CommentsDEEGAN ON LA—The contrasts could not be starker in the race for Council District 13, where Mitch O’Farrell (CD13) faces a primary election race against a collection of first-timers who want his job.
Some of them are backed by transgressive forces that could change the political profile at City Hall. He has incumbency.
The stakes for Councilmember O’Farrell and the city are high. If he loses, does the city benefit from having a new brand of ideologue? Recent CD4 history argues against that. If O’Farrell wins, does the progressive movement take a hit?
Brian Curran, a Windsor Square resident, says that “We saw in our neighborhoods what happens when newly elected politicians, with inexperienced staffs, and no history of public service become our leaders. Calls go unanswered, streets do not get fixed, concerns are dismissed, and adversarial relationships form. We need a leader like Mitch O’Farrell who knows how this city works and is ready to work for our communities.”
Those seeking a change in district leadership by ousting Mitch O’Farrell include Hugo Soto-Martinez (labor/community organizer); Kate Pynoos (homelessness policy advisor); Albert Corado (community organizer); Steve Johnson (deputy sheriff/educator).
The large number of candidates may prevent a single candidate from winning 51% of the vote, and cast the battle for the two top vote getters at the June 7 primary into a several months long race up to the November 7 election.
O’Farrell was a deputy to then CD 13 Councilmember Eric Garcetti and filled his seat when Garcetti became Mayor. He’s reflective of the lineage politics that has kept City Hall such an insular institution. Any one of his opponents would bring fresh air and sunshine to a City Hall that has become dark and dirty, and policed by the FBI.
Mely Corado, candidate Albert Corado’s sister, was fatally shot by the LAPD as officers swarmed a Trader Joe’s market where she worked in hot pursuit of a suspect. She was hit by a bullet not meant for her. Albert Corado appears messianic in his attempt for justice for this and other injustices. He has a heart-wrenching story to tell voters as he campaigns for reform.
His stated values are “Black lives matter. Crime is the result of poverty. No human belongs in a cage. Policing in the U.S. is rooted in slave patrols and cannot be reformed. Every person deserves to be safe and secure in their person, homes, and communities.”
Deputy Sheriff Steve Johnson, another candidate, is a US Air Force Academy graduate with experience as an aviator in Operations Desert Storm and Desert Shield.
Kate Pynoos, who identifies herself as an “imaginative progressive”, wants “a city that supports neighbors and families—one that is affordable, safe, welcoming, and livable for everyone, not just for people with money and connections.”
Hugo Soto-Martinez offers a menu of programs; any one or two of which could make a big difference in the lives of the homeless.
Neither Johnson nor O’Farrell are vying for the progressive-socialist vote that may get split among the other three candidates and dilute their individual impact to the benefit of O’Farrell.
Those three candidates appear to represent a rejuvenated political movement in LA that has roots in progressive politics with an aspect of socialism, a movement that’s been dormant here for about a century. It’s adherents got a good taste of politics in the recent Bernie Sanders presidential campaign.
Their first city council candidate, Nithya Raman (CD4), almost immediately faced a recall (that failed), a redistricting (that succeeded) and may find redemption if the Democratic Socialists of America, who backed her, wind up having endorsed the CD13 candidate that wins.
If the DSA and the progressive left loses to O’Farrell, Raman may be seen as the point of the spear that penetrated only so far.
The primary is about 60 days from now. The mail-in ballots are available about thirty days from now.
(Tim Deegan is a civic activist whose Deegan on LA weekly column about city planning, new urbanism, the environment, and the homeless appear in CityWatch. Tim can be reached at [email protected].)
