Ralph Mechur, who lost the November election, gets back on the board despite opposition from Malibu residents.
By Emily Sawicki
Staff Writer
The people have spoken, but the school board has spoken louder.
At least that’s the feeling of many in Malibu who believe that the reappointment of Ralph Mechur to Santa Monica-Malibu Unified School District Board of Education last week overstepped the spirit, if not the letter, of the law, since Mechur was defeated in the November school board election.
Mechur came in fifth place in November, losing a seat he was appointed to in 2008 and re-elected to in 2010.
The Board of Ed favored Mechur 4-2, who beat out nine other applicants for the seat vacated by Ben Allen. Allen won a State Senate seat in November and subsequently resigned from the school board.
“I’m humbled by your support, and the support of the community,” said Mechur after being sworn in.
The appointment came near the end of a five-hour marathon meeting during which nine applicants interviewed for the seat. Though 10 applications were filed with the board before the Dec. 18 deadline, Patricia Finer, who lost her race for the seat in November, was a no-show at the Thursday night school board meeting.
Other candidates included Jennifer deNicola, Larry Draeger and David Hays, all from Malibu, and Jon Kean, Tom Larmore, Dhun May, Sion Roy and Jake Wachtel, from Santa Monica.
“We’re trying to do this in … a way that’s fair and also doesn’t take all night long,” said Board President Laurie Lieberman after describing the interview procedure. The meeting did not let out until after 11 p.m. Thursday evening since, in addition to a 15-minute interview for each candidate, nearly 20 speakers came to weigh in on who the best and worst candidates would be.
Mechur was the most polarizing candidate, with 10 Santa Monicans coming to speak in favor of him and two Malibuites coming to warn the board against appointing him.
“It is the opinion of many in the Malibu community that Mechur’s appointment would not be in the district’s best interest” said Malibu resident Kristina Kell. “It would be a roadblock in the relationship between the Santa Monica and Malibu communities.”
Mechur is widely considered a controversial figure in Malibu politics, especially following racially charged statements he made about Malibu during a debate running up to the November elections.
Mechur recognized this tension when he spoke after being sworn into the board.
“I’m reaching out to people who feel that I was not the best candidate,” he said.
There was speculation among some sitting in the audience Thursday that board members would vote on the appointment based on personal motivations, an idea that board members themselves discussed.
“It’s been really important to me that this be a truly open process and it’s important to me that as elected officials we consider that it’s our responsibility to do what’s in the best interest of the district and to be inclusive in so doing,” said Lieberman, who later nominated Tom Larmore, an attorney in Santa Monica, for the seat.
Larmore was formerly a business partner of Lieberman’s husband, which Lieberman mentioned during his nomination.
“Although Tom was my husband’s partner, the truth is, my knowledge of Tom comes almost exclusively from our partnership in the school district and on issues within the district,” Lieberman said.
Next to speak was board member Jose Escarce, who addressed what he thought was a jab from Lieberman.
“You mentioned something that bothered me,” Escarce said, “I think implicitly [in] the comments … we’ve made, is the assumption that if you support someone you know, who’s your friend … that somehow you’re voting against your own conscience, and you’ve made that decision based on pressures or on relationships.”
“Of course those things happen,” Escarce continued, “It’s the real world, those things happen, but that isn’t necessarily the case. It might be that person is specifically that person you think would do the best job.”
Escarce went on to nominate Ralph Mechur.
When it came time for the vote, board member Craig Foster nominated Kean, PTA president at Lincoln Middle School, Lieberman nominated Larmore, Escarce nominated Mechur and Oscar de la Torre nominated deNicola, an education activist from Malibu. However, de la Torre did not carry out his support for deNicola into the voting process and Mechur picked up the four votes needed, with support from de la Torre, Jose Escarce, Maria Leon-Vazquez and Richard Tahvildaran-Jesswein.
With a 30-day window from Mechur’s statement on the board during the Jan. 15 school board meeting in which citizens can file petitions to hold a special election, it is too soon to tell whether Malibu activists will put their pens where their mouths are.
According to sources from AMPS and American Unites (formerly Malibu Unites), two groups of community stakeholders, there have not been any formal movements made toward launching a petition drive.