The Last Word on Gordon Turner
I started this idea a few weeks ago to do an in-depth analysis of everyone who ran for Mayor of Los Angeles.
I started with the first-place finisher and the recently re-elected Mayor of Los Angeles, Antonio Villaraigosa.
Then, I moved on to Walter Moore. In the interest of logic and predictability, I will now offer my opinions on third place finisher Gordon Turner.
I did a decent amount of research into all my opponents who were running for Mayor, as I wanted to be prepared in case there were debates. Gordon Turner was the most frustrating and puzzling of them all. Most of the other candidates had extensive videos or news coverage in the media. Gordon Turner was a total phantom. Very few people had heard of him. As of about 80 days before the election, he had almost no web presence!!
Google searches returned very little information. I actually had to call the City Clerk and ask them what his story was...why he didn't appear at any events... did he seem serious in his attempt at office..etc...etc..?
Aside from a physical description of what he looked like, they told me they didn't know much about him, either.
From information available on the internet, it seems that Gordon Turner spends a lot of his time on the issues confronting homeless people in Downtown Los Angeles.
Turner eventually got a halfway decent website up and running, but it was really late in the campaign. He failed to show up at dozens and dozens of events that all candidates were invited to attend. The only time I ever saw him was at the Senior Center event on La Cienega... the one where Zuma Dogg was taken away by police after a complaint from Craig Rubin.
I was actually somewhat impressed by Gordon Turner. He did a pretty good job of speaking at the forum.
I realized that if he had had raised more money, he could have been quite a competitive candidate.
One of the things I liked about him was that he was really well spoken and it seemed like he had rehearsed his answers for the forum. Almost no verbal stumbles or slip ups. He seemed to have very well thought out and crafted stands on the issues. He was respectful when addressing the Mayor and the lack of satisfactory progress on various issues by the Mayors Office. He offered some plausible alternatives.
He evidently impressed Walter Moore also, because when asked later in the forum about who they could support if not choosing themselves, Walter chose Gordon Turner. Even though Walter hadn't met Gordon Turner hardly at all before this forum and didn't know him very well, he still gave a ringing endorsement. I guess it was just the lawyer in Walter that couldn't resist supporting another lawyer. (By the way, I didn't like this answer from Walter, as just a week or two before he had chosen David Hernandez when asked the same question at the CBS Radford Studios forum held by the Daily News and Valley Alliance of Neighborhood Councils. It showed inconsistency in Walter.)
There were several things to like about Gordon Turner, but one thing I really didn't like. Turner seemed to be a bit of a bandwagon jumper. At the start of the forum, the LAPD had arrived and taken Zuma Dogg away because Craig Rubin had filed a complaint stating that Zuma Dogg had threatened him.
(I have stated before that I don't know what was said between the two parties, but I don't think Craig Rubin handled it very professionally. All the candidates except for the Mayor had participated in several forums already, and it seemed unlikely to me that Zuma Dogg -- after being perfectly civil and sociable at the other forums -- was suddenly going to go crazy and attack anyone. However, Craig Rubin has the right to protect himself if he felt his personal safety was threatened. I just didn't think it was.)
It was a very odd event at a political function to have one candidate for Mayor to call the police and have one of the other candidates taken away. It kind of rattled the room and started the function off on a very poor note. I was upset about it because I felt it made all the candidates look bad, and I was certain that it would be one of the top stories on the news that night...and sure enough, it was.
Near the end of the forum, some of the candidates started launching into what sounded to me like a scolding session. Many of them criticized Zuma Dogg and characterized his comments as "threats" ...even though none of them except for Craig Rubin had actually heard them. Gordon Turner seemed to jump on the bandwagon and make some general comments about the situation. I really didn't like that about him. Here he was choosing sides with one man against another when he didn't know either of them and didn't know if the stated facts were actually correct. One would think as a lawyer he would have shown better judgement. ( I declined to make any comment on the situation or to choose sides.)
However, overall I would give Gordon Turner pretty high marks as a political candidate. He seems to have the skills to be competitive as a politician, but not the organization. I still wonder why he skipped so many scheduled events.
