We blogged the happy fluff-fest that ensued when Ryan Seacrest interviewed L.A.'s mayor yesterday. Now here's Which Way L.A.'s Warren Olney, asking some inconvenient questions.
How, exactly, despite a windfall reaped from that trash fee hike, did so little go to hiring new cops? Why, exactly, is Villaraigosa raising cash for his own website? And when, exactly, does the mayor, who travels extensively, plan to spend more time in our fair city? Does Olney get answers? Not exactly.
If KCRW's audio player doesn't work in Firefox, try listening in IE. Or you can check Olney's page to listen or download a podcast.
Plenty of homework ahead for state voters as a veteran's bond is expected to become the 12th statewide proposition on the Nov. 4th ballot. Robert Greene has the details:
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger is
expected to sign a bill today to add a veterans' bond to the growing
Nov. 4 ballot. The measure to extend the Cal-Vet program (to help
veterans buy homes and farms) would be the 12th statewide proposition
to come before voters, with more sure to follow. It's encapsulated in Senate Bill 1572 by Sen. Mark Wyland (R-Carlsbad).
The June 26 deadline for placing legislative and initiative measures on the ballot has come and gone, but then, so has the July 1 deadline
for adopting a 2008-2009 state budget, and that doesn't seem to have
phased anyone in Sacramento.
None of this is cheap, Greene says, with costs running as much as $94k per page, by the time you add up mailing costs. Get the details, and some great links, in his full post about the state ballot measures.
Los Angeles City Councilwoman Janice Hahn spent the past week promoting a proposed $30-million anti-gang tax for the Nov. 4 election. And at a luncheon this afternoon, she made it clear that she expects that Obama voters will be the ones to take it over the top.
Addressing the Los Angeles Current Affairs Forum, Hahn said the upcoming election will be the perfect time to ask voters to increase property taxes by roughly $3 per month, which is designed to pay for after-school and other programs to keep children from joining gangs.
“I believe that the people who come out in November to possibly elect the first African American president of the United States are people who understand this concept of investing in our kids at the front end of their life, rather than the back end of their life,” Hahn told the crowd of more than 40 people.
The council is scheduled to vote on whether to place the measure on the ballot on Friday morning.
Who says it's all silicone and shopping in Beverly Hills? Local residents are planning a rally for "an oil-free president" tonight at the "famous" 76 filling station across from City Hall. Here's the invite:
Even this wealthy enclave is not immune to the effects of the rising price of oil and gas. The high cost of fuel is affecting all Americans wealthy and poor. We want to make sure the world knows that Beverly Hills residents are fed up with gas prices and want a president in the White House who will bring the cost of gas down.
It's one of many similar events being held nationwide, organized by MoveOn.org. The BH shindig is at the 76 Station on the corner of Crescent Drive and Burton Way at 5:30 p.m., if you're feeling supportive or merely curious.
Can't help but wonder how many of those other rallies will take place mere miles from a working oil well, such as the one in the photo located at Beverly Hills High School.
He was once the co-chair for Hillary Clinton's presidential run, but since she suspended her campaign on June 7, Antonio Villaraigosa is a free agent again. Our own Phil Willon tells us what LA's mayor is up to now:
Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa will introduce presumptive Democratic candidate Sen. Barack Obama when he speaks to Latino community and political leaders gathering in Washington this afternoon.
Obama, who is aggressively seeking support from the Latino voters who flocked to Clinton during the primary, will be a featured speaker at the national convention of the League of Latin American Citizens, better known as LULAC.
Republican presidential hopeful Sen. John McCain and Clinton also are scheduled to address the convention.
Villaraigosa, who took the red-eye to the nation’s capital Monday night, will warm up the crowd with a five-minute introduction of the Illinois senator. It’s the second time this week that the Obama campaign has asked Villaraigosa, who as mayor of Los Angeles is one of the most prominent Latino politicians in the nation, to pitch in.
When McCain recently aired a Spanish-language radio ad criticizing Obama for just discovering the importance of Latino voters, Villaraigosa fired back with a statement praising Obama as a champion of Latinos and the issues most important to them.
