Eric Bauman v. Gloria Romero in Assembly District 46

This is not a teachers vs parents battle, it's a ROTTEN Teachers vs students battle. I'm a life long dem, and my kids have seen good and bad teachers. What bothers me most is that the good teachers all knew who the bad teachers were (so did the administrators). They never let their own children be taught be the bad teachers. I finally learned by requesting the same teachers for my kids that the good teachers requested for theirs. Now if this is so transparent to everyone, why isn't it being fixed? That is where the teachers unions are losing the battle. Figure a way to ferret out the bad teachers and the students/schools will be better off. To me, let the teachers fix the problem with their peers. Ask who'd they want to team with in order to earn a bonus based on teaching skills (and student retention), and they'd certainly pick good teachers to team with, not bad ones. Now, go put this in action and let's rejoice that teachers can now earn more money!

Hey Hillel, what election results were you looking at? After spending more than $1.5 million, Johnson is barely in second place by 83 votes. The first place finisher (Nazarian) spent a $250,000 and beat him by 2,500 votes (7%). I know facts are a loose thing at the Weekly, but you can't spin these results (www.lavote.net): ADRIN NAZARIAN DEM 9,062 27.48% BRIAN C JOHNSON DEM 6,691 20.29% JAY L STERN REP 6,608 20.04% ANDREW B LACHMAN DEM 6,359 19.28% LAURETTE HEALEY DEM 3,481 10.55% ADRIANO LECAROS DEM 781 2.37% Eric C. Bauman, Chair, Los Angeles County Democratic Party

Hmmm, Gates and Broad's pockets are not as deep as teachers?

In whose fantasy?

LA Weekly, why are you so anti-teacher?

People who spread this crap about teachers and their unions being villains never spent any time in a school, and have no idea what they are talking about.

Nonsense to frame ti as parents vs. teachers, and that people like Gloria Romero, Michelle Rhee, etc. are on the side of parents. No, she is on the side of her ego. It has become fashionable for politicians and the media to trash teachers, thinking that will help their political career, and to sell papers. With them are the billionaire philanthropists, Gates and Broad, who also know nothing about education.

Most parents value and support their child's teacher.

I challenge any of the teacher-bashers to spend a day in a school observing classes, and see if there is any truth to the crap you believe!

Powel-Jobs support many right wing causes, including the lucrative charter industry which relegates children of color to permanent second class citizenship, and brazenly discriminates against children with special needs.

Johnson's fringe-right ideas would put him squarely between the teabaggers and the Ayn Rand Libertarians like the editors of the bastion of yellow journalism. That's probably why they've become his free public relations arm.

Because the LA Weakly is staffed by fringe-right libertarians, they are obviously confused by the word progressive and the political leanings of creatures like Romero, Austin, and Johnson. Ideas and policies from the Cato Institute, AEI, Heritage Foundation et al., are not progressive -- they are, by definition, reactionary. Privately managed charter-voucher schools are pushed by names like Walton, DeVos, Broad, Bradley, Gates, Koch, Hastings, Dell, Powell-Jobs, Scaife, Tilson, et al. Hardly a cast of progressives.

Austin holds forums with the ultra-right The Heartland Institute, Romero does panels with the Hoover Institution and extremist Koret Foundation. Let's not forget that the so-called parent trigger is an American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) template law. DFER wrote a policy paper for their mechanization in Colorado that said students were "merely a product to be consumed by business owners." Johnson, of course, was the racist overseer of the pay to get into Larchmont Charter which the publication wrote about recently.

With all of that out in the open, can we please stop calling these reactionaries progressive? Their policies of profiteering off students, institutional racism, resegregation, discrimination against disabled students, and removing community and parental control over the schools they pay taxes for are the stuff of the John Birch Society, not progressive politics by any standard.

If LA Democratic Party chieftan Eric Bauman is concerned about the party's brand, why not go after the likes of Lyndon LaRouche and his disturbing following that litters primary ballots year after year?

If Mr. Bauman is truly concerned about the status of the Democratic Party, why isn't he initiating litigation to challenge these new jungle primaries that are pitting Democrats against Democrats?

Clearly political parties have a right to nominate and choose candidates in a closed process. Why no action?

The Brian Johnson candidacy is a threat of the obvious.

That teacher unions are much too powerful and yield far too much influence in the Democratic Party. Teachers are committed to archaic work rules like tenure which makes it impossible to terminate unqualified or incompetent teachers. Why does the teaching profession cling to such unreasonable positions despite haveing arguably the most powerful influence in Sacramento?

