LA City Council District 11 Election Debate Schedule: Be There Or Be Square

Although you wouldn't know it if  you get your news from Los Angeles' mainstream media, there is a primary election this March 5th.

Besides choosing our next Mayor, Angelenos will also be choosing who'll represent them on the City Council. Here in CD11, that means choosing  between Mike Bonin, Odysseus Bostick, Tina Hess and Fred Sutton to represent us when Bill Rosendahl retires in June. 

So far there are three candidate debates scheduled to help give you the information you'll need to make up your minds. 




Tuesday, February 7th 7-9pm
The Brentwood News and the Westside Regional Alliance of Council's host "Meet the Candidates"
University Synagogue, 11960 Sunset Blvd,  Brentwood
Seating is limited and will be allocated on a first-come, first-served basis.   
RSVP to: Suzanne@BrentwoodNewsOnline.com or call 310-476-6397. 


Thursday, February 14th 7-9pm
Celebrate Valentines Day with the candidates!
Palisades Branch Library  - 861 Alma Real Drive, Pacific Palisades


Thursday, February 28th (time TBA)
Mar Vista Community Council (tentative)
Mar Vista Recreation Center Auditorium - 11430 Woodbine Ave., Los Angeles, CA 90066

The Creators Of "Demon Sheep" Bring Giant Mutant Foxes To The Los Angeles Mayoral Race

So the same Republican Super-PAC that brought you Demon Sheep in 2010 for the California Senate race now brings you......errrr.......Giant Mutant Foxes for the 2013 LA Mayor's race.




Funded by Better Way LA, a GOP super-pack committee which has raised nearly $500,000 on behalf of lone Republican candidate Kevin James,  and created by GOP campaign strategist Fred Davis, the ad uses a disturbingly taxidermy-like stuffed fox from Davis' taxidermy collection and unflattering imagery to attack the three Democratic candidates for Los Angeles Mayor - Eric Garcetti, Wendy Greuel and Jan Perry - with a litany of never-changing GOP talking points (fat-cat bureaucrats, beholden to public-sector unions, out of control government, yadayadayadayada........)

The deliberately amateurish video is clearly angling for the same kind of earned media buzz Davis generated in 2010 for the equally weird "Demon Sheep" video on behalf of Republican Senate candidate Carly Fiorina against Democratic incumbent Barbara Boxer.

Several Republican strategists who have worked with Davis on past campaigns criticized the ad man for sometimes valuing the attention an ad gets over how it might help a candidate's campaign. "He goes for anything that will go viral, whether it's extreme or not, whether it helps the campaign or not," one strategist, who declined to be named talking about Davis, told Yahoo News. "He just wants eyeballs and has to have adult supervision around the clock."

What's less clear is how Davis' latest effort will help James, who's running far behind his three Democratic opponents both in fundraising and name recognition.

Most campaign strategists I've talked with believe James' best shot at being LA's next mayor rests in his ability to knock Wendy Greuel out of the primary by appealing to many of the same conservative valley voters Greuel hopes to woo between now and March 5th.

And, indeed, James has repeatedly gone after Greuel in every debate and candidate forum they've jointly attended, making increasingly outlandish and largely unsubstantiated claims against her - the latest an attempt to tie Greuel tangentially to disgraced LA County Assessor John Noguez, who remains behind bars on corruption charges.

Asking in a press release whether Noguez might have been “a pseudo-advisor to Controller Greuel on how to manage city funds”,  James offered as "proof" a single entry on Greuel's office calendar showing a meeting between Greuel and Noguez when Noguez was still just a candidate for County Assessor.

Better Way LA has pledged to raise at least $3.5 million on behalf of James. Forgive the metaphor, but that kind of dough can buy a lot of cheese in the race for Los Angeles Mayor. If the latest efforts from Fred Davis and Kevin James are any indication, both have an endless supply to give.

Leaked Internal Poll Shows Matt Szabo Leads In CD13 Race

A new internal poll leaked this morning by Matt Szabo's campaign shows the candidate leading the crowded CD13 race to replace outgoing Councilman Eric Garcetti by as much as 12 percentage points.

Goodwin Simon Strategic Research surveyed 301 likely voters for the March 5 primary race, initially giving voters only the names and official ballot titles of five of the leading candidates. Based only his name and title of Deputy Mayor, Szabo led nearest competitor, Mitch O'Ferrell, by 5 points.

According to the leaked memo, Szabo's lead widened to 12 points after researchers read voters positive paragraphs about the candidates.

We told them about Choi’s excellent record delivering quality services to millions of residents and his labor background. We told them about O’Farrell’s close ties to this district as senior advisor to Councilman Garcetti. And we told them about Szabo’s experience working with and for Mayors Riordan and Villaragosa and the City Attorney. The result: a 12 point lead over O’Farrell and a 15 point lead over Choi.

Goodwin Simon conducted their survey between January 13 and January 15, 2013, using English-speaking and Spanish-speaking interviewers and both land line and wireless numbers.

They claim a margin of error of about plus or minus 5.8%

As always, such leaked internal polls should be taken with a grain of salt (campaigns don't leak polls that aren't favorable), and with up to a third of likely voters still undecided, such an early poll isn't necessarily predictive of a final outcome. However, with a whopping 12 candidates vying for the seat, this poll does give us a snapshot time as to who the most competitive candidates will be going forward in the March 5 primary.


Full disclosure: I was hired by the Szabo campaign to take photographs for the candidate last year. CD13 is not my home district, nor have I endorsed a candidate in the race.

2012 - A Year In Photos

2012 was the I year discovered there is indeed a landmass east of England, my husband Warren formed a deep, personal relationship with Paris baguettes, we met Clint Eastwood when he was still just famous for making movies, and we witnessed the space shuttle Endeavour make its final journey through the streets of Los Angeles.

2012 was the year I saw two friends - Torie Osborn and Mike Bonin - run for public office for the first time, the band of merry organizers we call "Venice For Change" registered over 400 new voters in California, and we found out that YES WE CAN reelect an African-American for a second term as President.

2012 was the year we celebrated my cousin Cassie Greenfield’s bat-mitzvah as well as the 80th birthday of Warren’s mother, Elinor Bowman, and we both tried not to feel too old when our nephew Trey Griffing turned 18.

2012 was also the year Warren played his ukulele in front of the Louvre in Paris (and on the canals in Amsterdam and on the beach in Stavanger, Norway), Marta played a zombie in Castle, and both of us played ourselves at a “Castle-Con” put on by enthusiastic fans.

But most of all, 2012 was the year for gratitude. Gratitude for our friends, our family, our great jobs, and our health.

This is my photo diary of 2012.  Sometimes personal, sometimes political, sometimes just because, this is how I saw the world last year............

Click on the "read more" link below to see the photos.