CA-33-- One Way To Know What To Expect From Political Leaders Is To Examine What They've Already Done

Wendy Greuel has a shocking campaign payroll. She has an army of lame, high-priced consultants from outside the area who can't seem to lessen the intensity of the negative perception their employer has working against her in the CA-33 House race. Instead, they're running around whispering their poisonous messages about the other candidates to anyone who will listen. The latest is a nasty attack on Marianne Williamson as the "Paris Hilton candidate," although it doesn't seem to be based on anything concrete other than that other Hollywood celebrities-- though not Hilton-- have endorsed Williamson and some, like Alanis Morissette and Chaka Khan, have done events for her. But the district includes the places were Hollywood celebrities actually live-- unlike Valley girl Greuel. It will be hard for her and her sleazy team of outsiders to demonize them or people who are endorsed by them.

One of the more trustworthy Members of Congress watching this race closely-- someone who admires Williamson but hasn't endorsed her (yet)-- asked me, rhetorically, I think, "What has Wendy Greuel ever done to touch anyone's life?" Good point-- and, basically, it's what a lot of Angelenos ask themselves about Greuel, including former allies who helped finance her shady, failed campaign against Eric Garcetti last year.

When I asked my neighbors, who aren't very "political," if they had ever heard of any of the candidates, they said they hadn't-- and didn't care. I mentioned Marianne. They heard of her. One of them started crying. They both said Marianne saved their lives. I assumed they meant that it was because of something in one of her books, or maybe in a one of her lectures. Her whole career has been the polar opposite of a grubby career politician like Wendy Greuel. Her career has been about reaching out and touching people and making their lives better. Maybe Wendy should try reading some of those books before she runs for her next office.

But maybe it wasn't one of Marianne's books that brought on the strong emotional reaction from my neighbors. Maybe it was Project Angel Food. Do you know what that is? While Greuel was switching from the Republican Party to the Republican wing of the Democratic Party, Marianne was starting Project Angel Food, an outreach program that was an outgrowth of the Center for Spiritual Living, providing non-medical services to people with life threatening disease. People came to the center for meals and care. Then when the Aids victims started to not show up because they were too ill to leave their homes, Marianne started to deliver the meals on wheels program. That was back in the late 1980s and early 1990s. When Marianne started the program, she started delivering 15 meals. It grew to 90 meals a day in 1990 and to over 1,000 meals a day by 2000. Today they have delivered over 8 million meals That's not what career politicians like Wendy Greuel do. No they're too busy climbing the ladder of political opportunism, which is, basically, all she has ever done.

"Project Angel Food emerged from a crisis," Marianne told us yesterday. "People were aware that the situation was one of life and death, and we acted because we had to. I see a crisis in America today-- not a question of life or death necessarily, but a question of whether we retain our democracy or not. That's still a crisis, and once again it's time for us to act."

Career politicians like Greuel, who have never done anything for anyone on the planet earth, need to understand what service means before they offer themselves to the public. People don't like politicians because so many of them are just like Greuel. So few of them are anything like Marianne Williamson. If she wins this congressional seat, that could change. Thats' what people mean when they say Williamson's campaign is transformative. If Greuel wins, I can assure you nothing will change; everything will continue on its dismal downward spiral.