Gene Maddaus (LA Weekly), Dakota Smith (LA Daily News) and I have talked a lot in recent weeks about how much the mayoral candidates are alike. Wendy Greuel and Eric Garcetti are both Democrats. They both espouse progressive views, to match the electorate each hopes to serve.
But until recently, the only difference highlighted between the two was the fact that Wendy Greuel seems to have shored up way more union support than Garcetti. And by support, I mean millions in campaign dollars.
This week, Greuel made an attempt to change that narrative by giving a policy speech at UCLA. Except she still didn’t give many details about what she would do as mayor. She spoke about cutting the city council and mayor’s budgets by 25 percent, but gave no specifics.
What she was specific about was her accusation that her opponent, Garcetti, had tried to use her union support against her. Where, in fact, it shows she can work with business and labor groups.
She also accused the media of not getting that fact either.
One fact the media did apparently get was that, with the nod by former Republican rival Kevin James, Eric Garcetti has now been endorsed by every one of his former mayoral primary challengers.
Except for Greuel.
There’s a new poll out by Councilman Dennis Zine’s campaign. Zine is trying to beat out Ron Galperin for the City Controller’s office. That’s the seat now occupied by Wendy Greuel.
Interestingly, that poll shows Zine comfortably ahead in the race, despite how close the primary numbers were between him and Galperin. Not so interestingly – and either a perfect snapshot of the similarities in the mayor’s race, or a comical moment by the survey gods, the two mayoral candidates are in a near-dead-heat.
Speaking of heat, President Obama apparently phoned California Attorney General Kamala Harris to apologize for telling an audience that she was pretty.
And her spokesperson didn’t say whether she accepted the apology. But given their political similarities, this story appears to be over. And now a bit boring.