The First Rule of Carpetbagging.....

..is to remember your new address!

Unintentional comedy is currently out there on display on the campaign trail for CD 2. Businessman and CD 2 Candidate Frank Sheftel relates ( in an exclusive to Mayor Sam) a humorous story about the competition.

At a recent event - The Shadow Hills Pancake Breakfast - Sheftel and former Paramount Pictures Executive Christine Essel decided, in a gesture of goodwill, to sign each others signature petitions in order to qualify for the ballot for the September election.

Essel, who has been widely derided as a carpetbagger, made a monumental mistake with this seemingly innocent gesture. You see, old habits die hard, and Essel started writing down her REAL address, which is near the Sunset/Doheny area, and not in Council District 2. She quickly realized her mistake and scratched out the old address and put in the new, fake, politically-motivated address. In her defense, she can always claim that she "just moved" or "I forgot" ... but will those excuses hold water with informed and suspicious CD 2 voters?

Paul Krekorian and his staff learned through word of mouth about the embarrassing mistake and contacted Sheftels campaign asking for a copy of the signature petition in question. Campaign Manager David Hernandez told them that they would not be given a copy of the petition. Hernandez added that "as of 8 A.M., the petitions were safely in the hands of the L.A. City Clerks Office", being reviewed for qualification for the September ballot.

It is easy to see why Krekorians campaign wanted a copy of the mistake. Essel might be the only candidate who can spend over a million dollars on her campaign. A photocopy of that signature error, where basically, Essel inadvertently admits that she lives in a different part of the city....could be a real damaging blow to her credibility.

Sheftel saw the mistake as a humorous error by the obvious carpetbagger Essel, but he remains more concerned about the false altruism on display by some of these other candidates. "All of these candidates are saying they care so much about the community, but they are leaving government positions that they just got into to run for the higher paying job at City Council," he said, in what appeared to be a direct shot at Krekorian, Essel and perhaps Galatzan. "They are already in positions to effect change", Sheftel continued, "but they are bailing on their commitments to their communities that put them in office." Speaking more specifically about Krekorian and Galatzan, he added "Both Paul and Tamar are using the City Council seat as a lifeboat from their failing offices.I hope voters send them a strong and loud message.... we recycle trash, not politicians!"

This Mayor Sam contributor is unclear about the specific limits or extent of the public records laws concerning elections, but reporters from the L.A. Times and Daily News might want to trot on down to 555 Ramirez Street and take a peek at the petitions themselves. That is, if they were actually interested in reporting real news.. (which most of the time they are not).

In other news from this Council District 2 campaign trail, candidates Michael McCue and Pete Sanchez were seen out and about in CD 2 this weekend trying to fill up their signature petitions in time to beat the deadline of 5 p.m. today, July 27th, at the City Clerks office.

Candidate and Media Personality David "Zuma Dogg" Saltsburg reports on his blog about the enthusiastic response to his petition signature gathering campaign. He reports that he has obtained over 800 signatures and expects to be on the ballot in September.