L.A. business group wants answers from Greuel on pensions

A Los Angeles business group that endorsed mayoral candidate Wendy Greuel has called on her to appear personally to explain statements she made about pensions -- and about reopening talks with City Hall labor unions over reductions in retirement benefits.

Greuel, the city controller, has been attacking opponent Eric Garcetti for weeks over his City Council vote to roll back retirement benefits for new hires, saying he and his colleagues failed to properly negotiate those changes. She went further Friday, telling The Times that she wants to meet with labor leaders to discuss the reduction in benefits “to make sure we get that pension reform that they agree with."

Those remarks alarmed Los Angeles Area Chamber of Commerce President Gary Toebben, who said his organization supported the council's decision to cut pension benefits for newly hired civilian city workers last year. Toebben said he asked Greuel to appear personally before his group to explain herself and disclosed that a Greuel campaign fundraiser scheduled for Thursday by the chamber has been canceled for now.

“We’re going to have a conversation with Wendy to clarify the pension comments,” Toebben said. “And we just didn’t have a sufficient response [from potential guests] at the moment to hold the fundraiser this Thursday. So we are not doing that.”

Greuel said Tuesday that the fundraiser had been canceled because potential guests had not been given enough advance notice. And she backed away from some of her previous remarks, including her push for a new round of collective bargaining with employee unions.

In an interview, Greuel said she wants simply to meet with unions to discuss ways to keep them from filing a legal challenge against the pension cuts, not open a new round of negotiations.

U.S. Army Corp's Sepulveda Basin plan on hold

Bird watchers angered by the destruction of 43 acres of a wildlife preserve at Sepulveda Basin got a promise from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers on Tuesday that it wouldn’t remove any more vegetation until at least mid-September.

Tomas Beauchamp, a corps spokesman, told the Los Angeles City Council that further work on the so-called South Reserve, south of Burbank Boulevard and north to the base of the dam, is on hold, in part because nesting birds have been discovered in the habitat.

The extra time will also permit corps officials to meet with stakeholder groups outraged by the destruction of willows, mule fat, coyote brush and elderberry trees in December. Beauchamp, however, stopped short of saying that no further work would be done.

"We’re committed to stopping that … until we come up with a plan that looking ahead ... meets our needs as well as the environmental community’s needs,’’ Beauchamp told the council.

L.A. County labor federation backs Wendy Greuel for mayor

The powerful umbrella group for Los Angeles County unions endorsed Wendy Greuel for mayor Tuesday, saying she was the only candidate in the race who could be trusted to support working families.

The announcement by the Los Angeles County Federation of Labor followed a rare unanimous vote Monday night by 300 delegates from an array of private- and public-sector unions. The group chose Greuel, the  city controller, over City Councilman Eric Garcetti. The two square off in a May 21 runoff.

In a news conference at county Fed headquarters west of downtown, union members referred to Greuel repeatedly as being the honorable choice while suggesting her opponent, whom they did not name, might go back on his word.

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The reference was to Garcetti’s vote last fall to reduce pension benefits and raise the retirement age from 55 to 65 for civilian employees hired by the city after July 1. The City Council unanimously approved the changes without negotiating with union representatives, a move that labor leaders said violated Garcetti’s previous pledge to engage in collective bargaining on all contract changes.

"The one thing that cannot be lost here is the honesty,” said Thom Davis, a vice president at the county labor group. “If somebody gives us an answer we do not like, that’s OK, we can deal with that. What we have a problem with is when someone is being deceptive, tells us one thing and then does another.”

Maria Elena Durazo, the top official in the labor group, wrote in a letter to The Times on Tuesday that Garcetti had been "dishonest" in ignoring "provisions of existing collective bargaining agreements that he had supported."

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Garcetti defended his vote Tuesday in the Fairfax district, where he was accepting the endorsement of Councilman Paul Koretz, who has won election twice with strong backing from organized labor.

LAFD delays key emergency response reforms

The Los Angeles Fire Department has delayed two reform measures designed to respond to the controversy over its diminished resources and faulty response times, according to LAFD officials at Tuesday’s meeting of the city Fire Commission.

Fire Chief Brian Cummings told the panel he’s pulling back for more study an ambitious plan called for by the City Council that would boost the department’s ranks and aim to lift its sagging response times. At the same meeting, the commissioner leading the overhaul of the LAFD’s faulty data analysis said the effort to put the department’s process on solid footing was behind schedule and would not meet an April deadline.

The department's performance has been under increased scrutiny since last March when fire officials admitted to publishing response times that made it appear rescuers arrived at emergencies faster than they actually did.

A series of Times investigations followed that identified problems or delays in processing 911 calls, summoning the nearest medical rescuers from other jurisdictions as well as wide gaps in response times in different parts of the city.

Mike Feuer gains endorsement of L.A. County Federation of Labor

The powerful Los Angeles County Federation of Labor has endorsed former lawmaker Mike Feuer for Los Angeles city attorney, the Feuer campaign announced Tuesday.

In a statement released by the campaign, federation chief Maria Elena Durazo said the former Los Angeles city councilman and state assemblyman "has been a tireless advocate for working families throughout his career and a real leader when it comes to bringing jobs to our region and making L.A. safer."

The endorsement adds momentum to Feuer's May runoff challenge to incumbent City Atty. Carmen Trutanich, whom Feuer led, 44% to 30%, in the four-way municipal primary this month.

The 600,000-member federation has been a potent force at City Hall and in local elections because it can provide campaign volunteers and urge the workers it represents to vote for its preferred candidates. In some races, it has spent heavily on efforts independent of a candidates campaign, such as when it led an alliance that spent $8.5 million to help elect Los Angeles County Supervisor Mark Ridley-Thomas in 2008.

