-Thomas, has nominated him to fill a soon-to-be vacant seat on the LA County Board of Education, a body that hears appeals of disputes from local school districts and governs the Los Angeles County High School for the Arts and International Polytechnic High School.

Johnson recently stepped down as Assistant Senior Deputy for Education and Public Safety for Ridley-Thomas, who played a major role in generating financial support for Johnson’s school board run.

While Johnson lost to McKenna by 1,814 votes, his campaign raised $421,522, and outside groups, many friendly to Ridley-Thomas, spent another $858,757 on his behalf. Both totals exceeded those for McKenna.

Johnson said on a telephone conference today he is exploring his next job opportunity. Whatever it is, it would need to accommodate a county board schedule that would require him to attend three meetings a month.

The county board is, effectively, a volunteer organization. Any member can be removed at any time, and members receive only a meeting fee of $150 and mileage costs.

Johnson told reporters his has made a commitment “to serve the second district,” which is Ridley-Thomas’s. “That’s my focus right now.” But he dodged a question about whether he would run for the LA Unified board seat he just lost, when it’s up again next year. McKenna was elected only to serve out the term of the former member, the late Marguerite LaMotte.

The vacancy on the seven-member County board is being created by the resignation of Rudell S. Freer, the longest-serving member who was first appointed in 1996 by Yvonne Burke. Freer will remain on the board until Sept. 9. 

For Johnson to claim the seat, he would have to be approved by a vote of the Board of Supervisors, each of whom gets to name one appointment for a four-year term. Two other members serve on the board for two-year terms through rotating appointments.

Johnson would have a four-year term.

Previous Posts: Johnson offers McKenna congratulations for his victory; Ridley-Thomas voter group going all out for Johnson; McKenna victory gives appearance of a pro-teacher union board

* Adds updated information on Johnson’s job status.

The City Clerk Elections Division has certified the results of the LA Unified District 1 election, giving George McKenna final tally of 52.81 percent of the vote, to 47.18 percent for Alex Johnson.

Overall, turnout for the Aug. 12 runoff was 9.5 percent of the district’s 342,493 voters, a disappointing but not horrible count, given that no other election was on the ballot.

McKenna collected 17,025 votes against Johnson’s 15,211.

He added, “I’m proud of my campaign for school board and equally proud of the broad and diverse coalition of people my campaign was able to unite in our community’s fight for school improvement.”

Johnson also thanked his campaign supporters saying he is “humbled” by their dedication.

Johnson says his work in the field of education will continue, particularly in District 1, which includes some of the lowest academically ranking schools and highest drop out rates in Los Angeles.

“My work is not done,” he said.

By the LA City Clerk’s unofficial results from last night, George McKenna won with 14,940 votes to 13,153 for Alex Johnson.

That translates to $6.79 the McKenna campaign spent for each vote, $101,479 overall, compared with $10.22 that the Johnson campaign paid for each vote, $134,470 overall.

Among the independent groups who spent money on each candidate’s behalf, the really big losers were Johnson backers, who wrote checks for a total of $777,975, or the equivalent of $59.14 per vote. The biggest spenders were Mark Ridley-Thomas‘s voter registration organization (more than $442,000) and a political action committee affiliated with charter schools (more than $183,000).

McKenna’s independent groups — mostly teacher unions — spent $192,543, or just $12.88 per vote.

Perhaps not coincidentally, the first quote from McKenna after declaring victory was: “The community won and sent a message that District 1 is not for sale.”

Alex Johnson (left), George McKenna (right)

Tomorrow is election day. After eight months without a representative on the LA Unified school board, residents of District 1 will once more have equal representation with the other six members, maybe by the end of the week.

The new member replaces the late Marguerite LaMotte and will join the board after the vote count is certified, a process expected to take only a few days — especially if predictions of a low turnout prove accurate. Just 13 percent of registered voters bothered to cast ballots for school board candidates in the June 3 primary, when other elections were also underway.

This time, the school board election stands alone for District 1 voters.

As for the candidates, they could not be more different:

George McKenna, 74, who won the primary with nearly 45 percent of the vote, is a former school and district administrator. He is, perhaps, best known for his role in turning around Washington Prep decades ago, leading to a 1986 TV movie in which he was portrayed by Denzel Washington. McKenna has widespread name recognition in the district for his decades of experience.

Alex Johnson, 34, who finished second to McKenna with about 24 percent, is a former prosecutor, now an aide to LA County Supervisor Mark Ridley-Thomas. He has some classroom experience, serving as an adjunct teacher in the Washington, D.C. public school system and as a lecturer at Lehman College in New York. At the start of the campaign, he was virtually unknown.

Both candidates have generated long lists of endorsements that include politicians and a variety of labor groups. Within LA Unified, the teachers union (UTLA) and the principals union (AALA) back McKenna; the service workers (SEIU Local 99) are behind Johnson.

Another big difference is financial backing. Through the weekend, Johnson had out-raised McKenna, $134,470 to $101,749, and held a big edge in money spent on his behalf by independent groups, $687,731 to $136,456. Befitting the usual chasm in LA Unified politics, a sizable portion of spending for Johnson comes from groups affiliated with the California Charter Schools Association, and almost all the outside spending for McKenna comes from teacher unions.

While both candidates have said they would not be beholden to any political groups or outside agenda, it’s unlikely to expect them to forget where their support came from when it’s time for the board to vote.

And that leads to what may be the ultimate impact of the election: Where does it leave a board that generally breaks along a union/reform fault line.

In the most general terms, union interests are reflected in votes by Monica Ratliff, Bennett Kayser and Steve Zimmer, with Tamar Galatzan and Monica Garcia more sympathetic to reform efforts. 

