warning Hi, we've moved to USCANNENBERGMEDIA.COM. Visit us there!

Neon Tommy - Annenberg digital news

SEIU Still On The Fence About L.A. Mayoral Candidates

Hayley Burgess |
February 5, 2013 | 6:04 p.m. PST

Staff Reporter

Neither Greuel or Garcetti won an endorsement from SEIU last Tuesday. (Photo by Neon Tommy)
Neither Greuel or Garcetti won an endorsement from SEIU last Tuesday. (Photo by Neon Tommy)
A spokesperson for a local branch of the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) said he believes the influential union will decide this week whether to endorse Eric Garcetti or Wendy Greuel for mayor. 

The SEIU’s endorsement means a high volume of support and additional campaigning for the chosen candidate.

As David Zahniser wrote in a January 29 article for the Los Angeles Times, “SEIU’s backing is considered important because Los Angeles is a heavily democratic, generally labor-friendly city. Also, SEIU has shown its support can mean a significant number of get-out-the-vote campaign volunteers and financial donations to pay for mailers and advertising.”

However, each local chapter of SEIU must agree upon a candidate before the union can make an official endorsement. 

“We want to speak with one voice,” said Ian Thompson, a spokesperson for SEIU Local 721. “We feel like we’re stronger together."

Thompson believes the locals will decide definitively this week on which of the two candidates to support and listed layoffs, furloughs, pensions, and budget questions as the most important issues to union members.

In a town hall-style meeting last Tuesday, members of six SEIU locals asked Garcetti and Greuel about issues related to labor and public service. Each member then filled out a scorecard to help decide which candidate the union should support for the upcoming March 5 election. 

“It was an honest and open meeting where we got to directly ask the candidates about city issues,” said Johnny Clark, a union member and employee of the Department of Public Works in an article published on Local 721’s website. "We have to make sure we don’t get behind someone who is going to throw us under the bus. We need to know who will really support city employees."

Both Garcetti and Greuel have received endorsements from other labor unions, including the Los Angeles Police Protective League for Greuel and the Communications Workers of America, Southern California Council for Garcetti.

The two were chosen from among the five major mayoral candidates by the union in a meeting early last month.

“They were chosen based on who the members wanted to hear more from,” said Thompson. “[The union members] were interested in their answers and thought they were the most viable candidates.”

Reach Hayley Burgess here.



 

Buzz

Craig Gillespie directed this true story about "the most daring rescue mission in the history of the U.S. Coast Guard.”

Watch USC Annenberg Media's live State of the Union recap and analysis here.

 
ntrandomness