It didn't seem to hurt him in the election, though. He finished in third place and got over 17,000 people to vote for him . I knew that he would do well in the election. In my pre-race analysis of the election, I looked at the ballot and realized that Gordon Turner, who was listed as "Deputy City Attorney", was the only one besides Villaraigosa who could say that he already worked for the City. Being that he held this position, many voters could assume that he could be trusted, and voted for him as an alternative to Mayor Villaraigosa. I am pretty sure that at least half of the people who voted for Turner didn't even know who he was and didn't know anything about him.
I honestly felt that with his occupational listing, Gordon Turner didn't have to campaign one bit and would automatically finish near the top of the pack. A great advantage for him. He got the most amount of votes for a candidate that spent almost no money on his campaign. Third place in the Mayoral election for a man who was previously unknown? Not a bad result.
I think he positioned himself well for a future run at political office.
I congratulate him and wish him well in his future attempts.
Posted by Phil Jennerjahn @ 4/26/2009 09:01:00 AM
31 Comments:
You are desperate for attention, Phil, and to defame everybody who got more votes than you. Which is everybody who ran for Mayor. Everybody got more votes than you did. Why continue to embarrass yourself by taking down others?
Didn't you already swear you wouldn't do shit like this? Why are you bothering everybody? Maybe you can just go play with yourself on your own blog instead of clogging this one up? I'd rather read that girl's stupid recipes and old videos than hear what a last place candidate has to say. You are less interesting than Gordon Turner. Whoever that is.
yep. there's no comments because nobody cares about an also ran's opinion about another also ran.
\
I'll bet you won't post this either but hey Mayor Sam Higby or whatever, this dude got like 3 % of the vote, that's 3 out of 100 who bothered and we're forced to look at his blog posts? the electorate already called in on his popularity. is it true that Zuma got 3 times the votes, on a zero budget, and 3 times worse dressed. lol
the last word on Gordon Turner? holy fuck Batman the City has a 7 billion dollar hole to patch and ur talking about Gordon Turner???
that's why you got no votes. irrelevance.
This is so exciting. I can hardly wait for updates on Craig Rubin the pothead minister who called the cops on Higby's choice for mayor zuma dogg and of course we can't forget about zuma dogg himself, though we hear more than enough about him from his own mouth. But maybe you can tell us why he's begging for food instead of looking for work, other than zine's crazy scheme to have zuma dogg drive around in his van looking for taggers and call the cops and if they're prosecuted successfully and no one shoots zuma in the process he gets $1000.
What can you tell us we don't know?
"I did a decent amount of research into all my opponents who were running for Mayor"
THEN HOW COME YOU CAME IN DEAD LAST, IDIOT? WHAT DOES THAT SAY ABOUT YOUR RESEARCH SKILLS, PHIL?
Jennerjane called the City Clerk's office for advice on his opponents?
What did he expect to learn from the CLERK'S office?
I can't wait for a response to that. He called the Clerk's office for advice. The man is a glutten for punishment by leaving himself open to ridicule for being stupid enough to put that in writing. He makes Zuma Dogg look like a genius.
"hadn't met Gordon Turner hardly at al"
NOT EXACTLY AN ENGLISH MAJOR, WERE YA, PHIL? ARE YOU ANYONE TO JUDGE THE QUALITY OF ANYONE'S COMMUNICATION SKILLS?
I expect Higby the Greasy Blogger to chime in any hour now to say insincerely what a great post this is. He is that predictable. Like a sandwich.
And you should learn from him. I notice that you immediately noted that he did not speak badly about the Mayor and instead gave him kudos where he had done something right and offered suggestions where he had not, or that Gordon thought he had not.
I am always up for honest criticism and completely believe in holding a politician's feet to the fire, but once those racist anti-immigration rants start and the silly name-calling starts and people start blaming the Mayor for what the City Council does, it makes the average person tune out.
You will never hear Antonio Villaraigosa bash his opponents or spread unfounded rumors about them. He is a class act, whether you like it or not.
I know you out there in CD 14 who hold such animosity toward him will be the first to say, "Oh yeah, real classy the way he ____."
I'm talking about the way he treats people with respect. You can't take that away from him.
Ace Smith wouldn't consider this blog (or any other) to be worthy of coming here to post so when you blame him for statements made, it's kind of silly. Everybody who likes AV isn't on the payroll. It's just not true. Nor are they groupies.
