Wendy Greuel and Eric Garcetti Duel Over Celebrity Vote in L.A. Mayoral Race

Zooey Deschanel's for Wendy Greuel

It's always fun to see who the cool kids -- i.e., celebrities -- line up with come election season, and this year's mayoral race is starting to attract that kind of attention. L.A. City Councilman Eric Garcetti recently rolled out a video starring a gushing Salma Hayek. Now it's City Controller Wendy Greuel's turn.

In February, Greuel's holding a star-studded fund raiser at the posh SoHo House -- an exclusive club in West Hollywood that requires membership for entry and where the paparazzi regularly hang outside. Some of the hosts for the evening include actress Kate Hudson and actor Tobey Maguire.

The February 11 shindig that starts up at 7 p.m. also includes high-powered CAA executive Bryan Lourd, actress Zooey Deschanel, director J.J. Abrams, and comedian Sarah Silverman.

Greuel once worked for Dreamworks, so she's got a solid connection with the popular crowd. But Garcetti has recently guest starred in some TV shows and the movie End of Watch -- funnily enough, Garcetti played the mayor of Los Angeles.

Garcetti's also holding a fancy fund raiser on February 7 at the Fonda Theater, featuring musician Moby and comedians Will Ferrell and Jimmy Kimmel.

In 2008, it was clear that the cool kids lined up with then-presidential candidate Barack Obama over Hillary Clinton. This time around for the mayor's race, it's tough to say who has the inside edge on those folks.

But the other mayoral candidates -- Jan Perry, Kevin James, and Emanuel Pleitez -- don't come close to the kind of star power that Greuel and Garcetti have gathered.

The celebrities will undoubtedly say how wonderful their favorite is, but they may want to do research on the candidates before laying on the superlatives too thick.

They should especially read L.A. Weekly's cover story "Hollywood's Urban Cleansing" about Garcetti's redevelopment policies in Hollywood, which resulted in the mass exodus of some 12,000 mostly Latinos.

They should also check out the Weekly news story "Rent Activists Hit Greuel and Garcetti," which examines Greuel and Garcetti's questionable affordable housing policies.

Contact Patrick Range McDonald at pmcdonald@laweekly.com.