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A consultant for the Los Angeles League of Conservation Voters chooses the top three L.A. City Council candidates.

It's discomfiting to watch leaders of the Los Angeles League of Conservations Voters awkwardly try to play king-maker and repress debate in the wide-open Los Angeles City Council District 15 race to replace the quickly forgotten Janice Hahn.

The League thinks it knows who the front-runners are. It has decided the public should not hear from the eight others at an upcoming debate. Sad times for the once-vibrant League. As pointed out by Scott Johnson at MayorSam blog, and by Ken Draper at CityWatchLA, and by Council District 15 candidate (and cop) Joe Buscaino, there's a "freshness" and "creative" wave of ideas from the 11 Angelenos running for this power job in City Hall. The League of Conservation Voters has no clue what's unfolding in L.A. Zero.

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Kyle T. Webster

Scott Svonkin going off. Nothing new.

Scott Svonkin, San Gabriel Unified School District Board member, is running for the powerful L. A. Community College District Board. Thanks to major Democratic backing and union campaign contributions, Svonkin is the strong favorite.

In response to poor fact checking in a Frontiers article on Svonkin, we thought we'd set the record straight. He claims, for instance, that Sunland-Tujunga residents fought a Home Depot because they are racists, and that L.A. Weekly covered a burning hot issue over a fence proposed in San Gabriel. Neither are true:

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Four more years

​Councilman Bernard Parks has officially won re-election, fending off a $1.2 million labor campaign and avoiding a runoff by 225 votes.

It took more than two weeks to confirm that Parks had won a majority of the votes cast on March 8. After counting thousands of provisional and late absentee ballots, the City Clerk confirmed early this morning that Parks had been re-elected with 51.2% of the vote.

His nearest challenger, Forescee Hogan-Rowles, took 43.5%.

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Ted Soqui

West Hollywood City Councilman John D'Amico

John D'Amico, the challenging candidate who placed first in the hotly contested West Hollywood City Council election two weeks ago and ousted incumbent Lindsey Horvath, was sworn into office on Monday night at West Hollywood Park Auditorium.

During his first remarks as a new council member, D'Amico, who pulled off something of an underdog victory in a city where voters almost never throw out incumbents, declared, "Ours is a city ready for this new spring, full of the greatest men and greatest women."

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PHOTO BY JENNIE WARREN

John D'Amico: The WeHovians' choice.

BREAKING NEWS: West Hollywood City Council frontrunner John D'Amico made history today, when -- after a final count of 757 provisional and absentee ballots -- he surpassed two decades-old incumbents and pushed out their pet appointee for first place in the city election.

This is the first time since fabulous, gay-friendly West Hollywood's inception that a non-incumbent has earned the No. 1 spot.

D'Amico was in second place when polls closed last Tuesday, but netted a disproportionately high number of the remaining votes today for a triumphant win.

Here are the final candidate tallies, with incumbents in bold:

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Update: See Bottom.

Larry, in happier days

25 minutes ago, Larry Eisenberg, executive director of Facilities Planning and Development for the Los Angeles Community College District -- the man who oversees the fraud-ridden $5.7 billion construction bond program at Los Angeles Community College District, was let go. Terminated effective March 12.

Chancellor Dr. Daniel LaVista made the announcement to the public at today's Los Angeles Community College District Board meeting. Thomas Hall will be serving in his place in the interim.

A six part expose put out last week by the L.A. Times uncovered misuse of tens of millions of dollars. Also to blame are the Board of Trustees, yet voters did not oust incumbents Mona Field and Miguel Santiago in yesterday's elections.

However: they may still have some answering to do also:

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Jennie Warren

WeHo City Council candidate John D'Amico

Even with some 930 provisional ballots that still need to be counted, West Hollywood City Council challenging candidate John D'Amico has ousted appointed council member Lindsey Horvath, according to political consultants who talked with L.A. Weekly.

Longtime incumbents Abbe Land and John Heilman have likely won re-election.

"Anything is possible," says Republican political strategist Reed Galen, but adds that it will be extremely difficult for fourth place candidate Steve Martin to make up more than 300 votes to take over Heilman. Horvath is currently in fifth place and out of the running.

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Bernard Parks clings to a small lead.

​L.A. Councilman Bernard Parks appears to have survived a $1.2 million onslaught from organized labor, but the race is close enough that the outcome may not be known for sure for a couple weeks.

Parks' top opponent, Forescee Hogan-Rowles, is not conceding. She is holding out hope that when late absentee and provisional ballots are counted, Parks will be forced into a runoff.

With 100% of precincts reporting, Parks has 50.9% of the vote. He cleared the majority threshold needed to avoid a May 17 runoff by a bare 140 votes. There are still an unknown number of ballots yet to be counted.

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Ali Saleh: Bell's next mayor?

The ballots have barely been counted and already it looks like Bell City Council winner Ali Saleh will seek the mayor's job.

That could happen as early as late March, when, we're told, the first meeting of the new council is likely to take place.

Here's what Saleh told the Weekly when asked if he'll go for the mayor's gig:

"I haven't decided yet, but probably."

In political speak, that's ...

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Mmm.

No big surprise here: Stoners Marijuana advocates were defeated once again at the polls.