So Phil, I hope you learned a little something but think perhaps not because you still spew acidic thoughts.
On Walter? Fire away. He lost his credibility the last election with his crazy talk. He has a few Republican hangers-on who think he's going to start an uprising, but much like the silly ass, Fox-initiated "tea party", people are more in the mood to fix things, not fight them.
We are only at #2 in this sleep-inducing series and I already can't wait for it to be over. Hey Higby, end this crap. Its a big city and important things are happening everywhere...none of them have to do with Gordon Turner
Checked out Gordon Turner's website. He looked like a good candidate. At least he passed the California Bar Exam, something the current mayor couldn't do. Too bad he didn't have more visability. With some key endorsements, a little campaign money and an organization to get his name known, voters that stayed home during the primary would have shown up at the polls or mailed a ballot in. Tony V definitely would have been forced into a runoff with somebody. Too bad it didn't happen.
Phil, you finished stone last in the election.
Why, for goodness sakes, should anyone give any credence to anything you say?
What, you've read ZD's 14 points and had an epiphany? Or even 7 of the points without using a dictionary?
Why on earth should anyone follow the wisdom of the guy who did so badly a nutcase communist did better?
What comes across is your bitterness towards almost all the candidates. Bitching about the circumstances of ZD's detention by the cops and criticizing any comment made, is a clear sign of a lack of impartiality and fairness.
Citizens who, in the future, contemplate running for office would be ill advised to follow your advice, unless the goal is to score the least amount of votes. There's an idea for you. You actually have so much experience at doing badly, you might win by losing. But then again, you can probably find a way to screw that up too.
Perhaps you are considering a future in journalism? Is that why we're treated to your blinkered insights? Well, a little advice for you; don't give up your day job. Oh, perhaps I should say get a day job.
Hey Higby - what has happened to your blog?
There are things going on out there and you've got Phil jj writing about somebody who "nobody knew anything about"
Sounds like Phil. He never would respond to any questions like who he was, what he did, where he came from, what he currently does. Now who cares?
The election has been over. Can't you come up with anything more relevant than someone who nobody knows anything about wasting space talking about someone else who nobody anything about?
Who do you think cares?
Why was Gordon Turner allowed to call himself "Deputy City Attorney" on the ballot when he had already left the office? The monikor lended undeserved credibility.
2:37 PM,
Where I finished in the Mayors Race is actually irrelevant. I could easily have spent more money on ads or robocalls, but I made the conscious decision not to do so. Who cares if I had received an extra 10,000 votes and finished in fourth place? It doesn't matter.
I didn't have enough money to beat Antonio.
None of us did.
First is first and second is nothing.
Unlike many of you "anonymous" posters, I actually have the courage to put my name on my public criticism of the Mayor or others. I was invited to do this by Michael Higby because it is going to give a window into the inner workings of the campaign.
People are going to find out information that they were not aware of. They will hear quotes and tidbits that were not available to the media or anyone else outside the campaign.
As far as my impartiality, I was the ONLY one being impartial about the situation. All the other candidates were accepting as fact the accusations coming from a man who is a convicted felon. I preferred to hear both sides of the story before passing any judgements or making any comments. Maybe the other candidates should have shown the same maturity and wisdom.
One more suggestion for you, 2:37.
If you don't like my pieces... don't read them.
And please don't bother to comment on them.
If my writings are indeed as irrelevant as you say, then you are wasting your own time.
Phil:
Inner workings of a campaign? First, find me a campaign that you've been in. You're a reject from a non-campaign. You couldn't win dog-catcher with your campaign (neither could Moore...because that wasn't a real campaign either).
Phil:
In politics one can seldom start at the top, unless you are Arnold Schwarzenegger.
Usually one might run for osme other office and serve for a whole so that people can take the measure of his or her competence.
Why don't you get appointed to some office or run for something that you can handle instead of being a dead bang loser?
Our Mayar started his career as an appointee as an alternate to the predecessor of the LAMTA, an organization he now heads.
Then he ran for the assembly and after two terms became its Speaker.
