LAUSD Parcel Tax: The Silent Campaign
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The Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) board members voted to put a $100 parcel tax on the June ballot, saying the district desperately needs the money in light of a $640 million budget deficit. Curious about how seriously the district's board wants the proposed levy, Neon Tommy decided to investigate exactly what kind of campaigning the board members and other proponents have been doing.
After all, Measure E, along with all parcel taxes in California, requires a two-thirds majority to pass. Getting two-thirds vote on any new tax is not an easy feat in good economic times, much less in this still-crashing economy as California faces an 12 percent unemployment rate.
"But there hasn't been a word out of the school district," said David Tokofsky, a former LAUSD school board member. "There hasn't been an explanation and defense or rationalization as to why the district wants to increase taxes in horrible economic times."
Based on the investigation and conversations with the district, some of its board members and the Measure E political consultant, there is little evidence of any campaigning. There have been no educational meetings or press conferences and no signs of precinct walking or pamphlet sharing. In fact, there isn't even a website for the measure.
When Neon Tommy asked Maurice Bonamigo, President and CEO of Maurice Bonamigo & Associates, a political consulting firm with offices in Los Angeles, Chicago and D.C., about running a campaign without a website he responded, "You can't do it. Would you open a business without a store front?"
Over a two-week period board members Richard Vladovic, Nury Martinez, Yolie Flores, Tom Waldman, and Marguerite La Motte did not return several phone calls and e-mails regarding the Measure E campaign.
Those who did call back, President Monica Garcia and board member Stephen Zimmer, said they planned to do educational outreach through community meetings. But when Neon Tommy followed up on when those meetings would take place, it found nothing was scheduled.
"Well, no community meetings [non] have been set up so far," said Luis Sanchez, Garcia's chief of staff. "I know a team of folks are developing something in next couple weeks."
Zimmer's office responded with a similar answer: "We're doing town hall meetings about the budget. You can bring up the parcel tax at the meetings."
In an e-mail LAUSD spokesperson Stephanie Brady sent, she answered Neon Tommy questions about parcel tax campaigning by placing some responsibility on district residents: "One of the best avenues is for community groups to hold meetings and ask District members to come to speak. It works both ways, but sometimes folks in the community know how to organize people in ways school officials may not."
Relying on community members may not be fair, as even Sanchez admitted, "Local groups are tapped out right now."
With the election only a month-and-a-half away, it's perplexing as to why the district and the board feel no sense of urgency.
"It means to me they're so demoralized, they're depressed, that they ought to get insulin, Prozac and vitamin shots because they're supposed to be leaders," said Tokofsky. "But there's clearly an absence of leadership."
Yet Board members have had no problem rattling off reasons why LAUSD needs the parcel tax revenue.
"We're eliminating almost every nurse and social worker. We're raising the counselor to student ratio 1,000 to 1. It's at unmanageable levels," said Sanchez. "So for us the $92.5 million [which would be raised through the parcel tax over a five-year period] will be used to keep class sizes as small as possible. And to keep teachers, counselors, nurses, social workers and custodians."
But time will not stop for LAUSD money woes as the days continue drumming and the campaign trail remains far from beaten.
And the problem, as Bonamigo explained, is it takes time to raise money, to educate voters about the initiative and to make sure they understand the consequences if it fails.
"Because before any voter will vote on anything or candidate you have to reach them at least nine times before they get in their mind that this is something they're remotely interested in, " Bonamigo said.
And LAUSD includes 1.8 million voters, according to Parke Skelton, the political consultant running the Measure E campaign.
When asked about campaign activity or lack thereof a couple weeks ago, Skelton said, they were doing "traditional things" like direct mail and making field contacts. When asked for more detail, he responded, "This is an emergency measure. We're just getting started."
When Neon Tommy followed up on Wednesday, Skelton this time around said, "We're not in the habit of giving our plans to reporters."
Neon Tommy also called to ask for examples of campaign material, such as direct mailers, but Skelton has yet to respond.
The secret plan seems to have at least garnered some money. In the two-week period between the board voting the initiative on the ballot and Neon Tommy making its first phone calls, the campaign had raised $100,000, said Charlotte Dobbs, the Measure E campaign treasurer and fundraiser.
When asked who donated, Dobbs responded, "People everywhere who are supportive of education and keeping teachers."
Neon Tommy asked again Thursday who the primary donors are, to which Dobbs said before hanging up, "Uh, no. Bye."
But even if the Measure E does have 100 grand squirreled away, Maurice said that amount doesn't amount to much.
"This stuff is not cheap. And sorry, we [political consultants] don't work for free. I have staff I have to pay and other variables. A generic fee would be about, depending, 8 to 10,000 a month just in salary," he said.
This doesn't include the additional costs like campaign materials. One direct mailer can go for about 75 cents a pop.
To LAUSD's credit, the District says a poll was conducted showing the parcel tax will pass as of right now. But when Neon Tommy asked Skelton for a copy of the poll results, he responded with a firm "No."
Maybe with his last stonewall Skelton had a point. As Maurice explained, "Here's the deal with polls. I don't pay attention to polls unless I'm doing them myself."