You couldn't get pot fully legalized via the November ballot in California (but you were close), and now you were rejected in your attempts to stop a 5 percent medical marijuana tax from being imposed in the City of Angels. Yeah, City Hall is taxing it, even as it's trying to shut down most pot shops in town (welcome to L.A.).

But, hey, look on the bright side:

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Welcome Mitchell Englander to the City Hall fraternity

Update: A grand turnout of 19,819 District 12 residents cast their votes in the City Council election yesterday. All said and done, Englander stayed in the No. 1 spot with 57.76 percent of the vote, and Smith trailed at a distant but admirable 25.22 percent.

Update: As of 11:10 p.m., Englander has fallen the tiniest bit, to 57.75 percent -- and that's with almost half the district's votes counted. Smith moved up a few tenths to compensate, but nothing major.

Mitchell Englander has done everything a good power climber should to reach the ultimate City Council District 12 throne: He started as a political consultant for his uncle's firm, made his way to City Hall and served his time as current Councilman Greig Smith's chief of staff.

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Jose Huizar had nothing to worry about

Update: The final count, Huizar over Martinez, is 64.22 percent to 35.78 percent. 14,429 people voted in the race. Originally posted at 12:20 a.m.

Eighty-three percent of votes have been counted in the City Council District 14 election, and the people's choice is clear: Jose Huizar for another four years.

But the numbers are more extreme than most political watchers expected -- 65 percent to 35 percent.

How did a candidate with a militant right-hand man, a "Mean Girls" ranking of all power players in his district and a walk-in closet's worth of skeletons beat his well-funded opponent, reality star and local restauranteer Rudy Martinez, so thoroughly?

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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:

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Update: New figures and analysis on WeHo City Council race.

Since approximately 930 provisional ballots still need to be verified and counted, the hotly contested West Hollywood City Council race cannot be called tonight.

So far, 522 votes separate first place Councilwoman Abbe Land from fourth place challenger Steve Martin in a very tight election -- possibly one of the closest elections in the history of West Hollywood.

West Hollywood Assistant City Clerk Corey Schaffer says the provisional ballots will not be counted until Thursday at the earliest.

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​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.

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​With most votes counted, L.A. voters are narrowly rejecting Measure O -- the oil extraction tax -- by a tally of 50.9% to 49.2%.

Voters were asked to impose a $1.44-per-barrel tax on oil production in the city, which would raise $4 million a year.

Oil producers argued (speciously) that the tax would drive up the price at the pump, and perhaps voters were persuaded by the recent spike to $4-a-gallon.

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Update #2: Reformer pulls into second and talks with L.A. Weekly! see Seat 5 below.
Update: Numbers are rolling in: looking like more of the same, see below.

Joyce Burrell Garcia, reform candidate

Absentee votes can't always predict the election, but they tend to be very telling. And they are in:

An L.A. Times investigation exposing fraud among incumbents had people wondering whether voters would side against them.

It looks like incumbent Mona Field will take seat 1. If a runoff ends up hapenning it will most likely be with Gwen Walker.
Update: Field now has 59.23 percent, Gwen Walker in next at just 15.16 percent

Seat 3 could still be taken by reform candidate Joyce Burrell Garcia, but Steven Veres is in the lead so far.
Update: Veres is at 56.51 percent and Burrell Garcia isn't far behind at 43.49 percent. However, unless Veres comes in under 50 percent, no runoff election will happen here.

Update #2: Reformer Gutierrez may be in the runoff:

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Ted Soqui

Bell last summer.

Bell residents on Tuesday had a chance to make historic change and recall its embattled City Council in favor of new slates. They recalled four council members.

The results included victories for Ali Saleh, Nestor Valencia, Violeta Alvarez. Danny Harber was elected to succeed Teresa Jocobo, who was caught up in the salary scandal but decided nonetheless to fight for her seat. Ana Maria Quintana looked good to fill another seat vacated by Councilman Luis Artiga.

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Kyle T. Webster

Villaraigosa claimed LA faced bankruptcy, and got his rate hike.

​Update: Hands down, these two L.A. DWP reform measures are the huge winners tonight. As of 12:20 a.m. Wed., Measure I had 77.35 percent yes, and Measure J had 81.27 percent.

Early election returns for March 8, 2011 suggest that Los Angeles voters really really want changes in how the unpopular, publicly owned Department of Water and Power is controlled. Charter Amendments I and J are attracting landslide "yes" votes of about 77 and 81 percent with absentee votes largely counted.

Amendment I creates a "ratepayer advocate" and a DWP "Office of Accountability." Charter Amendment J forces DWP leaders to turn over their preliminary annual budget each year in a timely manner to the City Council.

The modest reforms were placed on the ballot following a fiscal debacle that bordered on hysteria inside City Hall in March and April of 2010. During the dustup, Al Gore weighed in by satellite, City Controller Wendy Greuel warned that L.A. was running out of cash and Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa declared that L.A. could go bankrupt -- and called for a partial government shutdown.

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​L.A. voters are on their way to approving a 5% tax on marijuana sales at the city's dispensaries. With 40% of precincts counted, Measure M is passing by a margin of 62-38.

Theoretically, this could bring in $10 million in revenue. Realistically, it's likely to face a legal challenge from the dispensaries, so don't count on seeing this money any time soon.

What does this say about Angelenos' attitude toward medical marijuana dispensaries? Well, it brings to mind the words of that great sage, Ronald Reagan...

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