At Least There's No Hanging Chads!

KCET is reporting that there are about 90,000 uncounted ballots remaining from Tuesday's municipal primary election. This could make a difference in close races such as in CD3 and CD7 where Assemblymen Bob Blumenfeld and Felipe Fuentes respectively avoided a run-off scenario with their next closest challenger. 

In the meantime, Fuentes avoided a runoff by about 200 votes. According to the City Clerk, there are about 35 precincts in CD7. I don't know if challengers Nicole Chase, Krystee Clark and/or David Barron engaged captains in each one of those precincts, but you can be sure Fuentes did. Had any of the three challengers managed to call up and get about 6 more people per precinct out for them, or flip a Fuentes voters, Chase would be in a runoff with the former Assemblyman right now. Despite that, supporters of the challengers in CD7 are talking up the number of candidates, issues with signs, bullying, etc. While each of those issues do need to have a conversation around, the simple truth is it comes down to numbers. 

Speaking of numbers, blogger/writer Joseph Mailander (check out his new book Days Change at Night: Notes from LA's Decade of Decline in Los Angeles 2003-13) crunches some election results out of Sunland-Tujunga and Silver Lake coming up with what we might call an "dis/enchanted index" for Wendy Greuel and Eric Garcetti:

"Disenchanted v. enchanted? Wendy Greuel carried all precincts in Sunland-Tujunga, but received under 50% in all but one. Eric Garcetti carried all precincts in Silver Lake by over 50%, some over 60%, and one over 70%."

Always remember folks, politics is a numbers game! 

I'm Not Prepared to Throw the Shaws Under the Bus

Much has been written and said about the reported disqualification of the Jamiel's Law petition by the City of Los Angeles.

The City Clerk's office reports that only about 18,000 signatures were turned in; about a quarter of those required to even consider placing an initiative on the ballot.  At the same time, on this blog, Althea Shaw, the aunt of Jamiel Shaw, the murdered 17 year old athlete the effort centers around, claims she was certain the family and their supporters had upwards of 76,000 signatures.  Still too close for comfort but at least enough to get you in the door.

Claims made by Shaw that perhaps some petitions were allegedly lost, misplaced or otherwise misappropriated by City personnel have stunned and surprised many. 

I don't presume to believe that some type of "grand conspiracy" is in play here; however the entire incident leads to questions that should be at least answered.

1. What was the chain of custody of the signed petitions from the time they were turned into the City Clerk by the Shaws until they were returned to Ms. Shaw.
2. How are these documents secured? What are the security measures in the facility where the documents are stored? Who has access to these facilities and are these individuals supervised or monitored at all times?
3. What advice did Mayoral candidate Walter Moore give to the Shaws? Did they follow it? Why wouldn't Moore - as the instigator of the movement and an educated, successful attorney - make sure procedures were in place such as asking the Shaws to copy their signed petitions and otherwise document them?
4. If Moore himself did not have the time nor desire to manage the drive himself, considering that the Shaws had little if any political experience prior to losing their son, why didn't the candidate recruit someone to consult and provide technical support to the Shaws considering that he has been banking a major part of his campaign on the Jamiel's Law issue?
5. And finally, with all due respect to the Shaws, if the City's position is accurate, how could they make such an inaccurate estimate - not only when the petitions were turned in but in the progress reports that were given along the way?
   

 I believe that it is possible that the Shaws - who were motivated by grief and a legitimate demand for justice - did not have the complete set of political tools at their hands and could very well have made a series of unintended mistakes in the effort.  That being said however I feel that they were sincere and honest in their efforts and may have been further victimized by various politicial agendas in this town.