Mayor's race Friday: Presidents dead and alive *

* Posted Saturday! I was indisposed on Friday.

Dead presidents

Fund-raising reports through the end of the year were filed with the city Ethics Commission and posted this week. Couple of trends to note. One, Garcetti had a good period: he was ahead in the cash game the last time we looked, and he has stayed ahead. But Greuel is right there. Two, they clearly form the top tier of who we will be seeing on TV between now and March 5. Jan Perry's fundraising machine may be out of fuel. Three, there is no fundraising machine behind Kevin James. This past quarter was his slowest quarter yet. All that free help promised from outside Republicans hasn't materialized, though organizer Fed Davis says that it will.

By the way, the ethics commission website makes it easy to scan the totals and dig around in the details. It's a big boon to web reporters, and the public can see everything they see. Just go here.

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Campaign 2013 Fundraising Race for Mayor
Candidate	Last 3 months	Total so far	Cash on hand
Eric Garcetti	$727,503	$3,601,930	$3,584,739
Wendy Greuel	672,230	3,474,321	3,257,657
Jan Perry	157,282	1,471,735	1,345,503
Kevin James	42,475	316,765	90,538
Emanuel Pleitez	102,710	212,954	48,973
Through Dec. 31. Drill down: Ethics Commission website
Garcetti and Greuel have also accepted $667,000 in public matching funds, Perry $514,244 and James $180,081. Pleitez had not yet received any matching funds. ? Previous totals: Oct. 10, 2012

• KPCC and NBC 4 for some reason singled out and analyzed (jointly in a reporting partnership) just the share of fundraising that has come in from the entertainment industry. Through the third quarter of 2012, so not including the numbers above, industry interests and employees (plus freelancers) have given at least $960,000 in the mayor's race. Of that, Garcetti ($488,000) and Greuel ($277,000) have received the most, of course. KPCC

  Also: Actors and actresses have given a small percentage of the money, but here's who they are backing.

• Next filing deadline: Jan. 24.

Live presidents

Jim Rainey has a story on Saturday's LA Times front page about Garcetti's camp reportedly telling people he expects to get President Obama's endorsement, while Greuel's camp is coveting the backing of Bill and/or Hillary Clinton. Sources close to Greuel say there's no way Obama gets involved for Garcetti, given that the DreamWorks founders supporting Greuel are also big Obama allies. And would any of these high-level endorsements matter in Los Angeles? Rep. Howard Berman got slaughtered in his reelection bid even though the White House made it known that Obama preferred Berman over Rep. Brad Sherman. Of course, Sherman had Bill Clinton's endoresment.

From Rainey's story:

The previously unpublicized skirmish demonstrates the persistent afterlife of a rivalry that began in the 2008 presidential race ? when Obama narrowly defeated Clinton's wife, Hillary, in a bitter Democratic primary season. "This town was heavily divided by the 2008 primary," said one prominent political operative, who has spoken to both Greuel and Garcetti about where the Clintons and Obama could end up. "Some of those divisions are still pretty strong. You are still an Obama person or a Clinton person."

[skip]

Garcetti insiders said his connections to the president should not be underestimated. The Hollywood-area councilman joined Obama's campaign more than a year and a half before the 2008 general election, becoming one of five co-chairs for California and a "superdelegate" at the Democratic National Convention.

A few political operatives said Garcetti told them that, more than a year ago, Obama offered him a job in the administration addressing urban issues. Although Garcetti considered a move to Washington, he was concerned it would preclude a run for mayor, the sources said.

The 41-year-old councilman said in an interview that he would not discuss whether he had been offered a position. He noted that he chairs a committee of Democratic municipal officials and "thought I could serve him better out here."

"I consider the president a personal friend," Garcetti said, "and he has given me career advice even as he has been president." But he said he isn't counting on an endorsement. "I mean, he's a sitting president," Garcetti said. "I don't have that expectation."

Housing forum

Garcetti, Greuel and Perry were invited to speak at a Friday forum organized by the Housing for a Stronger Los Angeles coalition and held at the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels. Maeve Reston in the LA Times:

Little was left to chance at Friday night?s forum, which was limited to candidates who had gathered $1 million in campaign contributions by a September deadline...The candidates were briefed on the questions in advance. There were few, if any, disagreements as they answered questions from Raphael Bostic, a housing economist at the University of Southern California. All of the candidates, for example, said they were committed to restoring the city?s Housing Trust Fund to $100 million and that they would have a deputy mayor devoted to housing issues.

Though there was little policy daylight between them, all three candidates said city officials needed to lobby more forcefully for outside resources ? each arguing that aspects of their biography made them best-equipped to do so.

Media ops

• Greuel on Saturday opened a South Los Angeles field office in the Creshaw area and announced a committee of South LA backers, African Americans with Wendy, that includes police commissioner John Mack, civil rights attorney Connie Rice and political consultant Kerman Maddox.
• Perry introduced a motion in the City Council calling on the city?s three pension fund systems to divest from any company associated with production, sale, or marketing of assault weapons.

Also in Campaign 2013

• Mike Feuer leads the money contest in the race for city attorney, with $898,438 to incumbent Carmen Trutanich's $381,881. Challenger Gregory Smith has made it interesting by putting in $620,000 of his own money to push his total for the moment above Trutanich. ?I?m willing to do what it takes to get my message out,? Smith told KPCC's Frank Stoltze. ?I will match whatever Feuer does.?
• Dennis Zine, the city councilman from the West Valley, is way ahead in the fundraising race for city controller. Zine has raised $727,593, Ron Galperin has raised 304,339 and Cary Brazeman has raised 136,415.
• Nice rundown of the leading fundraisers in the races for City Council from Alice Walton of KPCC.
• Los Angeles Unified board President Monica Garcia and District 4 challenger Kate Anderson have taken an early lead in campaign fundraising in the March 5 school board primary. Daily News

Earlier this week

Villaraigosa endorses Feuer for city attorney, not Trutanich
No endorsement in mayor's race from county Democrats
Hertzberg endorses Feuer, leaving Trutanich

Last week

Mayor's race Friday

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/LAObserved/~3/_4k65cwul3I/mayors_race_friday_presid.php

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