Villaraigosa's Green Colors School Board Runoff

The mayor's candidates have amassed huge war chests, records

By Howard Blume, Times Staff Writer

For the few out there listening, Neal Kleiner has a compelling story to tell in his bid to win election to the Los Angeles Board of Education.

The energetic, Spanish-fluent, 60-year-old father of biracial children (he's white, his ex-wife African American) heads a family of educators that encompasses the city's diversity.

But Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa is endorsing - and funding - the other candidate in the May 15 runoff election, Richard Vladovic, who has a competitive pitch of his own. And that makes Vladovic the presumed favorite in the race for District 7, which stretches from Watts to the Harbor area.

Villaraigosa is the main reason Vladovic has raised seven times as much as Kleiner, according to financial disclosure reports filed Thursday. And Villaraigosa is pouring even more money into a tightly contested race in the San Fernando Valley. If both of his candidates win, the mayor will, for the first time, hold a majority on the seven-member school board. And Villaraigosa would, after more than a year and several abortive tries, finally have increased influence over L.A. Unified, the nation's second-largest school system.

In the March primary, Villaraigosa and his allies backed four candidates. One won; one lost. Two others finished first, but lacked a majority, forcing the runoff.

Kleiner's qualifications include 38 years in the local trenches - as teacher, counselor, athletic coordinator, dean of students and assistant principal - before retiring last fall as a principal. His notable fans include teachers who worked for him at Muir Middle School in South Los Angeles.

So far Kleiner has raised about $60,000, including a $10,000 personal loan. Vladovic has pulled in more than $550,000, at least $243,000 directly from the Partnership for Better Schools, a Villaraigosa-controlled campaign committee.

The mayor's fundraising also is blanketing District 3 in the San Fernando Valley. There, another major player, the teachers union, is backing one-term incumbent and longtime union activist Jon M. Lauritzen. United Teachers Los Angeles, which has borrowed money to fund the race, has no plans to match the mayor dollar for dollar. Instead, UTLA pins its hopes on teachers - both as a sales force and in the voting booth.

Still, UTLA has thrown in $900,000, the lion's share of Lauritzen's $1.03-million draw. Challenger Tamar Galatzan has about $2.35 million, with more than $2 million coming from the mayor's committee.

Having the mayor of Los Angeles against him suggested another potentially compelling theme to Kleiner - pitching himself as independent.

"I want to work with the mayor," said Kleiner, "but not under his thumb. I see myself as a swing vote."

Vladovic, 62, also cites local ties and deep experience. A near-lifelong district resident, the retired Army Reserve major rose over three decades from teacher to senior administrator. He left L.A. Unified to become superintendent at West Covina Unified in 2003, then retired after less than three years, because of the commute and health concerns that, he said, have since proved unfounded.

Vladovic's war chest includes substantial funds from unions outside the school district. Vladovic has diligently courted labor - and the mayor's backing helps, given that the teachers union is sitting out the race. That effectively makes Villaraigosa the power broker.

In recent months, Vladovic spoke in favor of legislation aimed at giving Villaraigosa substantial authority over the school district.

The courts have thus far found the Villaraigosa-backed law to be unconstitutional.

"Some of those schools are so poor in terms of student achievement and safety issues," said Vladovic, "that the mayor's involvement can only help."

In the Valley, Galatzan, 37, a neighborhood prosecutor for the city attorney's office and the parent of two preschoolers, has expressed consistent general support for the mayor's agenda -which would reduce her authority on the school board. Her essential consonance with the mayor, she said, is their shared sense of urgency for bringing rapid change to L.A. Unified.

Lauritzen also has a patron to answer to - the teachers union, whose endorsement has drawn significant help from other labor groups, in dollars and phone banking.

The 68-year-old incumbent can't keep pace with Galatzan in TV ads or campaign mail. He'll rely instead on teachers to fan out into the community from the schools in which they work. And then, according to the game plan, those teachers - and their spouses - also will vote for Lauritzen. So many teachers and district employees live in District 3 that they alone could make the difference in this low-turnout election. But in the March primary, they, too, failed to show in decisive numbers.

The expensive politicking also can turn off voters.

Some have complained about the negative tone of a few Lauritzen mailers. One bizarrely linked Galatzan, a Jewish Democrat who once worked for the Anti-Defamation League, with conservative Christian evangelicals.

But disenchanted voters also are leaning the other way. Retired bank branch manager Darlene Burton criticized the school system yet she's going for Lauritzen, partly, she said, "because I get so much information and mail from Galatzan - it's about four to one. She has to have a lot of money behind her. What do they want?"

The donors to Villaraigosa's committee have included the civic-minded and those with business before the city. By law, he's not required to post an updated list of contributors until July.

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