Opinion: Few surprises

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There wasn’t much room for City of L.A. election surprise, when five members of the City Council ran unopposed for re-election. Guess what? They won. So did the other incumbents: Jose Huizar, who was challenged by former staffer Alvin Parra and Juan Jimenez, easily got the more than 50 percent he needed to avoid a May 15 runoff. Same with Tony Cardenas, who also got more than half the votes, despite the efforts by two of his four challengers to join forces to force a runoff. Even Richard Alarcon, an incumbent of sorts, since he once served in this job before moving on to other posts, outpaced his three opponents.

What does a challenger have to do to win an election in this town? A look at the sign-in sheet at Huizar’s victory bash at Salesian High School in Boyle Heights tells part of the story. In addition to name and phone number, there was a place for guests to fill in their affiliation, and most wrote in the names of labor unions, community groups, businesses or even other campaigns. Rare was the guest who could simply call himself a neighbor, or a community member. A city council election in a district of more than a quarter million people is won by coalitions of organizations, most of which can turn out voters and campaign workers for a candidate who will remember they were on the team and will pick up the phone in the coming months when they call. Grassroots campaigns backed by the common man or woman, by families or by neighbors, are inspiring. But in L.A., it seems, at least in recent years, they don’t win.

A 20-minute freeway drive away from Boyle Heights, at Capri Italian restaurant on Eagle Rock Boulevard, the Parra election night party was breaking up. Disappointed Parra backers reminded each other that the fight was worth it, and made hopeful predictions that Huizar would be a better councilman because of the challenge. They’ll have four years to find out.