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Romero: “A Lesson on How Not to Buy an Election”

Hillel Aron | May 30, 2013



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Gloria-Romero-1In her latest OC Register column, California Democrats for Education Reform (DFER) President Gloria Romero (pictured) wonders if voters are finally “awakening to the adverse electoral influence of special-interest power and money.”

“The outgoing Mayor unabashedly raised millions to elect his former political aide and keep control of the School Board,” she writes. “But an independent classroom teacher with little money and no loyalty to the Mayor’s millions prevailed. If ever there was a lesson on how not to buy an election, this was it.”

Though a committed reformer, the Democratic Romero is fiercely independent and even unpredictable. She has been critical of Mayor Villaraigosa’s role in the School Board elections, and her state organization, California DFER, declined to endorse either Antonio Sanchez or Monica Ratliff in the District 6 race. However, she did endorse Monica Garcia, and the national DFER organization endorses and funds pro-reform Democratic candidates.

Previous posts: Endorsements, Garcetti — and RaceTurnout Tells a Tale in District 6Cheers — and ConfusionHow Ratliff Won (& Reformers Lost)

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