Mike Woo’s Defeat of Councilwoman Stevenson

I bought a new car once from a big-name company with a long reputation. Lots of small promising components--which the salesman said would make life easy, made up the total package. But I paid a high cost for those components: When one failed, entire units had to be replaced. Life wasn’t easy. The components failed more than the car they were supposed to be monitoring.

Then I bought another new car from a small company with a not-so-long reputation. This car was basic: Only service and dependability were promised. This car I still drive.

Voters have replaced Peggy Stevenson with Mike Woo. Big issues (Occidental Petroleum’s offshore oil drilling, Silverlake’s new construction scandal) were decisive. To me, though, the small components in Stevenson’s campaign that constantly failed were the ones that made life not-so-easy.

During Election 1 I received a Stevenson mailer asking me to fill out a card with what I thought were significant problems in her district; then Stevenson’s campaigners would call me to discuss those problems. I mailed the card; I never heard a response.

During Election 2 a Stevenson campaigner called asking for my vote. I mentioned the card. I was told so many cards had been returned response was impossible.

To me this indicated Peggy Stevenson could not have been in touch and on top of the obviously many problems in her district; her problems that finally failed en masse, necessitating the replacement of an entire unit.

MIKE SHINABERY

Los Angeles