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The big losers last night? Independent groups for Johnson

LA School Report | August 13, 2014



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losing money Alex Johnson campaign LAUSD-School-boardFun with numbers:

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.”

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