It'll be a Villaraigosa and Obama reunion, actually. Here they are back in 2006 during a rally at USC for Phil Angelides, who was then running for governor. What's so funny? Obama's crack about the many ways his name gets misspelled and misspoken.
The swimmers were on the starting blocks at Miguel Contreras Learning Center swimming pool, waiting for the crack of a pistol, but Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa had other plans.
At a news conference this morning, the mayor announced a new agreement between the city and the Los Angeles Unified School District to open up 15 LAUSD pools to the public during the hot summer months.To commemorate the deal, Villaraigosa was supposed to shoot a starter pistol and send about a dozen high school kids into the gleaming, Olympic-sized pool.
But Villaraigosa, his political radar finely tuned, didn’t want anything to do with holding a gun, "even a fake one," especially with television news cameras and photographers recording his every move.
Instead, he picked up the microphone and counted to three.
A day after San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom announced that he is exploring a run for governor, Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa deflected questions about whether he will join what is expected to be a packed field of Democrats.
"I’m focused on my job. I loving being mayor of Los Angeles," Villaraigosa said at an afternoon news conference where he touted the city’s overall drop in violent crimes (except for homicides).
You’ll notice that didn’t say that he won’trun for governor in 2010.
Villaraigosa is raising money as fast as he can for his mayoral reelection campaign, so if he does decide to run for governor it may not be for a year or so.
The first open-seat governor's race in 12 years is expected to draw a crowded field of Democratic hopefuls, including former governor and current Atty. Gen. Jerry Brown, Lt. Gov. John Garamendi and former Controller Steve Westly, who unsuccessfully sought the Democratic gubernatorial nomination in 2006.
U.S. Rep. Laura Richardson can't plead ignorance as the root of her now-famous real estate woes, which include a foreclosure and unpaid taxes in Sacramento, and defaults in both Long Beach and San Pedro. Turns out Richardson was, at one time in her life, a Realtor. Here's the story from the Press-Telegram:
The congresswoman was permitted to sell property in California from Dec. 16, 1998, to Dec. 15, 2002, state Department of Real Estate records show.
In the late 1990s, Richardson worked for short periods of time at Action Century 21, 3626 E. Pacific Coast Highway, and Prudential California Realty (now Coldwell Banker), 1650 Ximeno Ave., agents at both offices say.
A spokesman for Richardson says she never took part in any real estate transactions.
"Congresswoman Richardson has never utilized the license in any state," says aide William Marshall. "She has never listed or sold any property in any capacity for herself or anyone else."
The reporter couldn't find any records of sales by Richardson, a Long Beach Democrat. When her license expired, Richardson didn't renew it. You can read the full story here.
We're in the home stretch of Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa's flurry of fund-raising. Looking to scare away potential opponents, the mayor squeezed no fewer than six fundraisers for his reelection campaign into his weekend schedule: two on Saturday and four on Sunday, according to documents filed with the Ethics Commission. Villaraigosa appears to have no fundraisers today -- on the eighth day, he's resting -- which leaves The Times' David Zahniser to play catchup on the weekend money frenzy:
On Saturday morning, Villaraigosa looked for money from prominent gay and lesbian leaders -– including Bruce Cohen, the Hollywood producer whose marriage to art consultant Gabriel Catone was officiated by the mayor last week, according to a fundraising invitation. Hours later, the mayor attended an outdoor event in Little Tokyo co-hosted by prominent Latino civic leaders. And on Sunday, the city's Persian Americans put together a reelection event in Beverly Hills.
Villaraigosa spokesman Ace Smith would not confirm whether all six events went off without a hitch; we must make do with the six invitations turned in to the Ethics Commission.
Click on the link below for a few of the fundraising sponsors and co-hosts from Saturday and Sunday who will probably have an interest in decisions made by Villaraigosa during the coming years.
Photo: Villaraigosa at the wedding of Bruce Cohen (middle) and Gabriel Catone (left). Credit: Lawrence K. Ho / Los Angeles Times
She may have defaulted on mortgages and lost a home in foreclosure, but that hasn't stopped Rep. Laura Richardson from driving in style and at great expense, courtesy of the taxpayer. The lease on the Long Beach Democrat's 2007 Lincoln Town Car costs about $1,300 a month -- the most expensive lease of any member of the House of Representatives, reports the Daily Breeze. Richardson's monthly lease, paid by the federal government, is much larger than the $400 to $800 a month that other House members pay, according to a taxpayer group.