The work rules and over protection of the unqualified and incompetent flies in the face of moving public education forward. The art of throwing money at public education as the one size that fits all solutions is no longer viewed as reasonable or a solution.

In a county where 50 percent of students fail to graduate, charter schools should be blossoming like daisies. Instead, you have unions standing in the school house doorway. If public education is ever to reinvent itself, you need a larger Democratic tent that embraces a voice other than the status quo, union rhetoric that does not care about educating children.

Disappointing to see the internal strife in the DP, but let's focus. Why don't we support the candidate who is best for STUDENTS? Brian Johnson has my vote!

Johnson is a great guy! The Gulenist operated Magnolia Science Academies support him. In fact the superintendant Suleyman Bacheci gave Johnson a paltry $100.00. Perhaps Johnson should go back to Suleyman and ask for money from one of the Gulen front groups that surround these schools: Pacifica Institute, Accord Institute, Willow Education, Magnolia Education Foundation, The Gulen Institute, and more. http://www.magnoliascienceacad...

Johnson is a great guy, he is endorsed by the Superintendant of the Gulenist operated Magnolia Science Academy. Suleyman Bacheci gave Johnson only $100.00 maybe Johnson can hit him up for more money or the Pacficia Institute, Accord Institute and other Gulen front groups that support Magnolia Science Academies.http://www.magnoliascienceacad...

It's awesome to see the Democrats imploding internally. That's what happens when you overreach. As more and more moderate Democrats grow tired of the party's death wish to re-invent itself as a European style, socialism lite partido, they'll move over to Mitt Romney's GOP or at least go decline to state. And, as the money train comes to an end for the public employees union, there won't be anywhere for any of these career, seat hopping politicians to go.

Gloria Romero is nothing more than a TOOL .. I remember a couple years ago she claimed to be visiting schools in low income areas have meetings with parents on how to improve education. When in fact she showed up for the meeting 2 hours late. She was followed by a caravan of news trucks. did not speak to parents,or employees, did not take questions. No meeting happen. Just a dog and ponny show. She just held a press conference in front of the school. she tells the press that she just finished touring the school. when in fact she never, even enter the school grounds .she did not walk around the school, did not talk to anybody from the school. People where already annoy by her antics. than she trys to have a picture taken with a group of parents and students who denied her request on camera. She looked shocked and pissed.. Classic.

So kind of the LA Weekly to let the Brian Johnson campaign write their own articles now. Will the same courtesy be extended to other candidates? Here's what this article leaves out: As of today, Michelle Rhee's StudentsFirst organization, which advocates for for-profit charter schools taking public funding, and supports vouchers, has contributed $2 million to an independent expenditure campaign for Brian Johnson. Whenever you read the innocuous-sounding words "education reform," keep in mind that this is what they mean. If you'd like to see less teaching to the test, fewer demagogues like Michelle Rhee tearing apart communities with nothing to show for it, and a return to teachers being treated like professionals instead of cogs in a factory, you are not a "reformer" by LA Weekly's definition. Brian Johnson, who spent a total of two years in a classroom before becoming a professional education "reformer," now attacks teachers as the enemy of educating our kids. Republicans, wealthy school operators, the LA Weekly, and the Brian Johnson campaign will all benefit from a "split" in the Democratic Party. Schools will not.

The "Richard"s of the World have sent a cease-and-decist letter to Eric Bauman, Chairman of the Los Angeles County Democratic Party and Vice Chair of the California Democratic Party.

They want Eric to stop being a Dick.

PS: I believe Steve Jobs' Widow is also supporting Educator Brian C. Johnson, and she's been involved in Education Reform for many years, so I'd listen to her.

Another PS: The article guesses that Bauman is trying to help Paul "Lousy Career Politician" Krekorian's Chief of Staff. I disagree...I think Dick Bauman is trying to help Andrew "The Snake" LACHMAN, who claims to be an Educator, but is actually an Attorney/Political Operative, who became a Law School Teacher for his Assembly Run...LACHMAN IS A DEVELOPER'S BEST FRIEND...I know him from Mid City West Community Council, where he was Chair. His political mentor is Paul "The Schmuck" Koretz, and he caused a scandal at Mid City West by making it appear that the Neighborhood Council (aka "NC") endorsed Koretz, when, in fact, NC's are not allowed to make endorsements.