San Diego Unified school board candidate Scott Barnett is dropping out of the race, citing limited time. Barnett, a former Republican political consultant and president of TaxpayersAdvocate.org, announced in August that he was running to replace trustee Mitz Lee. Lee, in turn, is running for City Council.
“I’ll quote Shakespeare: ‘Ambitions should be made of sterner stuff,’ as Mark Antony said of Julius Caesar,” Barnett said. “I realized that the time commitment in running, especially given my business, and being a single dad, was already taking more time than I wanted. … I just don’t want to lose that time with my kids.”
Barnett said he knew of another likely candidate for the spot, a man with “significant education experience,” but declined to name the person.
Another contender for the spot is John Lee Evans, a Democratic clinical psychologist who once planned to run for Congress. Evans lives in University City, and has watched three children graduate from San Diego Unified schools.