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Sunday, November 01, 2009

Essel's Endorsements by the Numbers


 Fake mailer | Essel Campaign


Once again, a reader writes:

Go to Chris' endorsement page (www.essel09.com/endorsements) and by the numbers, I'll comment:

#1 is the L.A. Times. The Times could care less about the Valley and CD2. They are all downtown; please endorse Chris again because we in CD2 hate the times.

#2 is Wendy. Wendy now is very concerned about what all of L.A. thinks of her so she is in damage control mode right now. The endorsement's value is waning.

#3 is Riordan. He does help her with the older, wealthier and more conservative voters.

#4 through 15 are a bunch of elected officials having nothing to do with CD2. I like Tom LaBonge because he such a BS’er and great speaker but otherwise, he’s “empty.” Some of these endorsers are offensive to CD2 as they imply that, “we know what’s good for you but would never set foot in your district.”

#16 is my favorite. Dario Frommer did absolutely nothing for CD2 when he was the Assemblyman and we were so glad to see him leave. So you have to wonder why Chris asked for his endorsement. She knows little about CD2.

#17 is a good conservative endorsement but it’s not Zev; our guy that covers CD2.

#18 though 20 mean nothing.

#21 Ed Begley; he’s all over the place. He supported Hayden but he’s gone a little more conservative. One might think Chris gets the Green Vote but I don’t think Ed has enough gravitas.

#22 through 31 are nice endorsements to have. Again, nice endorsements to have but they’re not “top-ten” material. The Chamber is a good one for the business and perhaps conservative voter.

#32 is my favorite. Ken’s a Sherman Oaks guy who made a failed run for Council many years ago. He stumbled over the fact that he got donations from a porn outfit. He was on the Board of the Greater Valley Glen Council (GVGC) and people did not like him. He actually supported a developer who wanted to build a condo building on a quiet street of houses in Valley Glen. He resigned as he got more involved with Sherman Oaks NC. So he’s got pluses and minuses. He’s OK for Sherman Oaks and a somewhat negative galvanizer for North Hollywood and Valley Glen. I do respect Ken for his support of the LAPD.

#33 to 39 are sort of uneventful. However, Terry Anderson is the current President of GVGC. He has provided much valuable help to Chris and I strongly encourage Chris to listen to this guy. He is Chris’ main and only NC link to Valley Glen. Tony Lucente is good for Studio City power types but he is not liked in other areas of CD2 because of his work on BONC. In fact, he allegedly violated the Brown Act several times in certifying NCs when there were dispute issues. He’s a smart guy though. Besides, when has anybody been convicted of a Brown Act violation.

#40 is Art’s Deli. I have boycotted this place. Art was supporting Tamar early in the race and suddenly switched: I do not know why.

I know I’m a little biased but my observations are the following:

1) Notice how the bottom four candidates that endorsed Chris are not at the top of her list. Chris, you are right, they are not worth bragging about….and where is Zuma Dogg anyhow?

2) To me, Riordan is a great endorsement if only he would move his tired old ass (rather than his money connections) and get out there and pound pavement.

3) Wendy’s endorsement now is everything about Wendy doing damage control. She is a careful lady and she is really thinking hard about what to do. She will definitely continue to back Chris but how?

So what does Chris do now? Whether it’s Shallman or someone else, they will advise her to use her cash to send out lots of mailers bashing Paul. The mailers look beautiful. They are glossy and look slick and expensive. Essel has no choice but to play this through in hopes that when a downtown or Hollywood district opens up, she’s got the experience under her belt to try again.


Labels:

22 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said:

How is an endorsement by "Art's Deli" relevant in any way shape or form?

Do you REALLY think that because a DELI endorses a candidate that it makes ANYTHING?

Makes you wonder...

Oh and Richard Riodan's endorsement? What good is that? We don't have Mayor Hertzberg. We still have Mayor Snot-a-rai-gosa, who was NOT endorsed by Riordan aka DICK!

