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Here are three good reasons to read the excellent profile of labor leader Maria Elena Durazo that graced the front page of Sunday’s LA Times:

Even though Durazo’s LA County of Federation of Labor backed the losing the Mayoral candidate, Wendy Greuel, it still has backed — at some point or another — nearly ever City Councilman.

Dan Schnur, director of the Jesse M. Unruh Institute of Politics at USC, calls Durazo “still probably the single most influential individual in Los Angeles politics.”

“The ‘County Fed,’ as it is known, coordinates political operations for more than 300 union locals” — two of which are UTLA and the SEIU Local 99, which represents service workers in LAUSD. Since service workers dominate the county Fed’s membership, Durazo is much more aligned with the SEIU than she is with UTLA. (During the School Board elections, Durazo’s group backed Monica Garcia, Steve Zimmer and Antonio Sanchez.)

Previous posts: County Fed Union Endorses Board Candidates; Democrats Decline to Endorse Garcia; UTLA Official Kneecaps Mayoral Candidate Garcetti