Board President Richard Vladovic, who has shown a distinct aversion to conflict in recent months, fills whatever middle there has been on a six-member board that records a 3-3 vote as failure.

Ratliff, Kayser and Zimmer have endorsed McKenna. Galatzan and Garcia have endorsed Johnson. Vladovic has endorsed no one.

A victory by McKenna would appear to give the pro-union side an unbeatable majority, rendering Vladovic’s vote moot on many issues and posing new challenges for Superintendent John Deasy, who is widely regarded as a leader for change and by unionists as an enemy.

A victory by Johnson would appear to bolster the reform side, returning Vladovic to swing-vote status and emboldening Deasy to hold stronger to his ideas. 

Certainly, Deasy’s employment — which the board can terminate at any time — would appear more secure with Johnson in the seat. McKenna has had problems with Deasy in the past — i.e. Miramonte scandal — but how he feels about Deasy’s performance as supervisor now is uncertain.

Both sides have talked about the importance of turnout, and that’s indisputable. District 1 has 342,493 registered voters, according to the city Ethics Commission. If only 5 percent vote — the most dire of predictions — that would mean a turnout of 17,124 and a majority needed for victory of just 8,563.

Whatever the turnout, voters at least won’t have to wait long before they get another shot. The election is only to fill the remaining months of LaMotte’s term, leading to next year, when the District 1 seat is up again, along with those for Districts 3 (Galatzan), 5 (Kayser) and 7 (Vladovic).

Previous Posts: Johnson campaign goes negative, citing the ‘myth’ of McKenna; Teachers go negative on Johnson, call him an education ‘rookie’; Johnson holding money lead over McKenna; Vladovic has donors

With LA Unified’s District 1 election approaching, LA School Report asked each of the candidates, Alex Johnson and George McKenna, a series of questions about some of the bigger challenges facing the district.

The effort was based on the fact — an unfortunate one for voters — that the two have not appeared together for a policy debate since they emerged at the top of the June 3 primary to face each other in Tuesday’s runoff. We believed District 1 residents might want to know where the candidates stand on issues that might come before the board over the year ahead.

Five of the eight questions were the same to each candidate, with the other three focusing on how their backgrounds might inform their views. Yesterday, we heard from Johnson, a lawyer and aide to LA County Supervisor Mark Ridley-Thomas.

Today we wanted to give McKenna, 74, a former school administrator, the same opportunity to share his views so that voters could compare their answers. But repeated requests seeking his participation were ignored. Here are the questions we had sent:

Question: What do you consider the biggest challenges facing the school district? If you could address one of those issues now, what would you do?

Answer: No response.

Q: You have had a long career as a school principal and administrator with strong views and a strong will. What would be most difficult for you in adapting to a more collaborative role as a board member?

A: No response.

Q: In your campaign literature you reference your experience in the 1980s at Washington Prep when you worked to turn around the struggling school, making hard choices that included firing teachers. Has your thinking about how you approached that situation changed? 

A: No response.

Q: You have been supported by the teachers union in this election despite having been heavily criticized by union leaders in the past. What has changed?

A: No response.

Q:  What steps would you recommend to forestall a teachers strike?

A: No response.

Q: The Common Core curriculum has been embraced by LAUSD and the board. But it has generated intense opposition in other states. What do you think about the Common Core as a means to improve academic achievement?

A: No response.

Q: What have you learned from Sylvia Rousseau’s experience as a board liaison for District 1? 

A: No response.

Q: Parental involvement within LAUSD is at an all-time low.  How would you change that, taking into consideration the significant number of foster children in District 1?

A: No response.

Previous Posts: Low voter turnout predicted in LAUSD board race; Ratliff forgoes neutrality, endorsing McKenna in board race; Johnson outpacing McKenna in school board race for money

Photo: Johnson campaign

Since the June 3 primary that produced Alex Johnson and George McKenna as the finalists for LA Unified’s District 1 board seat election on Aug. 12, the candidates have engaged in no public debates that would give voters a better opportunity to learn their views on contemporary issues.

As a result, LA School Report has asked each of them questions about how they view the district, the job ahead and the challenges facing public school education in Los Angeles.

Today, we hear from Johnson, 34, a lawyer and aide to LA County Supervisor Mark Ridley-Thomas.

Question: What do you consider the biggest challenges facing the school district? If you could address one of those issues now, what would you do?

Answer: The biggest challenge is LAUSD’s inability to turn the corner on achieving higher graduation rates and lowering dropout rates. Yes, LAUSD’s graduation rate has hit 67 percent but that’s still unacceptably low, and in LAUSD District 1 the graduation rate is only 56 percent.

The path forward requires greater investments in early childhood education, development of language and literacy skills, programs to ensure the effectiveness of professional support and development for teachers and school administrators, and smart budgetary decisions that focus more school district dollars toward classroom needs. 

Finally, better leadership is essential. We cannot have strong teaching and learning if we do not end the governance crisis that results in the dysfunction at LAUSD.

Q: What steps would you recommend to forestall a teachers’ strike?

A: A strike would harmful to all concerned, especially students and teachers.

I have been vocal in calling for increased compensation for teachers because I firmly believe you cannot build an effective teaching core if you do not provide teaching staff with adequate compensation and incentives. 

LAUSD teachers have not received a raise or cost of living adjustment in nearly eight years. They are overdue and deserving of a raise. 

As I understand it, LAUSD has offered a 26.3 percent compensation package over three years, including increases in health benefit costs. Given the present pension crisis with CalSTRS, LAUSD will pick up teacher pension costs.  A new deal for teachers cannot be brokered unless both sides have ample opportunities to negotiate at the bargaining table. 

