Late donations bolster pro-Deasy school board candidates
Two eleventh hour donations have added financial muscle to a campaign seeking to bolster Los Angeles schools Supt. John Deasy through the results of Tuesday’s Board of Education elections.
The Sacramento-based California Charter Schools Assn. has donated $300,000. And New York City-based News America Inc. has donated $250,000, according to reports filed Monday with the Los Angeles City Ethics Commission, which oversees local campaign spending.
The money has gone to a political action committee called the Coalition for School Reform, which has the endorsement of Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa and funding from a relatively small group of major donors. The largest donation is $1 million from New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg.
The coalition’s war chest now surpasses $3.8 million, according to campaign manager Janelle Erickson, who is on leave from her job as Villaraigosa’s deputy chief of staff.
The News America donation provides another link between the school-reform battles in the Big Apple and Los