People's Budget Candidate Forum: Mel Wilson                                          ...back >
QUESTION: Why are you the best candidate for Mayor?

WILSON: The best candidate because I have the life experiences that have prepared me. I've worked with three different mayors very closely. I've worked with all five county supervisors, two sets of them, over the last 30 years. I'm a businessman, small businessman. I understand the public sector, the private sector, the nonprofit. I serve on nonprofit boards. I go to church; I'm involved in my church—I'm the Christian ed director for my church for 35 years. So I believe the ingredients are the public, private, nonprofit and faith communities are going to make a difference in solving some of these complex problems.

I'm a housing guy; I'm a housing expert. I went back to school when I was 63 years old to get a master's degree. My master's degree was, the thesis was on how do you create housing that's affordable for middle income workers and millennials in LA? So I have the expertise to do it. I have the practical experience to do it. I fought housing discrimination, gentrification, and redlining over my lifetime. I've got things done in communities of color, in low income communities. None of these folks who are running to care about those things. I'm an African American, I'm a man, I grew up in the South, I went to segregated schools, but my friends are pretty much like a rainbow. And so I bring people together and that's why I'm the best suited candidate to be the mayor of LA.


QUESTION: You seem to be being cut out by the mainstream media, so talk about how you're conducting your campaign and how you hope to break through.

WILSON: Well you know the mainstream media and the political pundits, they've already picked their choices, and I'm not one of them, but I'm the people's choice. I'm meeting with people.

This morning, I was here at eight o'clock to be at a nine o'clock station for "It's Not a Drill" ["This Is Not a Drill"] on KBLA radio, talking to the folks, answering questions. From there, I went to Watts. I met with multiple community organizers in Watts at Serenity Park. It was a cleanup day. I saw three different policing officers, the LA Sheriff, LAPD and the school police, all working hand in hand with community leaders and kids. They had a skate park that they cleaned up. I talked to multiple kids who were saying, hey, we need more places like this. So I know as a kid growing up, I had places to go. I had after school sports, I had carom during the summer, I had a summer job, I had a permanent job or a part time job during the year. So I was able to help my mother who was a single mom cleaning houses, help my brother and sister—I took the pressure off for her.

I know the plight of people. A week ago I had a press event to tell the governor, to demand the governor and the president to suspend the gasoline tax. It's over $1 a gallon. Most of these folks who are elected officers who are running for office, these politicians, they get free gas. They don't have to pump their own gas. They're not feeling the pain and certainly a billionaire with a $100 million boat is not feeling the pain of diesel fuel costs. I do.

And so I know I'm suited for it. I'm going to the people, I'm doing many events, small events... I've been included on some of the debate stages, others I haven't been included on. They're saying you know you need to raise more money. What's so ludicrous is that I was at a San Pedro event a couple of weeks ago, and it was a Democratic Club, and I've been a lifelong Democrat, right. And they said, Well, you know, Mel, you need to raise $400,000 in order for you to have free speech. They open up the dialogue at the forum saying we're all about the democratic process; we're all about free speech. They didn't tell me that cost $400,000 to have free speech. And so I just think it's kind of ludicrous.

I'm going to the people. I have Democrats, Republican, young, old, church folks, synagogue folks, all supporting me. I have Jews, Muslims; I have every different group. I have the two Native American tribes, the Fernandeño tribe, and the Tongva tribe*; they both have endorsed me. So this is who I am. It's no mistake that the people who are around me, the people I have involved, who I'm paying in my campaign, they're people of all different backgrounds and different colors, and I think that's what our city represents.


QUESTION: But don't you need some kind of super creative or super smart strategy to take it to the next level so that you are on some of those later debates.

WILSON: You do. You do. We have to get, we have to get small dollars donated to our campaign. That's one thing. Bernie Sanders did it; other people have done it before. And when people start hearing me, they say, this guy makes sense. When I go to Watts, and I've gone to other places, they're all saying, hey, when gang members are terrorizing our neighborhoods, we want to be able to have the police respond, but we want them to respect us. We want them to care about us. So my policies really speak to who I am. I want to have more policing to make our city safe. But I also believe that's community policing, that's holding cops accountable. That's not been done very much lately, and we need to do a better job of that. I believe in investing in our future investing in our kids. I had a part-time job as a kid. I bought my first car when I was 16 years old. And that was able to take pressure off my mother who was struggling, trying to work two jobs to take care of three kids. So I know that we can do this.

I am a man of faith. I'm going to a lot of the churches and religious groups. I was at a synagogue a couple weeks ago, sitting in their Shabbat service. I've been in many churches, and they're praying for me. And so one ingredient that I have that I know is gonna get me there is the ingredients of God. God is powerful. No matter which God you serve, he's all powerful, he knows my heart, and I'm gonna keep fighting for the people.


* Endorsed by Rudy Ortega Jr., tribal president of the Fernandeño Tataviam Band of Mission Indians, and Anthony Morales, chief of the Gabrieleno - Tongva San Gabriel Band of Mission Indians.
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