While Richardson has leased the vehicle only since last fall, it already been involved in one traffic accident while being driven by a staff member. In addition, Long Beach police ticketed the car in January for illegal parking, a ticket that has gone unpaid.
The congresswoman has had a spotty record with government-issued autos in the past:
When she was a councilwoman in Long Beach, she crashed her BMW, abandoned it at a body shop, failed to pay a prior repair bill, and then racked up 30,000 miles on a city-owned hybrid in one year -- apparently violating a policy against personal use of city cars.
-- Jesus Sanchez
Photo: A 2003 Lincoln Town Car. Credit: Ford Motor Co.
* Updated to include Richardson's party affiliation
So, California. The economy's in the toilet, the state budget is bleeding red, the drought's getting worse and we've got wildfires so fierce, one of our main exports right now is the pall of smoke that's settled as far away as Nevada.
But Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger is working hard to get things under control, his staff assured reporters at a briefing Tuesday. What they somehow forgot to mention is he'll be doing it all the way from Florida.
So where's Arnold?
Our own Evan Halper reports that Schwarzenegger slipped out of our state on his private jet Wednesday afternoon, headed for Miami. Why hang around just to see the legislature blow the July 1 deadline for enacting a budget when instead, you can be feted as an environmental hero at a climate-change conference 3,000 miles away?
And the response from Sacramento:
"The Governor is clearly engaged on every issue facing the state around the clock, no matter where he is, and has demonstrated this in the past week by meeting with legislative leaders on the budget, declaring states of emergency in several counties affected by the fires, being briefed on the ground of three fire sites, mobilizing the National Guard to combat the fires, issuing an executive order to help people recover from the fires and signing anti-gang legislation, just to name a few examples."
Just try reading that out loud without taking a breath.
-- Veronique de Turenne
Photo: A sculpture is all that's left after a wildfire, one of hundreds in the state, raced through grassland near the Napa and Solano County line this week. Credit: Robert Durell / Los Angeles Times
The happy couple that Antonio Villaraigosa joined in wedlock yesterday? One of the grooms, Bruce Cohen, (center in the photo) is hosting a big shindig to raise money for the mayor's campaign war chest. Our own David Zahniser connects the dots:
Cohen, an Oscar-winning producer and friend of Villaraigosa's, is also a co-host of a reelection campaign fundraiser for the mayor Saturday, according to an invitation filed with the city's Ethics Commission. The invitation shows a roster of local gay and lesbian leaders listed as co-hosts, including West Hollywood City Councilman John Duran and former Los Angeles Police Commissioner Shelley Freeman.
Talk about a political honeymoon.
Look for Day Two of our daily look at Villaraigosa's Fundraiser 'o' the Day, in which our mayor attends 11 events in nine days, later this afternoon.
We're launching a special (and short-lived) feature here on L.A. Now, tracking the campaign fundraisers planned by L.A.'s mayor, Antonio Villaraigosa. He's planning 11 events in the next nine days, and our own David Zahniser will give the details -- and the context for each one.
Let's start with tonight's $1,000-per-contributor event in Koreatown, held at 6:30 p.m. at the J.J. Grand Hotel. Here's David:
The fundraiser will be co-hosted by three Korean American business leaders, including Chang Y. Lee, president of the Korean American Chamber of Commerce, according to an invitation filed with the city’s Ethics Commission.
Perhaps the most noteworthy co-host is Alexander Hugh, chief executive of the real estate development company CIC Group –- a firm that received permission from City Hall last year to build a condominium hotel with 16- and 21-story towers at 7th Street and Hobart Boulevard.
Villaraigosa made the project a top priority and had representatives of his business team lobby for its passage. But one planning department official warned that the project would be too large for the surrounding Koreatown neighborhood.
It happened last fall, but Laura Richardson's presence at an Association of Realtors shindig -- they paid for her hotel and transportation -- has more than a touch of irony. Our own Jeff Gottlieb connects the dots:
Last November, the National Assn. of Realtors flew in three members of California's congressional delegation for the installation of its new president, paying for their food, lodging and transportation. Two of them were Adam Schiff and Kevin McCarthy. The third was Rep. Laura Richardson, who has since become better known for her dealings in the real estate world than for her legislative activites.
