Gene MaddausIt didn't take long for EdVoice, the deep-pocketed Sacramento advocacy group, to pull a couple of quotes from last week's L.A. Weekly story on the 50th Assembly District race and slap them on an attack mailer.
UPDATE: Lara wins. With 90% reporting, he has 43.6% of the vote. His nearest challenger, Carmen Avalos, is at 30.3%.
A relative unknown, Lara has raised more than $400,000 and has the
backing of the L.A. County Federation of Labor, Mayor Antonio
Villaraigosa, and many others.
EdVoice, which is funded primarily by wealthy donors who support charter schools, has sunk $190,000 into supporting Carmen Avalos in the 50th. It's not much next to the $1.4 million the group has put into electing Gloria Romero as Superintendent of Public Instruction, but it's still enough for a serious challenge.
The thinking goes that if they can upset a favored candidate, that will force others in Sacramento to take notice. Much of their money in the 50th has gone into negative mail against Lara, including this piece:
That first quote isn't quite right. The story actually says that Lara's two opponents accuse him of being a machine candidate and a carpetbagger. The rest is accurate enough, though EdVoice loses some hometown South Gate cred by spelling Henry Gonzalez's name wrong. But by the standards of political mail, there's nothing too egregious here.
And just for the record, the L.A. Weekly hasn't endorsed anybody in this race.
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