Pugliese Accuses "Desperate" Galatzan of "Mudslinging," Galatzan Campaign "Denies"

Candidate for School Board Louis Pugliese is accusing his opponent and current incumbent, Tamar Galatzan, of being "desperate" following an alleged phone push-poll made to voters accusing Pugliese of defaulting on a student loan.








Read more »

If Pugliese Was on the Board

It's been real...

Well, it's official: Tamar Galatzan has qualified to be on the ballot for the Council District 2 race.

Parents within her School Board district aren't really surprised about her decision to run. Los Angeles Times writer Steve Hymon had her number months ago...

from the Bottleneck Blog:

So what does any of this have to do with LAUSD school board member Tamar Galatzan?

Galatzan, who received more than $2 million in campaign help from a Villaraigosa-controlled committee, toppled school board incumbent Jon Lauritzen last year to win a seat on the school board. Shortly after she won election, I phoned her and asked if the rumors were true that she was going to run for Greuel's seat in 2009 if Greuel ran and won city controller?

No, said Galatzan.

I called her again Wednesday and asked the same question. But I got a different answer this time:

"I'm flattered that my name has come up and people have been talking to me about it and it's something I'm considering," said Galatzan, who is now 13 months into her four-year term as a school board member.

I reminded her of our conversation last year. "I don't remember what it was I told you," she said.

[...]

Next, I asked Galatzan about a YouTube video I had just watched. In the video -- shot during her campaign in the spring of 2007 -- Galatazan said: "I am really running for school board to make sure that my boys get the kind of world class public education that they are entitled to."

Later in the video she complained that an elementary school in Sherman Oaks didn't have enough money to purchase more paper for the copy machine. Then, in the video, she said, "You know me as someone who ruffles feathers and isn't afraid to ask tough questions. I keep my word and I stand up for what I believe in."

So, I asked, what does it say about her honesty that last year she said that she wouldn't run and now she's saying she might.

"That's definitely something I'm thinking a lot about. It really comes down to what can I do about [making] the community...the kind of place my kids and my family are safe and how are my skills best used," she said. "It's been an interesting year at L.A. Unified and the truth is I don't know how much I can do on the Board or any one person can do on the Board."

[...]

Why do reporters hate themselves in the morning?

Because I stupidly did not ask her about the tens of thousands of current and future LAUSD students she represents besides her own children -- many of whom don't have a mom who can run for office.

The few parents I've spoken with after her announcement to run have voiced disappointment and more than a little annoyance with Tamar. She was elected to do a job, they say, and now that parents need her more than ever, she's ditched us ... before she's even finished serving out her elected term.

Sounds like another recent quitter in the news. But what differentiates our local "quitter" from the Quitta from Wasilla, is that Tamar hasn't officially quit her school board seat, instead she's using her position on the school board as a stepping stone to a different job, a higher paying job to be sure, and one that will be helpful to the man who helped get her elected to the school board: Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa. She will attempt to do her school board job while campaigning hard the next few weeks for the CD 2 election on September 22. Good luck with that.

As for all the recent public outreach Tamar and her staff have been engaging in (Non Title I School Parent Summits, Student Video Contests, etc.), it all feels and rings hollow now. Those Non Title I School meetings and video contests seem more planned for future campaign resume fluffing and for campaign literature and commercial use than to truly help frustrated parents try to effect change for their children and for LAUSD in general. Apparently, I'm not the only one who's noticed the timing in all of this, and the scheduling and locations of where she's been stumping the hardest.

But now what? Now who do we Valley parents turn to for help navigating the maze that is LAUSD? We had hoped Tamar would help us, but it seems we parents have been left to fend for ourselves with nary a "by your leave..." from Ms. Galatzan.

A search of her Los Angeles school board website has no official announcement from Ms. Galatzan regarding her decision to run for the Council seat recently vacated by newly elected City Controller Wendy Greuel or what this means for the parents and students in her district. There are no assurances to parents that her work on our behalf would continue, or even reasons why she felt the need to leave her position for a new shinier one.

I attended one of Tamar's Parent Summits at Balboa Magnet Elementary. I wasn't alone; a large group of parents sat right along side me for roughly three (I was reminded it was longer) four hours on a Saturday morning as we listened to Tamar and her staff go on an on about Non Title I schools and how we would organize and work together to change The Way Things Are currently in the battle of the Haves (Title I schools) and the Have Nots (Non Title I schools). Now in hindsight, it feels like those three hours were my unwitting contribution to the "Elect Tamar for CD 2" campaign. Little did I know that I'd be playing the part as "extra" in what I'm sure will be photos and video footage of that summit at Balboa Magnet. She managed to suck in a lot of desperate and anxious administrators, parents and teachers for her three hour campaign photo shoot.

But hey, I can't really complain; I scored some warm and yummy LAUSD coffee-cake out of that hostage situation Parent Summit deal. So, yeah... thanks for that Tamar. It wasn't a total waste of a beautiful Saturday I could have spent in a hundred more productive ways and with my family.

Oh, and good luck to you in all your future endeavors. It's been real. Real disappointing.

