L.A. city elections: Winners and losers

For the folks at home trying to follow along, here’s a quick look at some of the winners and losers in the Los Angeles election.

WINNERS

> Wendy Greuel. She (pictured below) came just shy of securing two-thirds of the vote in her bid for city controller, laying to rest any questions about whether she had the mettle for a citywide contest.

> United Teachers Los Angeles. L.A. Unified’s powerful union fielded two school board candidates, Steve Zimmer and Nury Martinez, both of whom pulled out an election night victory. Martinez in particular had a squeaker against educator Louis Pugliese in the race to replace school board member Julie Korenstein.

> NIMBYs. In the Los Angeles City Council's 5th District, the two candidates who were the most critical of the city's handling of development were also the top two vote-getters. In a Westside district that suffers some of the worst traffic, neighborhood council member David T. Vahedi and former Assemblyman Paul Koretz were surprisingly in sync on the issue.  Separated by just 60 votes, Koretz and Vahedi now head into a May 19 runoff.

> Mudslinging. This will be the preferred form of communication for city attorney candidates Jack Weiss and Carmen "Nuch" Trutanich as they scratch and claw their way to the May 19 runoff election.

LOSERS

>Nick Patsaouras. He placed third out of three candidates in the city controller's race, behind even the underfunded candidate Kathleen "Suzy" Evans. A tough-talking businesswoman, Evans managed to ride the coattails of mayoral candidate Walter Moore. Yes, Walter Moore had coattails. Small ones, but they were there.

>Civic participation. Results showed a paltry 15% turnout, roughly half the amount from four years ago.

SPLIT DECISION

>The International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers. The union representing workers at the Department of Water and Power struggled to secure a victory for Measure B, the solar energy measure that is currently trailing, with late absentees yet to be counted. Still, the union succeeded in their bid to make Greuel the city controller, having poured nearly $200,000 into the effort to elect her.

-- David Zahniser

Photos: Los Angeles Times

Comments

[Peggy Moore]

You also have to also say that Antonio lost even though he won.

His anemic 55 percent is a joke, considering how much money he spent, and how weak his field of opponents were.

Riordan got 61 percent in 1999, against a much more serious challenger, Tom Hayden -- and Riordan was a less-visible figure, and a Republican in a Democratic city.

This does not bode well for the mayor's statewide ambitions.

[Truth]

You forgot another LOSER or two -

The citizens of the City of Los Angeles.

The State of California.

[Madam_S]

What about the rest of the ballot items?!

Come on LATimes - can't you give us a straightforward list of all the results?

Measure A?
Measure C?
Measure D?
Measure E?
LAUSD DIstrict 4?
LACCD Board (Seats 2,4,6,7)?

[Vendetta]

The People of Los Angeles are the LOSERS. Chronically dismal turnout only ensures that the few can continue to dictate to the rest year after year, and yet solve nothing at all.

LOSERS in that the people are apparently blissful in their near complete ignorance of everything from candidates, measures, and their own bureaucracies to even knowing that there is an election. Pitiful

LOSERS in that they continue to elect officials, actually an entire governmental system, that not only promotes, but requires PUBLIC IGNORANCE to stay in power. And the people of Los Angeles happily comply.

LOSERS in that they DON'T EVEN REALIZE they are in a cycle that leads to more of the same.

[Political Junkie]

What abour the Mayor as a notable loser? Even though he won the election, 55 percent against a field of nobodies is not the least bit impressive. I wish Rick Caruso had given him a run for his money (literally).

[Alfy]

Villaraigosa wins (re-)election of a major city in the whole wide world with 130,000 votes.

Pathetic.

No one cares. They're either burned out from the Election 2008 or realize that the local windbags are not worth coming out for....

[Ron P]

I came here for a list of winners and losers, hopefully with statistics as to how the votes went, but NO, you do not provide this public information. Why not? It is no wonder that the Los Angeles Times will probably be extinct as a printed paper within a year or two. Keep on endorsing corrupt officials and extinction is guaranteed as the middle class who still have high ethics, moral standards, and care about integrity, cancel their subscriptions.

[wade]

Go Vahedi!

[Klaus]

Er ... speaking as someone who would have voted given the chance, I had no idea there was even an election coming up.

The closest I got to an indication was two banners hanging off lamp posts on Santa Monica Blvd. near the Beverly Hills P.D. building.

One looked like this:

City
Election
Tuesday
(Rexford Dr.)

