Essel's End Run Around the Rules
Chris Essel can't get the traction Paul Krekorian has with community support and a grassroots campaign operation so she's trying to buy a Council seat. Indeed, Essel is perturbed she even has opponents as she has been heard to say "I was promised this seat!" The big money special interests, namely public employee labor unions, who are depending on Chris Essel to deliver the goods for them now want to change decades old ethics laws so they can spend millions of members' forcibly taken dues money to attempt to give Essel an edge. The unions claim they need more money to "elect their candidate."
A group tied to the DWP employees union is now suing the City to raise the limits on how much they can pull together for Essel. The union affiliated group is represented by Downtown attorney Stephen Kaufman who is Mayor Villaraigosa's lawyer. You may remember that Kaufman was also the lead attorney for the shady term limits law Measure R and who sued Ron Kaye and the Solar 8 over their con argument against Measure B. Its heartwarming to see Essel is in such great company.
But it gets worse. Representing the City against the unions is the City Attorney Carmen Trutanich, an Essel supporter. The Judge in the case is the son of the Judge who performed Essel supporter Wendy Greuel's wedding. Paul Krekorian has written a letter to Trutanich urging him to recuse himself from the case given his conflict of interest. Krekorian has joined the City as a defendant in the case.
If Essel actually had any real supporters she wouldn't have this lawsuit. Also given everything we know about the DWP unions one has to ask why they are so concerned that Essel win at all costs? What did Essel promise them? CD2 voters are asking.
Labels: Chris Essel, dwp, IBEW, paul krekorian
Posted by Michael Higby @ 11/20/2009 02:00:00 AM
26 Comments:
Memo to my former fellow Mayoral candidate:
You were right. Exactly right.
Words of a prophet....
Higby, are you aware how many consecutive E$$el stories that Phil has done in a row?
At what point are you going to put your feet down and make it stop? There ARE other things going on in the city!
How about putting a moratorium on the whole CD2 thing and just let the subject play out? No more Chris OR Paul, and let's see which of you has the maturity to just let the candidates duke it out. It's getting tiresome and boring. Look at Phil's comment on this post. It's so cryptic and immature that makes me, and I suspect others, want to go elsewhere. I don't want to, so don't say that we SHOULD go elsewhere. Just make the stupidity and immaturity stop.
What did Essel promise to the devil? The same thing her teacher, Greuel, did. Her soul!
Hmm. Now we know where our utility bills go to. Elect the likes of Greuel and Essel. What a corrupt system. And they want to make it worse,if that`s possible.
Higby, no one is asking but you.
Your support for a Sacramento professional tax and spend candidate is shameless.
How much is Hacopian paying you for this?
Essel's blitz at the end will bury Krekorian.
We are asking different questions:
"What does the ArmenianCommunity know about Paul Krekorian that we don't?
Where is there much heralded financial support?"
How about answers for these questions???
We are tired of these hopscotch professionals running for every office in sight. Give us more citizen candidates.
Oh Higby there you go again. This suit was brought to late to effect Essel's campaign and u know it. She had nothing to do with the suit and will not benefit from it. This is about future elections ( I hear Krekorian is scouting CD4 for an apartment so he can take on LaBonge in 2011.) Paul is a candidate in search of an office. Bye bye Paul.
About only thing that seems to be uniting the Mayor, the Controller and the City Attorney, is the poison that they all see in Krekorian. Who wants Krekorian in the horseshoe? Only Paul Koretz, so far...
Grooooaan.
How many more f-ing days before this absolutely UNIMPORTANT beauty contest is FINALLY over, and the winner (i.e., "least loser") disappears into the mediocrity of the horseshoe, never to be heard from again, except when they cash their 1/4-million-dollar paycheck?
Will there be any substantive change from the same "15 ayes" registered on every hair-brained, unenforceable new regulation or SOP misuse of public funds?
Would either of these freshman councilmembers make waves, stand in the gap, or influence any of the others to act any differently than they already do?
Does anyone, ANYONE pushing for EITHER candidate actually believe that there will be ONE iota of difference next year after the City Council is back to 15 members?
IF you do, you're a damn fool!
6:35 AM- Shallman
Your obsessed with this Hacopian guy and with Krekorian's fundraising aren't you?
If Paul is in so much trouble, why do all these IE's have to be brought in to save your incompetent ass.
IBEW is following the Mayors orders. Not more complicated than that.
AV want Chris at all cost.
8:14 - no. The only difference is the stench leading into the *beginning* of the term. Essel's campaign odor is beyond offensive.