November 01, 2009 5:37 PM  

Anonymous Anonymous said:

The owner of the deli is the endorsement, not the deli itself. 5:37 is clearly not from CD2. Art's is an iconic Studio City institution and is very well-known.

Essel's got money and Shallman's superior mail, Krekorian has Hacopian's field program. It's a good, evenly matched race between candidates who are both good people.

I don't really care who wins this race, but Higby's obsession with Shallman and the Essel campaign, coupled with his truly irresponsible posts w/ pictures of genocide victims - it's all very creepy.

November 01, 2009 5:54 PM  

Anonymous Anonymous said:

No, I am from Valley Village aka Studio City light.

Your assertion is full of ASSertion.

If anyone votes for someone because the OWNER of a deli says so, I wouldn't hold that person's opinion in too high regard if they can't think for themself. Meanwhile, it didn't say that the PERSON who owns the deli is endorsing E$$-hole. It said Art's Deli endorses him.

November 01, 2009 6:05 PM  

Anonymous Anonymous said:

As I said:

#40 is Art’s Deli. I have boycotted this place. Art was supporting Tamar early in the race and suddenly switched: I do not know why.

It doesn't say the man's name. It says the name of the business. What next? Will people vote for a candidate because Kinko's endorses them?

November 01, 2009 6:06 PM  

Anonymous Anonymous said:

Higby cites my reference to Ken Gerston as being on the Board of GVGC. I posted the top 40 thing

I was wrong, Ken was on the interim Board that ultimately became certified. Back in the early 2000s we referred to this Board as the "Selected Board." Ken was selected by the then Chairman along with other cronies to be on the Board. Ken was never elected and resigned well before the very first election was held.

Sorry for the technical inaccuracy.

November 01, 2009 6:11 PM  

Anonymous Anonymous said:

To all the Chris supporters, did Chris really support Shallman's bashing of Tamar?

November 01, 2009 6:31 PM  

Blogger Foxy LA Lady said:

I really like Essel's cream colored suit and shoes. They blend so well with the dirt lot she's standing on. Bet she didn't stick around long after that photo-opp.

Wouldn't want to get any dirt on that suit and those shoes. Does the term "looks of an elitist" come to mind? Hmmm...

November 01, 2009 6:55 PM  

Anonymous Anonymous said:

Hey Foxy Lady, do you think Shallman's bucks are paying for Chris' wardrobe...a la Sarah Palin?

I must say, Chris is well-dressed but afraid of dirt or rolling up her sleeves.

On the other hand, Paul dresses OK; the suits are not $5,000 suits but they are suits we would all wear...if we were thin like him. Yet, I have seen Paul roll up his sleeves and once heard (from a childhood friend)that Paul financed his law school education by running a sole proprietorship cleaning offices and homes; toilets and other dirty stuff. Oh my God, is Paul now a business man?

November 01, 2009 7:10 PM  

Anonymous Anonymous said:

It's not an evenly divided race. Chris has raised twice as much money as krackwhorian. Money talks. Bullshit walks!

I hope this whole little meaningless endorsement games makes you feel better.

Don't forget, Jack Weiss was endorsed by Bratton, AV, Wendy, several unions and various other neighborhood groups. Lot of good that did him.

It's sad to say, but the candidate who raises the most money usually wins.

November 01, 2009 7:39 PM  

Anonymous Anonymous said:

Too bad Essel has the "fig leaf" pose.

Nice lady but we still have not seen anything substantial come from "any" of her interviews or forums other than "she knows people" to call about this or that. Will that "get it done"? Is that what we need in and for CD2's next CM?

November 01, 2009 8:21 PM  

Anonymous Anonymous said:

Art`s Deli endorsement. Hahahahahahahaha. Good Sunday nite laugh. It shows you how stupid Essel, the empty vessel, is. As far as Wendy, well, another dummy. As they say. Birds of a feather.

