Community Update

Wendy Greuel spent over $5 million
<br/>dollars in her campaign for Mayor&nbsp;and lost. That is as bad as our NEW LA
<br/>Dodgers, with the highest payroll in baseball, and are presently in last place.
<br/>She is projected to receive&nbsp;just over 200,000 votes, which means she
<br/>spent&nbsp;$25.00 per voter. She might as well&nbsp; have sent a coupon for a free Big
<br/>Mack, fries, and a&nbsp;Coke&nbsp;to all the voters, redeemable if&nbsp;she was elected Mayor.
<br/>She might have won with this ploy.
<br/>&nbsp;
<br/>I believe Independent committees have
<br/>become toxic for candidates. The independent committee, Working Californians, a
<br/>pro Greuel Super Pac.&nbsp;received $2.8 million dollars contributed to it,&nbsp;from one
<br/>entitiy, the IBEW Local 18, which repesents over 8000 DWP employees. Each time
<br/>this committee filed a spending report with the city, the public found Greuel
<br/>had received another whopping contribution from the union. The more money given
<br/>to the Greuel campaign, the more the issue was reported by the LA Times, Daily
<br/>News, LAWeekly, KPPC radio, and various other television&nbsp;broadcast outlets. The
<br/>Garcetti campaign&nbsp;had a very effective 30 second campaign&nbsp;commercial&nbsp;calling
<br/>Wendy Greuel the "DWP Mayor". They spent over $1.75 million dollars airing this
<br/>commercial in the LA media market for the final two&nbsp;weeks of the campaign.
<br/>Greuel could not respond to it. It was true and instilled fear in the voter's
<br/>mind.
<br/>&nbsp;
<br/>She on numerous occasions said she
<br/>had the LA Chamber and County Fed of Labor&nbsp;endorsing her for Mayor. Most voters
<br/>know these two groups are totally opposed to each other on labor issues. How can
<br/>she have both behind her? The voters did not buy it.
<br/>&nbsp;
<br/>Those&nbsp;citizens comprising the&nbsp;voters
<br/>who went to&nbsp;the polls viewed many of the television debates. These debates were
<br/>seen by the small number of citizens, who went to the polls on Tue. Wendy Greuel
<br/>at the debates,&nbsp;was shrill, and had a cold presence to her delivery. She needed
<br/>some coaching from some of her entertainment backers such as Speilberg and
<br/>Katzenberg, but obviously never asked for any help. She had no charm, and her
<br/>verbal pacing was non-existant. She looked desperate instead of calm and in
<br/>charge.
<br/>&nbsp;
<br/>It was obvious Greuel thought her big
<br/>hitters like Bill Clinton, Barbara Boxer, Magic Johnson, and others would get
<br/>her over the top. That was not the case. She never even had half of the female
<br/>electorate backing her candidacy at any time. Being a mother does not mean you
<br/>have the qualities to be an effective Mayor. Touting big names does not
<br/>guarantee voter support.
<br/>&nbsp;
<br/>Also&nbsp;blaming the media for your
<br/>campaign ills is not an effective strategy. All it does is&nbsp;upset the reporters
<br/>covering you. Greuel lashed out at the print reporters at the LA Times and Daily
<br/>News for their coverage of campaign events. Reporters do not react positively,
<br/>when their integrity is questioned.
<br/>&nbsp;
<br/>Finally, Greuel and her campaign
<br/>staff,&nbsp;totally mismanaged her financial resources. She had no televison spots on
<br/>the air for the final week. She had to hope&nbsp;her independent campaign committees
<br/>would keep her alive through election day. That was not the case. On election
<br/>eve, Garcetti had four 30 sec commercials on the NBC 4&nbsp;11PM&nbsp;news. Greuel had
<br/>none.
<br/>&nbsp;
<br/>Mayor- elect Garcetti&nbsp;ran an
<br/>effective campaign, and his financial resources were spent&nbsp;wisely up to&nbsp;and
<br/>including election day. He looked confident, and his many small and
<br/>large&nbsp;contributors kept the funds flowing when he needed them for the final week
<br/>of the campaign.
<br/>&nbsp;
<br/>Based on the Greuel defeat, I believe
<br/>candidates in the&nbsp;future&nbsp;will stay clear of controversial&nbsp;independent committees
<br/>with large special interest war chests. They are too controversial, and can
<br/>create a political backlash for the candidate receiving the support. The DWP
<br/>IBEW issue was Greuel's downfall.
<br/>&nbsp;
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