Iowa's voters attract even an L.A. city councilman

Instead of spending yet another holiday at home watching football and relaxing, City Council President Eric Garcetti opted to take a break from Los Angeles' annoying sunshine and winter warmth. He craved the nose-biting breezes and suddenly sideways-driving roads of Iowa for some nice nonstop campaigning for Barack Obama among strangers who never heard of him or District 13.

Hillary Clinton may have drawn L.A. Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa away from Aspen's slopes to Iowa for a long weekend of grocery store campaigning for her in the tight Democratic caucus race. But Garcetti is stumping the long length and broad breadth of the Hawkeye State for the freshman senator from Illinois.

Garcetti has been there since Dec. 29 and won't leave until Jan. 4, the day after the caucuses, which are believed to be close despite a new Des Moines Register poll showing Obama widening his lead over Clinton and John Edwards. Garcetti is visiting churches and communities with Latinos and African Americans in search of undecided voters not traditionally involved with the complexities of caucusing on a cold winter night when the Orange Bowl and other TV delicacies can tempt your time.

So what if he's a nobody to the folks of Long Grove, New Liberty and Pleasant Prairie. Garcetti says in an e-mail he finds the experience "exciting and empowering" to "carry Sen. Obama's message of change and hope to the residents of Iowa." And who knows what will come of this newfound working friendship?

But what about their off-time? Centro, a high ceilinged, upscale Italian restaurant in downtown Des Moines, becomes a buzzing hive of journalists, politicos and star gazers during caucus week. Sunday night, The Times Robin Abcarian spotted a California power table assembling toward the back: the next would-be governor (Villaraigosa) dined with the would-be attorney general (San Francisco DA Kamala Harris). Keeping them company was Garcetti, and his dad, former LA District Attorney Gil.

And although the Garcettis and Harris are in Iowa to stump for Obama, while Villaraigosa is on the trail for Clinton, they all seemed to get along fine.

--Andrew Malcolm

Comments

[Gus]

With the amount of problems in CD 13 (i.e., loss of boats at Echo Park and the monstrosity slated to be built at Echo Park Blvd. and Morton), it's amazing Mr. Garcetti is not working to make our district better.

Mr. Garcetti is too busy calculating his career and not spending enough time on the position he was elected to.

[F.Igwealor]

Mr. Garcetti is one of our city representatives that the majority of the residents of Los Angeles are very proud of.
Carrying the message of hope and change is a show of courage and speaks volume of the type of leader Mr. Garcetti would be in the future.

The people of CD 13 and the city of Los Angeles are very proud of our councilman.

[Lost in Maquoketa]

Does Mr. Garcetti realize that there are almost no Latinos in Iowa and a rather small African-American population in the state?

It does seem that Mr. Garcetti is putting his personal ambition ahead of actually getting something done, like getting traffic to move or creating a school in LA Unified that is actually safe east of La Brea.

[FredG]

Garcetti is awesome. As an echo park resident, he brought the boats back and we love him for it. While other councilmembers are vacationing and Mayor Villaraigosa is off in Aspen, Garcetti is living out his ideals. I hope Obama wins and the negative comments are extremely ignorant. Los Angeles needs to have aclose relationship with the next president and this work from locals in Iowa serves our city well. And don't take my word about Garcetti and his staff's excellent work. Mayor Sam, the main (and usually quite tough blog) held a survey and Garcetti was named elected official of the year. Garcetti for mayor!

[Eric Garcetti]

Greetings from Iowa! And thanks to the TImes for their great coverage from the cold--it is certainly close here.

As to the comments, I just wanted to let Gus know that I worked very hard to bring the boats back and we announced last month that the boats are back at Echo Park boathouse. (check out http://www.laobserved.com/echopark/2007/11/paddle_boats_for_the_people.php for a local account of the announcement).

On top of the $2 million+ we have and are putting into restoring the boathouse, this was great news for Echo Park.

As to the development at the corner of Echo Park and Morton, this is a "by-right" development, one that the city has no discretionary action to stop as it conforms to the zoning for the neighborhood. I know that the neighborhood council has worked closely to give a lot of input to the developer, but the development has no discretionary approval from my office or the mayor's office.

We have recently implemented an interim ordinance to protect Echo Park's historical structures and are working with the Planning Department and community for more input for future protections. Contact Mitch O'Farrell, my district director, at 323-957-4500 for more info. He'd be happy to share with you some of the work underway.

As to "Lost in Maquoketa"'s concerns, in the last few days, I have spoken to hundreds of Latinos, addressed African-American congregations, met Khmer, Filipino, and Armenian voters here and talked to a lot of Anglos as well. The margin of victory being so close has meant that all voices really count here.

My ambition in Iowa is an ambition for our city. I am proud of the 7-day weeks I work in Los Angeles, and these last few days I have been working here are the first days I took off in 2007. But working in Los Angeles on issues like traffic relief and making schools safer (we recently achieved the threshold of having an after-school program in every public school in my district), I have been frustrated over the last six years to see federal funding for jobs training, housing, gang intervention, and community development (to help us with things like after-school programs) cut year after year.

We need to have a President who will help our cities again instead of ignoring them. I believe Barack Obama--who understands and has worked in cities his entire adult career--is this person, though we have a great field of candidates all around. That is why I took my week of vacation for this year and decided to work for change in this country. Our city and our nation deserve better.

If Gus or Lost would ever like to sit down face-to-face, I have office hours every two weeks where anyone can meet with me. Just give my office a call at 323-957-4500 and I would be happy to set it up. I also walk neighborhoods each month (this last month was Echo Park), and I'd love for you to join me at one of these. Lastly, if you ever want to invite some folks over and have a neighborhood coffee in your living room, we can arrange this too. I know that things in our neighborhoods can often be upsetting but I want to be sure I and my staff are addressing your concerns.

(And thanks to you, Councilman, for reading and leaving this information.)

[shirlin]

Hooray for all Democrats who give their time to help our great nation recover. Hooray of Obama.

[Janet]

thank you Eric for taking the time from your holidays days off to stump for Obama. Many of us who are Latinos in Los Angeles support Obama for president. He has the leadership we've been waiting for.

[gus]

Call me a cynic, but Eric is about supporting Eric. It's fits in line with his recent military service.

And, there are pressing problems here that demand his attention as council president. We are paying him $178K+ a year. We can at least expect him to work for us.