Part Time Nury

We noted Friday that former San Fernando Mayor and school board candidate Nury Martinez didn't receive the endorsement of the Democratic Party of the San Fernando Valley and appears not to be actively campaigning.

Nury was a no show this time at an Urban Education Partnership forum Friday morning in Pacoima sending instead husband and long time North Valley political operative Gerardo Guzman. Attendees heard Guzman tell them that Nury would only be a part-time LAUSD board member and keep her job at Pacoima Beautiful, a local non-profit that has been the recepient of city funds for "projects."

You may remember that Martinez used her role as administrator for the organization as the basis for her claim that she is an "educator" on her ballot listing.

Mayor Sam's Hotsheet for Friday

Superior Court Judge James Chalfant on Thursday ruled that San Fernando Mayor and LA School Board candidate Nury Martinez's ballot designation "as an educator is false" but that at this point reprinting ballots in her race against LAUSD teacher Louis Pugliese would be too costly and time consuming.  In the meantime Martinez is dealing with drama in her hometown as two members of the San Fernando City Council aligned with the Mayor were removed from office in a stunning recall election Tuesday.

Maybe too little too late but the Los Angeles Department of Transportation is working on a "memorandum of understanding" with the City's Neighborhood Councils. Of course this follows the DOT's disasterous roll-out of parking meter fare increases and other neighborhood related issues they undertake without community outreach.

The City of Anaheim has finally given up on their battle to force the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim to take Los Angeles out of their name.  Two court challenges failed and the only real recourse would be to go to the State Supreme Court.  Perhaps Mayor Villaraigosa could charge the Angels to use the City's name in their moniker.

Mayor Sam's Hotsheet for Christmas Eve

If you haven't been following Daniel Heimpel's excellent series at the LA Weekly's Blog about the secrecy drenched Mayor Villaraigosa's $24 million anti-gang program, be sure to read it here and here. According to Heimpel a "secret" panel doles out the tax money to various "anti-gang" programs; a group of people anti-gang czar Jeff Carr apparently can not identify. Apparently the program is so secret that City Council members don't even know what's going on. A US Department of Justice official tells Heimpel she's never seen anything like this.

This morning LAUSD Board of Education candidate Louis Pugliese will attempt to convince a judge that his opponent, San Fernando Mayor Nury Martinez has placed a misleading designation on the ballot. Martinez, whose day job is heading up the non-profit Pacoima Beautiful claims that qualifies her as an "educator" though Martinez does not work as a schoolteacher. Martinez' role with the organization appears to be primarily administrative. The City Clerk refused to address Pugliese's challenge hence the move to Superior Court.

I got my latest copy of The Businesss Perspective, the usual claptrap from the Los Angeles Chamber of Commerce which is far more interested in protecting and promoting the Downtown power structure than what is best for Los Angeles as a whole or even just what's good for the economy business as a whole in Los Angeles. The meandering rubbish was something about "leadership" in 2009 yet has the Chamber or the business community produced leadership to take over this City from the anti-business kleptocracy that is in power now? Nope, they embrace it hoping for a few goodies for themselves and the chance to hobnob with the likes of the George Soros of Los Angeles, Eli Broad. Come back folks when you have some ideas.

Lou Grant was the gruff, old school news director on Mary Tyler Moore but in real life Ed Asner is a committed, life-long left wing liberal. So it's no surprise that Ed's behind efforts that amount to essentially a government appropriation of private industry, that is forcing cable providers to supply psychics, charlatans and goofballs with television airtime and equipment. The surprising thing is that conservatives like Leslie Dutton and a man who I have the utmost fondess for, David Hernandez, are pushing this agenda which flies in the face of capitalism.

All of us here at the Sister City want to wish you and yours a very Merry Christmas and wonderful holiday season. No vacations here so stay tuned to your favorite blog!

Austin Mess: Bigger, Stinkier, Curiouser

Round one: Ben Austin, charter school leader, parent advocate and presumed favorite son of Mayor Villaraigosa fails to get sufficient signatures to qualify for the ballot to run for the school board seat being vacated by Marlene Canter. Austin claims that his political consultant, Sue Burnside, screwed the pooch including pulling over 300 signatures from the neighboring district of board member Marguerite Pointdexter LaMotte, hence not eligible to sign Austin's petition.

Round two: Sue Burnside issues a statement that she had nothing to do with Austin's ballot FUBAR; that she was out of town, unawares and that some mysterious figure misrepresented himself as her employee and bamboozled Austin. The Sister City identified this "mysterious figure" as allegedly Montebello Councilmember Robert Urteaga who at one time was listed as a member of Burnside's staff on her website.

"I was told that Burnside and Associates would take me as a client and gather signatures for our campaign. Robert Urteaga gathered our signatures on behalf of the firm."
Ben Austin

Round three: Via his website, Austin issues a statement calling Burnside's statement nothing but bunk saying "I called Burnside and Associates. I was told that Burnside and Associates would take me as a client and gather signatures for our campaign. Robert Urteaga gathered our signatures on behalf of the firm, told us that they had collected and validated the requisite amount of signatures -- until I later discovered that they had gathered signatures in the wrong district, and used the wrong list to validate the signatures."

