ENDORSEMENTS: Tuesday’s LA Elections….Oh, Just Vote, Whatever You Do – UPDATED

SOME RANDOM THOUGHTS, LINKS, AND QUICKIE ENDORSEMENTS:

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UPDATE: IF YOU HAVE YET TO VOTE….READ THIS:

A smart WLA commenter, who signed in as bruins for weiss, took issue with two of my endorsements—for City Controller and for City Attorney. I don’t know that I agree, but I do think what he says is worth reading and considering.

So the interest of more conversation, not less, about the future of our complicated city (in this era of dwindling “legacy media”), I’ve pasted his comment in its entirety at the end of this post. I urge you to take a look.

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1. MAYOR….Yes, of course, we’re voting for Antonio. Silly question.

As the Daily News said (in their decidedly tepid endorsement), there’s no other responsible choice. Sorry, but that’s how it is.

Yeah, Villaraigosa has his issues. His two biggest initiatives (cough….education and gangs….cough, cough) have been short on substantial accomplishments, long on smoke and mirrors.

Yet, he works well with LAPD Chief Bratton who, in the end, is probably at least as important as the mayor in terms of the city’s well being.

Look, Antonio will be fine. He could even be much better than fine, if he makes the effort. The man has the talent–if he’d just tell some of the competing agendas in his head to shut up.

It would also be nice if AV would finish out the full term, instead of chasing after the governorship.

Meanwhile, for a lively look at the most recent debate featuring the dreary cast of mayoral also-rans, see the story at Neon Tommy by my former student Alex Comisar. (The field was minus Zuma Dogg whose absence was I believe related to his alleged threat to be really, really, really mean to one of the other candidates. Or something like that. The accounts are conflicting.)

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2. CITY CONTROLLER: Nick Patsaouras not Wendy Greuel. Wendy’s an okay councilmember, but she’s WAY too kissy-face with Antonio to be believable as an aggressive watch dog who will challenge City Hall for the public good.

Outgoing Controller, Laura Chick, has made this office an important one. Nick can follow in her footsteps and, with luck, go further. He’s smart, tough, analytic, good. Ignore the LA Times endorsement on this office. Go for Nick.

(Hey, he’s even friends with the Blogfather, Marc Cooper.)

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3. CITY ATTORNEY: Carmen “Nuch” Trutanich. He’s quite tough, a court experienced environmental attorney, and a former gang prosecutor. Yet he is fair-minded and does not alienate LA’s poorer communities. He has also talked about not settling quite so quickly every time the city is sued. (Besides, he’s a USC Trojan fan. What’s not to like?)

Jack Weiss, in contrast, hasn’t played well with others lately—like not at all— causing his very unhappy district residents to launch a recall. He has been criticized repeatedly for, among other things, giving developers in his district anything they want. He appears to treat his voting constituents with arrogant disregard, declining to have the kind of regular public meetings that other council members routinely hold.

Speaking personally, even when I find myself on the same side of an issue with Weiss, I notice I am queasy, as his stand feels more like pandering than principle. Seriously, if his district hates him, and he’s not getting along with his fellow city council members, and he seems never to have encountered a special interest he didn’t like, do we really want to make him the city’s attorney? ANSWER: Uh, no.

NOTE: If you want to read more about these or other candidates, the Young Progressive Majority has put together a GREAT voting guide. Obviously as its title suggests, the guide is progressive, but it is amusingly written and well researched. (The Zuma Dogg section alone is worth the price of admission.***)

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4. ABOUT THE LAUSD BOARD – Nury Martinez and Mike Stryer are good (although if I get one more robocall about the latter, I may change my mind). They both have a decidedly scrappy attitude toward the district so are more likely to challenge the still-calcified status quo, and this is a very good thing.

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5. L.A. CITY COUNCIL: 5th District: Ron Galperin. Smart guy. All my sensibly progressive friends are beating the drum for him. The LA Times also likes him.

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A: Yes

B: No – Really the only controversial measure. This puppy has been rushed on to the ballot, and not in a good way. I’m with Laura" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen> Chick on Measure B. (< --Follow the YouTube link. Laura explains it all.) C: Yes D: Yes E: No **************************************************************************************************************** PS: Just to be clear, although I poke fun at Zuma Dogg, I appreciate his gadfly performance art, and think the city is a better place for having him in it. ***************************************************************************************************************** PPS: I just got a note from Mike Stryer who apologized for the robocalls. He said he is being outspent 5-1 by his opponent, who was given a pile of money by the union, UTLA, and was trying to get the word out efficiently at the last minute. (Not to worry, Mike. All is forgiven.) His note brings up two more reasons to vote for Stryer that I didn't mention when I was trying to get the post up last night: Stryer's opponent, Steve Zimmer is a good guy too. Both Stryer and Zimmer are teachers with a deep commitment to students. But Zimmer's support from the union---which tends to have one or two itsy bitsy control issues with the board---is cause for worry. Frankly Styer, with his background in finance as well as teaching, has a platform that suggests he is more likely to say no to the union, when NO is the correct response. Zimmer is also a Villaraigosa pick, and one thing we do not need, is an unbreakable Antonio cable on the board, which is—I’m sorry— what we are likely to get with Zimmer.

