According to a “Late Contribution Report” filed Monday with the California Secretary of State office, former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg gave the maximum allowable $13,600 to Marshall Tuck in his race for Superintendent of Public Instruction just before last week’s election, reports Bay Area News Group’s Political Blotter.
Tuck finished second in Tuesday’s primary against incumbent Tom Torlakson, who has the support of the state Democratic Party and teachers unions. Tuck, a former charter school executive, is running as a Democrat but does not have anywhere near as many Democratic party endorsements, aside from that of former Los Angeles mayor Antonio Villaraigosa.
Tuck’s campaign manager, Cynara Lilly, laid out the candidate’s platform to Reuters in an April report: “He doesn’t support school vouchers, he believes in separation of church and state and he wants to keep the money in public schools,” she said. In the same report, Tuck himself said that, while he supports the right of teachers to organize, “unions have too big a seat at the table.”
The race for Superintendent of Public Instruction has gotten expensive. According to documents filed with the California Secretary of State office, Tuck has spent about $830,000 since January, while Torlakson has spent about $100,000 more than Tuck in that time.
Still, Bloomberg is not the only high-profile donor to contribute to Tuck late in the game. According to the Political Blotter report, Walmart heiress Carrie Walton Penner and her husband also donated the maximum $13,600, and Samson Energy CEO Stacy Schusterman contributed $6,800.
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