First of all, Zuma Dogg feels GREAT about his campaign for City Council. Although I do not have money to pay consultants or tons of mailers, I've done my homework throughout the past three years by waking up every day, heading down to City Hall for the council meetings, where I looked over each and every agenda from top to bottom and spoke out on the shadiest of items. While I was down there, I was spent countless hours speaking with Councilmembers, staffers and all the other city officials that I grill and question on the items; but more importantly (because City Hall never gives you anything but spin and reveals the problems with the issue) the community members who show up each day and grab Zuma Dogg to let him know the problem they are fighting that day and ask for me to speak out on the issue, too. Plus, all the committe and neighborhood council and other related meetings including SCAG meetings and all the time on the phone speaking with news reporters and all the insiders. And if I don't stumble upon it, someone is there to email, phone or pull me aside in a meeting to tell me what I should know.
And, the meetings have been broadcast on City TV 35, not only during the live broadcast, but then repeated three more times, so that's four airings per meeting (and I speak throughout the entire meeting), times three meetings a week; and that's up to 12 airings of Zuma Dogg speaking out on the issues and letting people not only know exactly where I stand, but many times am exposing the problems not only to the public watching, but I was told by a councilmember, "Most of the time the other CMs are watching you just to understand what is going on themselves." (YES, I CAN SWEAR TO THE FACT THAT ONE OF THE CMs SAID THAT TO ME BUT I WILL NOT REVEAL WHICH ONE [and you would NEVER guess] OR ELSE I DON'T THINK THEY WOULD CONTINUE CONFIDING IN ME THAT WAY.)Plus, all the radio calls, blogging, additional media coverage...NOT AS AN ELECTED REPRESENTATIVE...NOT AS A PAID LOBBIEST...NOT AS A PROFESSIONAL MEDIA REPORTER...but as one concerned citizen who didn't like what he saw and couldn't just sit back and do nothing about it. AND, when the people starting approaching me in chambers with their issues after seeing me on TV, I assumed the role they were giving me as someone they obviously felt comfortable with and trusted with their most important issue to them.
So then when I would get a Councilmember and ask them about it, they would say, "Damn, Zuma, how did you find that out?" And I would point to someone and say, "You see that person right there that you wouldn't take the time to talk to after taking the trip down here today?" They would say, "Yeah?" And I would reply, "After you wouldn't talk to them, they came up to me and told me, so now I will be talking about it and blogging about it and calling into radio about it and then I will be back tomorrow and the next day and the next day. So just think (insert Councilmember's name)...if YOU would have spoken to them, they wouldn't have come up to me and I wouldn't know anything about this. THANKS!"
So yeah, after over three years of all of that, day in and day out...although I am so broke I can't even make it down the street to campaign today and am just sitting here blogging and waiting for karaoke tonight...I've done my homework and don't need to panic about getting my name out there like Christine Essel or have to hope I can canvas enough of the area for absentee ballots and turn them all in together like Krekorian (which is his ONLY hope). And I don't have to have all kinds of people do all kinds of unethical things to try and overcome Essel's money and Krackorian's ballot canvasing and additional party machine infrastructure like Tamar "Goes Along" Galatzan.
So besides all the positive feedback and momentum I am feeling since I have ditched the ski cap and am showing up clean shaven and in a suit after the S-T and Valley Glen forums and Sherman Oaks little warm-up event (and all the frustration I am sensing in the comment section of Mayor Sam's blog, here are some other reasons that all ZD may have to do is sit here at the wi-fi cafe and blog until September 22nd and I may end up in the run-off.
CHRISTINE "EMPTY VESSEL" E$$EL: She may have raised over $100,000 and matching funds, but she already spent $120,000 on consultants (who obviously aren't consulting her too good) and only has about $70,000 on hand to get her name out there. And here's the problem...that ain't a lot of money for someone like her to get her name out there, because although she may be some fancy big shot in Wendy Greuel's world, the general population has ZERO name recognition on "Christine E$$el," $70,000 ain't enough to get it out there in this short period of time, and the people who DO know her name now, now it because they hate it and she has been already exposed and turned into the "Jack Weiss" of this election in the media and with all the neighborhood council types who are the opinion leaders in the district. So it's basically over for Chris and it seriously wouldn't surprise me if she came in fourth or fifth.
PAUL"KRACKWHORIAN" KREKORIAN: First of all, the guy is too early into his term as ASSemblymember to be already trying to walk away from the mess he helped create as someone with a lousy voting record and no evidence on record of anything but the same old insider political machine stuff. Krekorian is the guy you send out to argue how not one penny should be cut on any issue. That's all the guy says as ASSemblymember: Although blah, blah, blah...I think we need to seriously consider any negative effects if we cut one penny of anything in any area not matter what the situation. It is not the job of government to cut spending. So yeah, I think people are in a HUGE hurry to allow Paul Krekorian to bring the same magic to the City that he just brought to the State. (Isn't the State even worse off than the City?) AND, the ONLY reason I was concerned with Krackorian is that he rounds up all those ballots from the Armenien community and send them all in together and I know some people were concerned with what happened in the area of Krackorian's mail in ballots during his Assembly election and I think the Clerks office is ready for that. AND BESIDES, there are not NEARLY as many Armenian voters in CD 2, proportionatley to his ASSembly District. The Glendale area really helped him in that election and won't help him as much in this election. If I had to pick SOME front-runner, besides Saltsburg, I would say "Krackwhorian" at this point, I guess...but that's like picking best between shady Larry, Curly and Moe.
TAMAR "GOES ALONG" GALATZAN: Ya know, for someone who is billing themselves as the "anti-city hall candiate" of the three "city hall candidates" she sure is looking like the worst one of the three at this point. Only a week ago, people were saying, "Well, she's not as bad as Chris and Paul." But if you read Mayor Sam's blog today, you'll see Tamar isn't having a good day, and it's not like the kind of stuff that is going to blow over, but I think it's just that she is being revealed for the type of person she is as an ambitious career poltician. After that LAUSD flyer hit homes this weekend...her TEAM GALATZAN is going downhill quicker than the Olympic bobsled team. So to be honest, I know that ZD has a challenge as much as any other candidate, but can you imagine by September 22nd, with the "BIG 3" candidates not really having that much money to get their message out in a shorter than ususal campaign cycle; all the disdain and flat out outrage with "business as ususal" career politicians who got us into this mess and the fact that Tamar doesn't look too good anymore as of today and people aren't too happy about the LAUSD bond that is raising their property taxes; and the fact that she is trying to walk away from her committment to kids and the parents who just took all that time forging relations and all the time the district had to spend getting her up to speed. AND NOW SHE HAS NO PROBLEM WALKING AWAY BECAUSE SHE'S GOTTA GO FOR THE BIGGER AND LONGER PAYCHECK??? Ms. "Still A Strong Supporter of Jack Weiss." Ms. Yes, Antonio, I'll take the $2 million for the LAUSD seat that is only to warm me up for the City Council seat. And when her supporters are whining that Zuma Dogg is hurting her chances, then you know they are getting too much, "Zuma Dogg' in their feedback where they were hoping for nicer word about Tamar's candidacy.
Add it all up, and it may end up being a situation where all I have to do is stay alive between now and September 22nd and I could end up in the run-off. I know all three of those candidates have support to some extent and I'm not saying they are going to get zero votes and I am going to get 70%, but I think those three are tanking pretty hard, pretty fast perceptually in the distict with the opinion leaders and that levels the playing field for Zuma Dogg and all those people out there that know exactly how important it is to make sure Zuma Dogg prevents the Mayor's City Hall "Inside 3" from making it into the seat.
Posts
