Greuel Apparent Winner in District 2

Wendy Greuel celebrated Wednesday after an initial election count gave her a 55-vote lead over Tony Cardenas for the Los Angeles City Council’s 2nd District seat, but both candidates anxiously awaited the tally of about 3,000 uncounted ballots.

Greuel, a DreamWorks SKG executive who was fielding congratulatory phone calls at her Van Nuys home Wednesday morning, met later with constituents in Sunland-Tujunga and North Hollywood to make plans for assuming office.

“I’m making plans with the community, talking about their priorities, so I can hit the ground running,” Greuel said late Wednesday, operating on just three hours of sleep.

However, she stopped short of declaring victory over Assemblyman Cardenas (D-Panorama City) in the east San Fernando Valley district. The final outcome may not be known for a week or more, officials at the county registrar said.

“I’m very confident,” Greuel said. “Fifty-five votes is fifty-five votes. The trend all evening was in my favor, and I think the trend will continue.”

Tuesday’s tally of all precincts, subject to official verification, gave Greuel 13,224 votes or 50.10%, compared to 13,169 votes or 49.90% for Cardenas.

The candidates were amazed that, with 26,393 votes counted, so few separated them.

Los Angeles County Registrar-Recorder Conny B. McCormack estimated that about 3,000 ballots are uncounted--provisional ballots cast by people not on the official rolls at polling stations and absentee ballots hand-delivered by voters to the polling places Tuesday or arriving in the mail close to the election.

“Clearly, there are enough ballots outstanding that could make a difference in the race,” McCormack said.

She and others said the close race reminded them of the 1998 Senate primary race between Richard Katz and Richard Alarcon, which Alarcon ultimately won by 29 votes. Katz dropped his demand for a recount after a month.

Cardenas said it is premature for anyone to claim victory, but he was hopeful of his chances.

“I feel comfortable,” he said. “I respect every vote, and I think we should wait and see what the outcome is.”

The county legally has 28 days to finish the count and certify the election, but Greuel said that, after consulting with legal experts, she is confident that it will take less than half that time.

Once the results are certified, any candidate may demand a recount within five days, but the candidate must pay for it.

Cardenas said that he has not decided about requesting a recount, but that some district residents may file complaints about voting irregularities, including the late opening of some polling places.

Both candidates sent campaign officials, including an attorney for Greuel, to county offices Wednesday to monitor the counting of the remaining ballots.

McCormack said the county will issue an update Friday regarding the count of absentee ballots.

Council President Alex Padilla said Wednesday that he is still hoping for victory for Cardenas, his former boss and close ally.

“It’s still very, very possible,” Padilla said. “We knew it would be a very close and very competitive race from the beginning.”

After finishing more than five percentage points behind Cardenas in the primary, Greuel apparently closed the gap because of several factors, including a larger campaign treasury and a low voter turnout with more conservative voters going to the polls, experts said.

Voter turnout Tuesday was 24.7%, which was lighter than many expected but still more than the 18% in the December primary election.

Greuel’s barrage of attack mail, calling Cardenas a Sacramento politician tied to Indian gaming and other interests, also apparently had an impact, said Harvey Englander, a political consultant not involved in the race.

“Attack mail always hurts,” Englander said.

The election outcome is likely to have implications beyond the district.

John Emerson, chairman of the Redistricting Commission, said Wednesday that if Greuel wins, he will support a controversial plan that would create a separate district with a concentration of Latino voters to make sure the city complies with the Voting Rights Act.

If Cardenas wins, the commission can argue that his victory in the existing 2nd District, with 24% Latino registration, justifies only a minor change of boundaries that increases that number to 34%, Emerson said.

A Greuel victory also could affect Padilla’s hold on the council presidency. Although she was backed by several council members who want to replace Padilla, Greuel has not announced a position on the issue.

“I’m not worried about that,” Padilla said.

In other city voting Tuesday, the council president’s coattails did not appear to help causes and candidates he supported. Padilla headed the coalition campaign for Proposition Q, the police bond measure that appeared to fall just short of approval. He also backed Yolanda Fuentes, who lost a Democratic primary race for Cardenas’ old Assembly seat to San Fernando Mayor Cindy Montanez.

Padilla was one of the last people to leave the Cardenas campaign party early Wednesday morning.

By 1:30 a.m. at La Sirenita restaurant in Panorama City, about 10 Cardenas supporters, including Padilla, hovered around a laptop computer, awaiting any change in the vote tally.

By 2 a.m., most could wait no more. They hugged Cardenas and his wife, Norma, congratulated him on waging a good fight and left.

At Greuel headquarters, the candidate also celebrated into the wee hours.

With U2’s “Beautiful Day” playing, an upbeat Greuel waited calmly for updates.

At about 2:25 a.m., as soon as the computer screen showed all 125 precincts reporting giving her a 55-vote lead, Greuel got up and gave a speech amid cheers of “Wendy! Wendy!”

“There were a lot of naysayers out there,” Greuel told a lively crowd of supporters. “But boy, did we prove them wrong.”

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Times staff writers Andrea Perera and Jennifer Sinco Kelleher contributed to this report.