[img]2335|right|Dr. McKenna||no_popup[/img]After 50 years as an educator, working largely with minority students, George McKenna agreed last winter to run for a suddenly vacant seat on the turbulent LAUSD School Board because it was an emergency.
The death of Marguerite LaMotte on Dec, 5 plunged much of the South Los Angeles school-centric community into uncertainty because Ms. LaMotte had been an unwavering champion for their causes.
For awhile it was unclear whether a replacement would be summarily appointed or voters would have an opportunity to make the call. Populism prevailed.
The uncommonly popular Mr. McKenna was drafted or recruited, and he quickly grew into a winning candidate. Even though he was outspent by a factor of three, he ran away from his six rivals – impressively, but not enough to avoid a runoff.
As the most senior senior citizen in the race, the 73-year-old Mr. McKenna captured 44 percent of the vote, almost doubling the total of his nearest competitor.
Mr. McKenna, with 15,442 votes to 8,605 (24 percent) for Alex Johnson, will be heavily favored to repeat in the Aug. 12 runoff. Mr. Johnson is a protégé of County Supervisor Mark Ridley-Thomas.
Even those who were backing other candidates in the crowded fielded commended young Mr. Johnson for his personal and professional qualities.
At 33, he is less than half the age of Mr. McKenna.
At McKenna headquarters on Crenshaw Boulevard last evening, Larry Aubry, longtime Los Angeles Sentinel columnist and political figure, told the crowd that motivated voters should have two reasons for backing Mr. McKenna in August:
- The seat formerly held by much-missed Ms. LaMotte must remain a black seat for the sake of LAUSD students (Mr. Johnson also is black), and
- Mr. McKenna’s sterling character.
