Is Rick Caruso Planning to Run for Mayor?

A lot of business folk, including some in Eagle Rock, would be delighted if Los Angeles developer Rick Caruso ran for mayor in 2013, bringing a wealth of entrepreneurial experience to the job.

Although the president and CEO of Caruso Affiliated—the development company that built The Grove and Americana shopping and entertainment complexes—hasn’t announced he’s running for mayor, a telephone survey that has reportedly been working its way around the city does suggest that the prominent developer might be trying to determine the extent of political support for his candidacy.

According to “Tipoff,” a weekly news column in the L.A. Daily News, a number of Los Angeles residents have participated in a 30-minute telephone survey ostensibly aimed at gauging respondents’ shopping habits through questions such as how much they know about Caruso’s popular Grove project, adjacent to the historic Farmers’ Market on Fairfax Avenue.

But midway through the survey, the questions shifted to who the respondents were likely to vote for as L.A.’s next mayor, reports the Daily News, adding that Matt Middlebrook, a Los Angeles political consultant who works for Caruso Affiliated, declined to comment on whether the company paid for the survey.

Read the full Daily News report, which appears at the end of the column, here.

The Daily News column also reports City Hall rumors that the Los Angeles City Council might challenge its 12-0 vote last week, electing Council member Herb Wesson as the successor to Council President Eric Garcetti, who will step down Jan. 2, 2012 and will be running for mayor.

According to the column, the issue behind the rumored challenge is the legality of electing a Council president more than a month ahead—and the propriety of an endorsement for the elected official by the outgoing president.