This article originally appeared at RonKayeLA.com.
It’s not been a good year for Antonio Villaraigosa.
His scheme to rip off the public with a phony solar energy plan called
Measure B was snuffed by voters. His stooge candidate for City Attorney
was beaten by outsider Carmen Trutanich. And now the compliant Chris
Essel got trounced by Paul Krekorian in the CD2 Council race in the East
San Fernando Valley.
It’s a new day in LA.
Community activists played the key role in all three humiliating defeats
for the mayor and the creaky political machine he heads. There ought to
be a law that bans three-time losers from serving in political office
for the rest of their lives.
Antonio had the chance to be somebody, to bring LA together and achieve
great things. But he’s become a cartoon figure, a lame duck out of
touch with the people who quacks irrelevantly while the city sinks
deeper into a financial crisis and the discontent of the people grows.
He knew what had to be done but lacked the courage to stand up to the
entrenched interests. Instead, he chose to live like a king, drink $500
bottles of wines on other people’s tabs, chase women like he’s Tiger
Woods and hide behind a brigade of gofers and bodyguards while flitting
from one staged PR event to another and promising great schools, great
public transit, great jobs and a green city sometime way off in the future.
All the while billboards and pot shops blighted the city’s
neighborhoods, the infrastructure rotted from lack of investment and
maintenance, poverty soared, corruption flourished and the city treasury
was depleted to the point where services are being slashed and only
bankruptcy or the sale of assets like parking structures, the airport or
DWP can stop the flood of red ink.
Voters have finally rebelled.
When will the business, labor and civic leaders of the city wake up to
what’s going on and see the Antonio’s promises are nothing but fool’s gold?
The viciousness of the campaign Antonio’s pals ran against Krekorian
could turn out to be a turning point. They may have turned a knee-jerk
liberal Democrat into a true democrat who has the passion to challenge
the lemming-like unanimity of the City Council.
Surely, he owes his election to the grassroots activists from Sherman
Oaks to Sunland-Tujunga who rallied behind him in the hope he would
stand up for them and be the voice of the anger and frustration of
people all over the city.
Krekorian has a mandate to lead. If he betrays that trust and becomes
just another hollow man in the go-along world of City Hall, it will soon
be clear enough and he will pay the price when he comes up for
re-election in little more than a year.
He may turn out to be just another gear in the machine as he appeared to
be at the outset of this election campaign or he can join with Trutanich
and become the cornerstone of the movement to change the political and
civic culture of LA.
I may see things darkly but I’m an eternal optimist and I believe
Krekorian is made of the right stuff. Of course, I thought that about
Antonio so I could be wrong as I so often am.
The sleazy campaign run against Krekorian with a record-shattering
amount of dirty special interest money has freed him from control of the
machine.
He needs to make community leaders like Mary Benson, Judy Price and
Ellen Vuikovich an integral part of his team and build a grassroots
organization that gives him the power to stand up to the special
interests and serves a base for bringing activists all over the city
together.
LA is at a turning point and the Measure B, Trutanich and Krekorian
elections show there is a groundswell for reform that is growing.