Krekorian Announces Endorsement by Mary Benson on Kevin James Show
Just moments ago, on the Kevin James Radio Show, Paul Krekorian announced that he has been endorsed by former CD2 candidate Mary Benson. If this is true, this could be very significant, as Paul just picked up the endorsement of former CD2 candidate Tamar Galatzan earlier today. Tamar and Mary came in 3rd and 4th place, respectively, in the primary race.
UPDATE: We have spoken with Mary Benson and she has confirmed that she is indeed backing Paul Krekorian. She stated that she will release a formal announcement soon.
UPDATE: We have spoken with Mary Benson and she has confirmed that she is indeed backing Paul Krekorian. She stated that she will release a formal announcement soon.
Labels: Chris Essel, kevin james, Mary Benson, tamar galatzan
Posted by Unknown @ 10/30/2009 10:05:00 PM
81 Comments:
Its chru.
Holy Shit!
Poor Phil and his Essel 4 - Paul 0 line.
Paul's 2 endorsements just crushed Essel.
Lousy night for Shallman.
The hangman's noose just got pretty tight around the neck of the Essel campaign.
Bad day for Gavin Newsom, Meg Whitman, Chris Essel and Phil J. Good day for Jerry Brown, Paul Krekorian and Mayor Sam.
Big laugh.
Wendy's staff have been telling every one Benson goes with Essel.
Krekorian has totally outwitted AV-Essel-Wendy political teams in this race.
Phil must be changing his underwear for the second time today.
Turn off the light boys the party is over.
Again lets give the devil his due.
Hacopian is running circles around the entire Los Angeles political establishment.
His already big head will be getting much bigger after this.
Phil, since you rubbed it in our face about the former candidates supporting Essel, would you care to
go over the numbers again, clown boy?
Benson is huge up in ST.
People really love her up here, this will go very far in opening doors for Krekorian in ST.
I think Essel spent way too much time raising money and way too little building support in the community.
Some one should remind her that she is not running for the US Senate.
City council races are in getting the right people to make the case for you in their circles.
If you marry that with enough money you will win the race. Which i exactly what Paul has done.
Christine Essel= Al Checchi in a skirt
Lots of money and no chance to win
Essel's first stupid decision was hiring Shallman.
She should have hired Prince Trujllo. :)
I wonder if Chris knew that bomb was coming. I'd love to have been in the studio when Paul announced this and to have seen Chris's reaction.
Essel must be on the phone with Shallman now crying away.
"I was promised this seat, where do these other people come from? take me back to Hollywood Hills. I cant stand these dealing with these little people any more".
Trifecta- Galatzan, Banson, and Pugliese.
Too bad, Chris... bye.
Higby:
Trujillo would have done a better job.
Shallman is only doing this race to make as much money as possible. Trujillo would actually care about his candidate.
The "wreck of the vessel name Essel".
Time for the gorda to sing.
Got home in time to hear the last segment of the debate. Good job Kevin.
Essel definitely sounded shaken.
Her reaction is that I do not need her endorsement this is the only time that I will be running for office. She knows she is not running for re-election since she knows she will not know.
Thank you Kevin for the Show!!!
I would like to thank Gavin Newsom, Paul Krekorian, Tamar Galatzan, Mary Benson and even Chris Essel for making today a click click clickety day here at Mayor Sam.
Too bad about poor little crap-eatin Veeahragosir suckin up to the downtown shoe stores. Tough shit.
Where is Phil?
A sancho's (Phil) work is never done.
It's Paul and the community vs. Essel and her downtown establishment puppetmasters. Always has been.
It's nice that people are finally starting to see it.
Phil's in Thailand. He's in Phuket.
He's in the crapper changing his underwear and trying to figure out how to spin this.
He's singin' Karaoke
Phil and Shallman are in a meeting trying to trash Mary
Since John Shallman is having a bad night. I took it upon myself to write his press release denouncing Mary Benson's endorsement of Paul Krekorian.
