Pro-Garcetti ‘super PAC’ attacks Greuel for once being Republican
A new Spanish-language television ad attacking Los Angeles mayoral candidate Wendy Greuel for being registered as a Republican during the Pete Wilson years is drawing push-back from her campaign.
The 30-second commercial, which was produced by a “super PAC” backing Greuel’s opponent in next week’s election, draws links between Greuel and Wilson, the former California governor who pushed a 1994 initiative to block immigrants in the country illegally from accessing state social services.
The ad splices together photos of Greuel and Wilson and says: “During the anti-immigrant era of Pete Wilson, Wendy Greuel was a Republican.”
The Greuel campaign says the ad is misleading because Greuel, who switched her party affiliation from Republican to Democrat in 1992, “vehemently and publicly opposed” Wilson’s initiative.
According to an email sent by her campaign, Greuel helped organize anti-Prop. 187 events and news conferences while working at the Department of Housing and Urban Development under then-President Clinton, who opposed Wilson’s initiative.
The television ad was produced by Lots of People Who Support Eric Garcetti for Mayor 2013, a group funded by Garcetti backers. The group is spending $215,000 to air the new ad and another Spanish-language ad on Telemundo 52 Univision 34.
A similar attack launched against Greuel during the primary election drew criticism from Democratic leaders.
Candidate Jan Perry, who came in fourth in the March primary, attacked Greuel as a Republican who is “not on our side” in a flier mailed to voters across the city.
The mailer featured a picture of Greuel’s 1979 voter registration card, when she first registered as a Republican. It featured a GOP elephant symbol beneath an unflattering picture of Greuel.
John Burton, chairman of the California Democratic Party and a former state senator, criticized that ad as misleading. “To suggest that Wendy Greuel is anything other than a proud Democrat is absurd,” he said.
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Twitter: @katelinthicum
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