Most Angelenos have no clue that a key political post in City Hall is up for grabs -- the lucrative $178,789 job of representing City Council District 2 in the San Fernando Valley.Yet the outcome of the September 22 special election could determine whether the feisty Valley is represented by a feisty civic leader -- or by an entrenched insider who mimics the City Council, which has been jamming the Valley with high-rises and big box stores and reducing its open space.
Seven non-establishment, neighborhood activists are running -- all in hopes of stopping the special interest candidates Christine Essel and Paul Krekorian, both of whom moved to the Valley solely to run for the highest paying City Council job in America.
Today, tensions broke out as the sleaze factor took another big jump, with carpetbagger candidate Krekorian, a Burbank lawyer, at the center of it. It turns out that a highly dubious $15,000 is being spent to praise Krekorian -- but it's not properly labeled a campaign ad.
Now, in another troubling new twist, the legitimate Valley civic activists running for this council seat want to know why a Catholic church is promoting special-interest types Krekorian and Essel.
Is the Catholic Church now deciding who the real candidates are in this activist hotbed of the San Fernando Valley?
CD 2 candidate Frank Sheftel, a longtime Valley activist, discovered that a candidate debate Friday night at St. Jane Francis De Chantal Church in Valley Glen quietly invited only the three candidates raking in special interest dough: Westsider and businesswoman Essel, Burbank politician Krekorian, and a third candidate, Los Angeles Unified School Board Member Tamar Galatzan.
Don't be surprised if some of the "Grass Roots 7" candidates running for the CD 2 seat, including respected civic leaders Pete Sanchez, Mary Benson, Mike McCue and Josef Essavi, crash this strange, secretive Friday night party at the Catholic church. (And who knows what to expect from activist and candidate Zuma Dogg, who crashes events as a matter of course?)
It all started when candidate Frank Sheftel got a flier inviting people to "Come meet the top 3 at the final meet and greet of the campaign. Meet Christine Essel, Paul Krekorian and Tamar Galatzan."
Sheftel, an activist during the Valley Secession movement who doesn't take kindly to back-room deals, demanded to be included in the debate apparently sponsored by the Valley Glen Neighborhood Association, as listed on the flier. But Sheftel says he is being told it is a strictly private event not being sponsored by the Valley Glen Neighborhood Association.
A private election debate? Then who is sponsoring it?
Why is the Catholic Church allowing only the three establishment candidates -- two of them not even from the Valley -- to be heard in Valley Glen? This is a hot local race in which some observers believe at least one of the seven neighborhood activists has a shot at getting enough votes next Tuesday to end up in a December runoff.
In fact, the outcome of the race is entirely unknown, with polls showing voter passion against establishment politicians running extremely high across California. The Valley Glen folks who quietly set up this "debate" have absolutely no idea who the top vote-getters will be on Tuesday.
"If they hold this in a church, there is nothing to stop me from going," says Sheftel. It could be an interesting Friday night in Valley Glen.
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