Summation: Why Paul Krekorian Over Chris Essel

In less than 24 hours voters will go to the polls and sometime Tuesday evening we'll know the results. It's been a bitter, hard fought campaign becauae the stakes are high.  Will we continue the status quo or try something different? The answer comes down to three key points.

Experience
Paul Krekorian has the experience to hit the ground running.  He is the only candidate who actually has a track record serving and representing this community.  As a former school board member and a member of the state legislature he knows what it takes to service constituents and to stand up for the community.  He knows the area, has grown up and owned businesses here and can find places without a GPS. On the other hand Chris Essel hasn't lived in the San Fernando Valley since Ronald Reagan was in office and when asked could not name one school in CD2.  Her role has been as a corporate lobbyist and shill for special interest groups who are responsible for things like massive, government funded development such downtown, the CRA financial meltdown and the destruction of neighborhoods and businesses via the use of eminent domain, a "legal" way for government to seize private property (yes, a form of socialism).

Ability

Paul knows the issues, has produced on issues such as film production.  He's been all over the community working with leaders on various issues. He has a staff that is unrivaled. In fact Krekorian's staff is so good that eventually Wendy Greuel outsourced constituent calls her lackluster staff could not handle.  Greuel's performance and staff were so poor it led even the Daily News to call CD2 a disaster area.  Christine Essel will not only need on the job training but as many of noted she will re-hire those members of the Greuel staff who were not qualified enough to go with Wendy to the Controller's Office, many of whom have poor reputations in the community such as Dale Thrush and Pat Davenport.  More importantly Essel will be beholden to the IBEW, developers and public employee unions who provided massive funding to her campaign.  On the other hand Krekorian will be held accountable by the 90% of community leaders who endorsed him, who represent their communities, and for whom he will have to perform.

Fit
As noted Christine Essel has not lived in the San Fernando Valley since the 1980s.  Paul has been here his entire life.  Chris comes from a world of gated communities, the entertainment industry and the highest echelon of LA's power structure whose leadership experience is limited to shilling for corporate interests and homeowner associations in multi-million dollar homes so out of touch with the working class demographic in CD2.  On the other hand Paul Krekorian has lived in middle-class neighborhoods in North Hollywood and Burbank, who put himself through school by cleaning toilets.  He lives in that working class reality of taking your kids to school and ball games and making sure you meet the mortgage every month.  His wife Tamar has worked for years as a pharmacist working for a small community pharmacy.  Contrast that to the world Essel and her husband live in where a Beverly Hills adjacent mega-million dollar mansion is home.  Who matches North Hollywood, Sherman Oaks, Sunland Tujunga, etc. more?

When you look at the facts and address them realistically Chris Essel does not have the experience or ability to serve CD2 and would be a horrible fit for all the communities that make up the District.  Electing her would be handing CD2's destiny over to Dick Riordan, Eli Broad and Brian D'arcy.  Are we prepared for that?

We will find out soon.