Mayoral candidate for Los Angeles Craig Greiwe claimed Democrats in the city are “buying their way into leadership” and practicing “voter suppression” after he and other candidates were excluded from a pivotal ABC7 debate.
The debate was organized by executive director of the Pat Brown Institute for Public Affairs at Cal State University Los Angeles, Raphael Sonenshein, and the League of Women Voters of Greater Los Angeles, according to the Los Angeles Times. The debate will air live on ABC7 on May 1, but the organizers are only allowing five of the 12 candidates to take the stage, the Los Angeles Daily News reported.
Four of the excluded candidates gathered on the CSULA campus Tuesday where they claimed that, despite qualifying to be on the ballot for the 2022 mayoral election, Sonenshein and the LWV are practicing “voter suppression” and purposefully excluding candidates from the essential airtime they deserve in the run-up to the mayoral election, the outlet reported.
“LA democrats are buying and manipulating their way to leadership as the city collapses around them,” mayoral candidate Craig Greiwe told the Daily Caller. “Money should not decide an election. Institutions should not decide an election. Voters should decide an election,” he posted to his social media.
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“The people of this city are desperate for change, and desperate for their fair share of resources. They are desperate to get rid of all the career insiders who have been making the same empty promises for decades,” Greiwe said at a press conference Tuesday, shared to his social media.
“Instead of giving the people of Los Angeles what they are begging for, Cal State, Raphael Sonenshein, and the League of Women Voters have unilaterally organized a debate using phony criteria so they can control the narrative,” he continued.
The criteria used by Sonenshein included “publicly available polling data, media coverage, endorsements, and fundraising,” according to Greiwe, “but he didn’t request any of that data from the campaigns excluded from the debate.”
Greiwe and candidate Gina Viola said that Sonenshein and the League of Women Voters were engaging in “voter suppression,” according to the LA Times, with Greiwe saying they had “created an uneven playing field,” despite the League’s claim that their “primary function is voter education and ensuring fair elections.”
The current front-runner for the mayoral position is billionaire real estate developer Rick Caruso. (RELATED: Convicted Child Molester’s 2-Year Sentence ‘May Not Be Enough,’ Says Los Angeles DA George Gascon)
Los Angeles saw a 30% reduction in crime during my time as President of the Police Commission. I’ve done it before, and I will do it again as your Mayor. #CarusoCan pic.twitter.com/UUGti9XXHY
— Rick J. Caruso (@RickCarusoLA) April 8, 2022
Caruso’s success thus far has been tied to his focus on crime, a leading issue for Angelenos as crime rates have risen consistently for the last two years. Democratic Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti has consistently ignored LA’s crime surge and blamed the mass exodus of LA citizens on high housing costs, while simultaneously claiming that “too many people want to be here.”
“Caruso spent something like $10 million on his campaign in a 5-week period and failed to convert a single undecided voter,” Greiwe told the Caller. A recent poll showed that 39 percent of voters in LA remain undecided, according to the LA Times.