Heather Repenning, a former public works commissioner, has taken the lead for 2nd place in the LAUSD School Board Race. Although ballots still remain to be counted, the majority of the ballots have already been counted and place Repenning in 2nd place behind top vote-getter and UTLA sponsored candidate, Jackie Goldberg.
The fact that UTLA went all in for Jackie Goldberg is interesting because Local 99 of the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) went all in on Repenning. That means that a runoff between these two would be a face-off between these two powerful Los Angeles unions.
Repenning has characterized herself as a centrist without close ties either to charter school supporters or the teachers union. That said, SEIU spent well over $1 million dollars in support of Repenning. Local 99 represents non-teaching employees — about 30,000 workers including bus drivers, cafeteria workers, building and grounds workers, teaching assistants and unarmed campus security aides. Local 99 is also being criticized by the teachers union for accepting a $100,000.00 donation from billionaire philanthropist Eli Broad. (I really just want to insert a SMH emoji here.) Because, hey, it’s only ok for UTLA to buy candidates for school board!
Soon we will see if Repenning’s lead really does hold up, and she will go toe to toe with Jackie Goldberg, the recycled school board member from circa 1983.