Local Races in Los Angeles
Senator Holly Mitchell is running for the LA County Board of Supervisors in the 2nd District. I have known and admired her for more than two decades, in her work for Western Center, Crystal Stairs, and in the State Senate. There is no one I’d rather see in that vital seat in LA.
George Gascon is running for LA District Attorney against the incumbent Jackie Lacey. Essentially, this is a race between the status quo supported by local law enforcement and the experienced progressive with a long history in law enforcement. See https://www.lataco.com/gascon-lacey-district-attorney/ and https://www.kcrw.com/news/shows/greater-la/election-2020-education-mosquitoes/jackie-lacey-george-gascon-da-race The LA Times, Governor Gavin Newsom and LA Mayor Eric Garcetti have recently endorsed Gascon. I’m voting for Gascon largely because Lacey has not been the standout leader in supporting criminal justice reforms that we need in these times. This change in leadership is particularly needed at a time when LA County Sherriff Alex Villanueva has been steadily taking the Sherriff’s office back to the gold old boy days of rampant brutality.
Tanya Ortiz Franklin is running of the open seat in the LAUSD Board District 7. https://www.facebook.com/TanyaForLAUSD/ She has 15 years of experience as a teacher, advocate and educator in pushing for the reforms needed to improve education for disadvantaged kids in LAUSD. http://laschoolreport.com/board-candidate-tanya-ortiz-franklin-with-less-than-a-month-to-go-before-school-reopens-for-remote-only-learning-la-unified-needs-to-act-now-to-prioritize-students-needs/ She was recently endorsed by the LA Times. https://www.latimes.com/opinion/story/2020-10-02/scott-schmerelson-tanya-ortiz-franklin-for-la-unified-school-board She has the support of most all who are seeking education reforms at LAUSD and she’d be a great choice for the position. Her opponent, Patricia Castellanos is the Economic Development deputy for Supervisor Sheila Kuehl and the favorite of many in the labor movement. https://www.patriciacastellanos.com/
Marilyn Koziatek is running for LAUSD Board District 3. https://ballotpedia.org/Marilyn_Koziatek She is a mom and has been leading parent and community engagement at Granada Hills High, one of the better performing public schools in LAUSD. Her goals are to get the money and the decision-making authority out of the LAUSD Central Office and back into the local schools. She is endorsed by her local paper, the LA Daily News. https://www.dailynews.com/2020/08/27/elect-marilyn-koziatek-to-the-lausd-school-board-in-district-3/ Her opponent, the incumbent Scott Schmerleson, has a slew of endorsements. https://scott4lausd.com/endorsements/ But he seems utterly unable to take on the LAUSD’s very serious challenges educating its students despite his extensive experience in the system.
I have listened to them both in public forums. Scott sounded a lot like Dr. Pangloss from Voltaire’s Candide, “all is for the best in the best of all possible worlds”. He was utterly unaware of the LAUSD problems in distance learning, graduation and college acceptance rates, the tottering budget, and the excessive central bureaucracy. Marilyn was not only fully aware and familiar with these problems, but had concrete plans to fix them.
My recommendations: Mitchell, Gascon, Ortiz-Franklin and Koziatek.
Prepared by: Lucien Wulsin
Dated: 10/5/20