New faces set to join L.A. City Council
Price, Perry headed to runoff
LOS ANGELES, Calif.—Outgoing City Councilman Bill Rosendahl’s chief deputy will be replacing his boss on the 15-member council, while a pair of Assembly members appeared to have narrowly earned enough votes to avoid a May runoff and win seats on the panel.
Rosendahl announced last year he was suffering from cancer and announced he would not run for a third term in the council’s 11th District. His chief deputy, Mike Bonin, easily outpaced three opponents to claim the seat.
Thanks in large part to term limits, several former and current state lawmakers were looking to make the jump to Los Angeles City Hall, outpacing their competitors in fundraising and carrying a built-in lead in name recognition. Only two incumbents, Joe Buscaino and Paul Koretz, were seeking re-election, and both easily fended off token competition—Buscaino in the 15th District and Koretz in the 5th.
In the West Valley race to fill termed-out Dennis Zine’s 3rd District council seat, Assemblyman Bob Blumenfield, D-Van Nuys, finished just above the 50 percent mark to avoid a runoff. Assemblyman Felipe Fuentes, D-Arleta, also appeared to earn just enough votes to claim the 7th District seat representing the northeast San Fernando Valley—a seat being vacated by termed-out Richard Alarcon.
It was unclear early today how many provisional ballots remained to be counted in those districts and whether there were enough to potentially push either candidate below the 50 percent mark. The second-place finisher in the 3rd District was Woodland Hills tax attorney Joyce Pearson, while education advocate Nicole Chase placed second in the 7th District race.
Another race that could hinge on uncounted provisional ballots was the 1st District race to replace termed-out Ed Reyes. Assemblyman Gil Cedillo, D-Los Angeles, narrowly fell below the 50 percent mark, with unofficial final tallies giving him 49.4 percent—about 83 votes shy of winning the seat outright. If that percentage holds, Cedillo will be forced to the May 21 runoff against Jose Gardea, Reyes’ longtime chief of staff, in the battle to represent district, which includes northeast Los Angeles, Chinatown and Pico-Union.
Sen. Curren Price, D-Los Angeles, will advance to the runoff in the race to replace unsuccessful mayoral candidate Jan Perry in the 9th District. He will face off with Ana Cubas, Councilman Jose Huizar’s former chief of staff.
In the most crowded race of the election, a dozen candidates were seeking to replace Eric Garcetti, a mayoral candidate, in the 13th District, which includes Silver Lake, Thai Town, East Hollywood and Echo Park. Mitch O’Farrell—a co-founder of the Glassell Park Neighborhood Council and president of the neighborhood’s park improvement organization—and John Choi—a former Public Works commissioner and economic development director for the Los Angeles County Federation of Labor—advanced to the runoff in that race.
Veteran politician Curren Price Jr. will face-off against first-time political candidate Ana Cubas on May 21 during the general election for the Los Angeles City Council 9th District seat.
Based on unofficial voting results from Tuesday, Price (27.22 percent) and Cubas (23.96 percent) were the top two vote-getters in a field of seven.
Cubas bested veteran politician Mike Davis (who collected 15.69 percent of ballots) as well as David Roberts, a longtime City Hall operative much like herself.
LOS ANGELES, Calif. — Showdowns in three highly contested Los Angeles City Council races will be decided today, while seven candidates will compete in a special election to fill a vacant San Fernando Valley-area seat.
In the 10 weeks since the March 5 primary, outside groups mostly representing labor unions have spent more than $1.7 million to influence three runoff races in which candidates in the south Los Angeles, eastside and Hollywood areas are battling for seats on the 15-member City Council.
As they move closer to the March 5 election, candidates in the 9th Council District campaign continue to pound out their message to constituents. They did so before a crowd of some 400 people at a recent candidate’s forum.
At the same time, residents have let those running for this office know that they have some concerns and demands they want addressed.
The relationship between the Los Angeles City Council’s three African American members—Bernard C. Parks and Jan Perry on the one side and Herb J. Wesson on the other—shows signs of combusting into an inferno that could deplete much of what political capital the city’s African American community has left.
The latest debacle is over the way Parks and Perry’s districts have been redrawn, but other sectors of the city also have a beef with the Los Angeles Redistricting Commission.
LOS ANGELES, Calif. — The political road between Sacramento and Los Angeles City Hall was being well-traveled today, with Sen. Curren Price, D-Los Angeles, and former Assemblyman Gil Cedillo claiming City Council seats and another former assemblywoman advancing to a runoff election in hopes of representing another council district.
