Villaraigosa-Galatzan: Thick As Thieves
"From Tamar's mouth 'My team consists of three people, none of whom have ever worked for the Mayor.'"
-Sunland-Tujunga Activist Tomi Bowling on Mayor Sam's Facebook Page
With all due respect to some of my friends in Sunland-Tujunga who recently endorsed School Board Member Tamar Galatzan, I have some bad news for you.
First, I'll let Denzel Washington, as Malcom X, tell you what Tamar has done to you.
Lets start at the top. Kevin Acebo, is Galatzan's primary consultant. (and if you don't believe a Mayor Sam reader none other than the minutes of a Los Angeles Airport Peace Officers Association meeting confirm the Galatzan-Acebo-Villaraigosa connection) According to City Ethics records, Galatazan to date has paid Acebo $12,000 to run her campaign. Okay, so who is Acebo? Quite frankly a longtime Villaraigosa insider who served as a Deputy Mayor to Villaraigosa until last year.
Additionally Galatzan has secured the services of consulting firm Padilla and Associates who has done over $20,000 worth of work for Villaraigosa over the years and whose principal Katherine Padilla served as Villaraigosa's campaign treasurer. Padilla has also secured contracts from the City of Los Angeles Neighborhood Council Review Commission to "facilitate" meetings.
But wait there's more. Not only is Tamar's campaign staff full of Villaraigosa flunkies but so is her school board staff. Director of Policy Pamela Burga previously worked on the Mayor's staff. Director of Community Affairs Denise Campos was District Director for fellow Villaraigosa client, Councilmember Jose Huizar.
You've been bamboozled!
-Sunland-Tujunga Activist Tomi Bowling on Mayor Sam's Facebook Page
First, I'll let Denzel Washington, as Malcom X, tell you what Tamar has done to you.
Lets start at the top. Kevin Acebo, is Galatzan's primary consultant. (and if you don't believe a Mayor Sam reader none other than the minutes of a Los Angeles Airport Peace Officers Association meeting confirm the Galatzan-Acebo-Villaraigosa connection) According to City Ethics records, Galatazan to date has paid Acebo $12,000 to run her campaign. Okay, so who is Acebo? Quite frankly a longtime Villaraigosa insider who served as a Deputy Mayor to Villaraigosa until last year.
Additionally Galatzan has secured the services of consulting firm Padilla and Associates who has done over $20,000 worth of work for Villaraigosa over the years and whose principal Katherine Padilla served as Villaraigosa's campaign treasurer. Padilla has also secured contracts from the City of Los Angeles Neighborhood Council Review Commission to "facilitate" meetings.
But wait there's more. Not only is Tamar's campaign staff full of Villaraigosa flunkies but so is her school board staff. Director of Policy Pamela Burga previously worked on the Mayor's staff. Director of Community Affairs Denise Campos was District Director for fellow Villaraigosa client, Councilmember Jose Huizar.
You've been bamboozled!
Labels: antonio villaraigosa, cahoots with villaraigosa, cd2 special election, tamar galatzan
Posted by Michael Higby @ 9/18/2009 03:30:00 AM
29 Comments:
The city is in a financial crisis created by L.A. City council members and Sacramento career politicians like Mayor Villaraigosa, Council members Alarcon, Cardenas, Wesson, and now Koretz who are $pecial interest group providers.
Let’s not forget former LAUSD Board member and current Council member Jose Huizar and former Council member and current Controller Wendy Greuel.
Is this what Angelenos call leadership?
Angelenos need to pause for several minutes and take into consideration which candidate will best serve Angelenos instead of their masters, $pecial interest groups, that include part time elected candidates, commission appointees, and assembly members.
Do Angelenos need another $pecial interest group provider? Just follow the money prior, during and after the election.
Don’t be fooled by the colorful fliers and twenty second media sound bites during elections or the wolves dressed in wool.
David Saltsburg a TRUE REFORMER with no strings attached.
Oh, you forgot about the $2.5 million dollars Villaraigosa gave her which she used to mercilessly and falsely attack a retired school teacher who was dying of brain cancer.
Why?
To win an office she would use as a springboard for City Council after just 2 years--and using Villaraigosa's deputies to run her campaign.
Win or lose, Galatzan faces a serious criminal investigation into her illegal mailings and a likely recall campaign.
Higby, as an open advocate of Krekorian and constant critic of the others you don't consider "grassroots enough" you're hardly objective. And there are only a certain number of people who are experienced enough to understand and manage local politics. So Shallman having run Trutanich means he and Essel are connected? Even though the one is the soulmate of Kevin James and his Minuteman crowd, and the other his most hated candidate? You've got to be a lot more sophisticated if you want to have any credibility. Someone's PAST work for the mayor's office?