I urge both sides to return to negotiations and bargain in earnest. A teachers’ strike benefits no one, but more importantly, a strike would hurt our children.

 Q: How do you balance the widespread support for you by charter school interests versus the financial impact the increasing number of them has on LA Unified?

A: My campaign is supported by a diverse array of people interested in change, results and improvement in our public school system. I have significant support from labor, but also business community leaders. That’s extremely rare. 

I am not opposed to charter public schools because the majority of students in District 1 who attend charter schools are children of color. And they are graduating at rates significantly higher than the district-wide graduate rate average. 

Every decision I make on the array of education policy issues that come before the board will be made prudently, thoughtfully, and independently based on the perspectives of my constituents, the concerns of parents, and the data that undergirds any policy. While I have received support from the charter public school community, we must still hold charter schools accountable and transparent, just like any entity engaged in the business of educating our children must be.

Q:  The Common Core curriculum has been embraced by LAUSD and the board. But it has generated intense opposition in other states. What do you think about the Common Core as a means to improve academic achievement?

A: One thing is certain: we need to enhance the critical thinking skills of students and dispense with the rote memorization that has become commonplace as a result of No Child Left Behind. 

We will not know for some time whether Common Core is ultimately a better curriculum framework. Certainly, we have significant work to do to ensure that teachers receive enough professional development and training to be comfortable with this shift in pedagogy. 

I am hopeful and optimistic about the import of Common Core, but I want to ensure that we are implementing it in a manner that is more successful than how LAUSD implemented changes in technology. The bottom line is, students should have a rigorous curriculum that prepares them for college or career.

Q:  What have you learned from Sylvia Rousseau as a board liaison for District 1? 

A: Dr. Rousseau deserves to be commended for her thoughtful and steady representation of District 1 over the past few months. I’ve been fortunate to have several meetings with her to hear her ideas for improving our schools and promoting student achievement. She has been very gracious with her time spent with me.

We differ in some policy areas, as any two people would, but we both have a common agenda: improve the quality of educational outcomes for the students in District 1. 

I recently spent time with Dr. Rousseau discussing her tremendous work on the subject of Standard English Learners (SEL). Her policy resolution on the topic was unanimously approved by the board, and if implemented correctly, will provide support for students whose language skills leave them unprepared for the workforce or higher education. 

The challenge will be to ensure the SEL policy is consistently integrated into the ongoing work of the Board. I have committed to Dr. Rousseau that I would make this policy implementation a top priority. 

Q: Parental involvement within LAUSD is at an all-time low.  How would you change that, taking into consideration the significant number of foster children in District 1? 

A: For starters we must look at how we engage working parents. Robust parental engagement should include far more than providing cookies and punch, a short speech and a pamphlet, and calling that parent engagement. 

Parental engagement starts in a child’s earliest years of life, before they enter preschool or during their preschool years. That’s why I worked with the Los Angeles Urban League to fund a parent academy that engages parents of preschool-age children. 

LAUSD is a massive bureaucracy. A majority of parents do not understand how to navigate it. We need to work with organizations such as Urban League, Families in Schools and local PTA’s to engage parents. 

We should consider extending Parent-Teacher Night to a weekend, so working parents have a better opportunity to participate and learn how to be more involved in their children’s education. Let’s innovate and use technology wisely to expand parent involvement. Tele-town halls can provide parents without access to transportation online meeting access to their school’s administrators and teachers. 

Let’s be creative about how we engage parents and provide them with information necessary to help their child succeed in school. We ought to be able to expand our parental engagement bandwidth by making use of parks, faith-based institutions and non-profit organizations through the smart use of online meeting technology. 

Q: On your web site you argue that many LA children don’t have “up-to-date “textbooks, clean classrooms, summer programs, libraries, and well trained teachers.” How do you satisfy all those needs given the district’s budget limitations?  

A: We must have three solid approaches: (1) Thoughtful and strategic stewardship of the LAUSD’s resources, (2) Leveraging public-private partnerships and (3) Decision-making that is focused on the “whole child” and places children’s education needs first in the budgetary process.

Q: Despite your experiences as a lawyer and a policy advisor you’ve never worked in a school. How does that limit your effectiveness as a board member?

A: The statement ‘you’ve never worked in a school’ is not true. I have taught in a classroom at the high school level and served as an adjunct lecturer at the college level. The McKenna campaign and their supporters peddle that falsehood in their campaign mail. They ought to do their homework.

While in law school I participated in a fellowship where I taught elective courses in the D.C. Public School System. I also taught as an adjunct lecturer for three years at Lehman College, part of the City University of New York system (CUNY).

My effectiveness as a board member should be judged by the range and substance of my professional experiences and the diverse skill set that I bring to the education policy process. I am the only candidate in this race who has relevant and recent education policy experience. 

The question voters should be asking of the candidates is: What have you accomplished lately? I am not questioning George McKenna’s commitment to children. But Mr. McKenna’s track record as an administrator over the last 30 years has been marked by falling graduation rates, poor test scores, and financial mismanagement.

In contrast, I have a proven track record of success, improving access to early education, making children safer in school, and helping children do better in the classroom by focusing on the “whole child.”  I understand education policy and leveraging resources to benefit students and schools. 

I’m a fighter and an effective advocate. I understand education is not simply about book learning; it’s also about early childhood education, school based health centers, school safety, mental health, joint-use agreements, infrastructure, school finance, teacher effectiveness, charter public schools, and bringing a 21st century education to students in LAUSD.

Until recently, only one group had gone negative in the campaign between Alex Johnson and George McKenna for the open LA Unified school board seat.

