Steve Lopez on Bell verdict: It wasn’t a clean sweep

It wasn’t a clean sweep.

And it was only the preliminary round, with bigger fish still in the pond.

But the word “guilty” was uttered over and over again as verdicts were read Wednesday in the “corruption on steroids” trial of six former city of Bell officials caught up in one of the most outrageous scandals in recent Southern California history.

CHEAT SHEET: Bell corruption verdicts

Victor Bello, George Cole, George Mirabel, Teresa Jacobo and Oscar Hernandez were found guilty of a range of charges including misappropriation of funds and fraudulently compensating themselves, but not guilty of other charges. The jurors, who had dozens of charges to sort through, deliberated 18 days.

Only Luis Artiga, a pastor and former councilman, got away clean, acquitted on all counts.

This is the crew that turned part-time public service into personal windfall, taking home nearly $100,000 a year for jobs that pay closer to $8,000 in towns of similar size. Their take-home was padded by exorbitant payment for sitting on boards and authorities that rarely met or did much of anything, according to prosecutors.

FULL COVERAGE: Bell corruption trial

All of this happened in the fiefdom run by former city administrator Robert Rizzo, who was paid a staggering $800,000 a year and expressed an arrogance about it when first cornered by Times reporters Jeff Gottlieb and Ruben Vives.

L.A. Votes: Wendy Greuel faces questions on pensions, labor support

Labor support and pensions for city workers continue to be a key issue in the Los Angeles mayoral contest, as Wendy Greuel faces fresh questions about her backing from public-employee unions and her stance on a City Council vote last year to trim retirement benefits for new workers.

Greuel has long criticized rival Eric Garcetti’s City Council vote to roll back pension benefits for new hires without engaging in collective bargaining with city worker unions. Recent statements that she would push to reopen talks with labor over the decision have raised concerns among some of Greuel’s pro-business backers. The Los Angeles Area Chamber of Commerce on Tuesday called on Greuel, the city controller, to appear personally to explain her position.

Also on Tuesday, Greuel accepted the endorsement of the 600,00-member county Federation of Labor, a union umbrella group that fought the pension changes. The controller also backed off an earlier suggestion that she wanted a new round of negotiations over the pension cuts, saying Tuesday she simply wants to meet with labor leaders to discuss ways of avoiding a lawsuit over the matter.

FULL COVERAGE: L.A.'s race for mayor

Columnist Steve Lopez talked to voters in the San Fernando Valley who say Greuel’s labor backing is costing her support in the key, voter-rich region.

Meanwhile, Garcetti and Greuel continued to rack up new endorsements, with Garcetti earning the support of council members Paul Koretz and Paul Krekorian, and Greuel picking up the backing of Los Angeles Unified School District Board President Monica Garcia and newly elected Los Angeles Community College Trustee Mike Eng.

Garcia, who won reelection to the board this month, faces a new challenge as a majority of her board colleagues voted to limit the number of consecutive years a board member can serve as president.

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The first debate of the runoff occurs Wednesday night -- in the city attorney race. Incumbent Carmen Trutanich will face off with Mike Feuer at a downtown meeting hosted by the Italian American Lawyers Assn. and the Metropolitan News-Enterprise. Feuer on Tuesday also picked up the endorsement of the county Federation of Labor.

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L.A. Votes: Wendy Greuel faces questions on pensions, labor support   

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-- Seema Mehta

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

Photo: Los Angeles mayoral candidate Wendy Greuel speaks to media March 6. Credit: Nick Ut / Associated Press

Steve Lopez to AEG's Phil Anschutz: Thanks for nothing

So what do we have to show for another couple of years of dreaming of the return of the NFL to Los Angeles?

Nothing.

The city got sacked.

This after L.A. city officials — many of them bagging campaign donations from Anschutz Entertainment Group -- scrambled around like cheerleaders, kissing the rings of AEG officials. They wasted countless hours on meetings, analysis, negotiations. Meanwhile, AEG worked state legislators to ease the burden of lawsuits over environmental concerns around the building of a stadium.

