L.A. CITY HALL: Los Angeles City Attorney election results, "historic" loss for incumbent Carmen Trutanich, resounding Trutanich defeat "sown in a broken pledge"....

***Resounding defeat for incumbent Los Angeles City Attorney Carmen Trutanich, Trutanich trounced by challenger Mike Feuer, 62% to 38%....

* LA Weekly:  "Carmen Trutanich's Loss Was Historic"

* Los Angeles Times:  "Carmen Trutanich's defeat sown in a broken pledge" - "The city attorney acknowledges his resounding defeat in his bid to keep his post was payback for the ill-fated run for district attorney he made despite promising to serve two terms in the city job."

L.A. CITY HALL: Mayoral election, report, "Eric Garcetti faces tough tests when he takes office as mayor": "Lofty visions" but upcoming battles over employee salaries, police overtime pay, reversal of cuts in city services........

* Los Angeles Times:  "Eric Garcetti faces tough tests when he takes office as mayor" - "L.A.'s mayor-elect offered voters lofty visions. But he faces battles over employee salaries, police overtime pay and how to reverse cuts in numerous city services." - From the LAT:

In the campaign for mayor, Eric Garcetti spoke grandly about a city with plentiful summer jobs for low-income teens, a tunnel under the traffic-clogged Sepulveda Pass and even an end to homelessness. But a day after winning office, the mayor-elect faced some immediate and less lofty challenges: potentially bruising battles over employee salaries, police overtime pay and how to reverse cuts to ambulance staffing, sidewalk repairs and other basic city services.

On Thursday, the City Council — a body that Garcetti will remain part of until June 30 — is set to decide whether and how to pay for a scheduled 5.5% raise for many city workers, a payout portrayed by the city's top financial advisor as a long-term budget buster. And by the end of the year, Garcetti and the council's leadership must launch new contract talks with unions representing police officers, firefighters, clerks, tree trimmers and workers at the Department of Water and Power — all of whom worked furiously to deny him the job of mayor.

Garcetti's clear victory could give him the upper hand in those negotiations. But he will still need to proceed cautiously..................

POLITICS (National): Former NY Rep. Anthony Weiner, announcement of candidacy in New York City mayoral race, seeking redemption and comeback after resignation related to raunchy tweets two years ago....

* San Jose Mercury News (AP):  "Anthony Weiner running for mayor, seeks redemption after crotch shot" - From the MN:

NEW YORK -- Anthony Weiner's run for redemption is officially on. The ex-congressman whose career imploded in a rash of raunchy tweets two years ago said in a YouTube video announcement late Tuesday that he's in the New York City mayoral race. He'd said last month he was considering it.

"I made some big mistakes and I know I let a lot of people down, but I also learned some tough lessons," he said in the video. "I'm running for mayor because I've been fighting for the middle class and those struggling to make it my entire life. And I hope I get a second chance." With that, Weiner is embarking on an audacious comeback quest, hoping to go from punch line pol whose tweeted crotch shot was emblazoned on the nation's consciousness to leader of America's biggest city.

The video appeared just before midnight Tuesday, then disappeared for a few hours but was back online by 5 a.m. Wednesday. A call to Weiner was not immediately returned Wednesday.

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The Democrat is jumping into a crowded field for September's primary. He's arriving with some significant advantages, including a $4.8 million campaign war chest, the possibility of more than $1 million more in public matching money, polls showing him ahead of all but one other Democrat -- and no end of name recognition.

His participation makes a runoff more likely, and many political observers feel he could at least get to the second round. But Weiner also has continued to contend with questions about his character and the scandal that sank his career just two years ago.................  

 * Washington Post:  "Weiner: Women may come forward with more e-mails, photos"

POLITICS/EDUCATION: Los Angeles Unified School District, Monica Ratliff victory, a "huge upset" in "lopsided race" for LAUSD District 6 board seat....