The African American Voter Registration, Education and Participation Project (AARVEP), which supports Johnson, sponsored three mailers, calling into question McKenna’s background as a school administrator, prompting the McKenna campaign to call the attack “shameful.” The Johnson campaign also paid for one.

Now there are two outside groups: A pro-McKenna group has gone negative on Johnson.

A political action committee that represents teachers unions, including UTLA, is circulating a flyer that uses a baseball motif to question Johnson’s lack of experience as a teacher or school administrator.

A headline says: “Alex Johnson: Unproven, Untested and Not Ready for the LAUSD School Board.” It shows his face on an ersatz baseball card under the word “Rookie.”

Marco Flores, chairman of the UTLA political action committee, denies that the union flyer is an attack.

“Alex Johnson’s lack of experience has simply been pointed out while not waging the smear campaign like the one utilized against Dr. McKenna,” he told LA School Report.

Any outside group spending on behalf of candidates must be file with the LA City Ethics Commission. By midday today, however, commission records had no record of the anti-Johnson flyer. 

Asked about that, Flores said, “Reporting requirements have been complied with.”

 Previous Posts: Johnson campaign goes negative, citing the ‘myth’ of McKenna; Attack mailers for Johnson draw ire of two important backers

Set for August 12, the stand-alone election not only falls in the dog days of summer, but also hits on the first day of school, when parents tend to have their minds on other things.

Some election experts are predicting that turnout could drop below the disappointing primary turnout, which was  just 13 percent.

“It will be really low, probably under 10 percent,” says Bill Carrick, a Democratic political strategist, who doesn’t have a horse in the school board race.

The vacancy, left by the death of longtime school board member Marguerite LaMotte, is a runoff contest between the top two vote-getters from a field of seven in the June primary: Alex Johnson an up-and-coming aide to County Supervisor Mark Ridley-Thomas, and George McKenna, a retired school administrator with a long record of service in LAUSD.  McKenna won the primary with nearly 45 percent of the vote — shy of the 50 percent he needed to win outright. Johnson came in second, with 24 percent.

That election coincided with the statewide primary, but still underperformed estimates.

Even more pessimistic is Fernando Guerra, director the Center for the Study of Los Angeles at Loyola Marymount University, who told LA School Report that a runoff might attract only 5 percent of the 340,000 voters registered in the district.

A look at the history of orphan elections in the LA area supports those predictions. (See graphic).

The most recent special election in Los Angeles last December, when Sebastian Ridley-Thomas, son of the County Supervisor, Mark Ridley Thomas, won the contest for a vacant state assembly seat in south LA, in a race that garner an 8.6 percent turnout. Two other special elections last year were also marked by low turnout: Holly Mitchell won for state senate in south LA with a turnout of 5.5 percent, and Nury Martinez won for city council, with a turnout of 11 percent.

If low turnout predictions hold, each voter who does go to the polls has outsized clout.  A turnout of 5 percent in the school board race would translate into a candidate winning the race with as few as 8,500 votes.

Mark Ridley-Thomas

Alex Johnson has no greater supporter in his bid for LA Unified’s District 1 board seat than Mark Ridley-Thomas, the LA County Supervisor he has served as an education aide.

But it’s more than Ridley-Thomas’s vocal support that’s helping Johnson in his quest to beat George McKenna in the Aug. 12 runoff after McKenna outpolled him in the June primary, 44 percent to 24 percent.

An organization that Ridley-Thomas founded 12 years ago, the African American Voter Registration, Education & Participation Project (AAVREP), has spent more than $340,000 for campaign activities on Johnson’s behalf, a figure that represents more than two-thirds of the contributions AAVREP has received this year and more than two-thirds of all outside group spending on behalf of Johnson’s campaign, according to the latest state and city data.

“Alex was deemed to be very important in the larger scheme of things,” Norman Johnson, the Pastor of First New Christian Fellowship Baptist Church and controlling officer of AAVREP, said of the organization’s decision to spend so heavily. “Typically, a school board election isn’t high profile, but he is part of what we wanted to do, which was raise the profile of the election, itself, in terms of what’s at stake in south LA with educational issues.”

AAVREP’s raising the profile of the election has not been limited to saying nice things about Johnson. It also includes saying not-to-nice things about McKenna. In one $21,407 spend, AAVREP funded a mailer that says in a big headline: “We all had high hopes for George McKenna. But after his early fame, he let our children down.” In smaller print, it accuses him of much worse.

The McKenna campaign has called this and other negative campaign material from Johnson “shameful.”

Overall, six outside independent expenditure groups have spent more than $460,000 for Johnson, compared with $83,450 for McKenna. Only one group has spent on McKenna, the political action committee of UTLA, the teachers union. The LA Unified principals union, AALA, also supports McKenna but has not spent on his behalf.

On its website, AAVREP says it has the largest effort statewide to register African American and urban voters, having registered over 175,000 voters in the last 10 years.

In recent years, it has supported Jerry Brown for governor, Kamala Harris for attorney general and Wendy Greuel for LA mayor. Johnson is its first beneficiary at the school board level.

Ridley-Thomas has always had a close relationship with labor groups, and they have given more than $280,000 to AAVREP since the start of the year — electricians, food workers, long-term care workers, fire fighters, even life guards and deputy sheriffs.

Perhaps not surprisingly, individual labor groups have come out in force, endorsing Johnson.

Pastor Johnson said the decision to spend so much on Alex Johnson essentially came from the people and groups who contribute money to AAVREP. He said “certainly, the relationship is there” between the candidate and Ridley-Thomas, “but Alex was not recruited to run. He’s not someone who was hand-picked. He came along with his own concerns and his own interests. He pretty much had to demonstrate he was not only a viable candidate but he was a candidate people could get behind.”