November 01, 2009 8:30 PM  

Anonymous Anonymous said:

Look how they moved the black lady right next to Essel. Fucking PC bullshit. So obnoxious.

November 01, 2009 8:33 PM  

Blogger Michael Higby said:

Two things we learn this fine first evening of November.

1) If Chris Essel loses she and Shallman can at least probably get a free pastrami on rye. With a pickle and potato salad.

2) Paul Krekorian, NOT Antonio Villaraigosa, actually does clean your toilets!

November 01, 2009 9:00 PM  

Anonymous Anonymous said:

I've cleaned many toilets in my day (for pay and for free). I have to believe that many voters have done the same....as well as caring for their children and elderly parents. It says something about the person who has done some grunge work in their life. So be it. We have many "hard working" people taking care of us in many ways. We need to appreciate them and their dedication. I don't think they could afford the Essel suits or believe what she can do for them.

Did you know that only 626 workers pick up all of our trash and recyclables throughout the City every week?

November 01, 2009 9:19 PM  

Anonymous Anonymous said:

I've never seen, nor do I know any of these people. Where did they come from ?

November 01, 2009 9:29 PM  

Anonymous Anonymous said:

One of them is from Australia

November 01, 2009 10:14 PM  

Blogger Foxy LA Lady said:

7:10PM - Yep, that suit looks like a tax write-off to me. As for PK, any guy who cleans a toilet gets my vote! Real men clean toilets!

November 01, 2009 10:40 PM  

Anonymous Anonymous said:

What first poster?

Did you say that Villaraigosa was NOT endorsed by Riordan?

Wrong. You need to go back and read some old 2001 and then 2005 campaign literature for mayor.

The reason Villaraigosa lost in 2001 was because he was endorsed by Riordan and then couldn't take the valley.

November 01, 2009 11:34 PM  

Anonymous Anonymous said:

I don't have a dog in this fight -- both CD2 candidates seem like more of the same and will probably fade into the mediocre woodwork of City Council very nicely -- but the very fact that you had to go through this tedious exercise in trying to discredit half the major players in L.A. area politics can mean only one thing:

You know these endorsements help Essel a great deal.

Almost nothing in the way of this background info will ever be realized by the voters, and what does will come across as desparation. Names are names, and each of these has a constituency that does vote, and whichever candidate wins -- they'll need to work with every leader named here, in order to be effective. That becomes harder when a candidates' supporters spend the final days of a campaign trying to minimalize the people lending their names to support the other side.

Tactically, you'd have been better off not saying all this. You add credibility to the sheer volume of Essel's support with you back-firing effort, which by the way took you many more words to explain that the Times endorsement took to reach many times the readership.

November 02, 2009 11:49 AM  

Anonymous Anonymous said:

ll:49 - "I don't have a dog in this fight -"

Sure sounds like you have one in there to me.

November 02, 2009 12:33 PM  

Anonymous Anonymous said:

11:49 sure tried to put a different spin on the fact that just because the original writer is calling attention to Essel's endorsements, it shows Essel as carrying the day.

Let's not forget the orignial writer's underlying intent - to show just how irrelevant Essel's many supporters truly are. The communities - those that will vote and will help others to make up their minds on who to vote for- aren't fooled one bit by Essel's weak ploys to show her endorsement strength. Her endorsements do not come from the communities that will be most affected by her as their council member - the leaders who are trying to overcome what Wendy and her Planning Deputy did to our CD2 District.


She is so Hollywood - flash the big names and that shows she can do the job. Yeah...right!!!

November 02, 2009 3:27 PM  

Anonymous Anonymous said:

12:33

My "dog" barks at obvious hypocrisy and blind partisanship, on either side.

But in this case, I think his byte of logic must have hurt the worst, since you were only able to contest the innocuous opening phrase.

November 02, 2009 4:32 PM  

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