And now we have the seldom-seen Phil Anschutz telling us his L.A. point man and head NFL promoter, Tim Leiweke, is out. And AEG, which was for sale, is now off the market. Meaning we're stuck with Anschutz at least a while longer, and prospects for an NFL team don't look so hot. One big stumbling block is that Anschutz has stubbornly insisted on controls neither the NFL nor any team owner would go for.

My favorite quote from an Anschutz Q&A with The Times:

"The state has stepped up and done their part here. The city has stepped up, the mayor, City Council, they've stepped up. What's not commonly known is AEG is the one that spent all the money. We've spent $45 million. I'm not in the practice commonly of writing checks just for the fun of writing them. You do that because you see a business opportunity."

Cry me a river, Phil.

Who else should have been writing the checks but the billionaire owner of AEG?

And by the way, AEG has gotten plenty of charity from the city, with tax breaks on the LA Live/hotel development and another promised for the football stadium. As Anschutz admits in that quote, he wasn't writing those checks out of the goodness of his heart. It was an investment in a potential windfall.

He ought to write one more check to cover all the time wasted by local and state officials who bent over backward trying to deliver on a stadium.

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Shake-up at AEG clouds NFL's return

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Philip Anschutz says AEG sale became 'a very noisy process'

-- Steve Lopez

Photo: AEG abruptly announced on Thursday that it had taken the company off the market and that Philip Anschutz would retain ownership. Credit: Mark Boster / Los Angeles Times

L.A. Votes: Garcetti, Greuel reach out; how the tax vote varied

After winning spots in the May 21 mayoral runoff, Wendy Greuel and Eric Garcetti are back on the campaign trail and heavily courting two distinct constituencies -- black Democrats in South Los Angeles and white Republicans in the San Fernando Valley.

The candidates are also increasingly highlighting their plans to revitalize the city’s economy -- a reaction, some argue, to widespread criticism that Greuel and Garcetti failed to offer many specifics during the primary.

Many eyes turned to failed mayoral candidates Jan Perry and Kevin James, whose supporters could be key to winning in the May runoff. Perry has not endorsed, but had harsh words for Greuel’s ties to labor. James met with both remaining candidates in recent days as he decides whether to endorse.

FULL COVERAGE: L.A.'s race for mayor

The Times analyzed voter trends in the other big contest on the ballot: the half-cent sales tax increase that L.A. city voters rejected. The results showed a tale of two cities, with voters in the poorest parts of Los Angeles who are most dependent on city services more likely to support the measure, while residents in more affluent swaths were more likely to be against it.

Columnist Steve Lopez weighs in on Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa's supporting the sales-tax proposal as vital for retaining key city services, and then claiming that the city’s finances are rosier than believed after the tax failed at the ballot box.

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-- Seema Mehta

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

L.A. Votes: Runoff campaigns kick off, City Hall girds for more cuts

The mayoral campaign entered a new phase Wednesday, as Eric Garcetti and Wendy Greuel began positioning themselves for the May 21 runoff. The fellow Democrats fought over who can best craft an image of fiscal restraint in a cash-strapped city whose voters refused to raise taxes to maintain public services. Check out a map by the Los Angeles Times’ Data Desk to see how various parts of the city voted.

The candidates spent the day after the election moving around the city. Garcetti, a city councilman who finished first in Tuesday's primary with 33% of the vote, sought to use Greuel's broad support among organized labor to portray her as bowing to its demands for scarce public money. He also offloaded a controversial oil lease that Greuel has tried to hammer him over. Greuel, who finished second with 29%, despite more than $2 million spent by union allies on her behalf, argued that she has fostered a coalition of business and labor support, showing that she has the ability to unite disparate interests and deal with the city’s fiscal woes.

FULL COVERAGE: L.A.'s race for mayor

Meanwhile, attention also was focused on the two candidates who effectively tied for third place -- Kevin James and Jan Perry. While Perry was radio silent throughout the day, James spoke to reporters, saying the campaign had been among the most memorable moments of his life and saying he was undecided about whether to endorse a candidate in the runoff. Perry and James will be closely scrutinized in coming weeks, because their supporters could help tilt the election.