One labor group, though, is conspicuous by its absence from the Johnson camp: teachers.

McKenna is their man, in part for the close alignment between Johnson and charter schools. One of Johnson’s other big supporters is the PAC affiliated with the California Charter Schools Association, which has spent $114,000.

None of the money spent for McKenna’s benefit has included anti-Johnson rhetoric.

“Educators have been the backbone of this campaign from day one,” McKenna’s campaign manager, Jewett Walker, said, referring to a race that began with seven candidates. “Educators know and trust Dr. McKenna and trust that he will be an informed and independent voice on the board.  The $300,000 spent so far on Johnson by AAVREP, combined with the other expenditures supporting him from billionaires and outside special interests groups like Michelle Rhee‘s organization, have exceeded $1 million. That’s what happens when you try to make a silk purse out of a sow’s ear.”

Previous Posts: Galatzan endorses Johnson, leaving Vladovic as lone neutral; PAC spending for Johnson gives him $200,000 advantage; McKenna is the union candidate, but CTA gave to Johnson backers

Tamar Galatzan LAUSD School Board Member

For those keeping score, it’s now 3-2.

A second member of the LA Unified school board, Tamar Galatzan, is endorsing Alex Johnson for the open District 1 seat.

She joins Monica Garcia as the board backers for Johnson. Three others — Monica Ratliff, Steve Zimmer and Bennett Kayser — have endorsed George McKenna.

That leaves board President Richard Vladovic as the lone neutral in the Aug. 12 runoff election. He does not intend to endorse in the race, said Chris Torres, his chief of staff.

“As a parent with children attending LAUSD schools and as a criminal prosecutor, Tamar Galatzan understands the critical importance of keeping our children safe at school,” Johnson said in a statement. “Tamar knows I will be a voice for change on the school board to ensure that our L.A. schools do a better job of providing a quality education for our children. I look forward to working closely with (her) on important issues, such as early childhood education, school-based health centers and student safety.”

None of the board endorsements is a surprise. Galatzan and Garcia, the board’s most reform-minded members, are backing the candidate most favorable to reform; the other three, known as  more friendly to union interests, are backing the candidate supported by UTLA, the teachers union.

Previous Posts: Zimmer, Kayser back McKenna; Villaraigosa in for Johnson; Ratliff forgoes neutrality, endorsing McKenna in board race; McKenna, Johnson re-launch campaigns for school board seat

“I do not support the negativity that has come out,” Watson told LA School Report. “I never have done that. Trying to scandalize and demean an opponent running is not the way I work, and that’s not what I agreed to.”

Watson said she has reached out to Johnson’s campaign, insisting that her name and image not be used in any negative materials.

So far, none of the negative material (examples are here and here) from the campaign has included the names of Watson or Hahn. Fred MacFarlane, a spokesman for the campaign said he believed they were responding to pro-Johnson material from an outside group. The campaign is barred by law from contacting outside groups, regarding their campaign activities.

“I let the person I endorse, Alex Johnson, know that this scurrilous materials that had been put out on one’s opponent, they can’t use my name, they can’t use my picture,” said Watson, who served five terms in the House, through 2011.

Watson was an early supporter of McKenna, at a time the school board had not decided whether to fill the board seat by appointment or by election. McKenna said then he only wanted the seat if appointed, leading Watson to offer support for Johnson.

After the board voted to stage an election, McKenna became a candidate, but Watson kept to her word and stayed in the Johnson camp.

What she objected to were several recent mailings from the Johnson campaign, attempting to deflate McKenna’s accomplishments over his 35 years as an administrator and educator.

Claiming that the mailers were trying to address the “myth” of McKenna, Johnson’s campaign said the aim was to expose the “real” McKenna.

Hahn, a second-term House member, expressed her concern over the negative campaigning against McKenna to the website City Watch, which quoted her as saying, “Politics can get really dirty sometimes and this looks like one of those times.”

Hahn did not respond to numerous attempts to reach her at her Washington, D.C. office.

MacFarlane said neither woman has asked to be removed from the list of Johnson supporters.

Previous Posts: Zimmer, Kayser back McKenna; Villaraigosa in for Johnson; Johnson campaign goes negative, citing the ‘myth’ of McKenna; McKenna is the union candidate, but CTA gave to Johnson backers

Steve Zimmer, with George McKenna to his right.

Endorsements in the District 1 school board race continued to pile up today as two LA Unified board members jumped on the George McKenna bandwagon, and former Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa weighed in for Alex Johnson.

Steve Zimmer and Bennett Kayser appeared at a news conference outside City Hall this morning to offer their strong support for McKenna, the former administrator who won the June primary.

Villaraigosa announced his endorsement through a campaign release from Johnson, the education aide to LA Country Supervisor Mark Ridley-Thomas who finished second.

The candidates are now facing each other in an Aug. 12 runoff election.

Calling McKenna “one of the most esteemed public educators in recent LA history,” Zimmer said he was disturbed at campaign mailers from Johnson that called into question McKenna’s effectiveness as an administrator.

“I couldn’t stand idly by and let it happen,” he told LA School Report at the gathering. “So I’m getting involved.”

Kayser said he, too, was motivated by the fliers, saying, “I was going to stay out of the campaign. Then I saw the fliers sent out. attacking him. I felt I can’t stand back.”

In his remarks, McKenna emphasized his decades of experience as an administrator, telling the crowd, “All I’m trying to do is continue my commitment for all of these years. Somebody else might think they are in a contest, trying to win something. I’m just trying to continue my commitment in this process in this journey. I made a commitment along time ago to be a teacher and an educator and to serve our teachers and administrators and get everything they need.”

