Daily News Endorses Krekorian

from the Daily News

The two candidates competing in Tuesday's runoff race for the prize of representing parts of the East Valley on the Los Angeles City Council have many things in common.

Both have been involved in local politics for many years. Both moved from outside the district in order to be eligible to run but claim historical ties to the San Fernando Valley. Both accuse the other of being the insider candidate, yet have politically powerful organizations behind them - the business-Riordan-downtown-DWP union folk in the case of Christine Essel, district neighborhood councils and several unions, including the L.A. firefighters, in the case of Paul Krekorian.

And both have big buckets of money in their corners.

As of the reporting period last month, Essel has collected more than $1.5 million in direct cash contributions and independent expenditures (mostly in the form of political attack mailers and TV ads on her behalf). Krekorian reported about a half-million in cash contributions and another hundred thousand in independent expenditures.

They have been all monied up by the special interests that virtually run City Hall.

What this means in a practical sense is that stuffed next to the circulars for holiday sales in the mailboxes of Council District 2 residents from Studio City to Sunland-Tujunga are a variety of colorful, glossy and, in some cases, particularly nasty political mailers.

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