Ref Rodriguez was elected to the Los Angeles school board in 2015. He ran against a respected educator named Bennett Kayser and used some extremely negative television ads. Kayser has a physical disability, and one of Ref’s ads showed a shaking hand holding a tea cup, then dropping it. It came as close to stereotyping someone on grounds of physically disability as possible. It was ugly.

Questions were raised about the finances of Ref’s charter chain, about food services.

A small publication called the LA Progressive raised questions about his campaign donations.

Rodriguez’ campaign disclosure filings with the City of Los Angeles show that several staffers of his charter school, Partnerships to Uplift Communities (PUC), gave small donations in December 2014, before a filing deadline at the end of the year. What is odd and striking about several of the donations is that they come from PUC staffers who first made a very small donation early in the month and then, in the last 3 days of the year, suddenly ponied up the largest donation allowed by campaign ethics laws. Six donated the maximum $1,100. One paid $850.;;;

What is highly irregular about this pattern of donations to Rodriguez, however, is the job category of the PUC employees and the timing of their donations.

A janitor, a tutor, a parent organizer, two maintenance workers, a kitchen manager, and an office manager would not raise eyebrows for donating $25, $50, or even $100 to a candidate, as these seven PUC workers did within days of each other in mid-December 2014.

None of that mattered. He won. He was backed by the usual cabal of very wealthy charter supporters who wanted to put one of their own on the school board.

These donations seem to be at the center of an investigation of campaign finance violations by Ref. A number of charges have been filed against him for breaking the law. He stepped down as LAUSD president, but he did not leave the board. It is unseemly for a public official facing criminal charges to stay in a position of authority, but there he is. Doing it.

Peter Cunningham, who used to be Arne Duncan’s communications director and now runs the pro-charter Education Post, funded by the same people who fund California’s charter schools, wrote an article in defense of Ref. He thinks that what Ref did, if he did it, was a mistake made by a rookie. He thinks that it was unfair to bring criminal charges against Ref when others have done the same things and not faced criminal charges. He thinks that the prosecutors in Los Angeles are persecuting Ref “simply because he was elected board president.”

Up until now, no one has alleged that the district attorney was acting improperly. Ref should not be treated unfairly, but then again, he should not get special treatment just because he founded a chain of charter schools and is beloved of Eli Broad, Reed Hastings, and the California Charter Schools Association.

Justice should be swift and unbiased. Let Ref Rodriguez make his case in court, not in the media.