Garcetti To Lead L.A.’s Upswing

(This article originally appeared in the May 28th, 2013 edition of the Century City News)

By Michael Douglas Carlin

This was perhaps the best election in the history of Los Angeles because we had two very capable politicians. We typically feel compromised with the “lesser of two evils” choice. We typically have no good candidate and must decide who will harm us less as the criteria for selection. I have felt this for years during almost every election at the local, state and federal levels.

But we all know both Wendy and Eric from their many visits to Century City over the years. We have grown to respect them both as public servants and we know that they both love this city. Many people were in a quandary about which of them to back for mayor. I remained officially neutral during the primary even though I was personally leaning toward Eric.

There we were with two weeks to go and the most recent poll was that Wendy was up by one point. The previous polls had showed Eric up by seven points. Wendy announced that Eric’s election campaign was “in free-fall.” It looked grim at that moment for his chances of winning. Wendy was being declared the winner without a single vote having been certified.

That is when I actually decided to not just support Eric but to volunteer my time. Both would be good for Los Angeles but I knew that one of them would be better. I reckoned that Eric had not received the support of the unions largely because he had stared them down during tough negotiations. That for me was the deciding factor. Eric will do it with poise and a smile on his face but he is going to be able to renegotiate with special interests -- all special interests -- including unions to get our budget back on track. Eric was the clear choice for mayor and the perception was that his campaign was crumbling.

But Eric wasn’t nervous -- at least he wasn’t showing it. I got invited to four Eric Garcetti events in a single week. He was out campaigning and raising money. When big endorsements like Bill Clinton and Barbara Boxer were coming to Wendy, Eric was connecting with the people. When big money was pouring into the Greuel Campaign, Eric was going to dinners, lunches, and breakfasts to raise a little money at each. He was on the phone making calls and he was texting. He was personally answering his emails. He was working non-stop to turn the momentum his way.

One political analyst told me that Wendy would have the edge in voter turnout because the unions have a machine to get out the vote. Polls showing her losing by a couple of points would easily be made up by voter turnout. But Eric had a machine of his own. I volunteered on the Saturday before Election Day in Sylmar at a motion picture catering company to make calls to get out the vote. We worked in a boiler room calling from printed sheets of registered voters. We were canvassing Los Angeles to ask voters to turn out on Election Day. I found out later that this was just one of many rooms making calls.

Eric had assembled his machine to turn out the vote. I arrived in Studio City at 9am on Election Day to make more calls. We worked until about three in the afternoon but some were planning to stay on the phones until 8pm. Each of us probably only made a few hundred calls. But when you multiply that by the number of volunteers across the city I am certain that this had an impact. Was it a game changer? We will never know.

Later that election day we arrived at the Hollywood Palladium and early returns had Wendy up by almost two points. There were lots of nervous stares in that room but as the evening wore on Wendy’s lead was in free-fall. Eric went on to win the election. He is the right person for the job and he has a vision for Los Angeles that is good for the people of this city. As Dan Schnur, Director of the USC Institute of Politics, pointed out Eric Garcetti gets to sit across the table from the unions clear of any debts- he gets to say, “Not only did you not support me but you pulled out all the stops to oppose me so we sit here today with me owing you nothing. We can work out a deal now or wait for Richard Riordan’s Ballot Initiative for Pension Reform that could be much less favorable.”

That is the mayor we need right now in Los Angeles. Los Angeles is headed for an upswing and Mayor Garcetti will lead the way. We can all work with him to bring his vision from words into deeds – from theory to reality. We can all get on board the Eric Garcetti train to a more prosperous, human rights respecting, cleaner, greener, smarter self-sufficient Los Angeles. He needs us all to get on board. There is money to be made and a legacy to honor as well as a city that constantly reinvents itself for the better.

July 1st we can all sleep well knowing that Mayor Eric Garcetti is on the job.