Pugliese Accuses "Desperate" Galatzan of "Mudslinging," Galatzan Campaign "Denies"
Wikipedia: A push poll is a political campaign technique in which an individual or organization attempts to influence or alter the view of respondents under the guise of conducting a poll. In a push poll, large numbers of respondents are contacted, and little or no effort is made to collect and analyze response data. Instead, the push poll is a form of telemarketing-based propaganda and rumor mongering, masquerading as a poll. Push polls may rely on innuendo or knowledge gleaned from opposition research on an opponent. They are generally viewed as a form of negative campaigning.
Pugliese, a former LAUSD teacher and current CSUN professor who trains future educators, came within 500 votes of being elected to the Board in 2009 despite going up a better funded opposition supported by Mayor Villaraigosa. Insiders watching the current race tell us that it appears close.
To fight the allegations, of which Pugliese says are "Untrue, period," the candidate has placed court documents on the web. Pugliese says that he challenged "abusive" terms of the loan in court and "won." The case against Pugliese was dismissed by now retired Federal District Court Judge Dickran Tevrizian.
Candidate for School Board Louis Pugliese is accusing his opponent and current incumbent, Tamar Galatzan, of being "desperate" following an alleged phone push-poll made to voters accusing Pugliese of defaulting on a student loan.
Pugliese, a former LAUSD teacher and current CSUN professor who trains future educators, came within 500 votes of being elected to the Board in 2009 despite going up a better funded opposition supported by Mayor Villaraigosa. Insiders watching the current race tell us that it appears close.
To fight the allegations, of which Pugliese says are "Untrue, period," the candidate has placed court documents on the web. Pugliese says that he challenged "abusive" terms of the loan in court and "won." The case against Pugliese was dismissed by now retired Federal District Court Judge Dickran Tevrizian.
We spoke however with representatives of the Galatzan campaign who denied the push polling. The Sister City was told that Galatzan has very little funding for her campaign and could not afford it. "It's not an issue we were aware of and we wouldn't do it anyway."
While it is nearly impossible to confirm the identity of those behind the calls, it is a frequent occurrence. Supporters of then Assembly Candidate Mike Gatto accused the Sunder Ramani campaign of making push-poll calls to conservative voters of Armenian descent claiming Gatto was in favor of homosexual marriage. The Ramani campaign denied the charges and the source of such was questioned by others.
A recent Los Angeles Times blog post noted that in Los Angeles' school board races candidates such as Galatzan and Pugliese are being outspent by various special interests supporting various candidates. Both UTLA and a campaign controlled by the Mayor have raised millions, from donors such as Casey Wasserman of the Wasserman Media Group and Megan Chernin of Chernin Entertainment and Zenith Insurance. The groups have spent hundreds of thousands so far for various candidates including over $200,000 for Galatzan. That's several times more than what the Galatzan campaign itself has reported raising.
The elections for Los Angeles School Board are Tuesday, March 8th as part of the overall general city election. For more information on the races click here.
Labels: lausd board of education, louis pugliese, tamar galatzan
Posted by Michael Higby @ 2/27/2011 03:30:00 PM
13 Comments:
Buh-bye Tamar!
Finally, something not from CD 14. Wow.
No worries Pugliese! You've got the votes and the seat in the bag. Congratulations!
Something's fishy here. Pugliese doesn't post the whole document at his link, but you can read it here -- along with the Pugliese's defense arguments, written by himself:
http://edobserver.blogspot.com/2011/01/poetic-justice-for-utla.html
The strangest part is that in Pugliese's response to being sued for $11,000 by the federal government for defaulting on his students loans, Pugliese argues that he shouldn't have to pay back the money he borrowed because the statute of limitations expired. It's write there in the response document, written and signed by Pugliese himself.
Also odd is that even on the portion of the document Pugliese posted, it says that the terms of the settlement need to be met before dismissal. Is Louis trying to pull a fast one? Is there a lawyer out there who can explain these documents?
Check this out -- Pugliese didn't tell the whole story http://edobserver.blogspot.com/2011/01/poetic-justice-for-utla.html
Also, my union diehard dad in Chatsworth got this call, too, but it didn't sound like a "push poll." He wrote down all the questions, including two attacks on Tamara.
"Are you more or less likely to vote for her even though Galatzan's campaign is being bankrolled by extremely wealthy businessmen?"
And one other negative question about her.
So someone is probably doing a real poll.
I got the call as well. It lasted almost ten minutes! "California Opinion Research" or something similar was the company that called. They read negative and positive stuff about both candidates, but not much. Do "push polls" last this long? My husband was annoyed that I stayed on the phone.
This is bull. Read all the documents on Krinsky's blog.
This is what becomes apparent:
!) Louis defaulted on his student loan.
2) The federal government, using a private local law firm, sued Pugliese to recover the loan they had guaranteed, plus interest and penalties.
3)Pugliese argued that he didn't need to pay back the loan, interest or penalties because the statute of limitations had run out.
4) Pugliese and the Federal government settled the lawsuit for a lesser amount than the government pursued, but Pugliese still had to pay.
Pugliese is more than stretching the truth when he says that he challenged "abusive" terms of the loan in court and "won." The documents indicate that he challenged the terms of the PENALTIES and the INTEREST RATES applied on the loan, on which he DEFAULTED.
The Feds backed off a little on the penalties and interest, but still had to go to court to make Pugliese pay off his student loan.
Don't you idiots know how to read? Look at the first page of the settlement, lines 18 through 24:
"Notice is hereby given by Plaintiff that Plaintiff, UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, is accepting payments on the claim herein from Defendant, LOUIS PUGLIESE, and that said Defendant should complete payment of said claim by November 15, 2002. Plaintiff anticipates filing its request for dismissal within 60 days and requests that this court retain jurisdiction to enforce the settlement. Dated: September 23, 2002."
Louis, you are busted. Not only are you a fool for bringing this up, you lied about it. You didn't win -- you settled and had to make payments on your unpaid loan. And you had the nerve to argue that you didn't need to pay because the statute of limitations had run out? You just might fit in perfectly well with the losers on the school board.
Tamar is getting my vote. Not one bit impressed by Pugliese.
Tamar is toast. In this economy, there are a number of us who fell behind on our loans. I don't think voters will think this is a big deal. So what Louis is a deadbeat. Aren't we all?
I'm trying to imgine how the terms of the loan could have been abusive. Typically, federally-backed student loans carry a low interest rate and can be paid back over a very long time.
You can even defer undergraduate loans if you attend grad school.
I suppose the terms look abusive if you do not have your finances in order.
A lot of folks are sick of Tamar.
This is a pathetic non-issue- fueled by UTLA and BS. Get it? BS.
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