Woo Focuses on Economy

Fighting to hold on to his lead in polls amid million-dollar media blitzes from rivals Richard Katz and Richard Riordan, Los Angeles mayoral candidate Michael Woo aired his fourth TV commercial Thursday. The latest ad focuses on the city’s troubled economy.

THE AD: Woo, dressed in a business suit, is pictured speaking to people on the street, from workers in hard hats to schoolchildren. “In a time of crisis, Mike Woo helped bring us a new police chief,” a narrator says. “But for Mike Woo, reform and change mean doing even more.” Then the camera cuts to a shot of the closed General Motors assembly plant in Panorama City, seen through a chain-link fence. “As mayor, Mike Woo will declare an economic emergency,” the narrator says. “He’ll take city redevelopment money away from skyscrapers to help small businesses and keep our jobs here in L.A.”

THE ANALYSIS: Declaration of an economic emergency does not provide for any federal aid or other relief for the city’s economic woes. “It’s a declaration of moral force,” said Woo spokesman Garry South. Woo says he would divert city redevelopment funds “away from skyscrapers to help small businesses,” but in the past the councilman has championed major real estate developments funded by the Community Redevelopment Agency in his Hollywood district. As for his pledge to keep jobs in L.A., the ad was produced by Squier, Knapp & Ochs--a Washington political consultant. It was, however, filmed in Los Angeles.