General Discussion

madfloridian

(88,117 posts) Sat Mar 9, 2013, 02:09 AM Mar 2013

Union-backed L.A. school board candidate beats one with huge donations from billionaire reformers.

From Huffington Post:

Steve Zimmer Defeats the Billionaire Boys Club With a Cost-Effective School Board Campaign

Thanks to a huge infusion of campaign contributions from corporate titans like New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, media mogul Rupert Murdoch and business big-wig Eli Broad, Anderson's campaign spent almost twice as much as Zimmer's -- $1.9 million to $1 million -- in the race for the school board's District 4 seat, according to the City Ethics Comission. District 4 stretches from the West Side to the West San Fernando Valley.

Despite being outspent, Zimmer's campaign was more cost-effective. Anderson had 29,537 votes to Zimmer's 32,137. Translated into dollars-per-vote, Anderson spent $63 for every vote she received, while Zimmer spent $32 per vote. Zimmer's campaign was leaner, if not meaner.

Anderson's campaign benefitted from huge contributions made to the Coalition for School Reform (CSR), a political action committee created by Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa that solicited funds from corporate honchos, many from outside Los Angeles, and is allegedly "independent" of the Anderson campaign. Some of the same people also contributed directly to Anderson's campaign, where the legal limit is $1,000. The direct donors to Anderson's race included individuals involved with private charter schools, attorneys with corporate law firms and executives of banks, businesses, and companies that do business with school districts.

..."Zimmer's victory was due in part to the backlash against the billionaires bankrolling Anderson's campaign. Thanks to stories in the Los Angeles Times and other news outlets, voters learned about the efforts of the CSR to recruit huge donations, including big ones from outside LA, to defeat Zimmer. The one million dollar donation from Bloomberg was particularly appalling to many voters.

There is a great post in the comment section which shows just how many not so obvious donors go under the radar.

Great piece. Thank you. It's worth noting that Carrie Walton Penner, daughter of Walmart chairman Rob Walton is the vice-chair of the California Charter School Association and that the Walton Family Foundation has given big to the CCSA, so the Walton family got to play in this race, while not having their name directly attached.

The article doesn't mention Michelle Rhee's group Students First. They paid in $250,000 into the school board races.

All of the money pumped into the Los Angeles school board race by Michelle Rhee, Michael Bloomberg, and other billionaire reformers simply did not work very well. Only one of 3 of their candidates won, and one was defeated in a primary.

A group led by former District of Columbia schools chancellor Michelle Rhee donated $250,000 Wednesday to contests for seats on the Los Angeles Board of Education, adding further political fuel to a battle over the direction of reform efforts in the nation's second-largest school system.

.." Rhee's donation follows a $1-million contribution to the same candidates made by New York City Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg last week.The independent campaign, with resources of more than $3 million for the March 5 election, is being managed by the Coalition for School Reform, which is closely allied with L.A. Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa.

Rhee's donation matches that of philanthropist Eli Broad and media executive A. Jerrold Perenchio. Another large recent contribution, $100,000, has come from philanthropist Casey Wasserman, who has funded positions on Supt. John Deasy's executive staff.

When billionaires play their games in such races they are able to change policy easily. The politicians getting their money will be eager to please. That's how the new "reforms" are being done....one paid-for politician after another.