McKenna has been resistant to answering questions about his positions on specific issues, but in a brief interview after the event, he said, “I’m not running on issues or against anyone. Do teachers deserve raises? Yes. Should teachers be evaluated? Yes. Do they deserve tenure? Yes. But in that yes, there’s a whole lot of nuances.”

Among other notables at the event were UTLA President Alex Caputo-Pearl and City Council Members Tom LaBonge, Gil Cedillo, Bernard Parks and Paul Koretz.

In a statement from his campaign, Johnson said, “I’m proud to have Mayor Villaraigosa’s support for my campaign in this very important election for the future of our schools and educational opportunities for our children.”

Zimmer and Kayser became the latest members of the board to endorse in the race, joining joining Monica Ratliff, who also endorsed McKenna, and Monica Garcia, who is supporting Johnson.

The breakdown is not surprising. Just as McKenna is receiving strong support from UTLA, Zimmer, Kayser and Ratliff are the union’s strongest advocates on the board. Garcia is a leading voice for reform policies, and the PAC affiliated with the California Charter Schools Association has spent more than $77,000 on Johnson’s behalf.

The board member endorsements leave only President Richard Vladovic and Tamar Galatzan as board members who have not publicly expressed support for either candidate. Galatzan’s office said she was out of town and unreachable; Vladovic was said to be unavailable for comment.

Previous Posts: Johnson holding money lead over McKenna; Vladovic has donors; PAC spending for Johnson gives him $200,000 advantage; Johnson campaign goes negative, citing the ‘myth’ of McKenna

In the money race for the open District 1 board seat, Alex Johnson continues to hold an overall lead over George McKenna, according to the City’s Ethics Commission

Through last week, Johnson had raised $47,646 to $6,450 for McKenna, an 8-to-1 ratio that hasn’t budged in weeks. In PAC money spent on the campaign’s behalf, Johnson supporters have written checks for $370,058, to $65,119 for McKenna.

The runoff election is now 16 days away, on Aug. 12, the same day school opens.

It’s entirely clear by now where all the support is coming from. Johnson has won the favor of reform groups, including the PAC affiliated with the California Charter Schools Association, which has spent $77,378, and a new PAC called Great Public Schools, which has spent $38,002 and includes lots of reformed-minded donors who support Superintendent John Deasy.

While that kind of support would appear to make Johnson sympathetic to board measures favorable to charter groups, he might be equally sympathetic to positions favored by his boss, Mark Ridley-Thomas. The largest amount spent on Johnson’s behalf, $245,754, comes from a voter registration and education group that Thomas founded 12 years ago, called the African American Voter Registration, Education & Participation Project (AAVREP).

The service employees union that serves LA Unified, SEIU Local 99, has also spent on Johnson’s behalf, $6,336.

All the money spent on McKenna’s behalf comes from one place: the PAC affiliated with UTLA, the teachers union.

* * *

While he has no opponent yet for his 2015 campaign to retain his seat on the board, President Richard Vladovic is now reporting that he has raised more than $37,000 in campaign contributions through the first half of this year.

Sixteen donors have kicked in as much as $1,000, including the limit of $1,100 from the LA School Police Association. Four-digit donors also include  an architect, a lobbyist and a party yacht operator.

Why would an unopposed sitting president need money? For lots of reasons beyond any reelection efforts, including giving money to other candidates and doing research on issues.

Vladovic is one of three board members up for reelection next year. The other two — Tamar Galatzan in District 3 and Bennett Kayser in District 5 — have drawn opponents. The District 1 seat will be contested again, and two candidates have filed. It’s unclear the whether the winner of McKenna-Johnson will join them.

* * *

One thing has been conspicuously missing from the campaign for the District 1 seat.

A debate.

While McKenna and Johnson have been piling up endorsements, no community group has stepped up to sponsor a one-on-one discussion of issues that might await the new school board member.

Some of the reasons are obvious: It’s summer. Hardly anyone is paying attention to politics. There is no other election to draw voters out on Aug. 12. Predictions of a low turnout, which have a way of self-fulfilling, have left would-be debate sponsors disinterested.

The absence of a debate leaves the truly-interested voter only a few options to learn more about where the candidates stand on various issues. They might attend a rally, buy in to a fundraiser or peruse their campaign websites.

The first option requires a visit to at least two. The second requires a donation. The third requires patience and a microscope.

While Johnson has articulated his positions on a variety of current issues on his campaign website, McKenna’s includes nothing from McKenna, himself.

Previous Posts: McKenna is the union candidate, but CTA gave to Johnson backers; Johnson campaign goes negative, citing the ‘myth’ of McKenna; Johnson outpacing McKenna in school board race for money

Alex Johnson

In two recent mailings (here and here) to “most likely” voters in LA Unified’s District 1, the Johnson campaign is questioning George McKenna‘s accomplishments as the two candidates seek the open school board seat.

“We always knew that at some point, our campaign has to address to the myth of George McKenna,” Johnson’s campaign manager, Roy Behr, told LA School Report today. “The real George McKenna is nothing like the myth he likes to spread.”

McKenna has responded with a message on his website, calling Johnson’s tactics a “shameful smear campaign” — with the word “SHAMEFUL” in red appearing across a photograph of Johnson — and asking supporters to donate to his campaign.

In an email to voters, McKenna’s campaign manager, Jewett Walker, wrote, “When a candidate loses a primary by 20 points, like our opponent, there is no clear path to victory in the runoff. Well, over the last several days, our opponent has revealed his plan: smear the good name of George McKenna.”

