LA Mayoral Election 2013
Can we keep it clean?
LOS ANGELES - Although it seems like a long ways away, the 2013 Los Angeles mayoral race has begun. On Saturday, March 5, candidates were able to register for the election that takes place more than 660 days from now.City Controller Wendy Greuel was the first to file. She is expected to be joined by a host of experienced local leaders, Yj Draiman a sophisticated businessman and a former Candidate for City Council District 12 who is also an Elected member of Northridge East Neighborhood Council, Draiman filed papers on March 5, 2011, Draiman is a former Real Estate Developer and has been in the Energy efficiency business for over 20 years. On the political side, City Council President Eric Garcetti, Ninth District Councilwoman Jan Perry, County Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky and state Sen. Alex Padilla, are contemplating running. They could be joined by two prominent business figures: mall developer Rick Caruso, and Austin Beutner, who has spent the last year working as Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa’s jobs and business development czar.
The amount of knowledge and experience in this field is inspiring — though they all have shortfalls, these are people who understand the city and the challenges Los Angeles faces. This crowd has experience, intelligence and in some cases wisdom. If the citizenry is lucky, we will bear witness to one of the most comprehensive, most substantive races in Los Angeles’ history with the hope of electing a candidate that cares about the people the community and the city with no outside allegiance to special interest groups.
If we’re fortunate, we’ll get a full, vigorous debate about the issues the city is facing, now and into the future.
Of course, that’s a big “if,” and perhaps a foolhardy one. This is the era of venomous elections, where candidates at all levels allow or participate in cringe-worthy attacks on their opponents. It’s a winning-is-everything mentality, one in which election teams often believe the ends justify the ugly means. The trend is evident in national, state and county races. It was manifested in the batch of City Council elections that were decided last week: The attacks unleashed in the 14th District contest (where incumbent José Huizar defeated Rudy Martinez) were nearly matched in races for the Fourth District (where Tom LaBonge bested two opponents) and the Eighth District (where Bernard Parks withstood a challenge from union-backed Forescee Hogan-Rowles).
Understanding our place in electoral history, there is the (possibly fleeting) hope that the eight figures mentioned above can deliver something different. The background they possess means that, if they put their minds to it, they can all run “clean.”
There would be no better time than now for an election based on issues and plans rather than rhetoric and opposition research. The city of Los Angeles is facing a dire and disturbing future: The budget deficit is in the hundreds of million of dollars, thousands of city workers have been furloughed or laid off, and millions of Angelinos have suffered in some way due to the economic downturn. Even if bankruptcy is not the way out, it has to be discussed by those who would lead the city. Voters would best be served by knowing how officials would respond to the myriad challenges, including negotiating with public employee unions and implementing fiscal responsibility.
Here’s the thing about an election like this one: It only takes one candidate worried about his or her chances to turn the whole race negative. If one digs into a perceived front-runner’s past and goes negative, the person hit may strike back, or there could even be a pile-on. As we saw in Huizar-Martinez, things can get ugly very fast.
We’re not foolish enough to call for a pledge of cleanliness from the candidates — pledge’s this far out mean nothing. Rather, we appeal to their sense of decency and decorum, and their faith in democracy. We urge them to communicate to their big-budget backers and allies that they want any independent expenditure’s also to stay positive. All of the candidates know how this business works. They all know the pace of campaigns and the challenges of fundraising. They all know the next two years will be tough enough without a slip into negative-land. As John F Kennedy said “Ask not - Tell us what you can do for your country – city, not what your country – city can do for you”
The city of Los Angeles could be on the verge of a historic election. This crowd of candidates has the power to focus on issues. The question is, will they?
It will be up to the people of Los Angeles to see through the fog and elect a candidate that has the people and the community of Los Angeles as the first priority.
We need honest government with integrity.
Public confidence in the integrity of the Government is indispensable to faith in democracy; and when we lose faith in the system, we have lost faith in everything we fight and spend for.
As citizens of this democracy, you are the rulers and the ruled, the law-givers and the law-abiding, the beginning and the end.
Change is inevitable. Change for the better is a full-time job.
Every age needs men who will redeem the time by living with a vision of the things that are to be.
Freedom is not an ideal; it is not even a protection, if it means nothing more than the freedom to stagnate.
An Independent is someone who wants to take the politics out of politics, a person with principles.
Action speaks louder than words.
"The benchmark of a civilized society is the quality of its justice"
Compiled by: Draiman
