by J. Evert Jones and Olivia Rubio
Who is Wendy Greuel? Does even she know? Let’s take a look:
The
last few weeks have certainly been tumultuous for Ms. Greuel. In a
primary campaign where she pulled a $160 million rabbit of “fraud and
waste” out of a hat, Ms. Greuel found that her trick wasn’t quite as
impressive as she thought. With a lackluster second place finish in the
primary and her campaign taking on water, several of Greuel’s campaign
staff resigned, most likely uncomfortable with the concept of
rearranging deck chairs.
The next part of Greuel’s act is less of
a change of campaign strategy than it is a bad sequel to the first act—
only this time, instead of dangling money in front of Angelenos, Ms.
Greuel switches to using the bling of star power to capture the
attention and devotion of this city’s voters. Picture “The Hangover
II”, only with bigger names.
Ms. Greuel has recently collected
endorsements like baseball cards, each one more eye-catching than the
one before. Thursday, Greuel was endorsed by Los Angeles Lakers great
Magic Johnson, the day before, President Bill Clinton; before that,
former Mayor Richard Riordan. (we hear she’s angling for the Easter
Bunny by Saturday).
In the meantime, Ms. Greuel has since engaged
in an almost daily ritual of reinventing herself from scratch. It’s
almost like watching television with someone else holding the remote.
Thursday,
Greuel cited Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa for failed leadership in Los
Angeles. This happens just days after she hires the Mayor’s own deputy
chief of staff to run her campaign. All while she quietly assembles a
host of Villaraigosa supporters and political appointees to help drive
her campaign.
One day, Greuel distances herself from the City
Council’s decision to increase the minimum retirement age for the City’s
unions—a move she, as city controller, endorsed. The next day,
sometime after locking up the unions’ endorsement, Wendy cozies up once
again to raising the retirement age. The difference this time is that
she intends to cut deeper into her captive union constituency by
including workers already under a collective bargaining agreement. The
contradictions, the reversals, and the bad magic tricks she’s using to
misdirect the voters’ attention are staggering.
Who is Wendy Greuel? Does even she know? And if she doesn’t know, how can she be trusted with a city of 12 million people?
Olivia Rubio, MSW
"Truth never damages a cause that is just"
-Mahatma Gandhi
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