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LA County Fed endorses all incumbents for LAUSD board

LA School Report | January 29, 2015



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If endorsements mean anything, the incumbents running to hold their LA Unified board seats have gotten a boost from the Los Angeles County Federation of Labor, AFL-CIO, the umbrella organization for more than 300 locals, representing about 600,000 workers.

The group is supporting George McKenna in District 1, Tamar Galatzan in 3, Bennett Kayser in 5 and Board President Richard Vladovic in 7. All but McKenna’s race are contested.

The incumbents “have the experience we need to tackle the issues facing our schools today. Our support means they’ll have the backing of working families,” Rusty Hicks, the union’s Executive Secretary-Treasurer, said in a statement to LA School Report.

While it’s never man-bites-dog news when an incumbent gets the endorsement, the selections would appear to be something of a surprise in the case of Galatzan, who is not so cozy with the teachers union, UTLA, as some of her colleagues.

But, au contraire: As SEIU Local 99, the service workers union, said last month when endorsing the same incumbents: Galatzan “has demonstrated a commitment to the children, families and workers of LAUSD, as demonstrated by her support for Breakfast in the Classroom, the LCFF Equity Index and the adoption of the historic $15 minimum wage for LAUSD employees”

As for UTLA, its political action committee has endorsed only Kayser and, in a symbolic gesture, McKenna, said the committee chairman, Marco Flores. The committee is meeting on Feb. for for a final opportunity to make any other recommendations from the committee.

A full union endorsement is determined by a vote of the House of Representatives on committee recommendations. 


* Add’s UTLA political action committee recommendations.

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