A message seeking further comment from Walker was not returned.

McKenna won 44 percent of the June 3 primary vote to Johnson’s 24 percent, moving them into the runoff because neither surpassed 50 percent in a field of seven candidates. Until late last week, as Johnson built on his substantial financial advantage, both candidates had stayed positive in their campaign materials, each pitching his own assets.

Then last week, Johnson sent out a mailer, spoofing the 1986 TV movie, “The George McKenna Story,” starring Denzel Washington as McKenna, that told the story of his turn-around experiences at Washington Prep High School.

The ersatz movie poster in the Johnson mailer says the “real” story includes “failed school,” “false claims,” “fiscal mismanagement” and “failure to protect kids.” While the Johnson campaign provided citations to the Los Angeles Times, the California Department of Education and other sources that purport to substantiate the assertions, McKenna’s web-based response does not include any specific defense or rebuttal, saying only, “The good news is our opponent has no defense for our greatest weapon: the truth.”

A second mailer from the Johnson campaign takes McKenna to task on some of the same issues, also with citations.

“His story is, ‘I was in a movie, so I must be great because I was played by Denzel Washington; that’s how cool I am,’ ” Behr said. “Our goal is to remind people that Hollywood movies are rarely based in fact, and that’s certainly the case here.”

Going negative is a tried and true campaign tactic, often used by candidates trailing in a race. While public opinion polls often show that voters disdain the strategy, political consultants generally agree that they use them because they are effective.

Behr said the mailers have gone to those the Johnson campaign has identified as “most likely to vote,” but he declined to say whether the negative messages would continue.

 Previous Posts: Johnson’s internal poll shows gains on McKenna in runoff; Labor groups split on support for McKenna and Johnson in runoff; SEIU endorses Alex Johnson for LAUSD school board in runoff

As the week comes to a close, Alex Johnson has expanded his overall lead in financial support over George McKenna in their quest to win election as the new District 1 board member in LA Unified, according to the latest figures from the City Ethics Commission.

At mid-day, he held the same ratio of support, about 8-to-1, in individual contributions that he had as the week started — now, $47,646 to $6,450.

But expenditures on behalf of his campaign have jumped considerably.

Today, the figurees show that money spent by outside Political Action Committees on behalf of Johnson’s campaign has doubled, to a $200,000-plus advantage over McKenna from a $100,000-plus advantage early in the week.

Also, with less than a month before the Aug. 12 election, the figures show Johnson holding a sharp advantage in cash on hand. By the latest numbers, he has more than $46,000 to spend while McKenna has only $2,258.

One caveat for all of Johnson’s money lead continues, however: McKenna remains well-known and popular in the district, and voter participation is expected to be lower than the usual turnout for local elections, especially ones that have the day to themselves. 

Also this week, each candidate picked up an endorsement from a sitting board member. Monica Ratliff endorsed McKenna while Monica Garcia appeared at a fundraiser for Johnson.

Previous Posts: Johnson outpacing McKenna in school board race for money; LA Fed’s PAC recommends Johnson for LAUSD board seat; McKenna, Johnson re-launch campaigns for school board seat

]]> https://www.laschoolreport.com/pac-spending-for-johnson-gives-him-200000-advantage-lausd/feed/ 1 https://www.laschoolreport.com/garcia-second-board-member-to-endorse-johnson-is-her-guy/ https://www.laschoolreport.com/garcia-second-board-member-to-endorse-johnson-is-her-guy/#comments Thu, 17 Jul 2014 19:05:02 +0000 http://laschoolreport.com/?p=26406 Monica Garcia, who represents LA Unified’s District 2, has become the second district board member to endorse one of the candidates running for the District 1 seat, last held by the late Marguerite LaMotte.

Garcia is the “special guest” at fundraiser tonight in Hancock Park for Alex Johnson, the Mark Ridley-Thomas aide who is opposing George McKenna in the Aug. 12 runoff.

Garcia’s appearance comes a few days after Monica Ratliff, the District 6 representative, threw her support behind McKenna.

Apart from the possibility each of the Monicas faces, the prospect of working alongside a new member she didn’t endorse, the expressions of support are entirely predictable.

Garcia is a well-known proponent of charter schools and overall school reform — her website carries the headline “Reform The L.A. Way,” and much of Johnson’s support has come from a political action committee affiliated with the California Charter Schools Association.

Ratliff, a former teacher, is more closely aligned with traditional schools and United Teachers Los Angeles, the local teachers union whose PAC is supporting McKenna.

The fundraiser is being hosted by Ben Paul, chief executive of the nationwide program After-School All-Stars, which provides activities for students beyond the daily final bell.

Previous Posts: McKenna is the union candidate, but CTA gave to Johnson backers; Ratliff forgoes neutrality, endorsing McKenna in board race; Johnson outpacing McKenna in school board race for money

According to the California Secretary of State, which tracks political contributions, the California Teachers Association (CTA) gave the money to the African American Voter Registration and Education Project (AAVREP) in June of last year.

AAVREP, a Super PAC founded in 2002 by LA County Supervisor Mark Ridley-Thomas, has spent over $114,000 in independent expenditures on behalf of Alex Johnson, a strong supporter of charter schools who is running against George McKenna, whose only independent expenditure group for the Aug. 12 runoff election is the PAC for the LA teachers union, an affiliate of CTA.

Johnson works for Ridley-Thomas as an education advisor.

The Project says it’s the largest organized effort targeting African American and urban voters in California, registering more than 175,000 voters over the last 20 years. Its goal is to increase political participation among African American and urban voters.

