Koretz And Vahedi Compete To Replace Weiss
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The halls of the Los Angeles City Council will soon be the new home to either
Paul Koretz or David Vahedi, who are competing in a run-off election to fill a seat
left vacant by Jack Weiss. (Creative Commons licensed)
Two candidates will compete in a run-off election Tuesday in a race for the Fifth District Los Angeles City Council seat vacated by city attorney hopeful Jack Weiss: Former State Assemblyman Paul Koretz and David T. Vahedi, a longtime District Five resident and founder of the Westside Neighborhood Council.
The Los Angeles Times was quick to identify Vahedi as the political "outsider" to Koretz's "insider" in its initial coverage. While it is true that Vahedi has never held an elected office (he ran for city council four years ago in an unsuccessful bid to unseat Weiss), he has experience as a state auditor and as a private-practice civil litigation attorney. While he admits proudly that he is no cog in anyone's political machine, Vahedi does tout his experience with the fiscal and legal issues and processes that are a part of politics.
Vahedi was endorsed by both the Los Angeles Times and the Daily News. The Times wasn't overwhelming in its endorsement, however, and the editorial stated that the race would probably be a close one.
In the March 3 primary election, Vahedi edged out Koretz by a mere 60 votes; now the candidate pool has been narrowed from six down to two and it is anybody's race.
Whether or not the outsider-insider distinction is apt, both candidates have tried using their label to their advantage. For instance, Vahedi touts his lack of political experience as a sign of trustworthiness and integrity. His critique of Koretz's six years of service as a state assemblyman is that he was part of the process that led to the state's current budget crisis.
Meanwhile, Koretz's endorsements include the Los Angeles County Democrats, the Los Angeles County Federation of Labor, as well as an array of city (11 out of 15 council members), county and state elected officials.
But Koretz focuses on how his work in government (as a West Hollywood city council member) prepared him for a seat at the big table. He notes that when it comes to street repairs, graffiti, business retention and any quality-of-life issues, West Hollywood dominates the city of Los Angeles.
"What sets [Koretz] apart is his willingness to tackle special interest groups. He's taken on some really tough battles in his career. He has strong guiding principles and he lives by them," said Paul Skelton of the Koretz campaign.
But his successful West Hollywood experience is what led the Times to support Vahedi instead of Koretz. "[Koretz]'s experience on the West Hollywood City Council could provide fresh ideas and different perspectives," the Times writes. "But West Hollywood has a manageable scale and an activist history that may well keep its lessons from being of more than moderate use in the barely governable sprawl that is Los Angeles."
Both Koretz and Vahedi are marketing themselves as an improvement over Weiss, who faces a runoff election of his own today for Los Angeles City Attorney. A major critique of former District Five councilman Weiss, besides the assertion that "a lot of people like him just slightly more than they like swine flu," is his unresponsiveness to his own Fifth District constituents, in particular with regards to large development projects.
It was Weiss' constituents who launched Vahedi's failed bid to unseat him in 2005. For that reason, Koretz's years in politics might work against him -- if constituents are looking for an anti-politician, they are more likely to look to Vahedi, who said he has lived in the Fifth District most of his life and is active in neighborhood councils, which Weiss had a tendency to ignore during his tenure. The Daily News' endorsement of Vahedi reflects that criticism of Weiss: "he [Vahedi] will bring a refreshing change to a City Council that has taken neighborhood councils for granted since their inception a decade ago."
District Five includes the communities of Encino, Sherman Oaks, Valley VIllage, Palms, Westwood, Century City, Beverlywood, the Fairfax District, Cheviot Hills and Carthay Circle, as well as the hillside communities between the 405 freeway and Laurel Canyon.
Demographically, the most recent studies show the district population was 258,748 with voter registration at about 62 percent, among the highest in Los Angeles. The constituents were found to be: 10 percent Asian, 3 percent Black, 8 percent Hispanic/Latino, 74 percent white, and 4 percent mixed race. The district is almost evenly split between homeowners (46 percent) and renters (54 percent).