Then, he came back to LA and ran for Mayor, but lost to Jimmy Hahn.\
He didn't whine and write blogs about the guy who beat him (in a slanderous, dirty campaign that characterized himas a dope dealer), he ran for City Council and beat an incumbent Councilman.
Then, when the Mayor came up for re-elecitn, he took on a field of five and beat them all.
He has guts and he has campaign savvy. You would do better to study his campagins and his career and learn about winning, then profiling a bunch of fellow losers.
But as my father used to say to me "Show me a good loser and I will show you a LOSER every single time."
By the way, I know Arnold Schwarzenegger, and you are no Arnold Schwarzenegger.
Go get a job, Phil, and try to get a life.
Phil you suggest we not read your pieces and I dont plan on reading any of them in the future... but the larger point is you are spoiling one of the only places in this city local politics get covered at all...
Higby despite having some eccentric sympathies at least tries to cover local politics...
this series you are writing is only of interest to yourself and the never-was of the day
Phil you are failing to realize that people don't just dislike you for your arrogance, and for your failure as a last place finisher, but because you are fairly stupid as far as I can see. Your sentences are sometimes unintelligible, your double negatives are embarrassing, and your conclusions that people want to have mayor sam jammed up by your monkey-banging-on-a-typewriter. The only thing we are less interested in than you, is your bitter writings about other candidates.
Despite Walter Moore’s second place finish, or Gordon Turner’s third place finish—both of which were commendable—I don’t understand the judgment of either one of them (or frankly, yours) by deciding to run for Mayor--which in turn makes me believe either one of them (as well as yourself) would have been a poor leader, had any one of you managed to pull out a miracle win. Moore or Turner would have easily won a city council seat, which would have positioned them very well for another run for Mayor, four years later. With half the seats up for grabs—and depending which districts you and the other candidates live in—you may have had an opportunity to win two or three seats—THEN you would be in the game, and could effect change. If you look at the results, even Zuma Dogg got more votes than five of the eight city council candidates that won… if he lived in any of those districts, he would be picking out his new suit for the upcoming swearing in ceremony. Instead, he’s blogging his brains out, getting carpel tunnel from filling out speaker cards every other day at city council meetings, and (apparently) cruising the Valley in search of taggers and Mayoral events.
That’s the kind of poor judgment that—in my mind—spanks of either arrogance, or frankly, foolishness. If you or someone like Walter Moore, or Gordon Turner, or ZD—or any of the others—were truly serious about making a difference for the people of Los Angeles, rather than trying to take a shortcut to the top, or feed your ego with infrequent appearances on a local newscast, you would have stowed your “(Enter Name Here) For Mayor” posters for a while, and ran for city council. The odds of a no-name beating Villaraigosa were so incredibly long, it was somewhat foolish to pass up on what could have been a REAL chance to win—that being a city council seat. Unfortunately, you’ve now basically thrown away four years of opportunity. Walter Moore, Gordon Turner, and Zuma Dogg are guilty of the same shortsightedness as well. Once again—I’m assuming each of them have sincere motives for wanting to serve the people of Los Angeles.
Then again—and of you could move into a district in time for the next round of city council elections coming up in two years.
That would show some sacrifice, judgment, and smarts.
You will never hear Antonio Villaraigosa bash his opponents or spread unfounded rumors about them. He is a class act, whether you like it or not.
DUMB ASS ANTONIO bad mouthed Newsom to media. Made joke about him twittering. AV didn't have the balls to attend CALIF. Democratic meeting. He was afraid he couldn't debate Brown and Gavin and the polls are showing that's right.
TRUTANICH IS A PUSSY. HE'S BLASTED WEISS NOW CRYING CAUSE HE CAN'T TAKE IT. I DON'T LIKE JACK BUT WHAT A LOSER TRUTANICH CAN'T TAKE THE HEAT HOW WILL HE DO WITH GANG BANGERS.
...Weiss campaign spokesman Ace Smith responded to the Trutanich withdrawal by echoing charges that his candidate has routinely made during debate appearances: "He's hiding from voters because he doesn't want them to know that Carmen Trutanich is on the payroll of the NRA, gun merchants and polluters."
Phil:
I want my candidates to be ones who will encourage debate and disagreement, and who explain their positions to those who disagree with them, and not tell them that if they don't like what you're writing to stop reading it.
