Battle Los Angeles: What's at stake in Tuesday's election

LAUSD Board Member Steve Zimmer: under a million-dollar assault from the privatization movement Politicos in Los Angeles don't get a break after presidential elections, and not simply because it's never too early to gear up for the next cycle. Rather, the city of Los Angeles has a peculiar election schedule: Our municipal elections, as well as those of many other cities and districts in Los Angeles County, happen to occur on the first Tuesday in March of odd-numbered years. That means that as soon as the big November elections are over, those of us who care about what happens in our own city have to turn out focus immediately to the next big election a mere four months away. Most of the time, it's not so bad. We haven't had a contentious mayoral election since 2005, and the downballot races, such as city council and school board, are usually more local concerns without anything of major interest to national observers. The 2013 election, however, is one of the most contentious and high-profile municipal cycles in recent memory. Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa is termed out and will be leaving office on June 30 of this year, and the battle to replace him has become very expensive, and very negative.

Unless a miracle occurs, that race will not be decided in March; if no candidate gets a majority'and, given the number of well-funded candidates, this is the strong likelihood'the top two candidates will proceed to a runoff on May 21. Two candidates are widely expected to make it into that runoff: former City Council President Eric Garcetti, and City Controller Wendy Greuel, both of whom had raised close to $5 million as of the last reporting period. Garcetti, who endorsed Barack Obama as far back as 2007, was a California co-chair for both the 2008 and 2012 campaigns, and is the chair emeritus of the organization of Democratic Municipal Officials. Greuel got her start with Mayor Tom Bradley before joining President Clinton's administration working under Secretary Cisneros in the the Department of Housing and Urban Development. While Garcetti and Greuel have led in both public polls and fundraising and are poised to do battle until May, two other candidates have an outside shot: a third Democrat, Councilmember Jan Perry, who represents downtown and parts of South Los Angeles; and Republican attorney and radio host Kevin James, whose candidacy is primarily bankrolled by a Super PAC created by fellow GOP strategist Fred Davis. (Full disclosure: I have endorsed Eric Garcetti.)

Follow me below the fold to find out what's at stake in this election.