October 30th, 2009 – Sunland Tujunga politician Mary Benson announced today that she will support California State Assembly Leader Paul the Armenian Krekorian in the 2nd district City Council special election.
Benson's endorsement comes just a few weeks after a meeting with Council candidate and Valley businesswoman Christine Essel. In the meeting, Essel asked Benson to consider supporting an effort to turn Foothill Blvd into an all dirt road like it was in the 1920's. Benson was not supportive of the idea and detailed a litany of reasons as to why reform would be impossible.
“Christine Essel never asked for Mary Benson's endorsement. Instead, she asked her to think about supporting a plan to break up the large dysfunctional Horse properties in Shadow Hills,” Essel spokesman John Shallman said. “Unfortunately, Mary wouldn’t even consider it. Now she’s trying to protect the the fat and lazy horse owners by issuing a political endorsement of a fellow off the boat professional politician who opposes sodomizing all horses.”
Essel has been on record as a supporter of turning Foothill Blvd into a dirt road throughout the campaign. Essel’s detailed plan to reform L.A. government, “Big Ideas for a New L.A.,” contains recommendations to reform the tare down all CD2 streets so sewer lines can function more effectively by running openly in the middle of every street, so the children of the CD2 rabble can also use them as swimming pools.
###
For more information contact John Shallman in his mansion in the hills.
Benson is not as important as people think she is.
Essel's campaign does not need Mary Benson. She has a the post political team working for her.
10:49
Hilarious. Funniest thing i have read on Mayor Sam in a long time.
AV- Essel- Wendy- Shallman
Just had their behind's handed to them.
10:49
Carry on- I haven't laughed that hard in hours...
Lets do the math one more time.
Krekorian 34%
Tamar 12%
BENSON 9%
Total Paul 55%
Essel 28%
Essavi 2%
SALTSBURG 3%
SHEFTEL 3%
BISANI 1%
Total Chris 37%
Wow now lets do the math Paul supporters will hold and Tamar and Benson were able to get their votes without spending $ so Paul can get thouse votes without much money.
10:53
WTF??
I was already laughing from Spot's "time for the gorda to sing" when I got to 10:49. Excellent! I might just post that on that blog.
Journalist Jim Newton and Russ Stanton at the "Old Gray Westside Hag on Spring Street" must be revisiting their endorsement of the "Wreckage of the vessel name Essel".
Where's Phil? (the crickets are chirping).
10:49
Those were 2 separate comments.
I'm STILL laughing so hard, my stomach hurts...
Higby-
You gotta go with 10:49.
Rename the blog- "Big Ideas for a New LA"
Priceless
Higby:
You have to post 10:49 as its own post. It is way too funny, every one should have a shot of seeing it.
http://griffithparkwayist.blogspot.com/2009/10/can-chris-essel-survive-john-shallman.html
bad night for Shallman just got a bit worst.
Phil is going to say that he was not listening and was not near a computer but who will believe that six flags is closed.
The show was a set-up as far as the call-ins go.
Kevin James even said he didn't get to give out the number and he was bombed with calls!!
Smells like more dirty tricks from Krekorian/Hacopian.
10:49 for Mayor
Have not laughed that hard in years.
Hold the presses
Jennderdoodle said something
According to Phil, Essel was framed! LOL!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Dirty trick my ass.
No one can stand Essel in the district.
If Krekorian got his people to call how come Essel did not get her people to call?
Maybe Phil she does not have any.
Phil, the questions to the candidates were actually fair and balanced (not in the Fox way). Stop crying loser.
"Jennerduh" in the house!!
Phil, if you persist in your spin of Essel. I can perdict a "blog bang" in your near future.
Dirty trick: Getting your supporters to call talk shows.
Next thing you know the rotten Krekorian volunteers will start calling voters.
Boy that Hacopian is everywhere at all times doing evil thing.
He must be awfully busy.
Just got 10:49 e-mailed to me.
