LAUSD BOARD OF ED ELECTION: The dust clears …what does it mean?

unofficial election results from the la city clerk with all precincts reporting | http://bit.ly/14tnzk2

March 6, 2013

MEMBER OF THE BOARD OF ED, DIST NO. 2
MÓNICA GARCÍA	15268	56.03	REELECTED
ANNAMARIE MONTAÑEZ	3220	11.81
ROBERT D. SKEELS	4105	15.06
ABELARDO DIAZ	1916	7.03
ISABEL VAZQUEZ	2740	10.05
MEMBER OF THE BOARD OF ED, DIST NO. 4
STEVE ZIMMER	32137	52.1	REELECTED
KATE ANDERSON	29537	47.89
MEMBER OF THE BOARD OF ED, DIST NO. 6
MARIA CANO	4113	13.56
IRIS ZUÑIGA	2778	9.15
MONICA RATLIFF	10351	34.12	TO RUNOFF
ANTONIO SANCHEZ	13087	43.15	TO RUNOFF
VOTER TURNOUT	NUMBER	BALLOTS	PERCENT
	REGISTERED	CAST	REPORTING
CITY OF LOS ANGELES	1817107	292760	16.11%
OUTSIDE LA - LAUSD AND LACCD	157296	9270	5.89

smf: It’s too early in the post mortem for a final conclusion - (pending toxology results?) and too early in the morning  - one cup of coffee -  to write an essay.

First impressions:

As in baseball:

• Sometimes you win.
• Sometimes you lose.
• Sometimes the game is put off because of rain.
• Never shortchange the power of incumbency.
• The huge infusion of outside/foreign money didn’t work in District 4. Zimmer beat Anderson the old fashioned way: by putting up a spirited fight, walking precincts, telling truth to power and getting out the vote.
• The huge infusion of foreign money did work in District 2 – and the Anyone but Monica strategy failed. With no standout candidate in opposition – and no serious money arrayed against her – Garcia was able to avoid the run-off the strategy relied upon.   And the abysmal voter turnout contributed to the result.
• In District 6 the result is interesting. The money spent by the ®eform ©oalition contributed to Sanchez’ plurality …but Ratliff’s strong showing shows resistance to the Deasy/®eform agenda. Fasten your seatbelt, it’s going to be a bumpy ride.
• It would be nice to be able to say the The Millions from Billionaires Didn’t Work – but the truth is The Millions from Billionaires Didn’t Work Very Well – but the less voters who vote the stronger the effect of outside money.  A cost benefit analysis of Mayor Bloomberg’s million (and all the other outside money) won’t make many data-driven bean counters happy: How much did each vote cost?

And that money didn’t help the educational outcome of a single child. In the end, lest we forget, it isn’t about the politics - it’s about the children.

Onward!