Friends Don't Let Friends Vote for Walter Moore

It is with disappointment I write this but I can't vote for Walter Moore for Mayor.

And I would urge you not to do so either.

When Walter Moore first announced he would run again following his loss in 2005 I was enthusiastic about his campaign and chances and made a contribution to his campaign. However over time as I've gotten to know Moore better and watch his campaign I've found that he does not have the temperament nor personality to be in elected office and hence I can not support him.

Not that Antonio Villaraigosa or just about anyone else in politics do either, but as I've pointed out before the definition of insanity is repeating the same mistakes over and over again but expecting different results.

There are some very key reasons why I can not support Walter Moore, all of which lead to why I can not see him as being an effective Mayor. Some of them are based on personal experience and you will have to take it for what it's worth. Some it's based on the observations of others, which I can not guarantee are accurate or not, but I trust the individuals who have shared the information with me. The rest of it's based on items that have been reported on blogs or in the media.

Let us start.

First off I find Moore to be arrogant. Some have noted this in his performance in debates. He's been known to make snide remarks about his opponents while they were speaking. Snide remarks may be fine for bloggers but not for candidates seeking to curry favor. I can also speak to Moore's arrogance with at least one personal experience. You may remember back in August when I reported on a little seen City Council agenda item that had the City investing a few million dollars on a book fair in Mexico. My story caught the attention of talk radio and the ire of some Council members. Moore ran the story in his e-blast without attributing it to Mayor Sam. I approached Moore about this and he was not apologetic and his response was "Don't worry Doug (McIntyre) and Kevin (James) will give you credit." After a few more mails exchanged, Moore pathetically sent out another email blast and tried to kiss up. Whatever.

I also think that Moore is selfish. Now he wouldn't be the first nor last politician to grace that description but when you're an upstart, alternative politician seeking to build a movement you need all the friends you can get. Here's one example. Last summer I created a web page encouraging former Daily News editor Ron Kaye to run for City Controller. At the time Moore was working to encourage as many people as possible to run for city offices. I had asked Moore if he would be kind enough to mention my website in his next email blast. After all, I had given Moore hundreds of pages of digital ink here at Mayor Sam and even let him blog here, creating a forum for his views in the early days of his campaign. You would think a little reciprocity would be nice. Moore responded back to me "No can do," stating that his blasts were focused on him and him alone. That was one of the first times I began to suspect Moore was not creating a movement to take back the city but a movement based on Moore himself. How is that any alternative to Villaraigosa?

Moore is self-absorbed and petty. Back in January I had noticed that Moore had not been posting at his campaign blog for a few weeks and I had not received one of his campaign email blasts in some time. Somewhat concerned, I contacted Walter to see if he was okay and how the campaign was going. Walter replied back to me that because he had assumed I was supporting Zuma Dogg for Mayor (something that I had yet to announce one way or the other) he stopped sending me his email blast. I explained to Walter that candidates who I had actually already said I was not supporting - such as Wendy Greuel and Carmen Trutanich - regularly sent me campaign press releases, announcements, etc. I found Moore's actions and comments childish.

Moore appears to have a problem with the diversity of Los Angeles. Many of us who are closed border and immigration reform advocates don't fall into the anti-immigrant rhetoric of many of the supporters of Moore's. Blogger Debbie Lopez aptly notes her experience at a Moore campaign rally where she saw such fervor. It's easy to call a person racist and as one who has been the target of those charges myself, I don't toss that epithet lightly. I don't allege that Moore himself is a racist but his comments and actions are tinged with a lack of respect for LA's cultural cacophony. Advocating for reform to issues of illegal immigration does not mean we have to not take joy at the culture brought to our city by immigrants. On the other hand Moore finds trouble with Spanish radio stations. Even more troubling is his desire to make Los Angeles an "American city" that apparently means banning taco stands and TV novelas on Spanish language TV, something many gringos take a guilty pleasure in. Even when asked to offer a greeting to the Spanish speaking viewers of our internet debate, unlike all of the other candidates, Moore refused, offering instead to speak in French. Maybe a funny joke, but again, a sign of disrespect.

I find Moore to be a poor decision-maker. First lets start off with how, according to current LA City Ethics Commission records, he has spent the nearly $300,000 he collected in both private contributions and taxpayer funded public campaign financing.on things like campaign hats, bumper stickers, yard signs, fliers and radio advertising. For sure, these are all things typically associated with campaigns. But anyone who has worked on campaigns knows that getting elected requires getting out the vote. In his filings, I see nothing with respect to hiring a consultant to manage get out the vote efforts, setting up a phone banking operation or anything related to those mission critical campaign items. A campaign office, bumper stickers, rallies, radio and TV commercials are great things to stoke a candidate's ego but they are not the most important part of getting out the vote. We know Mayor Villaraigosa has troops out there this weekend. They may motivate Moore's base but his base isn't sufficient enough to get him elected. There is no indication on Moore's wesbite of phonebanking or precinct walking activities, indeed the only activity I see over the weekend was an hour and half long event at Moore's office where he handed out fliers to fans. All of this leads me to question if Moore is serious about winning. I believe he has wasted significant resources and significant opportunity. Radio talk show host Kevin James who I have great respect for makes the point that Walter is the only candidate who got out early raising money. Fair enough. But how Walter has spent the money raises serious concerns for this blogger and gives me pause as to what kind of manager Moore would be.

There are a number of disturbing things many have told me with respect to their interaction with Walter. But because these are sometimes third party accounts and their side of the story I won't go into them specifically here. I feel my own experiences and that which is already documented are sufficient cause to not give Walter Moore my vote.

I know there are many people who have strong convictions as to many of the issues Walter Moore has discussed during the campaign. I would suggest you review the record and philosophy of candidates such as Zuma Dogg, David Hernandez and Phil Jennerjahn who all express similar viewpoints to Moore on the important issues but bring different qualities to the race.

It's not easy to have to admit I was wrong about Walter and I know that many who support me will be upset. That being said I had to speak my mind. The most important thing is that everyone vote!