Richardson's house in Sacramento was sold in foreclosure last month, and she has gone into default on homes in San Pedro and in her district in Long Beach. Just two months before her trip to Las Vegas, Richardson received a notice of default on her San Pedro house saying she owed $12,410.71. A little more than a month before her trip, Richardson received a notice saying she owed $15,101.87 on her Long Beach house.
Mary Trupo, a spokeswoman for the Realtors, said the group had no idea of Richardson's troubles when it invited her. She said the group invited the Congress members because they represented areas where new president Richard F. Gaylord has worked with Realtor groups.
There is no word whether in an attempt to find the money to get up to speed on her payments, Richardson put down some heavy bets at the roulette table. What we do know is that two months later she once again received a notice of default, this one saying she owed $11,053.04 on the San Pedro house.
Richardson has faced default on her homes seven times -- five of those in the last 13 months. Will the Ethics Commission investigate? Will the Association of Realtors ask for its plane fare back?
If you can stand to read about how the Lakers blew the biggest first-quarter lead in NBA Finals history, then wrote their names in the record books with the biggest breakdown in the NBA Finals in the last 37 years, and how Kobe Bryant walked off the court with time on the clock, then by all means, read our coverage. Bill Plaschke's righteous rage will actually make you feel better. T.J. Simers blames Phil Jackson. The game story pulls no punches. The photos, well, they'll just break your heart. Thank God it's Friday.
And now onto the real world:
L.A.'s top cops have a turf war of their own going. L.A. County Sheriff Lee Baca says race plays a big role in gang violence, while LAPD Chief Bill Bratton says it's actually about drugs and money.
Manson acolyte Susan Atkins may be released from prison because she has brain cancer.
Judge Alex Kozinski wants you to look at some porn -- his own. Specifically, he's called for an investigation into the fact that he kept hard-core images on his website to determine whether he's considered fit to judge obscenity cases.
The Japanese gangster who wanted a liver transplant at UCLA tried to pay $1 million for a U.S. visa.
Got a Q about same-sex marriage in California? Chances are, we've got the A.
Meanwhile, the Kern County clerk says she's hurt by the criticism at her decision to halt all civil marriage ceremonies.
Feeling a particularly vicious pinch in your wallet? You're not dreaming: May's jump in inflation was the biggest in six months.
Check out our coverage of the "Georgia O'Keeffe and the Women of the Stieglitz Circle" exhibit now in the San Diego Museum of Art. What's Hillary Clinton got to do with it? Ironic, in light of today's piece in the NYT.
An update on former Times editor and perpetual City Hall watcher Bill Boyarsky from our man in City Hall, David Zahniser:
Yesterday was Bill Boyarsky's last day on the Los Angeles City Ethics Commission, the five-member panel that punishes those who violate L.A. laws that govern elections, lobbying and campaign contributions.
Boyarsky, an outspoken former editor and columnist for the Los Angeles Times, was mostly quiet during his final meeting. But after it was all over, he talked about his experience over the last few years, as he came to the conclusion that the Ethics Commission is "on the periphery of power" at City Hall.
"Power is with the business lobbyists, the union lobbyists, the people who run the campaigns," he said.
Get ready to hear more, lots more, from Boyarsky in the coming days.
The state senator running for the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors has been doing everything he can to show he supports Barack Obama more than his rival, Bernard Parks. But Ridley-Thomas is also trying to get political mileage by being associated with another political figure that would surprise many of his Democratic supporters: Ronald Reagan.
The Times' Garrett Therolf has more details:
Ridley-Thomas paid $2,400 to get his name on a Republican mailer touting the legacy of Ronald Reagan, according to a campaign finance report. The mailer praises Reagan for "his ideals of limited government and personal freedoms" and name-drops President Bush. It was shipped by an organization called "Continuing the Republican Revolution," an outfit run by Newport Beach political operative Scott Hart.
Candidates who received "endorsements" on the mailer paid Hart’s organization, according to campaign finance records. The Times got curious and asked if we can indeed count on Ridley-Thomas to champion a "Republican revolution." Ridley-Thomas' campaign spokesman, Fred MacFarlane, said: "Well, I think, you know, we can appeal to Republican voters as the best choice for all the people in the 2nd District, notwithstanding any revolution."
