Schools: May 2007 Archives

Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa's endorsement of Hillary Rodham Clinton's presidential campaign -- it'll be official Wednesday -- is the politically shrewd move, coalition politics and Sanjaya-like Obama passion aside.

And it has nothing to do with presidential politics. Gubernatorial politics, maybe. Or, for sure.

By giving Hillary the biggest Latino political endorsement to date, which will be especially helpful in the suddenly important California presidential primary, Antonio assures himself of being able to call in a quid pro quo for Bill and Hillary's endorsement when the mayor announces his 2010 gubernatorial campaign, as everyone expects him to do.

Those Clinton endorsements will mean a lot more in Antonio's anticipated statewide run than anything that Barack Obama or any of the other Democratic presidential hopefuls can offer.

With his victory in the school boad elections, Mayor Antoniio Villaraigosa announced Friday that he will not appeal a judge's ruling that his LAUSD-takeover plan is unconstitutional but will work instead to take advantage of the "unprecedented opportunities" offered by new district leadership.
His announcement came during a morning news conference at the Miguel Contreras Learning Complex, where he and his former Los Angeles Unified School District adversaries shared hugs, kisses and laughter - an event that stood in sharp contrast to the acrimony that's marked the past 18 months.
With the election Tuesday of his two reform candidates to the school board, Villaraigosa said he believes he can work through the system rather than through the courts to solve myriad problems in the district.
"This has been a tough and contentious year," he said.
"We've had debates. We've had arguments. We've been to the Legislature. We've been to the courts. We've been to the ballot box. We've enjoyed victories, and we've shared defeats."
Full report in the Daily News by staff writer Naush Boghossian.

Escalating their show of solidarity and majority power, Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa's four allies on the LAUSD board united with Superintendent David Brewer III on Thursday and vowed to bring urgency to district reform in a report by staff writer Naush Boghossin in the Daily News..

Newly elected board members Tamar Galatzan and Richard Vladovic and current members Yolie Flores Aguilar and Monica Garcia joined with Brewer at a membership meeting of the Central City Association and pledged to cut bureaucracy and partner with the business community to improve the schools and dismal graduation rates.
Aguilar also foreshadowed a potential leadership change for the seven-member board.
"Now we have a reform board with the great leadership of Monica Garcia, who has been pushing for many of these reforms - oftentimes a very lonely voice," Aguilar said.
The appearance came a day after the group celebrated its Tuesday election victory with a high-profile gathering at Ninth Street Elementary School in downtown Los Angeles.

Questions are being raised over whether school board member John Lauritzen is conceding the May 15 election to Deputy City Attorney Tamar Galatzan.
in today's Daily News, reporter Naush Boghossian explores the question as she looks at the apparent lack of a campagn on Laurtizen's behalf with the powerful United Teachers of Los Angeles holding back its spending on mail to voters.
Political analysts question if the Laurtzen campaign has surrendered to the Galatzan mail blitz now underway -- or if its a brilliant strategy focusing on an election-day turnout of targeted voters.