The unexpected candidate – Why Mike Welsh entered the fray
by Mark McDermott Mike Welsh was perfectly satisfied with his life. He’d run a successful real estate, finance, and development business, his two kids were grown, and he was enjoying his adopted hometown of Manhattan Beach. “I retired, and I was living the life,” he said. “I traveled around the world, and I can’t imagine a place I’d rather live than right here. I rollerbladed down The Strand this morning. I am 64 years old, and I live on vacation. I have friends I hang out with, and a lot of interests. I basically put everything on hold for this.” The “this” Welsh refers to is his candidacy for the Manhattan Beach Unified School District Board of Education, which is one of the more unexpected developments that has occurred to him in his four decades as a local resident. Last January, he caught word of something that got his attention. Welsh has a keen interest in free speech, and he discovered that three Manhattan Beach residents who had been critical of MBUSD had received cease and desist letters from district lawyers. “I just thought, ‘This is not right,’” Welsh said. “I’m very big on free speech issues. I follow them very closely, especially when it involves public education…
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