Endorsements For March 5th: VOTE NAKED!

That's right, you heard me, vote naked. As in fill out your absentee ballot in the comfort of your own living room and mail that sucker in before Friday, March 1st.

Don't have an absentee ballot? Can't make get it to the mail box in time? No problem! Polls are open Tuesday, March 5th from 7am-8pm.

If you don't know where your polling place is, go to http://www.lavote.net/LOCATOR/ and type in your address to find out.

Now that we've gotten that out of the way, here are the Venice For Change endorsements for the March 5th Los Angeles Municipal elections!





LOS ANGELES MAYOR
Eric Garcetti or Wendy Greuel

I find it very telling that whenever a supporter of Greuel or Garcetti tries to sell me on the virtues of their chosen candidate, the first thing they say is how much they like the other candidate. There's a reason for this - either would provide far better leadership for the next eight years than Los Angeles has had for the past eight. If elected, Wendy Greuel would be the first woman mayor of Los Angeles, no small thing when you consider we may end up with NO women on the LA City Council come June. Her resume goes back decades to Tom Bradley. She's competent, knowledgeable, ambitious, a great manager, and from everyone I've talked to, works harder than just about anyone in LA City government. She has the backing of many who already serve in City Hall. Conventional wisdom says Greuel is more business friendly than Garcetti - she's arguably more conservative when it comes to issues such as tenant rights.

Greuel has been endorsed by the LA Daily News.

Of the two, Eric Garcetti is considered the "vision candidate", with ambitious plans for developing a greener, more public transportation and tech-sector-friendly economy for Los Angeles. But as president of the LA City Council, Garcetti has had deal with a harsher reality, steering our city through the worst economic downturn since the Great Depression. Doing so meant successfully renegotiating contracts with labor unions which serve our city - a difficult task that's cost him politically (IBEW Local 18 - the union which represents 8,000 employees of the LA Department of Water and Power - is reported to have spent over $750K in support of Wendy Greuel).

After sitting on the LA City council for a dozen years, Garcetti is hardly an outsider, but without the support of LA's Political Class, he's relying on the same kind of grassroots organizing perfected by the Obama presidential campaigns to make the difference in his own campaign for Mayor of Los Angeles. As an early supporter of President Obama (he signed on in 2007, and was active in Obama's 2008 and 2012 campaigns), Garcetti has the support of many (although not all) of Los Angeles' grassroots Obama organizers. If elected, I expect Garcetti will continue to harness the power of community organizing in governing Los Angeles.

Garcetti has been endorsed by the LA Times. and La Opinion



LOS ANGELES CITY ATTORNEY
Mike Feuer

LOS ANGELES CITY CONTROLLER
Ron Galperin

LA CITY COUNCIL DISTRICT 11
Mike Bonin

LA UNIFIED SCHOOL DISTRICT - 4th District
No Endorsement

LA COMMUNITY COLLEGE DISTRICT 
Seat 2: Mike Eng
Seat 4: No Endorsement
Seat 6: David Vela

BALLOT MEASURE A
NO
A quick word on Measure A - while I'm normally a proponent of increasing revenue, Measure A is an ill-conceived regressive sales tax which would disproportionally burden those in the lowest income brackets. Worse, it's being proposed as candidates running for Mayor are promising to eliminate the city's gross receipts tax for businesses. So if Measure A passes, it would essentially shift a $200 million tax burden from businesses to the backs of lower and middle-income Angelenos.

This is not a smart way to close Los Angeles' budget gap. Once a new Mayor is elected, he or she will have a year to renegotiate contracts with the City's service employees as well as evaluate alternative revenue streams. Then, and only then, should the city consider coming to tax payers for additional help.


BALLOT MEASURE B
No Endorsement