AIDS foundation accuses adult filmmaker of violating condom law

Saying an adult film company shirked new rules requiring performers to use condoms, the AIDS Healthcare Foundation lodged a complaint this week to test whether Los Angeles County officials will follow the letter of the law when it comes to unprotected sex in porn.

Officials from the foundation said they filed the complaint with the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health after receiving an anonymous tip and accompanying video footage from someone who had been on the set of an Immoral Productions shoot.

"We received a letter, indicating they were operating without use of condoms and were streaming content on an ongoing basis. We went to their website and identified the fact that they weren't following the health and safety measures they were required to do," Michael Weinstein, president of the foundation, said in a teleconference call Tuesday.

Measure B, which took effect in December after it was approved by more than 56% of county voters, mandates that porn actors use condoms while filming in the county and that they and adult film production companies take other safety measures.

AIDS group files complaint with county over unprotected sex in porn

Citing lax enforcement by the county, the AIDS Healthcare Foundation lodged a complaint Monday accusing a Los Angeles porn studio of filming unprotected sex in defiance of a new law that requires adult performers to use condoms. 

Measure B, which mandates that porn actors use condoms and take other safety measures, took effect in December after it was approved a month earlier by about 56% of the countywide vote.

The complaint -- addressed to Jonathan Fielding, director of the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health -- contends Immoral Productions films performers not using protection and violates several other provisions of the law, despite receiving a permit from the county. 

"We're putting them to the test," said foundation President Michael Weinstein. "If democracy means something in L.A. County -- if porn producers and county supervisors are not above the law -- then they will enforce it."

Lockyer seeks legal opinion on school construction bond campaigns

California Treasurer Bill Lockyer sought a legal opinion Monday to determine if some local education officials and the municipal finance firms they employ are violating state law by campaigning to get school construction bonds passed.

In a letter to California Atty. Gen. Kamala Harris, Lockyer said the opinion was necessary because some arrangements between school districts and bonding firms “raise substantive questions” about whether the officials are using public money to conduct such political campaigns — an action banned by law.

In recent months, Lockyer has been examining the way schools handle bonds, in part because of alleged abuses that arose from the issuance of risky and expensive instruments know as capital appreciation bonds.

Based on figures developed by his office, The Times reported last November that 200 school and community college systems — a fifth of all districts statewide — had issued billions of dollars in such debt, often when pressed for construction money during the recession. Unlike conventional bonds that require repayments to start immediately, these allowed districts to put them off for decades. The delays, however, often result in staggeringly high compounded interest charges that make the total debt even larger.

Garcetti, Greuel pick up new support in L.A. mayoral election

The two contenders in the May 21 Los Angeles mayoral election announced their latest endorsements Monday, with City Councilman Eric Garcetti picking up support from a colleague in the San Fernando Valley and City Controller Wendy Greuel touting the backing of a community college board member.

Garcetti held a news conference in Studio City with Councilman Paul Krekorian, who heads the council’s powerful Budget and Finance Committee. Krekorian, who holds the council seat once represented by Greuel, said Garcetti would as mayor "have the courage to take the hard steps" to address the city's problems.

The announcement was not a huge surprise, given that Greuel campaigned hard three years ago for Krekorian’s opponent, former Paramount Studios executive Chris Essel, in a special council election. Essel -– like Greuel in this year’s mayoral campaign -– was heavily backed that year by the union that represents Department of Water and Power employees.

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Garcetti compared this year's mayoral election to that campaign, saying that when Krekorian ran "there were powerful forces aligned against him." "He showed that elections aren't for sale," Garcetti said.

Greuel, in turn, announced the support of Mike Eng, a newly elected board member for the Los Angeles Community College District. That wasn’t much of a surprise either since Eng is the husband of U.S. Rep. Judy Chu -– who endorsed Greuel just a few weeks ago.

L.A. Votes: Garcetti raises a pint, Greuel cheers marathoners; both court endorsements

The mayoral candidates spent the weekend pressing the flesh and raising cash. City Controller Wendy Greuel was seen at the L.A. Marathon, being interviewed alongside termed-out Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa and former Dodgers’ owner Frank McCourt. City Councilman Eric Garcetti hoisted a Guinness while toasting Los Angeles during a St. Patrick’s Day bash at Tom Bergin’s on Fairfax.

Garcetti picked up the endorsement of former mayoral candidate Emanuel Pleitez on Saturday outside the Derby Dolls’ roller derby rink. Greuel picked up the nod of EMILY’S List, a fundraising organization devoted to electing pro-choice Democratic women. But two of the biggest endorsements remain in play -– Republican attorney Kevin James and Councilwoman Jan Perry, who effectively tied for third in the mayoral primary, and whose supporters would be a major boon to Greuel’s or Garcetti’s chances in the May 21 runoff.

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Team Garcetti is also piqued by the continued airing of an anti-Garcetti ad by a pro-Greuel independent committee that is largely supported by a union that represents many workers from the city’s Department of Water and Power. A flurry of Garcetti fundraising pleas have gone out in recent days, with subject lines such as “Fed up,” “I’m tired of this,” and “Enough is enough.”

Whoever is elected mayor, the city’s next chief executive will have a new quandary to face because of billionaire Philip Anschutz’s decision not to sell Anschutz Entertainment Group and company Chief Executive Tim Leiweke’s departure from the firm: how to upgrade the city's Convention Center in case plans for developing a downtown football stadium fall apart.

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-- Seema Mehta

Comments, questions or tips on city elections? Tweet me at @LATSeema

Photo: Councilman Eric Garcetti shakes supporters' hands at an election night party on March 5. Credit:  Kevork Djansezian / Getty Images