Bob Dylan once said that “Money doesn’t talk. It swears.” Just as true and as once again proven by Nancy Pearlman’s re-election victory for Los Angeles Community College Trustee is Saul Alinksy’s statement that “Power goes to two poles: to those who’ve got the money and to those who’ve got the people.”
I wrote in a recent blog about how David Vela, the handpicked political hack candidate of the Los Angeles Democratic Party elites, had the money while Nancy Pearlman had to rely on the people for support [http://janbtucker.com/blog/2013/05/13/nancy-pearlman-is-our-community-college-trustee/]. This morning Nancy told me of how she was outspent by Vela by about $600,000 to her paltry $25,000. Yet, here’s the final outcome from election night stats:
NANCY PEARLMAN DAVID VELA
183,578 57.18% 137,470 42.81%
In American politics, anything over a 10% victory margin is called a “landslide.” With just over 14% more votes than Vela, Nancy won by a landslide and with the amount that the powers that be spent for Vela and against Pearlman, the powers that be should feel humiliated, because frankly, they never seem to learn. In 2001, here’s how she won, beating another political hack, Joey Hill [http://janbtucker.com/blog/2012/11/21/selective-prosecution/]:
NANCY PEARLMAN SAMUEL J. “JOEY” HILL
338,590 62.62% 202,079 37.38%
The first time Nancy won her seat in 2001, she was outspent 100-1:
4th Time Is the Charm in Race for Trustee, Los Angeles Times
June 07, 2001|ZANTO PEABODY and DUKE HELFAND
“The public kept telling me they wanted me there,” said Pearlman, who unsuccessfully ran for the office in 1995, 1997 and 1999. “I’ve learned from all my previous experiences, and my supporters helped me get to the voters we hadn’t reached before.”
Pearlman, a Green Party candidate who raised $1,000 for the campaign, stressed that she would be the independent voice on a seven-member board that she considers too swayed by staff and faculty unions.
“I know I’m going to have to work with people . . . I’ve criticized,” Pearlman said. “But I am not critical of them as individuals, only of some of the decisions they’ve made.”
Hill, an aide to state Sen. Kevin Murray (D-Culver City), was incredulous at the election’s outcome.
“No one I know can think of any rational reason she would have gotten two out of three votes in June when she got only one in three in April,” Hill said. “I was more than a little surprised. I was shocked.”
Hill outspent Pearlman 100 to 1 in the race.
So, the liberal Democratic elites in Los Angeles just pissed away another $600,000 on somebody they thought was Goliath. It never occurred to them that they were taking on David.
