They spent $100K to get elected for a $50K seat on a school board. That should tell you something. Its worth over a $100K to keep a seat that only pays $50K. I assume that the teachers in the union gave her that money.
A board seems like it should be a good vehicle to watch over an institution like a school. But its really a good vehicle to watch over an institution like a teachers union. If someone got mad and wanted to replace the board it would take 5 good people, lots of money and several election cycles to get it done. A board exists to safe guard that that never happens.
Democrats excel in winning over boards. Once they win over a board theymake sure that they never give it up.
Pretty much what's happening here. We matched the spending (mostly union driven against us) dollar for dollar and lost by less than 2,000 votes out of 60,000 cast. The problem was the incumbent put an "R" next to her name because republicans far outnumber democrats here, while giving the democrats everything they want. Not only did we have to fight the dems, who were supporting a (poser) republican, we had to alert republicans that the incumbent wasn't who she was pretending to be.
It is amazing to what lengths these people will go to protect their turf and gravy.