Ok, the mail ballots have gone out, there's less than a month until the election, and it's time for my follow-up article on the CD 13 Race.
As you will recall, John Choi is the insider favorite with major backing from backing from his former employer, the LA County Federation of Labor, and outspending his opponent, Mitch O'Farrell, in the primary by a margin of over 3 to 1. I promised a closer look at the numbers before the election, so here goes.
In the last major reporting period before the polls open (January 1 - April 6 2013), the candidates disclosure statements reveal that John Choi received $112,000, while Mitch O'Farrell received $69,000. It is apparent that as the race came down to a two person event, the contribution gap is more on the order of 2 to 1 in favor of Mr. Choi.
Mr. O'Farrell's contributors were mostly from individuals, community groups in the Atwater Village/Hollyood Community, and and a sprinkling of the usual $700 check writers who do business with the City and are either hedging their bets or like what they see.
Mr. Choi's contributons come mostly from three groups -- labor, folks who do business with the City (particularly the Department of Public Works), and the Korean community.
For a more detailed examination of the fund raising of both candidates, see the very good article by Colin Stutz at the Los Feliz Ledger.
It keys in particularly on the independent expenditures (a nice euphemism for big money outside interests). In the 'indepentent expenditure' area, Choi leads $142,000 to $0 for O'Farrell.
This contrast is what I call the 30,000 foot Choi vision of Los Angeles vs. the O'Farrell on the ground vision, and it extends to the candidates websites:
John Choi
Mitch O'Farrell
John Choi's website concentrates on the 'big picture' issues and the ton of democratic establishment endorsments he has garnered. Jose Sigala (an Alarcon staff member) and Matt Szabo (a deputy mayor to Antonio) are only endorsers from the field of 12 candidates in the primary.
Mitch O'Farrell's website is in three languages (see the top of the home page for choice between English, Spanish, or Armenian), and is detail oriented about the various communities of the district; Atwater Village, Hollywood/East Hollywood, Echo Park, Silver Lake, Little Armenia, Thai Town & Historic Filipinotown. He has the endorsment of former candidates Sam Kbushyan and John Post -- both of whom got over 10% of the vote in the primary. He has also garnered the endorsment of La Opinion.
I'm sure you can guess where this article is going by now. I'm a community activist & Neighborhood Council/ DWP Committee/ LANCC political junkie and proud of it. If you, like me, believe in ground up neighborhood based politics, then there's only one real choice -- Mitch O'Farrell is the man. And by the way, he is willing to return phone calls.
(Mitch O’Farrell is candidate for LA City Council District 13.)
-cw
CItyWatch
5-2-13
