Garcetti says Greuel attack website proves she’s losing mayor’s race

Eric Garcetti said Wednesday that a website dubbing him the “Prince of Hollywood” was a personal attack by mayoral rival Wendy Greuel and a sign that she was losing.

“The people of Los Angeles deserve better than that,” Garcetti, a city councilman, told reporters outside 99th Street Elementary School. “Personal attacks I always take as a compliment because it’s a sign of a losing campaign.”

The “Garcetti Fail” website was discovered by the Daily News of Los Angeles on Tuesday but was password-protected once reporters inquired about it with the Greuel campaign. The site featured images of Garcetti wearing a golden crown and called him “a trust fund kid who never had to work a day in his life” and who believes the rules don’t apply to him, according to the paper.

Greuel strategist John Shallman noted that Garcetti had long had up a website attacking Greuel, the city controller.

“It’s hypocritical for Eric Garcetti to criticize the Wendy Greuel campaign for having a negative website since he has been promoting his own negative website against Wendy since before the primary,” he said.

Shallman and other critics have been hitting Garcetti about his frequent absences from council sessions as he campaigns, which occurred again Wednesday.

“When you earn $178,000 per year, taxpayers have the very basic right to expect council members to show up and do their job. Apparently Mr. Garcetti had better things to do,” Shallman said.

While Garcetti is eligible for a salary of $178,000, he has volunteered for a $15,000 annual pay cut to help with the city’s financial crisis, his campaign has said.

Garcetti -- who occupies one of 15 council seats -- defended his absences, saying that he was available if his presence was necessary.

“I’m in close touch with the council president and whenever he needs me, I’m making sure that I’m there to maintain a quorum and other things,” he replied when asked about his absences. “So I’m very close by, I’m in very close touch and I will continue to do that.”

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Twitter: @LATSeema

seema.mehta@latimes.com