If she wins, me and my friends in the Sunland-Tujunga/Lake View Terrace/Shadow Hills end of the barbell will likely declare outright war on Ms. Stinky and her putrid friends.
If Mayor V, Wendy, Nuch, the DWP, Dopehead Sheftel, Smelly Blogger and Village Idiot Phil and three-fourths of the Clowncil all want Essel then you know there is something HUGELY WRONG with her that will fuck the citizenry.
Dang I never would have supported Essel and was more of a Tamar person but even I am excitedly supporting Krekorian now.
solomon is correct. the same with the chief.
i don't know if this is about measure r but its about measure b. ibew wants it and chris will give it to them. they know krekorian will not support this scheme.
and he will support breaking up the dwp.
This is no longer about Paul or Chris.
The issue is are you for or against the union power grab.
A vote for Paul has become a no brainer for any one who cares about our community.
And believe me, he was not my first choice.
Why doesn't Chris Essel list Frank Sheftel, Phil J or you know who as an endorsement?
They look so cute together.
Nice picture Higby.
They have to break rules because Essel cant win with the rules.
Not complicated at all.
After what Shallman pockets, she does not have enough money to run a campaign within the law.
"What does the Armenian community know that we don't."
The biggest name in Armenian California politics is former Atty Genl Philibosian WHO'S A CONSERVATIVE REPUBLICAN and is going with his party on this one. Simple. And dragging the rest of the Armenian legal community with him on the whole. Philibosian is working with Shallman and the Nooch, and Essel. Riordan and the Republican party own them.
Good for anyone who stands on his own values instead of putting his own ethnic group's leaders first.
7:49, you just argued against yourself.
If the ONLY THING UNITING THE MAYOR, Greuel and the Nooch is that they all are so afraid of Krekorian they have Shallman and Ace, Ari, Trujillo and the dumbest councilmembers and those who've sold out to Universal and the developers of Verdugo Hills all joining D'Arcy to buy Essel, you KNOW Essel is POISON.
9;11, you throw in the chief but not the COUNTY DA and Sheriff. It's the DA who bought and owns this idiot puppet Nuch and thinks he answers to no one - the Chief whoever he is gets plenty of grief, too much grief, from all the petty tyrants in the horseshoe who think they need to micro-manage his job.
The real problem we have is that the idiot Nuch from Nowhere was Nobody until Cooley recruited him and twisted arms to buy him, and now that he's there, whenever the Council doesn't kow-tow to THEM as a team, the NuchWit threatens to jail and sue anyone and everyone, because he has Cooley's "juice" which he's built his entire career on. THAT is what the idiots who elected him missed and are missing. Bratton did the right thing to say what he KNEW about who would be best for the city, and we see he was more than right.
It's ELECT$ED officials like the Controller, City Attorney, DA and Sheriff who act like they can do what they want once elected so they're the ones who should NEVER be allowed to endorse - when they have the lawyers and intimidation power like Nooch and Cooley, when they have contempt for elected officials they are EPIC RENEGADE.
Imbecile at 11:11 says:
Bratton did the right thing to say what he KNEW about who would be best for the city, and we see he was more than right.
It's ELECT$ED officials like the Controller, City Attorney, DA and Sheriff ... they're the ones who should NEVER be allowed to endorse
So you are saying that only APPOINTED officials, like Bratton, should be allowed to endorse.
Let's see, the head of Building and Safety was appointed by the mayor, so of course he would endorse someone the Mayor doesn't like, just because he/she would be good for the City? Dream on ....
You are just shilling for that notorious Bratton endorsee, Jack Weiss.
Another "Black Opps Hacopian" made up controversy.
All of this is a waste of time.
Paul's campaign has been kicking Essel's ass for 5 months in this race.
Sending voters 6 mailers a day will not reverse what has been done to Essel the last few months.
This race was decided whent the campaign teams got hired.
November 20, 2009 6:35 AM
Aren't you also talking about Essel's best buddy Greul. Didn't she live CD2 hanging so she could be Controller? Or, doesn't that count?
"About only thing that seems to be uniting the Mayor, the Controller and the City Attorney, is the poison that they all see in Krekorian. Who wants Krekorian in the horseshoe? Only Paul Koretz, so far..."
That's because they know Krekorians won't be part of their gang of crooks!
speaking of end run around the rules, what happened to that Calitics started investigation about how the Essel campaign coordinated supposedly Independent Expenditures against the law? So now she claims she knows nothing of the Police Political League's wads of money to buy her election, as if.
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