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Former teacher Bennett Kayser declared winner of L.A. Unified seat
Bennett Kayser
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Former teacher Bennett Kayser declared winner of L.A. Unified seat
It was close race, but yesterday the L.A. City Clerk finished the tally for the L.A. Unified Board of Education District 5 runoff election, and Bennet Kayser came out on top.
Former teacher Kayser beat L.A. Unified staffer Luis Sanchez by about 600 votes in an upset. Sanchez began his campaign with the endorsements and donations of L.A. Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, his allies, and the powerful SEIU Local 99 labor union. Kayser began by lending money to his campaign and with no major endorsements. The teachers union endorsed Kayser after its first candidate was found to have skipped filing recent income tax returns. With the endorsement it offered more than a million dollars to help finance the campaign. In fact, the latest tallies show the District 5 L.A. Unified Board primary and runoff election cost about $3 million.
Kayser beat out Sanchez by a mere 3 percent - 10,741 to 10,139, according to the city clerk's office.
Although fewer than 10 percent of the Eagle Rock-to-Huntington Park district voted, the race was dizzying. Kayser's supporters sent out mailers attacking Sanchez as a bureaucrat and allies of Sanchez accused Kayser of being an agent of the status quo.
Kayser is a former seventh grade science and health teacher at King and Irving middle schools.
Scott Svonkin also won the community college seat by a narrow margin against Lydia Gutierrez. Svonkin won with 53.5 percent of the vote and 71,071 votes compared to Gutierrez's 61,597.
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