Tom LaBonge vs. Stephen Box and Tomas O'Grady: Los Angeles City Council District 4 Election Results

By Mars Melnicoff Wed., Mar. 9 2011 at 8:00 AM

The good news: Stephen Box can grow his goatee back

By Simone Wilson

Update: LaBonge squeaked out a win with 55.09 percent; O'Grady came through with 30.93 and Box with 13.98. A total of 16,257 voters participated in the District 4 election.

Update: The vote for O'Grady has risen to 29.37 percent, making him the golden underdog of this City Council election. Box's vote is up, too, but still dwindles at 13.55 percent. Incumbent LaBonge might start squirming if the challengers cut into his current 57 percent any more than they already have. (If he falls under 50, there'll be a runoff election). Half the district's votes are still unreported -- so check back!

If absentee ballots are any judge of tonight's election -- and they usually are -- it looks like City Council District 4 has no chance of booting incumbent Tom LaBonge.

The district was set for a possible upheaval:

Maybe we were being overoptimistic, but Stephen Box seemed like a strong contender after his LA Weekly cover, LA Daily News endorsement and L.A. Clean Sweep funding boost; third candidate and lovable farm boy Tomas O'Grady even had the Los Angeles Times on his side.

But alas, the Los Angeles City Council incumbency machine keeps a-churnin'. Preliminary results have LaBonge at 62.76 winning (unfortunately, that's real winning, not loser #winning), higher than most other districts' incumbents so far.

Damn.

Dude must have some serious diehards, and they must not get out much, because we could have sworn Box and O'Grady were making some headway this election season. (Shows how important newspapers are to this city. Humph.)

O'Grady's at a distant second with 24.41 percent, while Box is barely breathing at 12.83 percent.

Keep it glued as we follow this thing out to the bitter end. In the meantime, replay the following gem from Box at a recent candidate forum (back when things were all hopeful and rose-colored), in the new context that he's the one headed toward the iceberg:

Sure was good while it lasted though, wasn't it? Stay tuned for District 4's final results.

Originally posted at 9:45 p.m.

[@simone_electra/swilson@laweekly.com]

Tags:

City Council, results, Stephen Box, Tom LaBonge, Tomas O'Grady

We Recommend

Steven Ward

This is a bit Graphic:

Stephen Box, City Council District 4 Challenger, Has Best Balls in L.A. Tweeting on His Behalf

Change is Slow

The only sign-stealing was done by LaBonge. If you don't own a house, you can't really make use of a lawn sign. Renters put up a bunch of signs in the last week of the election for visibility in a few key intersections and LaBonge's pro-Mubarak thugs tore them down every time, often done on the taxpayer clock.

Can't have democracy in LA, now can we! I agree with the poster who took digs at Hancock Park suburbanites. If you back out the toniest areas of Silver Lake, Hancock Park, Toluca Lake and Laurel Canyon, LaBonge lost more precincts than he won.

This was class warfare at its finest. LA will pay dearly for 4 more years of pretending LA is stuck in the 1950s.

Steven Ward

The sign stealing is so child like!

I noticed a couple of Box signs placed in the public right of way, they were removed per campaign rules. The same thing happened with OGrady. LaBonge had a sign placed high up on a fence of personal property. Some one used a wooden box to climb up the fence to take it down, then there was a Stephen Box campaign placed near the exact same spot.

This was class warfare at its finest.

anonymous

Box was the smartest and most honest candidate who would have brought integrity and budget solving skills to the Council even as the city slides into insolvency. Unfortunately, Labonge has a lock on the monied people of Hancock Park who think they don't live in LA. LA and its crap will be at their doorsteps soon enough and the corrupt Labonge will be enjoying his $200,000+ pension elsewhere.

Steven Ward

Box was the smartest and most honest candidate who would have brought integrity and budget solving skills to the Council even as the city slides into insolvency

If Box was so smart, how did he forget about his liens? Somehow, he claims he owns a small business and paperwork is cumbersome. Oh, now he says, when he lived in Kentucky he had a lien placed. Well..did you or did you know fail to report liens on your candidate application? Sometimes when someone is super honest, it can sometimes indicate something is hidden under the rug. I found a story about the liens report about a month ago.

Roxiene27

And one more thing...the way the "news"papers of Los Angeles jumped on the Tea Party's anti-incumbency bandwagon...laughable and pathetic...seriously, where is the ability for independent, critical thought combined with methodical, thorough, & unbiased research??Did all the real journalists head over to AOL's Fluffington Post?

Roxiene27

You people (LA Time, Weekly, et al) need to do your research, shocking that you were taken' by a charming brogue & a handsome face. Interview a few folks who've witnessed O'Shady's shenanigans over the years and you'll breath a big sigh of relief @ the intelligence of the 4th District in picking the right man.

Roxiene27

pardon the typos, pre-caffiene!

mike

This was a dirty, mean campaign by both O'Grady and Box. Nothing but name calling and sign stealing from private property. What goes round came right back round now, didn't it!!!!