Bernard Parks vs. Forescee Hogan-Rowles: Election Results

By Gene Maddaus Wed., Mar. 9 2011 at 2:36 AM

L.A. Councilman Bernard Parks is declaring victory in his hard-fought re-election campaign this morning, having barely eked out a majority of the vote with 100% of precincts reporting.

But his top opponent, Forescee Hogan-Rowles, is not conceding. On Twitter, she said, "Too close to call, still waiting on provisionals and absentee ballots to be counted. The fight goes on!"

With all the precinct ballots in, Parks has 50.9% of the vote, to 44.0% for Hogan-Rowles. Early this morning, Parks tweeted a victory message: "Thank for Re Electing me!!!!!!!"

He needs 50% of the vote to avoid a runoff against Hogan-Rowles on May 17.

Asked via text message around 2 a.m. whether she would concede or wait, Hogan-Rowles responded: "WAIT!!!"

In a subsequent press release, Hogan-Rowles said there are 1,800 to 3,000 uncounted ballots in the 8th Council District.

"While the results of the election are inconclusive as of tonight, I'm proud that we've got Bernard Parks on the ropes, and he's desperately swinging and missing," she said. "Given the trends we saw the results came in tonight, we are in a position to force a runoff."

The race is a test of labor clout against a proven incumbent. Three union groups spent $1.2 million to back Hogan-Rowles, who had little name recognition within the district when the campaign began.

Even within labor, there were early doubts about the wisdom of throwing big money into an effort to unseat a sitting councilman. But in the end, labor sources say that Maria-Elena Durazo, the head of the L.A. County Fed, made the decision to go all-in.

"We knew going in that this was going to be an uphill battle," said Caroline O'Connor, a spokeswoman for the L.A. County Federation of Labor. "If we can get close enough to put him on notice, then we've done our job. But obviously we want to win."

Parks accused Hogan-Rowles of being the "puppet" of labor, and at one point went so far as to compare two union leaders to slaveholders. On election day, he issued a final word to his constituents:

"Before you head to the polls on Tuesday, March 8, educate and inform yourself on the candidates and the issues. This election is too important to be fooled by the special-interst (sic) Puppet Masters!"

Tags:

Bernard Parks, election results, Forescee Hogan-Rowles, Jabari Jumaane

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Weo457

Congratulations to Councilman Parks. Wonderful to see that the unions lost their puppet. Since when does Durazo decide who to back up? What happened to listening to the wants of her union members. I think it might be time for Durazo to go.

Nick

Parks is the real puppet master. A puppet for liquor store owners. A puppet for downtown developers who are bankrupting our city while making themselves rich. A puppet for anti-renter forces.

Only a fool would claim victory with 1800-3000 votes left to count, and Parks holding on to just a 280 vote margin over 50%.

Robert

Well well well. Looks like the Incumbent in this race is holding off on that press conference this morning claiming victory. Could it be Bitter Bernie doesn't want to make the same mistake Steve Cooley did and had to retract. Not one person can tell me how Parks has been fiscally responsible yet a lot of naive people supported him. Let's see again he's as corrupt as the rest voting to hide CRA money from the public, took illegal MTA contributions, took money from RAve promoted and refused to give it back and wanted to cut Neighborhood Council budget by 80%. Its shocking some neighborhood council reps actually looked the other way to support this clown. I hope the numbers come in and Hogan Rowles wins. Not because she's more qualified but because Parks doesn't deserve to win.