We are well and truly lodged in fantasyland now, courtesy of the SMRR/City Hall/Chamber/ developer axis, which brought us the recent election, in which up was down, in was out, good was bad and truth was very hard to find.

Though the election is over, the fantasy rolls on. Last eek,ΩurfSantaMonica reported that a “New Guard” now heads the Santa Monica-Malibu Unified School District Board of Education.

The “new guard” turned out to be Ralph Mechur and Barry Snell, the new president and vice president of the board.

Unfortunately, the only thing that’s “new” about Mechur is that, as far as we know, he’s the only school board president who has never won a general election, or received even one popular vote.

When board member Emily Bloomfield resigned, as she was leaving the district, the board appointed Mechur to replace her. As a rule, appointed officials run in the election that follows their appointment to complete the term. All of the official election literature listed Mechur as a candidate for the two remaining years of Bloomfield’s term. But the word “unopposed” appeared after his name. No one seemed to know what it meant, why it was there or whether it was an invitation or a prohibition. It turned out to be a self-fulfilling prophesy. As nobody opposed Mechur, his name did not appear on the ballot, and, after the election, the board simply reappointed him.

According to the story, board members are very enthusiastic about this “new guard” and the changes that it will make, but gave few details.

So it is that a man who has never run for office now holds one of the most importantå offices in the region.