Best thing i read here in a long time.
Phil if what your saying is true, it is the best of why Krekorian will win this race.
One he must have a good campaign, and secondly he must have supporters that care about him.
Don't want to bash you like other posters, but i think if you really think about you will get my point.
Peace brother.
MS, Please send Phil to the cornfield.
Michael,
10:49 was "Parqueish" in quality and deserves its own post.
This comment has been removed by the author.
Just got my third e-mail about this story. Its really getting around.
I am for Essel but 10:49 is funny.
Higby: I think you got Jon Stewart posting on your site.
My compliments.
Benson is really beloved as a person who cares about her community.
All spin aside she is a great lady.
I hope she can get Krekorian to pay attention to ST issues that Wendy has ignored for so long.
Wonder what AV is thinking now.
Plenty of folks must be getting yelled at right now.
10:49
Is a classic.
Just had it e-mailed to me.
Essel's folks where thinking they would spend the day bragging about the money they raised.
Instead their whole campaign is falling apart, with one dumb decision following the next.
Krekorian is playing them like a fiddle.
How do you say Councilman Krekorian.
Pete Sanchez will be the next one to endorse Krekorian.
You heard it here first folks.
So Paul has got Tamar and Benson.
And Essel has the homeless guy, willy wonka and the Italian guy who kept saying he does not know anything.
Gee, i wonder who will win this race.
There is going to be a whole bunch of pissed off lobbyists on December 9th.
All their money down the Essel rat hole.
I voted for Mary in September, i wish she was in the runoff.
But at this point i think Paul has to be the one. Essel is associated with all the wrong people.
Read 10:49 a few times.
It gets funnier every time.
From griffithparkwayist
Ouch
John Shallman's strategy over these past few months to get Chris Essel a nice job with a nice salary has been fairly cynical at best.
First, he has his candidate denounce Kevin James as a racist so she could opt out of a debate before the primary (by the way, she'll be appearing on his show at 9 p.m. tonight after a sudden change of heart indicating she knows how far down she is).
Then, in a move that looked like pure desperation to many observers, sniffing an opportunity to racially polarize the district at the expense of its considerable but minoritized Armenian population, he gave Essel the green light to attend a fundraiser hosted by folks with ties to pro Turkish causes.
And now for the jewel in his princess's tiara...
John Shallman tries to claw the eyes out of former opponent Tamar Galatzan on Chris Essel's behalf.
“Christine Essel never asked for Tamar Galatzan’s endorsement. Instead, she asked her to think about supporting a plan to break up the largest and most dysfunctional school district in America,” Essel spokesman John Shallman said. “Unfortunately, Tamar wouldn’t even consider it. Now she’s trying to protect the bloated LAUSD bureaucracy by issuing a political endorsement of a fellow professional politician who opposes district reform.”
What any of this has to do with the race in CD2 is very hard to understand, especially in the context of Chris Essel's inability even to name a single school in the District at a pre-primary debate.
Originally a City Hall denizen who found favor among both Liberals and Lite Republicans like his former client Bob Hertzberg, Shallman was always held at arm's length by City Hall subsequent to 2005, and outraged the city when he put Laura Chick's name on a Meausre R (term limits extention) support flyer in 2006---a measure Chick in fact opposed. Then he found a Republican rehab project in Long Beach named Carmen Trutanich and won a race in which Trutanich crusaded against City Hall--with the considerable help of John Thomas, a kind of right-wing Mike Trujillo wunderkind whose family is well connected to Republicans and also development money. (Unfortunately for the city, Trutanich forgot how to stop crusading against City Hall once he occupied it; like a punchdrunk boxer, he kept throwing uppercuts at Shallman's phantoms long after his manager left ringside.)
Now Shallman has found a new bottom with the Essel campaign--and fairly blown Essel's chances of a comeback in a single bitter press release. Once thinking that the vote would split favorably along gender lines for whoever came out on top between Essel and Tamar Galatzan, Shallman, on hearing that the other woman in the race has endorsed Essel's opponent, now digs in and attacks the one endorsement his candidate needed to have a chance at victory.
