"You know, businesses are people."
- Elizabeth Badger
Elizabeth Badger is a perennial candidate who in addition to running for a seat on the LAUSD School Board in 2015 and 2020 has also sought positions in the California State Assembly and the Los Angeles City Council. This week she filed with the Los Angeles City Ethics Department for a second rematch against incumbent LAUSD Board member Scott Schmerelson.
Prior to the 2020 race, I considered Badger to be a friend. We had gotten to know each other when we were both candidates in 2015 running against the incumbent, Tamar Galatzan. After Schmerelson secured second place in the primary we both supported him in the runoff.
During lengthy conversations in the years after Schmerelson won his seat, Badger and I discussed our shared frustrations about his lack of progress on issues that were important to us, particularly in advocating for Special Education. As the next election drew closer, the talk turned to possibly running against him. In the end, I decided that this would open up a pathway for a candidate supporting the charter school industry and did not run. Badger filed to appear on the ballot.
When Badger returned the questionnaire that I had given to all three candidates in the 2020 race, it was apparent to me that she had not used the previous five years to immerse herself in LAUSD issues. While her answers indicated that she held positions that were supportive of public education, she did not provide very many details about how she would provide solutions. Two of her five answers were nothing more than "absolutely."
In an interview with Nick Melvoin's Speak Up, Badger's willful ignorance was on full display as she made the accusation that:
"In July only, when the new term started, [Schmerelson] voted himself to be the chair of the special needs committee so that he can tout [that.] Nobody's going to go back and check to see he's been doing this for [just a few] months. He doesn't seem to care about our children."
In fact, Schmerelson also headed this same committee when he first took office. He did so until Melvoin and his fellow charter school industry supporters took control of the Board and eliminated all of the committees. When Jackie Goldberg replaced convicted felon Ref Rodriguez, the pro-public school board members reinstated the committees. Schmerelson was then elected by his peers to head both the Special Education and Parent Engagement Committees.
Even more concerning was Badger's unsubstantiated personal attacks against the incumbent. Instead of welcoming a lifelong Republican who had fled Trump's takeover to the Democratic party, she claimed to know that his change in registration was done at the direction of UTLA. Even more perplexing, she insisted that she had obtained records showing that Schmereleson had voted for Trump in the 2016 primary.
My friendship with Badger ended when the candidate profile I published included the above observations. In an angry phone call, she demanded a retraction of the article. When I refused, the conversation ended with her calling me a "b*tch" and hanging up.
Badger's performance did not improve as the campaign wore on. At one forum she spoke against teen pregnancy prevention by giving access to birth control to students. She attacked Schmerelson for speaking out against David Fehte, the El Camino Charter School Principal who had been caught charging personal expenses to the school's credit card.
When Badger came in last in the primary she endorsed Marilyn Koziatek over Schmerelson in the general election. In doing so she ignored Koziatek's support from the charter school industry, her ties to anti-gay and anti-abortion groups, and her refusal to disavow support from groups running anti-Semitic ads on her behalf.
The bitterness Badger displayed during the last campaign interfered with her ability to "do good work" and bring positive outcomes for our children. It also made it clear that she was ill-suited to working collaboratively as part of a governing body. Unless she has used the past four years to take deep dives into the issues and is ready to propose solutions, there is no reason to believe that she will do any better in the 2024 elections, especially in a large field that has already reached five candidates.
Carl Petersen is a parent advocate for public education, particularly for students with special education needs, who serves as the Education Chair for the Northridge East Neighborhood Council. As a Green Party candidate in LAUSD's District 2 School Board race, he was endorsed by Network for Public Education (NPE) Action. Dr. Diane Ravitch has called him "a valiant fighter for public schools in Los Angeles." For links to his blogs, please visit www.ChangeTheLAUSD.com. Opinions are his own.
