We all know the answer to that question: Because he’s the only one in L.A.’s political culture with any credibility left.
Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa has lost the confidence of the people across the city. A cloud hangs over City Attorney Rocky Delgadillo.
His anointed successor Jack Weiss couldn’t even win re-election in his own Fifth District and there’s no other City Council member who has established an image of integrity and competence that could sway any voters.
That leaves only Bratton and, of course, City Controller Laura Chick. But her aggressive critiques of City Hall’s endless string of failed policies have made her a persona non grata among the ruling elite. Besides, she’s too smart to support higher taxes — especially such regressive taxes that rob the working poor and middle class — for programs that are at best vague and at worst ill-conceived.
The public’s mistrust and disgust with City Hall — except for Bratton and the lame-duck controller — will become more important after Tuesday’s general election and the focus shifts to the March 3 city primary election.
This is the final week for candidates to file for the primary. And the entry of DWP board president Nick Patsaouras into the controller’s race against Wendy Greuel, and the challenges of Carmen Trutanich and Michael Amerian in the city attorney race, have sparked hopes that the public will have real debates on important issues and real choices.
The big question that remains is whether developer Rick Caruso will find the courage and commitment to challenge the mayor.
Caruso has told everyone who’s asked that his hesitation is based on his concern that running for mayor and the demands of the job might negatively impact his pre-teen children.
That, of course, is a legitimate concern but it must be weighed against his public duty since he knows full well that L.A. is at a tipping point where the greed of special interests and the slavishness of the politicians to those interests have pushed the city to the point of no return.
Villaraigosa has lived in fear of a Caruso challenge for months and successfully chased away other well-funded candidates by raising nearly $2.5 million — much if not most of it from out-of-town interests.
Caruso is the one candidate who can’t be intimidated by the mayor’s ability to raise money from special interests since he is a billionaire who can write a check for $10 million or more to mount a serious challenge.
With competitive races for the three citywide offices, an open seat in CD5 and the possibility that serious challengers to council incumbents might file candidate papers this week, there is the real possibility that voters might actually get the kind of public conversation about the state of the city and its future that is so desperately needed.
Run, Rick, Run — the city needs you now. And if not now, when — after it’s too late?
C’mon, Mr. Caruso. Run against Villaraigosa. It’s the only shot we have to wrestle control of the city back from the public employees unions. Otherwise, we’ll all be paying for Maria Elena Durazo’s ego trip for another four years.
Two things:
Walter Moore (waltermooreformayor.com)is frequently missing from the list of Villaraigosa opponents. Moore has raised the necessary funds to receive matching funds, has ever-growing grassroots support, and has been a declared candidate for at least two years.
Secondly, Bratton credible?
To say that Bratton has any credibility with anyone who has been paying attention is a joke.
Bratton is just another politician who’s in the pocket of the mayor, illegal alien gang members and won’t even discuss changing or eliminating Special Order 40.
Credible?
He’s every bit as bad as Villaraigosa, who only devotes 11 percent of his time on the job.
Bratton may be in L.A. more than the mayor, but he spends far too much of his time traveling out of the city and lobbying for his next job.
For all we know he wants to be police chief to the world, or the next president’s head of Homeland Security, a job he’s ill-qualified for since he hasn’t done a dame thing to make us secure; attack the gang problem; stop everyone from infants to adults from being gunned down in the streets by gang members; or reduced crime significantly.
He might have reduced crime in New York City, but something happened in transit from there to here, because his job performance since arriving here has been abysmal.
In New York he was at constant loggerheads with Rudy Giuliani; constantly proving that he was right and Giuliani was wrong. Maybe that’s the only way he works effectively, not by being in the hip pocket of the mayor, as he is here.
Credible?
Braton was one of the lying leaders of the pack for Villaraigosa’s phon-E phone tax, lying his head off and using scare tactics to get us to vote ourselves a higher phone/communications tax than the illegal one we’d been paying for more than 10 years.
This is also the same shameless, disrespectful schmuck who told a man who questioned him about his support for Special Order 40, to MOVE if he DIDN’T like it.
Credible?
He’s driven all his credibility over a steep cliff and crashed in flames at the bottom of an abyss.
Sandy: I think Bratton may have also been the brains behind the trash fee increase. Raising trash fees to pay for cops is something that was also done in New York City some years back. You remember that Mayor Villaraigosa promised every penny raised by the trash fee increase would go to hiring new cops. But . . . the politicians were very sneaky, and the fine print of the law was never discussed with us the lowly residents. When Laura Chick conducted an audit she found that in fact, a large percentage of the trash fee increase went to pay raises and benefits to existing cops (those unionmembers who keep the clowns and crooks in office), and not to hire new cops. But, Laura Chick put her seal of approval on the spending, because, she said, it was allowed under the wording of the law. Let’s hope that all residents remember all of these bait and switch tactics and outright fraudulent promises made by our city officials, and vote NO on all city & county propositions (R, J, Q, A and B). The aduacity of these elected city officals became even more clear when councilman Greig Smith stuck his foot in his mouth and admitted the trash fee hike was never intended to pay for new cops,(Yet he never stepped forward to enlighten us at the time) but that the trash fee hike had always been intended to reimburse the city for the full cost of trash pickup. Greig Smith said it was a service which the city had been giving away for free to its residents for years.
Rick Caruso doesn’t stand a chance of winning in the valley. Ron, you know darn well that no mayor can win the city without taking the valley and we do not like wealthy DEVELOPERS here in the valley.
You’re on the right track Rick. Give it a shot later. Your children need you right there. They will resent the time you will no longer be around your home. You can’t beat Antonio Villaraigosa so don’t bother to waste your money now. Maybe when he’s termed out, IF you think you can get through to the real voters — the folks in the valley.
Mayor Villaraigosa will be our next mayor.