Since CTA made the donation to AAVREP, the group has also spend money to support Wendy Gruel in her mayoral campaign and the Los Angeles County Democratic Party. 

“Educators believe it is extremely important for citizens who are eligible to vote do so in order to make their voices heard,” said Claudia Briggs, a spokeswoman for CTA. “This is why from time to time we support voter registration projects around the state.”

Previous Posts: UTLA votes to endorse McKenna in District 1 board race; Vote-by-Mail request for District 1 school board starts today; McKenna, Johnson re-launch campaigns for school board seat

Board member Monica Ratliff

Monica Ratliff, who was elected to the LA Unified school board last year, became the first member of the board to take sides in the District 1 school board race, endorsing George McKenna over Alex Johnson, McKenna’s campaign announced late in the day.

No other board member has expressed public support for either of the contenders in the Aug. 12 runoff.

“It is with the utmost respect for his long history of success and dedication to students that I wholeheartedly endorse George McKenna for School Board,” Ratliff was quoted as saying in the announcement. “His many years of experience as a dedicated and successful teacher, principal, and administrator will continue to serve the students and parents of District 1 well.”

McKenna, a retired school administrators with decades of experience, said, “I am humbled to have earned the support of superb educator Mónica Ratliff. Since the voters elected her to the LAUSD board in 2013 she has proven to be a deliberate member and strong advocate for our children. I look forward to working with her and all the board members when the people elect me to be their school board representative on August 12th.”

Ratliff, who represents the East Valley District 6 on the board, did not immediately respond to an email message, seeking confirmation of her endorsement. The message also sought to ask how she would forge a working relationship with Johnson if he were to defeat McKenna.

In the announcement, McKenna’s campaign manager, Jewett Walker, cited Ratliff’s successful campaign last year over Antonio Sanchez as similar to McKenna’s campaign against Johnson. Sanchez had raised far more money than Ratliff, and McKenna is far behind Johnson in both individual donations and money spent on his behalf by political action committees.

“In her 2013 race for school board, Ratliff was outspent by over $2 million dollars,” Walker said, referring to his support that included wealthy westside donors, then Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, “big” charter school operators, the LA County Federation of Labor and SEIU Local 99, the school service workers union.

“They thought the electorate would support a 30-something unknown with no record in education who many believed was only running to use the school board seat as a political stepping-stone,” Walker said. “Voters chose Ratliff, an LAUSD teacher, who forged a campaign led by educators who pounded the pavement. The parallel between the two races is interesting.”

Previous Posts: Johnson outpacing McKenna in school board race for money; Labor groups split on support for McKenna and Johnson in runoff; UTLA votes to endorse McKenna in District 1 board race

Alex Johnson (left), George McKenna (right)

Alex Johnson has opened a substantial lead over George McKenna in campaign support from individual donors and groups that support his candidacy even as major backers from the education reform camp and labor unions who have given millions in previous years appear to be sitting this election out. 

The two candidates are facing each other in an Aug. 12 runoff to fill LA Unified’s open District 1 board seat.

Despite finishing a distant second in the June 3 primary (winning 24 percent of the vote to McKenna’s 44 percent), Johnson has raised almost eight times what McKenna has in individual donations, nearly $48,000, to just under $6,500 for McKenna. Half of Johnson’s contributions are for the maximum $1,100.

Meanwhile, figures this morning from the Los Angeles City Ethics Commission show that Super PACs have spent more than $140,000 on behalf of Johnson — over $110,000 more than groups supporting McKenna. Super PACs are independent expenditure committees that must operate separately from a candidate’s campaign.

The Commission reports that the lion’s share of the money spent on behalf of Johnson — about $114,000 — comes from one organization, the African American Voter Registration, Education & Participation Project (AAVREP), a group founded in 2002 by LA County Supervisor Mark Ridley-Thomas. Johnson works for him as an education advisor.

The Project says it’s the largest organized effort targeting African American and urban voters in California, registering more than 175,000 voters over the last 20 years. Its goal is to increase political participation among African American and urban voters.

“Money that is raised will go toward educating voters about me, about the selection, and about why I am the best choice to assume the seat on August 12,” Johnson said of his individual donations. “We are putting money into making sure that our mail program and our field program is top-notch, and it’s doing all that we need it to do to get out the vote.”

Another local group, Los Angeles Parents, Teachers, and Students for Great Public Schools, which has received major funding from the California Charter Schools Association Advocates Independent Expenditure Committee, has shelled out more than $24,000 to support Johnson’s campaign, paying for phone banks, fliers and mailers.

The only group contributing independent funds to McKenna’s campaign is the teachers union PAC, UTLA-PACE, which has spent $30,000 on a combination of radio ads, phone banking and a single flier mailing in the last week. 

With such a large lead in money, Johnson remains confident he can close the gap on McKenna.

“I would say that no one has a lead. This is a new election with only two candidates,” he told LA School Report. “We’ve narrowed significantly McKenna’s lead in terms of name identification. It’s almost parity.”

Marco Flores, head of the UTLA political action committee, says the big players, such as the California Teachers Association, the American Federation of Teachers, and even reform supports like Eli Broad and Michael Bloomberg, are intentionally sitting out the special election.

In an April interview with LA School Report, Flores said the timing of the runoff is too close to the regular school board elections in 2015, when four seats will be up for grabs, including District 1 again. And campaigning for those races, he said, will begin on Labor Day — just weeks after the new District 1 member takes a seat on the board.

The question before UTLA and PACE, he said, is: “How much are we going to ask for, from our friends, from our affiliates, from the different groups that we get money from, for this particular race when nine months from now we’re going to be having another four races?”

Next year’s elections will be for board districts 1, 3, 5, and 7.