Cheap at twice the price

So, with the final figures showing Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa spent $3.5 million to elect three new members to create a new majority to the Board of Education _ a record amount for a mayor to elect a board over which he has no direct authority.
That works out to $46.50 a vote for the 76,258 ballots cast for the four spread over two elections. In the primary election, the mayor's choice, Yolanda Flores Aguilar, won handily to join School Board President Monica Garcia as supporters of the mayor's reform proposals.
It took the mayor two elections, the March primary and June runoff, to win the other two races by Deputy City Attorney Tamar Galatzan and retired educator Richard Vladovic.
United Teachers of Los Angeles spent about $2 million in their races and backed off on spending in the final days as polls showed Villaraigosa's candidates leading.