6:45: A vendetta from Cooley who is Trutanich's alter-ego, the both of them vengeful partisan hacks as is already widely known, exposed and derided? Frankly, if they single her out for retribution in the CA's office and/ or harass her, she's got a perfect PR tool to onto Doug's show to bolster his claims that Trutanich is using his legal staff to unethically bully other officials and staff. If she's half as smart and savvy as you all claim she is, she would know how to turn it into a bully pulpit to expose their corruption.
Villaraigosa put her into office, didn't he?
The three moneyed candidates for CD 2 represent what's called "brand proliferation." Villaraigosa -- or more prescisely, the special interests that prop up Villaraigosa -- rationally decided it was smarter to put THREE candidates in the race instead of one.
By pumping money into three campaigns, they focus media attention on those three. This avoids the problem they had by running just one candidate for City Attorney. If you fund two or more candidates, then you increase the odds that you will own both candidates in the run-off.
There is no material difference between Essel, Galatzan and Krekorian. The unions and developers don't really care which one makes it, as long as it's one of them.
Meanwhile, all people who want a real person in the office need to concentrate on supporting one, and only one, candidate. If you split your vote seven ways, you lose.
Several candidates are quite good. The best, in my opinion, is Mary Benson. If the 7,000+ people who voted for me for Mayor will vote for her, she will win.
And if other candidates, who realistically know they cannot win, would endorse her, well, that would help, too.
Walter is right. If the other candidates organize behind Benson now, she can pull it off.
It's your choice: a member of the community representing you at City Hall or one of Villaraigosa's three candidates.
Mary Benson has already been the only choice for CD2. Wendy Greuel is a career politician with close connections to the Mayor Villa. Once was enough!
Walter makes the analogy to City Attorney's race, but overlooks the huge difference: all the other 4 candidates were running AGAINST the one other, Jack Weiss, on a negative basis because he's the only one who HAD a record for service. Berger openly knew he didn't have a chance, ran just as Trutanich's sidekick and continued to do so after the primary in return for the political payback job he's got now. They tried to get Amerian and the others to do the same.
In THIS case the "minor" candidates are fractured and aren't all attacking just ONE of the "big three." They're also not as vicious as the "shark's tank" of city attorney candidates, for better or worse, and not nearly as formidable - the c a candidates were all lawyers and articulate, however hateful 1-2 might have been. This bunch is much MORE articulate as a group than candidates for mayor who Antonio had to face, however, so it's more of a real race.
Benson as the Walter Moore candidate, has a limited appeal in a district less conservative than Moore's W Valley base. McCue, Bisani and Esavi frankly have made very ignorant and naive comments, and the Zuma is too obnoxious to be more than a thorn in the side of those who are in office. So even with a field better than for mayor, quite a few are not serious challengers, sorry.
Good Morning World! It looks like we still have four days to turn this election around. Mary Benson is the only choice if you eliminate the quitters, the connected, and the climbers.
Check it out and vote for Mary Benson on Tuesday!
mary@benson4CD2.com
Wow, all these Mary Benson supporters all just happen to be reading the blog and posting comments at the same time in the 7am hour. And that's just a coincidence. And I thought Walter Moore said he wasn't going to post here anymore. And Mr. Moore forgot to disclose his relationship with Mary Benson. Maybe Walter wants to post one more comment describing his relationship with Benson.
When Karen Bass said "Jump" Paul Krekorian said "How high".
I'm afraid if Mary Benson is CM, the council will lose a quorum every time she opens her mouth because it takes an eternity for her to make her point. Yes, she is quite insufferable. The city would come to a halt waiting for her to wrap up a thought. She's extremely bureaucratic in the way she holds the listener hostage. Insufferable.
Please 7:58 - You paint with a broad brush - Mary Benson is the Mary Benson candidate not the Walter Moore Candidate!
8:27 - Insufferable also means intolerant and the word applies to you not Mary. She actually uses a vocabulary directed at educated adults and that is probably insufferable for the ignorant.
This post is crazy. Everybody knows that Antonio is supporting Essel so he can own her in the same way that Developers, Westsiders and Downtown interests do.
Acebo is not on Tamar's city council campaign team.
All those other people are not on Tamar's campaign.
Tamar has clearly shown her independence from Villaraigosa, as have more than half of the Valley's voters...
Zuma: It's not the 7am hour and I am voting for Mary Benson.
You are so done, dude.