Voters overwhelmingly rejected a sales-tax increase proposal, meaning that the next mayor and city council must be prepared to consider a new round of cuts to services, including police.

Labor-backed candidates won four seats in City Council races, ensuring that city unions will retain a strong hand at City Hall. In three of the races that are headed for a runoff, a longtime council aide will face off against a well-financed candidate backed by labor.

The candidates for city attorney and city controller are wasting no time to in trying to win an advantage in the May 21 runoff.

A well-funded campaign to shape the city’s school board and to bolster Supt. John Deasy and his policies  saw mixed results. The Los Angeles Community College District will gain experience with new board members, but the direction of the agency is unlikely to change.

While the Los Angeles races drew the most attention Tuesday, 29 other cities in Los Angeles County held elections.

Despite all the money spent on the race, the blizzard of television advertising and dozens of debates, the Times examines why turnout was dismal, and columnist Steve Lopez describes the situation as “late-night TV joke territory.”

-- Seema Mehta

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

 

L.A. Votes: Dismal turnout, mayoral runoff, and failed sales tax

This post has been corrected. See below for details.

After months of buildup and millions of dollars spent on a blizzard of television ads and mailers, Los Angeles voters went to the polls Tuesday and selected Eric Garcetti and Wendy Greuel to advance to a mayoral runoff. The long-time City Hall hands don’t have any plans to let up the day after the primary. They will be busy on the campaign trail on Wednesday, with Greuel expected to pick up the endorsement of another union representing city workers.

Rivals Jan Perry and Kevin James did not offer their concessions Tuesday night. James, who has never held elected office, received a hair more support than Perry, a three-term  Los Angeles councilwoman, in the final tally. A key question going forward will be whether they endorse Garcetti or Greuel, because their supporters could propel one of the finalists to victory.

Turnout in the city races was dismal at 16% in a contested mayoral primary. That’s lower than four years ago, when an incumbent was running for reelection. Political experts have speculated that the distinct lack of enthusiasm may have been caused by voter fatigue after a bruising and long presidential contest, coupled with a lack of excitement about the mayoral field. 

RESULTS: Los Angeles primary election

The voters who turned out overwhelmingly rejected a proposal to raise the city’s sales tax by a half-cent to one of the highest in the state. While all the major mayoral candidates opposed the measure, its failure creates a new headache for the next mayor of the city, which will face budget deficits projected at $216 million a year and more.

The city school board races saw an inordinate amount of outside spending, with two camps pouring millions of dollars into the contests. One side is funded by supporters of the policies advocated by L.A. Unified Supt. John Deasy and Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa;  New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg wrote a $1 million check for that camp. The other side has the support of teachers unions. The result is a mixed bag for both sides, with board president Monica Garcia, a Deasy supporter, and Steve Zimmer, a union-backed candidate, both winning reelection.

Sacramento veterans lead in City Council races, and the city attorney and controller are also headed for a runoff.

INTERACTIVE MAP: How your neighborhood voted

Vote-counting took hours, but the greatest drama of the day took place in the morning. A morning shooting occurred outside a polling place in Watts, injuring a poll worker and halting voting for 30 minutes. The 35-year-old victim’s injuries were not life threatening. Police described the incident as a possible “love triangle” and are seeking a suspect.

Columnist Steve Lopez checked in on Election Day with the voters he has been in periodic touch with since January. They voted, despite their frustration with the field and with City Hall. “No one is turning cartwheels,” Lopez wrote.

[For the Record, 9:56 a.m. March 6: An earlier version of this online post gave the wrong name for  L.A. Unified School District Supt. John Deasy.]

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-- Seema Mehta

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

Photo: Eric Garcetti and Wendy Greuel speak to supporters during election night gatherings. Credit: Wally Skalij / Los Angeles Times; Luis Sinco / Los Angeles Times

L.A. Votes: Last-weekend barbs and poll results

Approaching Tuesday's vote, a USC Price/L.A. Times poll found Eric Garcetti and Wendy Greuel close to a tie for the lead. However, a large number of voters who say they could still change their minds could yet swing who makes the May runoff to be the city’s next mayor.

