Batman Rises in East Los Angeles Campaign
By Gabriel Buelna

In the last two weeks, I took a quick poll of twenty people I know that usually vote. I was wondering how many people would be voting in the upcoming March 6th election. Out of the twenty people I polled, eight said they might vote and four said they were certain to vote. While not scientific, my quick poll showed there is little interest in the election that will determine Los Angeles Unified School Board members, School Board reform and their local city councilmember. After a bit more probing, most stated that while the issue of education and their local city councilmember were important, they were appalled by negative campaigning and were just fed up.

After further review of my own city council race in City Council District 14, between incumbent City Councilmember Jose Huizar and challenger Alvin Parra, I clearly understood the dilemma of voters. As an enthusiast of everything political, all the time, I actually read every political mailer. Weird you say. Yes, but true. Thus, I was e x cited a few weeks back when I opened my mail bo x and grabbed for that ever delightful and e x citing political mailer. “Good reading,” I thought. The mailer was from challenger Parra. Always interested in how opposition candidates frame their messages and design their grassroots campaigns, I read the mailer with enthusiasm.

Then, BOOM, BAM, POW and a flashback from the 1960’s Batman and Robin sitcom came to mind. You remember those scenes when Batman and Robin fight the villain The Joker and his goons? Those are the same memories this flyer brought to mind. It was hands down the weirdest flyer I’d ever seen. I could probably come up with a dozen or so analyses of why the flyer was so bizarre, but the bottom line remains - weird is weird. My astonishment was at Parra’s raw and brutal political assault of City Councilman Jose Huizar. The mailer claimed Huizar was not fast enough with a local offender and thus recommended we vote for Parra.

As the father of three, school aged girls and a former Los Angeles County social worker, I read carefully and got angry. Parra’s campaign backfired, Parra’s mailer didn’t make me angry at Jose Huizar, but at Parra himself. As a former investigator, I’m trained to uncover plots by parents using the system to accuse other parents of false allegations. Until now, I’ve never seen this used in the political world. The only problem with Parra is that he leveled accusations without evidence. This reminded me of The Joker when he would sucker punch Batman in those infamous fight scenes.

One week later, BOOM, BAM, POW, Parra strikes again. This time, he accuses Huizar of taking e x cessive vacation time and not paying attention to constituents. Already skeptical, I read the mailer and again found no evidence. I remembered my small sample of voters, the majority of whom simply were too turned off by the campaigning to vote. The only problem with not voting because of negative campaigning is that it sends a message that it works. On Tuesday, March 6th, I recommend we all vote and tell the candidates what we think about the recent campaigning. Take that, Joker!

With issues of crime, education, health care, job creation and an array of issues needing attention, this campaign has been the worst. We can normally leave negative campaigning to national or statewide campaigns. Many of us still believe local campaigns can be calm and a discussion about issues. Mr. Parra had an opportunity to show us why he would be a better City Councilmember.

What do you think?

Gabriel Buelna, Ph.D., M.S.W., is a faculty member in the Chicana/o Studies Department at California State University , Northridge, and appears on TV-KMEX-Channel 34 Univision Los Angeles and Telemundo-Channel 52.