Reuters: U.S.: Los Angeles voters choose from two Democrats for mayor

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Los Angeles voters choose from two Democrats for mayor May 22nd 2013, 04:57 1 of 2. Supporters hold signs as they wait during the election night party for candidate for Mayor of Los Angeles Wendy Greuel in Los Angeles, California May 21, 2013. Credit: Reuters/Mario Anzuoni By Steve Gorman and Sharon Bernstein LOS ANGELES | Wed May 22, 2013 12:57am EDT LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Voters in Los Angeles went to the polls on Tuesday to choose a new mayor in an election between two liberal Democrats seeking to lead America's second-largest city as it faces an increasingly gloomy financial outlook. City Councilman Eric Garcetti, 42, and Controller Wendy Greuel, 51, are vying for the city's top spot in a race shaped by dire fiscal constraints, the political clout of its public employee unions and a largely disinterested electorate. The pair emerged as the top two vote-getters in a non-partisan primary in March to replace Antonio Villaraigosa, a charismatic two-term liberal and former labor organizer who faced off against the city's unions to implement budget cuts borne of the economic downturn. Polls closed at 8 p.m. local time (11 p.m. EDT), but the city clerk's office had yet to post any returns as of 9 p.m. A Loyola Marymount University exit poll conducted on Tuesday predicted Garcetti would defeat Greuel, 54 percent to 46 percent. The poll was based on a survey of 800 voters at polling places in 25 precincts, plus a telephone survey of voters who had cast ballots by mail. A public opinion poll conducted last week by the University of Southern California and the Los Angeles Times found Garcetti leading Greuel, his former City Council ally, by 7 percentage points among likely voters, and by 6 percentage points among those who already had voted by mail. However, the same poll showed Garcetti's lead narrowing since April and 11 percent of voters still undecided, while surveys earlier this month put the two in a statistical tie. Turnout for the election, marked by a heavy dose of negative political ads and two candidates seen as largely indistinguishable in their positions, was expected to be low, with perhaps fewer than 25 percent of registered voters casting ballots. Greuel would be the first woman elected Los Angeles mayor and Garcetti, the first Jew. His mother is Jewish, and he was raised Jewish. One expert, Loyola Marymount political scientist Fernando Guerra, told the Los Angeles Times he saw a "very high" chance of the outcome remaining unknown for days or weeks after the election, due to a large share of voters casting ballots by mail, peculiarities in the city clerk's tabulation process and the apparent closeness of the race. At a polling place in the affluent Brentwood section of Los Angeles, entertainment lawyer Richard Posell, 72, said he voted for Garcetti. "I watched two of the debates, and while there is very little space between the two as far as policy, I like his style better," he said. Hector Barrera, 60, voted for Greuel, saying: "I think she brings new blood to City Hall. I just had a good feeling about her." FISCAL WOES Garcetti served as council president from 2006 to 2011 and has called attention to his record on environmental initiatives and his role in the urban revival of once-blighted areas in Hollywood. Greuel has touted her current role as a city controller in uncovering waste and fraud. In her former council post she touted her dedication to street repairs in her suburban district and embraced the nickname "Pothole Queen." Whoever emerges as the winner will face a city government whose fiscal well-being has been crippled by dwindling tax collections wrought by the housing collapse and prolonged recession of recent years, along with rising public sector wages, pension obligations and other unfunded liabilities. California's largest metropolis has a projected budget deficit set to top $1 billion cumulatively over the next four years and both Garcetti and Greuel have vowed to slash city business taxes to help spur economic growth. Both said they would seek to renegotiate a five-year, 25 percent pay increase they supported in 2007 for most of the city's 30,0000 municipal workers, which the city's powerful public employee unions are sure to resist. The influence of organized labor became a key issue during the race, with Garcetti questioning Greuel's ability to wring concessions from public employee unions after they contributed heavily to her campaign. Garcetti leads in campaign spending overall, with $9.4 million in expenditures, compared with $8.9 million for Greuel, according to City Ethics Commission figures. Much of that money has gone to a slew of negative television ads from both sides. Also on the ballot on Tuesday was a combative race for city attorney between incumbent Carmen Trutanich and another longtime local politician, former Assemblyman Mike Feuer. Trutanich, who was trailing in the polls, sent a barrage of emails aimed at questioning Feuer's ethical standards, including one with the headline, "Pants on Fire." Three competing measures to regulate medical marijuana dispensaries that many residents complain are overwhelming their neighborhoods are also on the ballot. The measure that wins the most votes would go into effect. (Reporting by Steve Gorman and Sharon Bernstein; Additional reporting by Dana Feldman; Editing by Cynthia Johnston, Bill Trott, Eric Beech and Lisa Shumaker) Link this Share this Digg this Email Reprints

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