SAN FERNANDO VALLEY, Calif., Feb. 13, 2012 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- As the nomination period opens for the June 5th Statewide and Presidential Primary, Brian C. Johnson announced that his campaign had purchased significant airtime for early cable television advertising.
The 30-second ad features Johnson discussing his message of job creation and education reform, and is set to begin airing Monday, February 13th throughout the San Fernando Valley's newly drawn 46th Assembly District. The commercial can also be viewed on YouTube at the following link:
http://www.youtube.com/user/johnsonforassembly?feature=watch
"I am thankful for the opportunity to share my message with the countless teachers, small business owners, and hard working families of the San Fernando Valley," commented Johnson. "With the campaign gearing up in full force, I have been hitting the pavement with volunteers to listen to Valley voters about how to restore California's promise. This commercial is just another venue for us to engage the Valley community in a dialogue about how to improve our neighborhood schools and attract good-paying jobs."
The commercial builds on the momentum of Brian's wide fundraising lead. Last week, Brian announced that he has raised $362,000 as of his December 31st reporting deadline while his next closest competitor trailed by over $200,000. These donations also came from over 500 individual donors – not PAC's or special interests. In contrast, Brian surpassed his closest rival by well over 200 donors. AFSCME Local 1083 also endorsed Brian C. Johnson as the strongest candidate for the 46th Assembly District.
Johnson campaign consultant Harvey Englander added, "Brian's significant fundraising advantage allows us to utilize cable television as yet another tool to get Brian's message out to voters. His strong grassroots efforts have already had a significant impact on this race, and this is just adding an additional facet to Brian's campaign."
The newly drawn 46th Assembly District includes the Los Angeles neighborhoods of Sherman Oaks, Toluca Lake, Studio City, Valley Village, Valley Glen, Van Nuys, North Hollywood, Panorama City, North Hills, Lake Balboa and the Hollywood Hills.
Brian C. Johnson is a Democrat, the former Executive Director of Teach for America in Los Angeles, and the current Executive Director of the Larchmont Charter Schools, a network of high-performing and racially and socio-economically diverse public schools in Los Angeles.
ABOUT BRIAN C. JOHNSON:
Brian has devoted his entire professional life to helping reform our schools and providing greater control of our schools to parents, teachers and principals. In Baton Rouge, Brian began his career as a first grade teacher with Teach For America. After receiving his MBA and law degree from Stanford, Brian became the Executive Director of the Los Angeles chapter of Teach For America, a non-profit national service organization dedicated to improving the quality of education in public schools.
During his time there, Brian increased revenues by $5 million annually and tripled the size of his team so that Teach For America could bring in over 700 of the nation's top college graduates to serve as public school teachers in Los Angeles. These teachers have made a dramatic impact on the lives of 50,000 students throughout our city, including an emphasis on teacher placement in the San Fernando Valley.
Brian currently serves as the Executive Director of the Larchmont Schools, a network of high-performing and racially and socio-economically diverse local public schools. In times of massive state budget cuts, Brian has worked with parents and teachers to build a new middle school, grow the schools by 300 students, and create new jobs as the school has grown.
In the midst of this growth, Brian has led the schools in the Larchmont Schools network to be named among the highest performing schools in Los Angeles by the state department of education. He credits this incredible growth and success during tough economic times to strong fiscal responsibility, a commitment to putting kids first, and actively working with teacher and parent input.