Howard Blume of the Los Angeles Times just tweeted this:
Eli Broad made a $100,000 donation on March 5, election day, to an SEIU Local 99 PAC backing Heather Repenning for the open L.A. school board seat. Other pro-charter folks gave to support other candidates, suggesting divided views and/or an anybody-but-Goldberg strategy.
Heather Repenning worked for Mayor Eric Garcetti. Local 99 of the SEIU spent $1 million to defeat Jackie. Now we know where some of that $1 million came from. The question for Local 99 is why they would want more charter schools, since most are nonunion? Repenning came in either 2nd or 3rd, with about 13% of the vote, far behind Jackie, who received 48%.
Did the leader of the teachers union offend SEIU like she did the nurses union during the 2016 presidential election?
This is a local issue. The leader of UTLA is male, and has not offended the nurses union. He often reaches out to other unions, and shows his support by showing up at job actions. I think SEIU is being incredibly short sighted to undermine other unions like this.
Thanks Melissa for the clarification.
Has UTLA leadership asked the California Teachers Association why it recommended the AFT fund Rep. Susan Davis (AFT is her 2nd largest campaign donor)? Davis is the 3rd ranking Democratic member of the House education committee. Davis said there should be a charter school in every district and state. There are indicators that her views align with George Miller’s (a former privatizing politician) who now leads higher ed positioning at the lobby shop, BiPartisan Policy Center which featured a session sponsored by Gates and Arnold, last fall.
George Miller is a DFER. He was also a sponsor of NCLB and a charter lover.
Re: The question for Local 99 is why they would want more charter schools, since most are nonunion?
The answer: Because union solidarity died about 50 years ago. Everything is transactional now. Obviously their bread is better buttered on the charter side.
SEIU represents a lot of the city workforce, and pretty much ignores the education workers it represents. Teaching assistants had to push really hard to get them to agree to any kind of support actions during the teachers’ strike. Reppining is connected to city politics and the mayor’s office, thus the support. However, they could have sat this out if they had any loyalty to a union (UTLA) that always shows up for them. And of course Eli Broad would do his usual behind the scenes machinations to help privatize and charterize the district. I believe the plan was to force Jackie into a run-off, and for this final election, they will release the millions to try and wrest the seat back to the charter supporters.
It’s amusing to note that the candidate endorsed by the LA Times editorial board finished fourth, with less than 10% of the vote.
Newspapers aligning with labor, even when it’s for the good of the nation, rarely happens.
Ohioans figured that out on Issue 2, a few years ago, defeating the Koch’s anti-union bill.
Eli Broad gave Reppening the money on Election Day. That doesn’t make sense, unless it was an assumption she would place second and go on to the runoff OR a payoff for services already rendered.
Very tricky strategy, spreading billionaire money and media influence out over multiple candidates. They seem to have learned from the losses by Villaraigosa and the 2016 candidate whose name will not be mentioned that their money is distasteful to voters. 13 + 13 + 9 percent turned out to be just barely enough. I see the same thing happening on the national stage, as the billionaires will play with a very wide field of “Democratic” candidates against Bernie. Very tricky.
Eli gave her $100,000 on Election Day so it would not be reported until after the election. That’s a good sign. Maybe he knows his support stigmatizes a candidate.
Speculating how it works-
Campaigns borrow money. If they have a promise that the donation is coming in the future, they can get a loan against the promise and spend the borrowed money on the campaign prior to the receipt of the donation.
That $100,000 of course would have gone far in the classroom. Instead it vanishes in a poof. Has anyone tallied up all the money donated nationally by pro-charter and reform forces for school board races. It surely would pay for many a teacher assistant in a crowded classroom, and other supports.
Well said, Scott. Imagine if the billions spent by Gates on the ridiculous Common [sic] Core [sic] State [sic] Standards [sic] had been spent on wrap-around services for poor kids.
Their “philanthropy” always ends with them taking from the public weal. Their neolib mantra seems to be “you can help minority kids AND generate fabulous profits”! Typical disgraceful 1%er behavior.
and saddest truth seems to be that they really believe in this mantra, that while ‘helping’ you can also profit: helping just for the sake of heartfelt helping doesn’t seem to have substance for these “philanthropists”
To paraphrase Raymond Chandler: So much money in town, so few scruples.
I want scientists and medical people to examine Eli’s brain after he dies. Bet we learn a lot, like we did from the football players with CT. Wonder if Eli’s prefrontal lobes are developed and to what extent.
Eli and his wife are graduates of Detroit public schools. Now he wants to destroy them.