The second one, like this:

City
Election
Tuesday
(tree branch)

No wonder nobody turned out -- none of us knew when and where. Way to make an effort, City of Los Angeles, you do us proud.

[Ricardo]

two comments: registered voters all received their sample ballot., stop whining about not knowing about the election and register. that simple.

secondly, shame on the times for not having a) the full results in a simple format like the city clerks office. you're our local paper, act like it. b) try covering the full ballot before the election so we have more information about the candidates. your blog style coverage simply failed to deliver the most basic information to your core audience.

[Charlie Trainer]

I don't "wish Rick Caruso had given Villaragosa a run for his money" Caurso is one of the reasons traffic is so horrible in the 5th District due to THE GROVE and the reason why I, and hundreds of my neighbors voted for DAVID T VAHEDI! Go VAHEDI!!!!!

[Peter]

You haven't looked hard enough for the complete election results. See the LA Now section at

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-electionagate5-2009mar05,0,3581767,full.story

[John A.]

The above poster gets it wrong when complaining that the city made little effort in informing the public about the election. The effort must come form the citizens. The information is available. All registered voters receive sample ballots in the mail, not to mention an avalanche of electioneering ads from the candidates themselves. Additionally, anyone with a computer and an internet connection can exert the bare minimum of energy and find out what's a stake and who is backing whom. KCRW and KPCC cover the elections in detail on their various progams throughout the election season. Walk down the street in your neighborhood and you'll see lawn signs with candidates' names. Take the time to figure out who these people are. Talk to your neighbors and friends. Tune in. Figure it out. Participate. And REGISTER.

[Anthony R. Maldonado]

I as a candidate who campaigned from subway, bus and on foot to meet our LA public.About three-quarters of those I spoke to about my Democratic run as a"write-in-candidate" didn't even know about the March 3rd voting date. Some scracthed their aching heads with that quizzicle look on their faces, "how come we haven't heard any news about the upcoming city elections"? I was not as angry as they were and some got up took my information and walked away in discust about their cities method to inform their voting public. Yes, I saw the movie, "China Town" and I guess things haven't changed much in los Angeles since then. Oh LA run don't walk into the 21st century. Run run very fast to catch up with the rest of the world.

[steve]

A field poll released today shows that Villaraigosa is tied with Gerry Brown in numbers, is way ahead of Newsom and everyone else except Feinstein, who both these two trail. If she opts out of the race to stay in Washington as expected, Villaraigosa has a strong shot. And as a relative unknown to much of the state a better change maybe than Brown with all his negatives.

Certainly not the dire circumstances the local "pundits" you mention claim. His relatively low numbers for this election were due to low turnout, with mostly those angry about B and the economy in general making protest votes.

As for Jack Weiss, his opponent did "come of nowhere" but has been recruited, funded and endorsed and heavily pushed by his buddy and mentor DA Steve Cooley. He's put a strong spin on his record and as for "clawing and mudslinging," that's been his trademark campaign "style" whereas Weiss has taken the high road (for perhaps too long).

His spin is already falling apart under scrutiny as people realize he's spent the last 23 years defending criminals including those breaking the environmental and gun laws a City Attorney must defend -- his firm even has even often sued the city of Los Angeles on behalf of the NRA. His one big gang prosecution of the Williams guy he portrays in flashy ads was back in 86, right after which he went to work for the other side.

Weiss too was recipient of the same voting contingent while most people stayed home, and it's significant that a bunch of lesser total nobodies got almost as much of the vote as next contender "Nuch" despite Cooley's arm-twisting, a million bucks and fevered attacks and spinning like a dervish. When the real rank-and-file voter is counted, as in the Field poll, both Villaraigosa and Weiss come out much higher. Question is, will they come out and vote next time.

[Sam from North Hollywood]

Just want to let everyone know that my family and I were at the Antonio Villaraigosa victory party and it was nothing like the victory party of when he first won. People were talking and drinking, and listening to music in the background when he was making a speech. Everyone on stage with him looked
uncomfortable and tense. We were in shock. We could not believe it. We spoke to other people at other after partys that we went to and they said that the Mayor just uses people to get money and endorsements and then he forgets to say thanks.
Others said that employees of his like a guy named jimmy Blackman and others focus on just one thing- getting money and hard core connections then they look at you funny when
you go up to them and say Hi. After my family and I spoke to
so many un-happy ex- voters of the mayor. IWe felt that our Mayor has been using everyone.....even his wife.