***Big upset, Los Angeles Unified School District race for East San Fernando Valley seat....

* Los Angeles Times:  "Monica Ratliff's election to L.A. school board is 'huge upset'" - "The fifth-grade teacher's low-budget effort defeats Antonio Sanchez, who had $2.2 million spent on his behalf and was endorsed by the mayor's reform coalition." - From the LAT:

On its face, the election this week of a Los Angeles fifth-grade teacher to the Board of Education was a stunner. Monica Ratliff's low-budget effort included her boyfriend, a film school instructor, as her campaign manager. She had no paid staff and no meaningful help from her own politically active teachers union. Her strategy to achieve some name recognition was to mail out refrigerator magnets, which cost $5,000 in scarce campaign funds. Ten to 20 faithful volunteers knocked on doors every weekend.

Her election night party? She jammed some 10 people into her one-bedroom apartment and then shooed them out at 11 p.m. — before the results were in — because she had to get up early to teach on Wednesday.

Her opponent, Antonio Sanchez, meanwhile, had more than $2.2 million spent on his behalf and an aggressive ground campaign of union volunteers and paid canvassers. He was endorsed by Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa's Coalition for School Reform, which received major donations from New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg and L.A. philanthropist Eli Broad, among others.

Political observers shook their heads Wednesday as they tried to make sense of it all..................

* Daily News:  "Veteran teacher Monica Ratliff scores upset win in lopsided race for LAUSD board" - From the DN:

Attorney-turned-teacher Monica Ratliff was elected to represent the East San Fernando Valley on the LAUSD board, upsetting a heavily favored rival with strong political ties and seemingly unlimited campaign resources. According to unofficial results from Tuesday's runoff, Ratliff received 20,243 votes compared with 18,779 for self-described education advocate Antonio Sanchez, who finished well ahead of her in the March primary.

Sanchez, 31, had the endorsement of powerful labor unions and financial support from well-funded political action campaigns, while Ratliff ran a part-time campaign on a shoestring budget. That had been seen as a disadvantage heading into the runoff, but on Wednesday it was viewed as a key to her success.

"At the end of the day, the teacher running against the establishment and outside money was the main thing driving her victory," said Raphael Sonenshein, the executive director of the Pat Brown Institute for Public Affairs at Cal State Los Angeles. "Sometimes, getting all of the support is worse than getting some of the support."

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Ratliff received no help from political action committees but raised $37,000 in contributions for the runoff. She spent about $40,000 on her campaign, which works out to about $1.98 a vote. With direct and independent expenditures, Sanchez spent $47.16 per vote..............

L.A. CITY HALL: Mayor's race, LA Weekly, "Eric Garcetti, The Boy Mayor of Los Angeles"....

* LA Weekly (Gene Maddaus):  "Eric Garcetti, The Boy Mayor of Los Angeles" - From the Weekly:

Eric Garcetti, 42, will be the youngest mayor of Los Angeles in 100 years. At 42, he's not quite as fresh-faced as he was when he ran for City Council at the ripe age of 29. But he's still young enough to pop-and-lock and play keyboards with Moby.

The "boy mayor" has a long history in urban politics. Think of John PUrroy Mitchel in New York, a reformer elected when he was 34, or Jerry Springer in Cincinnati (age 33) or Dennis Kucinich in Cleveland (age 32). Typically, a city turns to a "boy mayor" when it needs a dose of youthful idealism to counteract a corrupted and stagnant City Hall machines.  And very often, things go badly for the young mayor as he is introducted to the hard realities of life in the big city.

Mitchel, for example, took on Tammany Hall and got chewed up and bounced out of office after just one terms. (He died a year later in a plane accidenet at the age of 38.) Kucinich was so controversial that he was almost recalled before losing his bid for a second terms. And Springer -- well, he didn't stay in politics.

Garcetti is a little older and more experienced than any of those mayors, having served 12 years on the city council -- six as council president. But he does carry the promise of independence from the City Hall powers that be -- most of whom backed his opponent -- and the youthful optimism and enthusiasm for new ideas that typifies the Boy Mayor.

The trouble comes in governing..................