The mailer comes shortly after Ridley-Thomas said he would highlight his opponent's conservative streak and assist Parks, who is a Democrat as well, "in identifying himself as a Republican."
Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa went beyond hinting today that he would support Barack Obama's presidential bid as the Democratic nominee:
"I’m excited about Barack Obama,’’ Villaraigosa told CNN’s Wolf Blitzer this afternoon. "His clarion call for change touched a cord all across the nation, and I’m going to work as hard for him as I did for Hillary Clinton."
Villaraigosa promised to go “anywhere they ask me to go’’ to help him defeat presumptive GOP nominee Sen. John McCain in November.
Villaraigosa also downplayed Obama's failure to win many Latino votes during the Democratic primaries. Click on the link below to read more from the Times' newest City Hall reporter, Phil Wilon.
-- Jesus Sanchez
Photo (October 2006): Mel Melcon / Los Angeles Times
With Hillary Clinton poised to drop her presidential bid, Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, who is one of the chairs of her national campaign, is now in the awkward position (as are other Clinton supporters) of having to shift allegiance to Sen. Barack Obama in his effort to secure the White House as the Democratic candidate. Villaraigosa hinted of the shift at a press conference Wednesday following Barack's victory declaration:
"Yesterday, we crossed a threshold. Americans said it's time for change. They're looking for a leader who can inspire us, and the message is clear -- we all have a lot of work to do to make sure that that change comes to fruition."
Of Clinton, Villaraigosa added: "I've never been prouder to support a presidential candidate."
While some of us may have been daunted by this week's crowded election ballot, animal lovers could find help right on the City of LA's web site. David Zahniser explains:
Ed Boks, general manager of the animal services department, keeps a blog titled "From Ed's Desk" on the department's home page. (That's Boks in the photo at right.) A week ago today, he posted a list of congressional endorsements compiled by the Humane Society Legislative Fund, a group that seeks animal-friendly policies.
The posting instructed animal enthusiasts to re-elect such politicians as Rep. Jane Harman on the Westside, Rep. Adam Schiff in Pasadena and Rep. Laura Richardson -- currently known for her financial woes, especially the foreclosure of one of her three houses -- in a district that includes Long Beach.
Now legally, city officials are barred from using public resources for political purposes, particularly campaign activities. But the blog, which features a photo of Boks smiling and hugging a dog, warns readers that nothing on it "represents the official position of the City of Los Angeles or LA Animal Services unless otherwise specifically noted."
That didn't reassure City Attorney Rocky Delgadillo's office, which said the posting raised legal concerns. "We do not believe an official city web site should link to candidate endorsements," said Delgadlilo spokesman Nick Velasquez.
Deputy Mayor Janelle Erickson said an aide to Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa had ordered Boks to remove the post on Wednesday.
The election, of course, was the previous day. Is anyone in the doghouse?
Polling places in SoCal are nothing if not eclectic. We've got schools and civic buildings, of course, private homes, fancy restaurants and, here in Echo Park, La Popular Furniture store. Voting booths were set up near the display windows, visible to window shoppers strolling by. And here's Katy Croshier, polling inspector, waiting (and waiting) for a few voters to show up.
We're hearing that turnout is light, poll workers are bored, and the
Founding Fathers are turning over in their graves. So please, go. Exercise
your precious and hard-won right to vote, like Mark Ridley-Thomas did
(photo on the right) and Bernard Parks (he's in the green shirt), both of them hoping to win Yvonne
B. Burke's seat in the 2nd District on the Board of Supes. And if you need some help, our terrific voter's guide is here.
It's down to the wire as election day draws near and a final flurry of words between candidates Bernard Parks and Mark Ridley-Thomas hits the streets. Our own David Zahniser gathered some campaign literature as election day draws ever closer.
To the left, a Bernard Parks mailer quotes from a Mark Ridley-Thomas op-ed to praise Bernard Parks. To the right, Ridley-Thomas' supporters go old school with a full-page attack ad, basically blaming Parks for the financial fallout of the Rampart scandal.