Shallman--who describes himself at Facebook as a political "liberal" and describes his religious views as "Jewish - conservative"--has always shied away from selling his candidates as cerebral people; it's the one persistent theme of his ideas on positioning. Hertzberg came off as a huggable lug in 2005--a lug definitely something he is not--and Trutanich of course came across as a street-wise lug whose lack of wisdom was masked to prospective endorsers by slick leave-behinds. But the aw-shucks style appears to be most at odds with Essel, who is indeed a bright and cerebral candidate, but hasn't had much opportunity to show it in the campaign, and has even been fairly stifled by Shallman, whom she is beholden to because of her campaign inexperience.
One political consultant told yours truly of Shallman: "He doesn't seem to want to kill it like most managers do. He seems to want to do the worst while he hopes for the best and just barely make it across the finish line." It's now very doubtful that Essel will make it across, even though she has nearly twice as much money as her opponent Paul Krekorian does.
Kevin James and Higby break more stories than the LA Times.
I am sure the attacks on Mary are being prepared now by the Essel folks.
They are very consistent in their stupidity.
Of course. I knew she would. Nobody in their right mind (think Sheftel) would vote for or endorse Essel.
Thanks Mary for going public. Now don't go rogue on us. Oh wait. You already did... ;)
Well 11:50 PM,
We girls like to say it like this: Councilmember Krekorian!
Sincerely,
A Valley Girl
Phil-- Whaddaya mean "the show was a set-up far as the call-ins go." I called in right B4 the caller Q&A, gave the screener my question and eventually got on-- there was no pre-planned set-up of questions AT ALL. Kevin doesn't work that way. And I think the Q&A further proved BOTH candidates' elitist, PC, self-serving agenda as well as their sheer ineptitude and mutual contempt for each other. "Both looking for houses in CD2"-- MY ASS!! Why don't they move in together and start a new reality TV show-- "Paul and Chris Plus Hate!" Sounds like a hit.
Don't forget about us over the hill that are pulling for Paul. We're so fed up with the bastards in city hall we will help support Paul cause he's not a lapdog to Mayor or the idiots on city council. What a bunch of corrupt fools? Everyone is blasting them for yesterday's diaster and giving DWP thugs a raise and nothing for COPS. How screwed up is that? Those morons on council are the most hated in this city. There isn't one NC or group I know of that respects them. Let's get them recalled as a whole.
I agree with Rita, Kevin was totally fair and handled the debate quite well. Of course everyone who lives on this blog is going to be listening and calling and they know the phone numbers (plus they're also on their website).
Phil I think you have to accept that Essel was clearly shaken by the earlier news that Tamar had endorsed Paul and even more so when Paul dropped the bomb that Mary was supporting him. I don't blame her, I probably would be upset too. It threw her off her game and for the most part her performance was awful.
You certainly can't blame Kevin or even Hacopian for that!
Re: Friday's radio debate: Essel was a nervous wreck. She sounded like she was reading from a script (especially in the beginning).
Here's what I keep thinking - how she said that she was "...never an advocate of SB1818..." yet she felt strong enough about it to put her name to a Central City newsletter. And this is a lady voters are going to trust to not backpedal on them? Spread the word. Essel can't be trusted.
Essel should have kept to her initial instincts and never gone on the show. Many of you are saying that just going on after James made fun of her with her own chicken soundtrack for months, showed she felt she needed to out of weakness, so she was cooked before she went. Shallman used James for his side with John Thomas who James respects very highly, but without Thomas and a Republican candidate who hates the mayor as much as they do, James has no loyalty to Shallman or his candidates. In fact James' whole strategy is to ferret out who's most likely to work against the mayor and slant in their favor.
Post a Comment
Subscribe to Post Comments [Atom]
<< Home