In the meantime: Mayor Sam readers blast Burnside and smell something stinky, whether it was, at best, incompetence on Burnside and Urteaga's part or at worst, dirty tricks allegedly on the part of the two given their reported ties to the teachers' union, United Teachers Los Angeles and former Councilman Nick Pacheco, both not fans of the Mayor.

Sidenote: Back before the Mayor Sam bloggers outed themselves, Ben Austin was one of the many our readers thought was behind this blog. I deny any such charges.

Battle Begins In LAUSD Seat 6

Last Friday a number of candidates filed for Seat 6 on the Los Angeles Board of Education, replacing the retiring and legendary Julie Korenstein.

Among the more well known candidates are San Fernando Mayor and Richard Alarcon protege Nury Martinez, San Fernando City Council Member Maribel De La Torre and LAUSD teacher and CSUN education professor Louis Pugliese.  Pugliese, with nowhere near the financial resources of candidates Tamar Galatzan and the late Jon Lauritzen,  previously made  a very strong showing in the last election forcing the two into a contentious run-off election.

This old dead Republican Mayor suspects that De La Torre will be offered a sweetheart deal to drop out of the race in favor of the political establishment's favorite, Martinez.  De La Torre's sister, former San Fernando Mayor and Assemblywoman Cindy Montanez was allegedly rewarded with two concurrent high paying positions with the DWP and the California Unemployment Insurance Appeals Board reportedly in exchange for her agreeing not to run for the City Council seat vacated by Alex Padilla when he was elected to the State Senate, clearing the field for Alarcon.  Should De La Torre drop out of the race, the two clear front runners will be Martinez and Pugliese.

In order to improve her electability, Martinez has opted not to use her title of Mayor as her ballot designation but that of "environmental educator" based upon Martinez' volunteer executive director role with Pacoima Beautiful, an organization that does neighborhood cleanups, plants trees, etc.

Pugliese intends to appeal this designation as he feels it misleading to the voters.  The candidate says that Martinez' role in the organization is primarily administrative and that environmental education is not the organization's primary purpose.  The Sister City has obtained a copy of the complaint Pugliese has filed this morning, the cover letter of which is below:

November 10, 2008


Dear Los Angeles City Clerk,


This letter is to challenge the ballot designation of "environmental educator" for Ms. Nury Martinez on the ballot for the March 2009 LAUSD District 6 primary election as misleading, and to request that it be removed from the ballot.


On the ballot designation worksheet, Ms Martinez stated that she is the Executive Director of Pacoima Beautiful, an "environmental health education organization", which she claims qualifies her as an "environmental educator."


According to the organization's Federal form 990 filing (attached), Ms. Martinez is an unpaid, volunteer, director for this organization, whose primary duties are administrative and executive in nature. While education is the tertiary purpose of Pacoima Beautiful, it is not the primary, or sole, purpose, and as the executive director, Ms. Martinez's primary duty is not one of "environmental educator", hence it is not a primary profession, vocation or occupation as defined in the election code.


Further, the National Center for Charitable Statistics reports the IRS classification for Pacoima Beautiful (attached) as "C50-Environmental Beautification", rather than "C60-Environmental Education."


Being that this is an election for the Board of Education, the use of the term "educator" in this case would be misleading by implying that Ms. Martinez's primary vocation is as an educator, which it is not, as she is concurrently the Mayor of the City of San Fernando, and the administrative Executive Director of this organization.


Accordingly, I respectfully request that the ballot designation of "environmental educator" for Ms. Martinez be disallowed.


Sincerely,
Louis Pugliese

Pugliese Sings "If I Was On The Board"

School board candidate Louis Pugliese's talent knows no end - teacher, college professor, businessman and musician. Rather than making yet another stale speech, Louie makes his pitch in song in a very creative and fun video.

LAUSD Board Update

At a special meeting this afternoon of the LAUSD (Los Angeles Unified School District) Board of Education, the board voted to approve a bond of $7 BILLION to improve safety and repair aging schools in the Los Angeles Unified School District.

According to the email version of Tamar Galatzan's Galatzan Gazette (omg how cute!) subscribers to her email newsletter "will receive a more detailed discussion of the bond and its implications for education in the next Galatzan Gazette in two weeks." If you'd like to be on Tamar's mailing list, Denise Campos at denise dot campos at lausd dot net can hook you up.

Hopefully, the Board will dish all the details sooner than I get my next edition of the Gazette.

$7 Billion?

Seriously? Seems like there's an LAUSD bond before the voters every couple of years; and nothing ever really gets better. And don't look now LAUSD, but the Charter Schools are going to be looking for their cut of that pie.

More details as they become available...

UPDATE: Here's the full LAUSD Board report on the bond in all its pdf file glory. Grab a bag of popcorn and a soda... it's gonna be a loooong read.

UDATE 2: Word is that the above pdf file may not reflect updated changes in some figures such as tax rates and charter allowances. We'll try to find an ammended version of the report (or feel free to send me a link) with the correct final figures.