Talk Back: Does Bill Clinton’s endorsement of Greuel sway your vote?
President Bill Clinton has endorsed Wendy Greuel for mayor, saying in a letter that her time as city controller proves she can handle Los Angeles’ problems.
“In her many years of public service in Los Angeles … Wendy has personified good, honest and effective government, improving the lives of countless Angelenos while saving millions of their tax dollars,” Clinton wrote in a letter obtained by the Los Angeles Times. “And she’s not done yet. Los Angeles is a great city with equally great challenges, so it’s vital that Angelenos elect a proven, creative problem solver to lead them. That’s Wendy Greuel. I urge you to join me in supporting her for mayor of Los Angeles.”
Greuel worked for the Department of Housing and Urban Development in Clinton’s administration and was an early backer of Hillary Clinton’s 2008 presidential run, so the two-term president’s endorsement was not wholly unexpected.
Greuel told the Times’ Seema Mehta that the endorsement was “humbling.”
“I am so incredibly proud to have the endorsement of President Clinton. I think part of what he said was that he has seen what I can do first-hand, that he knows the kind of leadership and the style of leadership I will bring to the city of Los Angeles,” she said, recalling living at a Holiday Inn in Pasadena for six weeks after the 1994 Northridge earthquake to ensure that federal resources were reaching the people who needed them. “This is for me an incredible endorsement from someone who was a strong leader, who was an individual who brought us to a period of historic prosperity. He gets it and understands that cities are the core of our country and is endorsing me to lead Los Angeles, the nation’s second-largest city.”
A Clinton endorsement doesn’t always lead to electoral victory. In 2010 the former president supported Gavin Newsom’s run for governor over Jerry Brown.
So what do you think? Will Clinton’s endorsement affect the mayor’s race? Does it change your opinion of Greuel positively or negatively?
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Email: joseph.serna@latimes.com
Twitter: @josephserna
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