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Jan Perry and Kevin James are effectively tied for third place, according to the survey of likely voters, with James possibly losing support because of an ad created by an independent committee that is supporting his bid.

The Times scrutinized the education platforms of the mayoral candidates, who spent the weekend trading barbs as they skittered around Los Angeles courting voters in what is expected to be a low-turnout contest.

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The most recent campaign financial disclosures showing that Greuel has been the beneficiary of a deluge of outside spending, much of it from unions representing city workers, prompting her rivals to question whether she'll be forced to return to the favor if she is elected mayor. During their final debate before the primary, Perry and Garcetti hammered Greuel about the matter, and she countered that she was not beholden to any group.

In another issue on Tuesday's ballot, the USC Sol Price School of Public Policy/L.A. Times Los Angeles City Primary Poll also found that a slim majority of Angelenos supports a sales-tax measure on the ballot.

Outside spending is playing a major role in school board races in Los Angeles, and the use of standardized testing has emerged as a flash point.

WHERE THEY STAND: Los Angeles mayoral candidates in their own words

The USC Price/L.A. Times poll, which surveyed 500 likely voters from Feb. 24 to 27, also found City Atty. Carmen Trutanich struggling in his reelection bid. The incumbent has filed an ethics complaint against rival Mike Feuer.

With the sole woman on Los Angeles’ City Council leaving in June because of term limits, a handful of women are trying win a spot on the council but face uphill battles against better-funded men.

The race to replace termed-out Councilman Ed Reyes features two men with similar goals for revitalizing the 1st council district, but different political histories.

FULL COVERAGE: L.A.'s race for mayor

In other coverage, columnist Steve Lopez visits the Korean Resource Center in Koreatown, which has pushed up voting rates among Korean Americans. Times architecture critic Christopher Hawthorne looks at the city’s most embarrassing civic-architecture and urban-planning failures, and advises the next mayor how to fix them.

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-- Seema Mehta

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

Photo: City Controller Wendy Greuel gets down to the level of Sam Damico, 4, from Sherman Oaks, during a campaign stop at the Encino Farmer's Market on Sunday. Credit: Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times

The song of Los Angeles carries many tunes. Just listen ...

All you need is a guitar, a few chords and a camera, and you can make it here.

By here, I mean latimes.com.

By make it, I mean there’s a good chance we’ll post your ode to Los Angeles if you send us a music video link.

It seems that while Randy Newman’s “I Love L.A.” is the widely accepted local anthem, the search for a truly official song -- along the lines of standard pop tributes to San Francisco, Chicago and New York -- has gone on for decades.

VIDEOS: Songs for Los Angeles

Bernard Barrett, a retired L.A. city budget analyst, recalls a local identity crisis in 1962 when Tony Bennett’s “I Left My Heart in San Francisco” became a monster hit.

“Therefore,” wrote Barrett, “the City Council asked the Bureau of Music … to seek out such an identifying song for L.A. (My own personal suggestion at the time was 'I Left My Liver In The L.A. River' but that didn't seem to get much traction.)”

Nothing came of the search, but the idea resurfaced almost 20 years later. Bernie Weinberg said he wrote a song called “I Love L.A.” in 1980 for the "Ken and Bob Show," which was running a song contest on KABC.

“I’ll take L.A.,” Weinberg wrote, “Chinatown to the tip of the bay, USC versus UCLA.”

And now we have Justin Chart, a local musician whose “Los Angeles The Song” was the subject of my Wednesday column. The challenge to match Chart, or top him, has brought efforts from across the city and across the musical spectrum.

I kind of like the simplicity of Kristy Hanson’s “Welcome Me Home West Hollywood” and the crooning of Greg Johnson, “Sun beats down no matter what you do, skid row surfer up in Malibu,” on the ballad “Los Angeles Belongs to You.”