Say what you want but Benson hasn't a chance. None of the so called "grassroots" candidates do. The top three all have baggage, but two have more than the best person for the job, Paul Krekorian. Essel is not and never will be accepted in CD2. She's a downtown elitist who has direct ties to the mayor. Let's send him a signal in this election, reject Essel and that means rejecting Tamar as well. She was the mayor's shill in running for the schoolboard but her ambition has gotten ahead of her. Tamar, keep your day job. Paul is not a downtown insider or the Mayor's person. Make no mistake, he's the one they fear the most.
Galatzan also paid Acebo a load of dough out of her school board campaign account, presumably to pay for her unethical LAUSD mail program
Relationship disclosure:
Mary - Candidate
Walter - Supporter
from the minutes of the LAAPOA minutes MayorSam linked to:
Her campaign manager is Mr. Billy Berry. Also present with Mrs. Galatzan was Mr. Kevin Acebo(Formerly Deputy Mayor—Legislative and Intergovernmental Affairs)
So why was Kevbo there then? Tamar needed some mayoral-backed hand holdling?
Well color me shocked! Not.
I'm suddenly feeling the urge to Blingee... I gotta go now.
xoxo
All three major candidates are very close to the Mayor and have been supporters of his for many years. There is no reason to think any of them will be opposing him politically. We might be pleasantly surprised, but Krekorian and Galatzan both got their start in elective office with his help and Essel was appointed to the Airport Board by Antonio.
The only mistake in the article about Galatzan was that the Padilla in Padilla and Associates is Mary Ellen Padilla, a professional Treasurer who keeps finance records for anyone who pays her. She is not a political operative at all.
I have no idea who Katherine Padilla is, but the former principal (and person for whom the firm is named) of Padilla and Associates (treasurer) is Mary Ellen Padilla, who has retired (about a year ago). She is no longer involved with the firm. Her ties, however, to LA politics go back WAY before Antonio started his little run of office-hopping - she was the treasurer for the Berman/Waxman "machine" (which clearly no longer exists!) and all of their friends/candidates.
Hey V-Doll tell us about the shingle in Tamar's office!
MayorSam,
Don't get me started. I was just calming down from all my other dramz at school.
But hey... if my kid's school catches fire and burns down, do you think we can hold a fundraiser hosted by MayorSam?
We'd appreciate all the help we can get, because apparently, we're gonna have to do it all ourselves. Par for the course with this board member.
But of course, if you read the Galatzan Gazette (Tamar's LAUSD newsletter) you'll be informed that TAMAR DOES IT ALL HERSELF! LOOK WHAT I DID! SEE WHAT I'M DOING! I'M SAVING THE CHILDREN!! LOVE MEEEE!!!!!
::rolls eyes::
Hey speaking of which, I signed up to get the Galatzan Gazette which is her school board newsletter. Why am I now getting bombarded with her stupid "Tamar's Tribune" CD 2 campaign newsletters if I never signed up for them? She can just use her LAUSD email list for campaigning for another position? Srsly??
And what's with all the stupid alliteration in the names? Tamar's Tribune, Galatzan Gazette? Oh, yeah, I fergot...it's all about her, isn't it?? UGH. FAIL.
/mom rant
Hi Valley Doll -
Great points as usual. You reminded me of a job interview I had once. Interviewer asked me for my references and then said I was "name dropping." She asked me for my qualifications, and then said I was "cocky."
Yes, candidates for office tend to talk about themselves and why they deserve election. Probably a good way of doing things in our democracy, but, Valley Doll, perhaps you'd prefer candidates to be a little more vague.
Everyone knows Antonio and Tamar USED to be allies but she proved not to be a puppet so they had a falling out. He throws people under the bus when they disappoint him. He wanted to be Governor and that meant having his way with the schools, "green energy" and development, solving homelessness or pretending to, adding 1000 cops, and now he's mad at everyone who didn't make it happen for him. At any cost, and even if he threw them under the bus first. Actually, if he's thrown someone on the bus, take it as a recommendation.
If AV endorses anyone in the runoff, it'll be the one who he wants to lose.
It appears that Tamar's cookies are even more powerful than anything Sheftel would bake up at the co-op!
The document you link to states in so many words that Galatzan explained to the Police Ofc Assn. board why she is NOT being endorsed by the Mayor: that she did not see "Eye to eye" with him on various issues pertaining to LAUSD and the City Council votes.
Proves the OPPOSITE of your argument. With this and the absurd heading and logic of your would-be bash of Bratton vs. Parks you should write for the Weekly.
Essel cancelled on them, after being agendized to get their endorsement. Wonder why? Didn't want to explain she WAS endorsed?
Paul K admits he knows nothing about what they do but wanted their endorsement anyway. Hutzpah.
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