Again, both are good guys, but again, Stryer’s platform shows much more of a bent toward desperately-needed reform.

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UPDATE: AN ELECTIONS COUNTERPOINT:

Celeste has no idea what she’s talking about when it comes to city attorney and controller. Trutanich is NOT an environmental attorney– he’s been a private criminal defense attorney for the last 23 years….

more after the jump

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….defending corporate polluters, toxic dumpers and even a captain who shot at baby seals for target practice and had the bad luck to be caught and sentenced to community service caring for injured marine animals. So he spins this in the Times as turning the shooter into “a born-again animal activist,” and claims he made sure the guy got punished. B.S., he couldn’t get the guy off scot-free by devious tactics as usual, so the guy had to serve a suspended sentence and do the community service. Just one lie about his environmental record, which is opposite of what he claims.

Same with his claims to be a prosecutor. The Williams guy he shows in his ads was his ONE gang prosecution as a jr. Asst. D A 23 years ago, before he quit for a lucrative private practice in Long Beach working for criminals.

Then his buddy DA Steve Cooley urged him to run for City Attorney so that he would get some on-the-job-training for when Cooley (finally) is termed out in 4 yrs, and can run for his DA job. What he really wants to do. (He had to move out of Long Beach to Harbor City and change his Republican registration to prepare.) And he can clean up/ continue any messes and cozy relationships Cooley leaves behind, maybe — like he’s tried to do with current Trutanich client Rocky Delgadillo. INDEPENDENT VOICE, my arse. Those 3 are the tip of a Republican gang (with likes of Dennis Zine) who have just put a clever spin on things.

What he would do is work with his gang against Antonio and City Hall, creating gridlock likely worse than Rocky now. Yeah, that’s been a real good kind of tension as far as billboards etc. go. Lately, very lately, looking at his “legacy” toward higher ofc., Rocky’s has pursued gang injuncitions and the prosecutor program everyone wants to continue.

Weiss has a solid environmental record and has written many of the gun ordinances the City Attorney must enforce, and not hold his nose doing it. He’s not a phony back-slapper or (to some eyes), a crude, vulgar oafish kind like Cooley, Zine and Nuch.

He’s a straight-shooter, which has kept him focused on issues at city hall and yes, earned some ire from those who like to have fuzzy memories about being there all along, but imagine having to get 8-9 people with often opposite objectives to go along with what you want for your own district and on issues that fall under your committee. Look at how hard it’s been to get some of them to understand that their insisting on “billboard districts” in their areas has undermined the city’s own billboard ordinance, allowing the opposition to argue selective enforcement (Perry, one critic, especially). Some say he’s an elitist — if that means not sending out tacky, nasty, mailers attacking your opponent like Trutanich, GOOD. He’s also the smartest and most educated, along with Garcetti, and doesn’t suffer fools gladly. As a sharp straight- shooter, perfect for City Attorney.

The claims that he’s unresponsive to constituents are a lie — his deputies attend every Neighborhood Council meeting and HOA when invited, and in my experience get back to you promptly. He has lots of friends and supporters, who just don’t fall into the category of those who read blogs like this or Mayor Sam (I note your hat-tip to their gadly zuma dogg), and don’t have the time to attend all the HOA and NC meetings to counter the handful who do. These are also the people fighting the Expo Line, the Subway extension, and many, all future development. What Weiss has approved like Century City is top-notch, incorporates DASH/ future mass transit and preserve the single-family neighborhoods while bringing in much-needed tax base. His projects will more than withstand the tests of time and prove his vision. (I live in Century City and my association is very happy.)

Wendy Greuel is another one who’s being hurt by being an incumbent in an “anyone but an incumbent” atmosphere. Her claims about Nick seem spot-on, and everyone knows he’s been a city hall insider for decades, whose development projects have benefited directly and by relationships. Hardly selfless, the current DWP h.q. built under his stewardship (hmmm) includes a giant bust to himself smack dab in the middle of the outdoor courtyard. Like Weiss, once freed of the constraints of having to get 9 other people to agree to every step you take, she’ll be the most knowledgeable and able to hit the ground running.

You couldn’t be more off, Celeste, wanting to cut off your nose to spite your face just to toss out the incumbents — while ironically, wanting Antonio to do a better job, surrounding by Cooley’s stoolies who wish him ill?