Mayor Villaraigosa's Attempted Coup d'Etat In L.A.

Earlier, ( here, here, and here) we had profiled Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa's attempts to overthrow California's long-standing tradition of elected school boards in favor of a scheme whereby he would appoint the governing board of the Los Angeles Unified School District. He also wants to be able to hire and fire the superintendent.

Mike Antonucci's Intercepts has the latest in this long-running campaign power-grab.

Even though we support many of the goals annunicated by Villaraigosa, we have real concerns over the opportunities for cronyism, graft, and waste that would be inherent in such a patronage-driven system.

We strongly feel that the overthrow of the directly-elected (and thereby accountable to the public) governing board of trustees in favor of a body packed with political appointees (Who would be accountable solely to Mayor Villaraigosa.) is not in the best interest of students, parents, educators, or the public.
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