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All of the stories and media coverage pointing out that Wendy Greuel and Eric Garcetti come from the same wing of Los Angeles City Hall politics don't really help voters very much. So in the interests of assisting the undecided to make a choice, the LA Weekly's Gene Maddaus summarizes some areas where there is daylight between Garcetti and Greuel. Such as on education, development, the DWP and minor issues like that. It also comes down to a difference on general risk aversion, Maddaus writes: "This may be the most fundamental difference between a Garcetti and a Greuel mayoralty."
Garcetti has recently taken to quoting his friend, Newark Mayor Cory Booker, who said in a commencement speech last year that "It is better to have your ship sunk at sea than have it rot in the harbor." And indeed, Garcetti has had his share of shipwrecks. He lured an electric car company to L.A. with a $1 million relocation package, only to have it go bankrupt. As council president, he approved the "modernization" of billboards, unaware of the storm of protest that would follow. And have you seen those awful condos at Sunset and Alvarado? Of course, he can point to successes too, or he wouldn't have won his district by 34 points in the primary. Greuel, on the other hand, is more risk averse. As a result, her sins are ones of omission. Her disappearing act during the city's budget crisis is a prime example. As controller, she could have had as large a role as she wanted in shaping the public debate about budget cuts. Instead, she avoided the subject as much as possible.
Check out Maddaus' user's guide to the race at the LA Weekly site.
Also Monday: The so-called independent expenditure PAC "Lots of People Who Support Eric Garcetti for Mayor 2013" unveiled a new Spanish-language campaign for Garcetti. There are anti-Greuel spots for TV and radio and mail pieces. Here's the TV spot:
