Friends and neighbors

 

Thank you all for your encouragement, support, and hard work these past few months. We were a true grass-roots effort, dependent on volunteers, and raised less than a tenth of what the insider's campaign received from special interests, and yet we still took more than 25 percent of the vote. That is pretty amazing, folks, and you deserve the credit.

 

We should all be proud of what we did with so few resources in comparison, and especially in getting out the message of the campaign that our neighborhoods and their residents should come first, not developers or donors from outside the district, the city, and even the state.

Maria and I were honored to have met people in the community and our campaign volunteers - you have proven that you really do put "Neighborhoods First."

All the best,

 

Brad

Voters pick Smith after seeing him in action over "insider"

Daily News:

Voters who see and hear Smith at public match-ups declare their support for him. The news story reports that Brad Smith is the leading alternative to the City Hall insider Englander among voters interviewed following candidate forums in Chatsworth and Granada Hills -- the result of which could be catastrophic to the status quo:

"If someone who is not the anointed candidate even gets into a runoff, it will be an earthquake in the city of Los Angeles," said Brad Smith, a Granada Hills neighborhood-council activist who works as a business-development specialist at Pasadena-based Parsons Corp."

Editorial calls for change and reform in City Hall

Daily News:
Amid insignificant cost-cutting and poor stewardship of the city, Tuesday's election provides an opportunity to undo the status quo.

" ... feeble leadership and long-overdue prescriptions we saw coming out of City Hall last week. Angelenos deserve leaders who will address the city's problems with bold, intelligent action. We want real reform, real change in City Hall."

Columnist decries bestowing CD12 seat to prince-in-waiting

Doug McIntyre:
In hoping for a chain of upsets, the Daily News columnist says "coronations" aren't good things

"The L.A. Clean Sweep campaign deserves our gratitude for making sure Englander earns his seat rather than simply inheriting it."

Final candidates' forum heats up

Chatsworth Patch:
Story keys on Smith and 2 other challengers putting the top money-raiser's feet to the fire. 

"Lord, Singh and Smith said Englander would be the latest in a line of council members that started with Hal Bernson 24 years ago and continued with Greig Smith, who is retiring after eight years and making way for his “son.”

They say business as usual is crippling the city and responsible for a $50-million budget deficit this year and a projected $350-million deficit next year.

Most of the candidates took umbrage at the fact that council representatives earn $179,000 annually and a chief of staff is paid nearly $150,000 a year, another swipe at Englander."

On why Smith will choose no one in now in City Hall for his staff, the Navy vet said:

"USS Los Angeles has run aground, a long time ago."

This ironic sidenote from the story, Englander laments he's the target of others: “So much for a positive campaign” -- context of such a statement is important, and the irony is told here and noted here.

CD12's "smooth-talking insider" takes heat in race

L.A. Times
Quoting Smith making the case for a "a real choice, not a coronation," the story also notes Kelly Lord's point that Englander would be too cozy with developers and includes refutations of by him and his "handlers" of that charge and also the "legacy tag" and his "oozing political privilege." The newspaper cites the facts:

" ... while no incumbent hovers, there is Englander. He is Smith's longtime chief of staff, a savvy, smooth-talking insider whose uncle, Harvey Englander, is a veteran City Hall lobbyist who helped give his nephew his start in politics. 

"Mitch," the candidate's casual campaign handle, is seeking to follow in the footsteps of Smith, who was chief of staff for his predecessor, Hal Bernson."

Street-Hassle
Politics watcher takes issue with the Times' coverage.

"because a news organization with the reach of the Times was not interested enough to report the biggest story of the CD 12 race."

That "biggest story" is here

Community leader endorses Smith, Lord

Jim Summers, a long-time Granada Hills resident and local business owner, was the first GHSNC president elected by the public after the council was certified by the City of Los Angeles.

"I. . .am co-endorsing Kelly Lord and Brad Smith for CD 12 Councilman based on their previous experience, ethics and the need for change for a councilperson who (is) truly are representative of their constituents," Summers said in a statement released Saturday.

As Granada Hills South Neighborhood Council president, Mr. Summers led the community's sucessful fight against a proposed big-box retail store in the neighorhood supported by incumbent Councilman Greig Smith and the CD 12 staff. Mr. Summers is also a co-founder of the Old Granada Hills Residents' Group.

Mr. Lord and Mr. Smith are also co-endorsees of Los Angeles Clean Sweep, while Mr. Smith has the endorsements of State Sen. Fran Pavley and former Los Angeles Unified School District board member Julie Korenstein. Mr. Smith, a parent of four children in local public schools, including Balboa Elementary, Holmes Middle School, and Granada Hills High School, has also been endorsed by the United Teachers of Los Angeles.

Political watchdog site says "anyone but the 'anointed one'"

Mayor Sam's Sister City
Although the contributors are content to have anyone but Englander, Michael Higby is clear:

"Brad Smith on the other hand is a true blue community organizer, more in line with the mood in that community. Smith apparently scared Englander so much the Englander campaign tried to get Smith fired from his job. That says volumes. Vote for Smith!"

Columnist looks at the campaigns' volunteers

Daily News:

"Renee Anenberg - a volunteer for North Valley candidate Brad Smith - has even offered to hand deliver vote-by-mail applications to people she calls.

A first-time volunteer, she is hoping to help elect her longtime neighbor to the council's one open seat.

"I'm only doing this because he won't take contributions from developers or corporations," Anenberg said of Smith. "I vote with my heart. I have to trust someone. I knew he was honest."

Martha Montelongo radio show eyes public policy issues

KRLA 870
Smith joins a panel of candidates and CalWatchDog discussing public employee pensions, LACleanSweep, consolidation of services and agencies before the segment break then program moves on to other topics.