And we’ve even got a garage-band entry, “Ole L.A.,” from two youngsters who aren’t old enough to drive.

It’s not too late to be a part of it. Throw your music video up on You Tube and send us a link.

-- Steve Lopez

Steve Lopez: Searching for the song of L.A.

Is there a song for and about Los Angeles that tops all the others?

Judging by early reader reaction to my column about a local musician named Justin Chart, who set out to write the definitive local anthem, I think it’s going to be hard to knock Randy Newman’s “I Love L.A.” off the top of the charts.

But musical tastes are as different and numerous as L.A. neighborhoods. As for amateur efforts, I’m getting music videos sent to me that cover everything from pop to folk to rock 'n' roll.

As for L.A.-centric songs by professionals, the options are just as eclectic.  I’m hearing about favorites from readers, friends and colleagues.

“L.A. Woman” by the Doors
“Under the Bridge” by the Red Hot Chili Peppers
“Hollywood Nights” by Bob Seger
“Los Angeles” by X
“Straight Out of Compton” by NWA (Warning: Explicit lyrics)
“L.A. Town” by Hoyt Axton
“Come A Long Way” by Michelle Shocked
“Free Fallin' ” by Tom Petty
“Hotel California” by the Eagles
“Time Spent in L.A.” by the Dawes
“Welcome to the Jungle” by Guns N' Roses
“California Love” by Tupac Shakur
“This is L.A.” by the Briggs

One of my favorites, for both the music and the video, is “The Only Place” by Best Coast. And who knew that the late Fred Travalena, a comedian, impressionist and singer, tried to come up with an official local anthem in 1983, calling it “L.A.’s My Spot.”

Jay Jackson, a singer who plays newscaster Perd Hapley on “Parks and Rec,” suggested I check out Barbara Morrison’s “City by the Sea,” which is a gem. And reader Bruce Ferguson checked in to tell me Fred Astaire could do more than dance. He was a songwriter, too, and co-wrote “City of the Angels,” which you can see on YouTube.

“Life’s a taste of honey,” wrote Astaire, “when the days are bright and sunny, while you dream of picking money off the trees.”

If you’ve got a favorite, tell us what it is.

And if you think you can top them all, then write a new song, record it (don’t worry about production values), and when you’re done, put it up on YouTube and send us the link.

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-- Steve Lopez

L.A. votes: Next mayor's big challenges, questions about union influence

The nation’s eyes were fixed this weekend on the Oscar race unfolding in Hollywood. But with just days to go before the citywide March 5 election, local political contests were getting just as hot and heavy.

The Times took a wide-angle look at the challenges facing the city as voters pick a successor to termed-out Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa. City leaders have already cut hundreds of millions of dollars out of everyday services and ongoing maintenance to stay afloat, but the next chief executive will have to make hard decisions, especially in light of costly, ill-timed spending commitments made at City Hall and a failure to adjust to the region's weakening economic foundation.

That hard fact has prompted some to question two city unions’ heavy financial backing of Wendy Greuel in the race. Greuel defended her record, saying as controller she has scrutinized many city agencies and has worked on behalf of taxpayers.

FULL COVERAGE: L.A.'s race for mayor

Greuel is not the only one receiving outside aid in her bid. Kevin James, who has received nearly a half-million dollars of support from an independent committee, issued a plea for new funding from the Texas billionaire who has thus far bankrolled much of the effort. Meanwhile, James continued to attack Greuel for her ties to the union representing  many workers from the city’s Department of Water and Power.

The first in a series of profiles of the mayoral candidates examines the past and present statements of James.

The mayoral candidates made their Oscar picks for best movie, and tried to use the focus on Hollywood bonanza to woo voters. James highlighted his endorsement by the Bring Hollywood Home Foundation in a fund-raising appeal that warned, “Imagine a Hollywood with no Oscars because the industry was run out of town by our city's bad policies.” Greuel put out a mailer featuring the head of her rival, Councilman Eric Garcetti, superimposed on an Oscar statue with the headline, “And the award goes to... ERIC GARCETTI. Worst Performance By A Politician In A Leading Role.”