32 Facts About Wendy Greuel

Wendy Jane Greuel was born on May 23,1961 and is an American politician.

Wendy Greuel served as Los Angeles City Controller from 2009 to 2013.

Wendy Greuel was a candidate for Mayor of Los Angeles in 2013, losing to Eric Garcetti, followed by a loss running for California's 33rd congressional district.

Wendy Greuel was the first woman to advance to a Los Angeles mayoral runoff, performing better than previous female candidates Linda Griego in 1993, Kathleen Connell in 2001 and Jan Perry in 2013.

Wendy Greuel was born and raised in the San Fernando Valley, the daughter of a Christian church founder.

Wendy Greuel graduated from Kennedy High School and served as student body president.

From 1993 to 1997, Wendy Greuel worked in the administration of President Bill Clinton.

Wendy Greuel served with Housing and Urban Development Cabinet Secretaries Henry Cisneros and Andrew Cuomo, first as the deputy director of the Interagency Council on Homelessness and later as the field operations officer for Southern California, where she became involved in projects offering opportunities for home ownership, job creation, economic development and social services.

From 1997 to 2002, Wendy Greuel worked as an executive in government and community affairs for DreamWorks SKG, an entertainment studio in Los Angeles.

In 2002, Wendy Greuel won a runoff election against Assemblyman Tony Cardenas to fill the remainder of the term of second district Los Angeles Councilman Joel Wachs.

Wendy Greuel was elected to a full term in 2003 and re-elected in 2007.

Wendy Greuel served until July 2009, when she was elected to the office of City Controller.

Wendy Greuel banned road construction during rush hour and created anti-gridlock zones throughout the city to prevent motorists from parking on major thoroughfares during rush hour.

Wendy Greuel championed the Scenic Preservation Corridor Plan, which prevents development along the Verdugo's ridge lines.

Wendy Greuel banned smoking in farmers markets and proposed that all new buildings be wired for solar technology.

Wendy Greuel developed the Stolen Vehicle Recovery Program, which enabled Department of Transportation officers to tow stolen vehicles, allowing police officers more time to respond to violent crime.

Wendy Greuel launched a district-wide anti-graffiti campaign and pushed to increase the number of neighborhood watch organizations in her district.

Wendy Greuel implemented a safety valet program designed to ensure that all elementary school students were supervised entering and exiting schools.

In 2004, Wendy Greuel was an instrumental part of a major controversy in a neighborhood in her district when she chose to close a pedestrian bridge.

Wendy Greuel defeated Nick Patsaouras and Kathleen Suzy Evans on March 3,2009, to become the City Controller of Los Angeles.

In November 2011, Wendy Greuel expanded the city's Waste, Fraud, and Abuse hotline to accommodate whistleblower tips in more than 150 languages.

In October 2011, Wendy Greuel called for the city to transition to performance based budgeting, a system that requires departments to plan based on specific goals, rather than the line-item budgeting being used.

In May 2011, Wendy Greuel audited the city's cell phone use and found that the city wasted as much as $1 million annually by overpaying cellphone carriers and maintaining hundreds of phones that were not in use for months at a time, among other practices.

In October 2010, then-City Attorney Carmen Trutanich announced a series of reforms to the workers compensation unit in his office after Wendy Greuel uncovered that the unit took too long to settle cases and failed to collect millions of dollars it was due.

Also in October 2010, Wendy Greuel penned an op-ed in The Nation with then-Public Advocate, current New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio blasting the Citizens United decision and announcing that they had joined with leaders from other states to found the Coalition for Accountability in Political Spending to encourage corporations to be transparent about their political spending.

In July 2009, Wendy Greuel announced that her Delinquent Taxpayer Program had successfully collected nearly $3 million from 16 delinquent taxpayers in just four months.

Wendy Greuel stated that over $107 million in delinquent taxes was still to be collected.

Wendy Greuel was a candidate for Mayor of Los Angeles in the 2013 election.

Wendy Greuel ultimately lost the general election to Eric Garcetti, who became Mayor on July 1,2013.

Wendy Greuel was the first woman to advance to a Los Angeles mayoral runoff, performing better than previous female candidates Linda Griego in 1993, Kathleen Connell in 2001 and Jan Perry in 2013.

Wendy Greuel is a member of the Boards of Directors of Abode Communities, the Center for Asian Americans United for Self Empowerment, Emerge California, EMILY's List, the Homeland Security Advisory Council, the Los Angeles YMCA, and Oakwood School, the advisory board of The Everychild Foundation, the President's Advisory Council of The Fulfillment Fund, and was one of eleven members of the LA Unified Advisory Task Force, charged with advising LAUSD Superintendent Michelle King.

Wendy Greuel is married to attorney Dean Schramm, whom she met during her 2002 campaign; they have a son, born in 2003.