Four days after a major campaign slip-up more or less forced him out of the contest, Los Angeles Unified board hopeful Ben Austin announced with an apology this afternoon that he would withdraw from the race.
Austin had been a top contender to replace Marlene Canter in the Westside/District 4 board seat.
He submitted voter signatures from backers in the wrong board district (a mishap he blamed on a political consulting firm), essentially disqualifying him from the race.
He could have appealed the city Election Division's decision, but it was a long shot.
His statement, in which he puts in a plug for his current gig at the Green Dot-affiliated Los Angeles Parents Union, follows:
Today I am ending my campaign for LAUSD school board. This is a sad day because I deeply believed in the power of this campaign to transform public education for my daughter, Fiona, as well as every child in the LAUSD. But this campaign was never about holding an office. It was about revolutionary change. And starting next week, I will continue to work for that same change for Fiona and the children of Los Angeles as executive Director of the Los Angeles Parents Union - by providing a new voice for the parents of Los Angeles. Right now, the special interests have a voice, the bureaucrats have a voice. Through the Parents Union, together we will ensure that every parent in Los Angeles has a voice and a stake in the future of our schools and our children, and that no child will ever have to attend a school I would not send my own daughter to.
It has been an honor to run for LAUSD school board. The biggest honor has been the faith that leaders, friends, family and parents across Los Angeles put in our campaign. I want to thank our supporters for their faith and love. This is disappointing. I am sorry. But I know that together we will find a way to transform our schools, and to change the world.
Mr. Austin says it was "never about holding office?" He's already collecting six digit salaries from both the neoliberal Green Dot front group LAPU, and the City of Los Angeles, so I suppose that might be true from a financial standpoint.
If taking millions from reactionaries like William Gates and Eli Broad is revolutionary, then maybe we can take Austin's specious claim of revolution at face value. Destroying public schools is neither progressive or revolutionary, but Austin and his feigned sincerity about children wouldn't know anything of the sort.