The results are in for CD-2 and the worst candidates got the most votes which turned a bad possibility into an even worse reality.
Who voted? It was a TOTAL of 14,525 -- That's just 11.84% of 123,750 REGISTERED VOTERS of CD-2. And more than HALF of that was from people MAILING IN ABSENTEE Ballots.
Paul Krekorian, fresh from participating in creating the State budget chaos in Sacramento, got the most votes. CHRISTINE ESSEL, simply an agent of Antonio Villaraigosa, running for the CD-2 office for what reason? Because "it's the only spot open" for a new CM. She really doesn't live in the area but has an apartment rented to cover that.
Larry "Nativo" Lopez, Latino activist, was charged with a voter fraud crime for registering in Boyle Heights but really living in Orange County. But I don't think he rented any place for a real address to claim in the district.
"Immigrant-rights activist to fight voter fraud charges
No plea deal reached between defense and prosecutors, attorney says." By SALVADOR HERNANDEZ , The Orange County Register, 9-22-09. http://www.ocregister.com/articles/lopez-charges-county-2576763-orange-prosecutors A deal was in the making on that case but fell through in a dispute over whether the charge will be a felony or a misdemeanor, so it's now headed for trial.
Chris Essel, on the other hand, has lots of money and DID have a place to call home in CD-2. It's strange that the WORST candidates, tools of the special interests, had the most money to spend on the campaigns- or maybe that's not so strange an outcome. MONEY does wonders, and that's more and more the case shown in politics. Krekorian also came in to the district to run for the office.
IT'S ALL TO BE SETTLED IN A DEC. 8th RUN-OFF election. FOR pretty good commentary on how it all came out yesterday and some ideas of "why," along with some thoughts about what the people need to do to get back control of these offices from bad candidates, see Ron Kaye's blog today, http://www.ronkayela.com/ "City Hall's Win-Win Strategy Wins in CD2 -- Who's to Blame?" by Ron Kaye, September 23, 2009.
My favorite, David "Zuma Dogg" Saltsburg, along with most of the "grassroots" candidates did not get anywhere close to the votes expected. Even Tamar Galatzin, the third "Machine" candidate came out with a much lower percentage of voters than either Essel or Krekorian. Half of the votes were mail in absentee ballots and those were sent out weeks ago. So if these voters did not hear the word from anyone other than Essel and Krekorian, both making use of mailers to drive their story home early in the campaign, then that was a seriously missed opportunity.
Pretty sad but then it's the voters who did not vote that let this election happen like it did: 12 % voted, so that means 88% did NOT vote. More than SEVEN times the number of voters who cast ballots stayed completely silent at the polls, the election could-hypothetically speaking- have come out with ALL grassroots candidates EACH getting more than the total votes cast in this election.
No one got more than 50% of the votes cast, so the run-off in December is required to settle it- NEITHER of the two TOP vote-getters received MORE than a number equal to 6% of all the voters registered in the district. So these things can do a complete flip in results, depending on how many people come out to vote. The voters are there- AND in relatively HUGE proportions. So HOW DO YOU GET THEIR VOTES?
2011 will bring you another district-wide Council election in the EVEN-numbered districts and I hope a good answer is found by then.
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