Holden Gets Endorsement From Another Ex-Opponent

Los Angeles City Councilman Nate Holden announced Wednesday that he has the backing of another opponent in last week’s primary--businesswoman Marsha Brown--should he be forced into a June 8 runoff in the 10th District race.

A final tally of the primary voting is about to be announced. If Holden, who has 49% of primary votes counted so far, does not gain a majority, he will face a runoff with pastor Madison Shockley, who took 20% of the vote.

Brown finished fourth in the April 13 primary, with 14% of the vote of the district, which includes parts of the Crenshaw, Koreatown and mid-Wilshire areas. Holden already has the endorsement of Scott Suh, the third-place primary finisher.

Brown had attacked Holden during the race by drawing attention to sexual harassment suits filed against the councilman by former staffers.

One Brown mailer featured a picture of Holden with the words “I’m too sexy for my job” on the cover. Inside, the flier reprinted a newspaper photograph of Holden watching a topless dancer while on a trip to South Korea.

Holden on Wednesday dismissed the attack mailer, saying that “People say a lot of things during campaigns. That’s politics.” Holden said he met with Brown and her husband, Glenn Brown, at a restaurant shortly after the primary, and Brown agreed to back him.

On Wednesday, Brown called her endorsement “a soul-searching decision,” explaining that her opposition to Shockley led her to back Holden.

Brown said she questioned the validity of Shockley’s claim that he conducted a survey of residents’ concerns as part of his campaign. “The main thing is, I asked him to produce the statistical information for his door-to-door survey and he wouldn’t. It’s very distressing.”

Brown also said her support came after Holden agreed to work with her to establish nonprofit tutoring centers, a job fair for district youths and committee to help small, local business win city contracts.

Shockley called Brown’s endorsement “absurd.” “She spent six months cataloging why Holden is unfit for office, then she chose him over me because I didn’t give her statistics? It’s illogical,” he said.

Shockley said Brown only called on him to provide the data at a candidates forum and he dismissed it at the time as “grandstanding.” He said he would give the data to a reporter.