Candidate forced to pay

Andrew Edwards

School board hopeful Mark Ahrens will change his candidate statement

and pay thousands in legal fees to two incumbents who sued him over

an inflammatory sentence in his candidate statement.

Huntington Beach Union High School District incumbents Michael

Simons and Susan Henry, sued their 20-year-old challenger claiming he

attacked them in a campaign statement that would have been printed in

sample ballots.

Ahrens original statement criticized “the incumbents” for

“lowering graduation standards” by voting to allow a group of seniors

who did not pass a full year of algebra to graduate. It also claimed

that “my opponents cost the district more than $156,750 by supporting

racial quotas in their intra-district transfer policy until a

California court ordered a halt to their unconstitutional and

discriminatory policy.”

By law, candidates are prohibited from using sample ballots to

criticize their opponents.

Simons and Henry, who are running as a team, filed against Ahrens

on Aug. 16. The three reached a settlement on Aug. 20, according to

court documents. Under the settlement, Ahrens agreed to change his

statement and pay $2,800 in legal fees to the incumbents’ attorney,

Douglas Haubert.

Ahrens was so angered by the suit that he took a break from

studies at the University of Southern California to wage his

campaign.

“I took a semester off because being sued over $2,800 ... was the

final straw,” Ahrens said.

Ahrens had to take out all reference to the incumbents, his

opponents and remove the word “unconstitutional” from his description

of the district’s former transfer policy.

All students receiving waivers were English Language Learners or

in special education programs, Simons and Henry said.

“As far as saying we devalued a high school diploma and lowered

graduation standards is a bold-faced lie, and we challenged it,”

Simons said.

Ahrens is running a tandem campaign with Vivian

Kirkpatrick-Pilger, and both Westminster residents are being advised

by current school board member Matthew Harper. Ahrens and

Kirkpatrick-Pilger describe themselves as conservative, and Harper,

the most conservative member of the school board, opposed the

district’s transfer policy and voted against the algebra waiver.

“I thought it was really disappointing to see [Simons and Henry]

sue another candidate like that,” Harper said. “Sometimes, whoever

has the deep pockets can bully someone who doesn’t.”

Ahrens is not entirely new to school board politics. His mother

Judy Ahrens is a member of the Westminster School District board and

he has helped her campaign in the past.

Mark Ahrens’ contacts with his mother and Harper meant that he

should have been more savvy about election rules, Henry said.

“I was reluctant to sue, and I felt he got bad advice,” Henry

said.

Ahrens’ running mate also criticized the algebra waiver in her

statement, but was not sued. In her statement, similar to Ahrens’,

Kirkpatrick-Pilger charged current school board members with lowering

academic standards.

Unlike Ahrens’ original statement, Kirkpatrick-Pilger’s did not

specify school board members as incumbents in a political campaign.

Henry said she and Simons had considered suing Kirkpatrick-Pilger, as

well.

“We would have done both but we felt we had a better case against

Ahrens,” she said.

* ANDREW EDWARDS covers education and crime. He can be reached at

(714) 965-7177, (949) 494-4321 or andrew.edwards@latimes.com.