Krekorian Karma KO's Wendy Greuel
LA politics got a jolt today when Second District Councilman Paul Krekorian endorsed Eric Garcetti for Mayor over Wendy Greuel.
It's not entirely shocking as, back in 2009, when Krekorian sought the Council seat vacated mid-term by Greuel to become Controller, Wendy supported unknown CRA/IBEW favorite, Christine Essel.
More after the jump...
In many ways, the Garcetti-Greuel runoff for Mayor is the sequel for the battle for CD2 oh so long ago. A boring, button down female pol who alternated between government insider and Hollywood lobbyist, runs as a tool of real estate developers and public employee unions. In the other corner, a smart, nattily dressed and somewhat hipster cool techie wonk-a-crat promising to shake up City Hall.
But it continues. Garcetti and Greuel's campaigns have eerie afterglows of the Essel and Krekorian campaigns, respectively. Like Essel, Greuel has massive financial support of the IBEW and other public employee unions counting on her to keep the salary jackpot going. Garcetti has much of the Democratic party elite in his corner. As a prominent and popular State Assembyman, Krekorian too had the stars of the left on his side. In the rank and file, like Essel, Wendy finds the support of grizzled old neighborhood council types and the blue rinse set of Studio City. Krekorian came to power on an army of young people, particularly with his fellow Armenians; Garcetti too has built a coalition of 20/30somethings, Jews and Latinos. Krekorian's endorsement alone likely draws Armenian communities in Sunland-Tujunga and Valley Glen out for Garcetti, as they did for Paul in 2009, but expands that reach to those communities such as Little Armenia (already familiar with Garcetti), East Hollywood and Van Nuys. You can be certain that the local Armenian-American press (perhaps including our friend Peter Musurlian) will get the word about the Krekorian endorsement and remind voters of the connection of Greuel to Essel who hosted a fundraiser for her campaign at the home of an alleged Armenian Genocide denier. And to top it all off the Greuel and Essel campaigns share a helmsman in the person of "Private Citizen/Political Consultant" John Shallman.
Striking further at the core of the Greuel campaign is the fact that Krekorian is Wendy Greuel's own Councilman, who currently represents much of and previously represented all of Greuel's old Council District, where her support, though tepid in some cases, is strongest - communities such as Sunland-Tujunga, Valley Village, Valley Glen, North Hollywood and Studio City where Krekorian is and remains immensely popular. For sure, the Garcetti endorsement by Krekorian will pull many voters from Greuel's most active precincts, with turnout already depressed by lack of other local races in much of those areas.
We don't know if Greuel thought she had a chance at the Krekorian endorsement, but surely she was considering her Mayoral ambitions in 2009. With strong candidates in both Essel and Krekorian, she would have been far more wise to have stayed out. But, as she has found out, payback is a small canine animal of the female variety.
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| Yep, she did it. |
In many ways, the Garcetti-Greuel runoff for Mayor is the sequel for the battle for CD2 oh so long ago. A boring, button down female pol who alternated between government insider and Hollywood lobbyist, runs as a tool of real estate developers and public employee unions. In the other corner, a smart, nattily dressed and somewhat hipster cool techie wonk-a-crat promising to shake up City Hall.
But it continues. Garcetti and Greuel's campaigns have eerie afterglows of the Essel and Krekorian campaigns, respectively. Like Essel, Greuel has massive financial support of the IBEW and other public employee unions counting on her to keep the salary jackpot going. Garcetti has much of the Democratic party elite in his corner. As a prominent and popular State Assembyman, Krekorian too had the stars of the left on his side. In the rank and file, like Essel, Wendy finds the support of grizzled old neighborhood council types and the blue rinse set of Studio City. Krekorian came to power on an army of young people, particularly with his fellow Armenians; Garcetti too has built a coalition of 20/30somethings, Jews and Latinos. Krekorian's endorsement alone likely draws Armenian communities in Sunland-Tujunga and Valley Glen out for Garcetti, as they did for Paul in 2009, but expands that reach to those communities such as Little Armenia (already familiar with Garcetti), East Hollywood and Van Nuys. You can be certain that the local Armenian-American press (perhaps including our friend Peter Musurlian) will get the word about the Krekorian endorsement and remind voters of the connection of Greuel to Essel who hosted a fundraiser for her campaign at the home of an alleged Armenian Genocide denier. And to top it all off the Greuel and Essel campaigns share a helmsman in the person of "Private Citizen/Political Consultant" John Shallman.
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| The Essel Mailer That Enraged |
Striking further at the core of the Greuel campaign is the fact that Krekorian is Wendy Greuel's own Councilman, who currently represents much of and previously represented all of Greuel's old Council District, where her support, though tepid in some cases, is strongest - communities such as Sunland-Tujunga, Valley Village, Valley Glen, North Hollywood and Studio City where Krekorian is and remains immensely popular. For sure, the Garcetti endorsement by Krekorian will pull many voters from Greuel's most active precincts, with turnout already depressed by lack of other local races in much of those areas.
We don't know if Greuel thought she had a chance at the Krekorian endorsement, but surely she was considering her Mayoral ambitions in 2009. With strong candidates in both Essel and Krekorian, she would have been far more wise to have stayed out. But, as she has found out, payback is a small canine animal of the female variety.
Labels: 2013 mayoral election, Chris Essel, eric garcetti, paul krekorian, wendy greuel
Posted by Anonymous @ 3/18/2013 11:01:00 PM
1 Comments:
WOOF!
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