Arellano Likely to Appear on Ballot

Despite school board candidate Christopher Arellano’s plans to withdraw from the June runoff, city officials said Thursday that his name will probably appear on the ballot.

Arellano announced this week that he was bowing out of the race against the heavily favored Monica Garcia for the only open seat on the Los Angeles Board of Education. The two were the top vote-getters in last week’s special election, with Garcia nearly winning the race outright.

Arellano said he made his decision as he continued to lose support after admitting that he had lied about completing graduate degrees at USC and after reports surfaced that he had twice been convicted of shoplifting.

The prospect of a runoff involving an unwilling candidate or only one candidate stumped City Clerk Frank Martinez, who could not recall a precedent and turned to city lawyers for guidance. Arellano faxed a letter Thursday to Martinez, formally notifying the city that he no longer wanted to be on the ballot. But by then, lawyers had come to a conclusion.

“They have opined that he cannot withdraw from the ballot at this point,” Martinez said. “That is the position we will take when we go” to the City Council.

The council is expected to vote today on a resolution that would certify Garcia and Arellano as the runoff candidates and authorize Martinez to submit their names to county election officials.

Arellano could not be reached for comment.

The city attorneys based their opinion, Martinez said, on two main factors. Although the city charter permits an elected official to resign from office, it makes no mention of allowing a candidate to drop out. And, because the runoff is part of a statewide election, city lawyers took into account state election law that set March 10 as the deadline for candidates to withdraw.

Earlier this week, Martinez had speculated that Enrique Gasca, who finished behind Arellano in the special election, might be allowed to compete against Garcia.

Gasca, who was alerted Thursday by Martinez of the city’s position, expressed disappointment but said it was unlikely that he would mount a legal challenge if he were not allowed to replace Arellano.

“We have to go by what the law says. Unfortunately, I don’t think it was the intent of the law to force someone to run when they no longer want to,” he said. “It basically leaves only one choice for the voters.”

Gasca, who garnered little support in the special election, would seemingly have had little chance against Garcia. Garcia won the backing of Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa and has built a sizable war chest from companies and individual donors.

She said that whether or not Arellano actively competes, she will not scale back her campaign for the seat left vacant when Jose Huizar was elected to the City Council. The winner of the runoff will represent a district that stretches from Boyle Heights to Mid-Wilshire and includes Chinatown, Koreatown and the Pico-Union area.