Cardenas Ads Draw Rival’s Ire

The use of images from the World Trade Center terrorist attacks has sparked a political dispute in the contentious race for the Los Angeles City Council’s 2nd District seat.

One of the candidates, Assemblyman Tony Cardenas (D-Panorama City), has used images of the shattered buildings and soot-covered rescue workers in a series of mailers, television commercials and even a refrigerator magnet touting his endorsement by the Los Angeles firefighters union.

“When Los Angeles firefighters returned home from the search and recovery efforts after the New York terrorist attack, Tony Cardenas was there to welcome them,” read one mailer, quoting the union president. The mailer includes a photo of rescue workers raising an American flag in the ruins of the World Trade Center.

Wendy Greuel, an executive with DreamWorks SKG who is running against Cardenas in the Dec. 11 election, sent a mailer in the east San Fernando Valley district Tuesday that accused Cardenas of exploiting the attacks.

“Most Americans saw a tragedy on Sept. 11,” the Greuel mailer reads. “Tony Cardenas saw a political opportunity.”

Her mailer includes a quote from Los Angeles Fire Capt. Tom Dowling saying he supports Greuel and that “Wendy would never exploit a tragedy for political purposes.”

Ken Buzzell, president of the United Firefighters of Los Angeles, said Greuel’s criticism is unfounded. “Nobody here is offended by Tony’s ads because of his stand on firefighter issues,” Buzzell said.

Meanwhile, the Ethics Commission announced Tuesday that the $330,000 spending limit for the race was lifted when independent expenditures favoring Cardenas broke the $50,000 threshold late in the day. Regency Outdoor Advertising notified the commission Tuesday that it has spent $20,300 on billboards supporting Cardenas, bringing the aggregate amount spent by various groups to $63,530.

Both Cardenas and Greuel have raised more than $330,000 in anticipation of a lifting of the spending cap that candidates agreed to in exchange for receiving city matching funds. Greuel said it was “unfortunate” that Regency didn’t report its spending until Tuesday, though the billboards have been up for three weeks.

On the issue of the World Trade Center mailer, Nancy Snow, a lecturer at the USC Annenberg School for Communication, said we “are living in an environment of image exploitation right now.” Images from New York have been used by advertisers to sell cars and promote tourism said Snow, who teaches a class titled Propaganda, Terrorism and the Media.

Political consultant Larry Levine, who lives in the 2nd District but is not involved with any of the campaigns, said Cardenas’ use of the images from New York was smart.

“I don’t think it’s risky at all,” Levine said. “He has the United Firefighters endorsement and this is a dramatic way of letting voters know it.”