Steve Lopez: Labor unions the big loser in mayor's race

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L.A. mayoral candidate Eric Garcetti greets supporters at the Hollywood Palladium on Tuesday night. (Wally Skalij / Los Angeles Times)

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L.A. mayoral candidate Wendy Greuel and some supporters take the stage during an election night gathering at the old Pacific Stock Exchange. (Luis Sinco / Los Angeles Times)

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L.A. mayoral candidate Eric Garcetti greets supporters at his election night party at the Hollywood Palladium. (Wally Skalij / Los Angeles Times)

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L.A. mayoral candidate Wendy Greuel greets supporters during an election night gathering at the old Pacific Stock Exchange in downtown Los Angeles. (Luis Sinco / Los Angeles Times)

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Former L.A. County Dist. Atty. Gil Garcetti greets supporters of his son, L.A. mayoral candidate Eric Garcetti, at an election night party at the Hollywood Palladium. (Wally Skalij / Los Angeles Times)

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Mitch O’Farrell, a candidate for Council District 13, greets supporters at his election night party at the St. Felix Bar in Hollywood. (Lawrence K. Ho / Los Angeles Times)

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Mike Feuer, right, a candidate for city attorney, gets a hug from his friend Leon Alkalai on election night. (Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times)

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L.A. mayoral candidate Wendy Greuel is flanked by her son Thomas, 9, and her husband, Dean Schramm, as she monitors election returns at the old Pacific Stock Exchange in downtown Los Angeles. (Luis Sinco / Los Angeles Times)

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Supporters of L.A. mayoral candidate Wendy Greuel gather at the old Pacific Stock Exchange in downtown Los Angeles for an election night gathering. (Luis Sinco / Los Angeles Times)

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John Choi, a candidate for Council District 13, hugs his mother, Myung Choi, on election night at Mohawk Bend Restaurant. (Lawrence K. Ho / Los Angeles Times)

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“Yes on D” campaign manager Nam Le, left, claps during an election night gathering at Lucky Strike Lanes in Hollywood as the medical pot measure takes an early lead. John Grant, center, and Rick Icaza, both with the United Food and Commercial Workers International Union, also show their enthusiasm. The measure would limit the number of pot shops in the city to about 130. (Bob Chamberlin / Los Angeles Times)

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Supporters of Proposition D celebrate its early lead at the Lucky Strikes bowling alley in Hollywood. The measure would limit medical marijuana dispensaries to those that existed before the adoption of a failed 2007 moratorium on new pot shops. (Bob Chamberlin / Los Angeles Times)

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Betsy Richardson casts her ballot at Los Angeles City Fire Station No. 88 in Sherman Oaks. (Al Seib / Los Angeles Times)

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John Monahan is the first to cast his vote at the UFCW Local 770 hall in Harbor City. (Bob Chamberlin / Los Angeles Times)

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Barbara Meijers walks out of the Voyager Motor Inn in Van Nuys after casting her ballot Tuesday. (Al Seib / Los Angeles Times)

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Paul Maes walks away from the polling booth to turn in his ballot as he carries his dog, Rocko, next to a leaping dolphin at the Cetacean Society building at Point Fermin Park in San Pedro. (Bob Chamberlin / Los Angeles Times)

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Jay Goldfard of Encino walks past empty voting booths after bringing his mail-in ballot to Los Angeles City Fire Station No. 88 in Sherman Oaks. (Al Seib / Los Angeles Times)

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Where to hang the flag? Poll workers Esperanza Gaytan, left, Mathew Klempa and Barry Copilow, holding the flag, try to decide on the right spot at Allesandro Elementary School in Silver Lake. (Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times)

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Deborah Murphy tries to control her dog Fiona while voting at Allesandro Elementary School. (Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times)

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A sign hangs from the wheelchair of Marcelo Nuno Aceves as he casts his ballot at the Hollenbeck Park Recreation Center in the Boyle Heights. (Gary Friedman / Los Angeles Times)

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Cindy White casts her vote for Wendy Greuel at Sinai Temple on Wilshire Boulevard in Westwood. (Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times)

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Mayoral candidate Eric Garcetti and wife Amy Wakeland hug before casting their ballots at Allesandro Elementary School in Silver Lake. (Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times)

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Wendy Greuel watches as her son, 9-year-old Thomas Schramm, submits her ballot at the Unitarian Universalist Church in Studio City. (Al Seib / Los Angeles Times)

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Mayoral candidate Eric Garcetti, with wife Amy Wakeland, casts his ballot at Allesandro Elementary School in Silver Lake. (Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times)

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Wendy Greuel watches as her son, Thomas Schramm, places an “I Voted” sticker on her jacket. (Al Seib / Los Angeles Times)

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Eric Garcetti speaks to reporters after casting his ballot in Silver Lake. (Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times)

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Wendy Greuel, with husband Dean Schramm, answers questions outside her polling place in Studio City. (Al Seib / Los Angeles Times)

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City Atty. Carmen Trutanich jokes with his daughter, Kristin, and her son Nathan, 14 months, before he casts his ballot in Harbor City. (Bob Chamberlin / Los Angeles Times)

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Esperanza Gonzalez checks her ballot after voting at the Hollenbeck Park Recreation Center in Boyle Heights. (Gary Friedman / Los Angeles Times)

By Steve Lopez

May 22, 2013 9:22 AM PT

Labor gambled and lost.

Wendy Greuel drove away much of her own base.

And it’s done. After two years of campaigning and more than $30 million of spinning, the next mayor of Los Angeles will be Eric Garcetti, who doesn’t exactly have what you’d call a mandate.

Though he won by several percentage points despite predictions of a tighter race, it looks like about four out of five registered voters blew off this election.

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The question is whether Garcetti won the election or Greuel lost it, despite several million more dollars being spent on her behalf by independent expenditure campaigns, and you could argue it either way. But as a San Fernando Valley resident, Greuel did herself no favors by identifying herself with the most hated city agency, the L.A. Department of Water and Power. Garcetti and Greuel appeared to have basically split the Valley vote, which Greuel needed to dominate.

Why is DWP hated? It’s simple. In the Valley, where you’ve got to water your lawn and turn on the air conditioning, nothing makes you angrier than rising DWP rates, even if other utilities in California charge even more.

And it didn’t help that the public employee union that represents DWP workers laid it all on the line, spending millions on Greuel while the union boss -- Brian D’Arcy -- told me he was expecting raises from the new mayor.

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“From what I was hearing from my neighbors, the DWP backing was a major factor in their decision” to vote for Garcetti, said Don Schultz, a Van Nuys resident and community activist. Schultz voted for Greuel in the primary but switched to Garcetti on Tuesday for several reasons, including Greuel’s primary attack on candidate Jan Perry.

Labor leaders, meanwhile, have done themselves no favors, alienating much of the public and losing in the process, which could mean tougher negotiations when contracts are up. They’d have been better off, in retrospect, either staying out of it altogether or splitting their bet.

Meanwhile, there’s been grumbling among low-wage private sector union members, who fear that labor’s big play in the campaign could make their fight for fair contracts all the tougher. No doubt about it, labor comes out of this with some problems to fix.

And business, as well, rode the wrong horse, with the Chamber of Commerce backing Greuel, who kept calling herself the labor-business candidate.

Maybe, for those who voted for the first Jewish mayor, who’s also got Latino blood, they were voting against the city’s most powerful institutions and players.

This was a vote against labor, against the chamber, against ex-Mayor Richard Riordan and many of the other pooh-bahs who think they ought to be running this city.

The next mayor of Los Angeles is Eric Garcetti.

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