Avoiding your pieces is possible in the same way that I don't have to stop and stare at graffiti, but it's there. You pieces clutter an otherwise fine blog in the same way the graffiti mars a nice neighborhood.
You should concentrate on how to use this wonderful opportunity to post on this blog for something positive and enlightening. Leaders lead. They don't whine.
You won't believe this shit!#$%^$ Huizar had a special event waiver for Fiesta Broadway for $260,586,000.
http://clkrep.lacity.org/onlinedocs/2007/07-1126-s1_mot_4-17-09.pdf
Even though the event had 20 CORPORATE SPONSORS the city is asking only $80,000 paid back. The city is close to bankruptcy so how can they do this? If you look at all the pics the event was for TJ's. all entertainment was in Spanish you would think you were in Mexico. Where is Zuma when we need him?
I don't understand the point of anyone attacking Phil Jennerjahn on performance.
Debate his points but don't berate the guy because he had the good sense not to throw good money after bad. That's more sense than sixteen City of LA of politicians have.
Gordon Turner is indeed an enigma. Alone, he almost forced the Mayor into a runoff with Walter Moore, and if he had spent even half the energy in his campaign that most of the other Mayoral candidates did, he would have succeeded. Also, if the media had given him more attention, it wouldn't have been a contest, Antonio right now would be prepping for a debate with Walter Moore.
All the Mayoral candidates tried to bring democracy to a city that is, er, progressively more indifferent to it. The progressives at the newspapers really demonstrated in this past election cycle that they were more interested in winning than in democracy. That's why I feel we won't miss anything once the newspapers run their sad course. And that's why I told Phil and most other candidates to stop running against Antonio, which was pointless, and to start running against local media.
I'd like to see Phil profile some editors as well as the other candidates. I think that would make some pointlessly smug people around town far less so.
1109=Higby defending his girlfriend Jennerjane.
If phil is putting his ideas out there, he has to expect that some, and apparently all, of us are going to express OUR views about it.
If he doesn't like it he, as he advises others, doesn't have to read it and neither do you.
why don't you and Phil just meet up in some little cafe somewhere and talk sh*t about everyone.
the rest of us have made it clear...we're not interested.
yes?
Chef Ramsay
PS.. now GET OUT!!!!
April 27, 2009 10:34 AM
No. Huizar did not get a special event waiver for Fiesta Broadway for $260,586,000. Three zeros too many. But yeah, city taxpayers were hit $180,586 for the event.
"Council District Fourteen has received a request that the City provide certain services and declare this function a Special Event. The fees and costs associated with the facilitation of this event by City
personnel have been estimated at $260,586.00, and the Event Sponsor has agreed to reimburse the City
$80,000.00 of the estimated amount Approval of this request will mean that an estimated $180,586 in
fees and salary costs will be absorbed by the City."
This is some comments threat...
"You are desperate for attention, Phil".
24 comments and counting, it looks like somebody is more than willing to give Phil all their attention. I think most of the Phil bashing comments are coming off of one keyboard.
I thought this comments board was supposed to be about the enigmatic
Gordon Turner. On that subject, you would be luck to see two or three comments.
In fact, on the subject of the mayoral primary, truly an enigmatic event, I'm surprised to see it still discussed on a blog over a month later.
Really, the discussion should be on the NEXT election on May 19, 2009. March 3rd is ancient history.
I WAS AT THE DEBATE WITH TURNER AND I THINK PHIL WAS ACCURATE IN HIS COMMENTS ON TURNERS PERFORMANCE. I HOPE GORDON TAKES ANOTHER SHOT AT RUNNING SO OTHERS CAN HERE HIS VIEWS.
9:36am,
It's OVER, Mr. "I Don't Like Jack Weiss, BUT..."
You took your shot. You blew your wad. Looks like it didn't go so well. (See "Baca Berates Weiss and Withdraws Endorsement.")
A.B. 1381
Prop H
Measure B
Jack Weiss
Appointee Investigation
Things are going well. You are on the right track.
Yeah me too anon. think I'm voting for Weiss. Trutanich is a pussy and whimpying out of debates because now its becoming known THE NRA are helping him get in.
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