March 3, 2009: City of Los Angeles

Should we even bother with an election?

Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa is running for re-election. His highest-profile challenger is Walter Moore, who (like Villaraigosa) challenged incumbent Jim Hahn in 2005. Four others have filed to raise money. Villaraigosa has pulled in funds at an astonishing clip, raising about 15 times as much money as Moore, as reported in most recent filings, and helping to chase away other challengers. Voters must ask themselves whether Villaraigosa's first term has earned a second, whether they believe he would almost immediately shift focus to running for governor in 2010, and - if they don't like those answers - whether Moore or the other candidates are acceptable and realistic alternatives.

Term limits leave open seats for city attorney and controller. The city attorney candidates who have filed to raise money are Jack Weiss (currently a City Council member), Carmen "Nuch" Trutanich, and Michael Amerian. Weiss is a Villaraigosa ally; he has a wide lead in fundraising. Trutanich is backed by District Attorney Steve Cooley.

Only Wendy Greuel, a City Council member, has a committee to run for controller, leaving open the possibility that the office of official watchdog, whistle-blower and auditor in one of the world's most important cities will simply be ceded without competition of any kind.

Eight odd-numbered City Council seats are up for election. The most interesting include the Fifth District, which Weiss leaves open because of his run for city attorney; the First, in which incumbent Ed Reyes has drawn three challengers; and the Seventh, in which no one - not a soul, including incumbent Richard Alarcon - has opened a campaign fund. If a district has no council member, will residents notice? So far, Dennis Zine, Bill Rosendahl, Jan Perry, Eric Garcetti and Janice Hahn have no opposition. That makes them as loved and embraced by their constituents as George Washington, or maybe Josef Stalin, both of whom also ran unopposed.

Fifth District candidates are Adeena Bleich; Ron Galperin; Paul Koretz; Robyn Ritter Simon; Robert Schwartz; and David T. Vahedi. First District candidates, besides Reyes, are William M. Morrison "Rodriguez"; Jesus "Jesse" Rosas; and Ernest E. Sanchez.

The first day to file a declaration to become a candidate is Nov. 3; the last day is Dec. 3. But the serious money is being raised right now.

Also on the ballot are three school board races, half of the Community College District Board of Trustees, and, probably, two ballot measures: "Jamiel's Law," to allow police officers to arrest suspects based on their illegal immigrant status; and "instant-runoff voting," to eliminate city runoff elections. But then, having only one candidate in each race is a pretty good way to eliminate runoffs too.

The Fifth District runoff will be May 19. That's also the theoretical date of runoffs in all the other city elections, but you need at least three candidates in any one race to get a runoff.

For a list of candidates who have notified the Los Angeles City Ethics Commission of their intention to raise funds, click here.

To view candidate fundraising data as reported to the Ethics Commission, and for links to fundraising and campaign literature, click here.