Does Hahn Have Any Ethics Left?
In an effort to pull some support for himself and his police tax raising scheme, Mayor James Kenneth "Poopy" Hahn is begging neighborhood councils to endorse the ballot measure which will raise sales taxes in the City. Rick Orlov writes about it in today's Daily News.
The problem is that as a public body, the Neighborhood Councils can not endorse ballot measures. This is something even the Department of Neighborhood Empowerment's Greg Nelson was able to figure out on his own.
A series of discussion panels arranged by city staff will pitch the tax hike idea to the NCs. Of course, the opposing point of view was not invited.In a memo to neighborhood council leaders, Greg Nelson, general manager of the Department of Neighborhood Empowerment, notes the panels will be walking a fine line.
"The issue before the house is whether the City Council should place a measure on the ballot ... and what that measure should look like," Nelson wrote, noting that the City Charter grants the City Council power to do that.
If a measure is placed on the ballot, he added, the issue becomes a political matter, and the neighborhood panels' activities legally become severely restricted.
Rick Orlov - LA Daily News
Who gets to have equal time to make the pitch that:
- Sales taxes invariably hurt the poor more than anyone.
- By increasing the sales tax in the City limits alone, purchasers of big ticket items like cars, furniture, etc will go to neighboring cities such as Burbank, Glendale, Santa Clarita, Long Beach, etc. to save some bucks. This results in less overall tax revenue for the City as well as potential loss of business and jobs. (As Councilman Dennis Zine noted in this LA Times Article)
- Other revenue sources such as the airport, harbor and DWP could easily fund more police officers (and don't tell us they can't - we've been down that road before)
- There are plenty of places within the City budget that can be cut for more police protection. There are savings that could be had by doing business differently.
Don't you see how wrong this is?
This is why we have to gather up everything we have and DUMP HAHN NOW. Vote for any of the other candidates, but don't vote for Hahn. This ethically challenged, charisma lacking, loser of a mayor has to go while there is still some city left to lord over.
If you agree, pass the word of this blog on. We don't care if people agree with us or not, but here's a chance to talk about critical city issues that don't get picked up by much of the media.
Posted by Mayor Sam @ 1/03/2005 05:45:00 PM
33 Comments:
Loverboy raises an interesting point. Why would anybody in CD14 vote for Hahn? But, then, why would they vote for Villaraigosa? He just out and out lied to his own constituents. I don't know if the recall people can get 12-13000 signatures but if they get 8000 on their petition surely that does tremendous damage to Villaraigosa. Hertzberg hasn't done anything for CD 14. I can't see Parkes getting many votes in CD14. So, maybe Alarcon is the big winner in CD14. What do you think?
Is Greg Nelson Councilmember for the 16th District.
Very interesting point...Nelson has been on a power trip for years. You no longer have Joel Wachs to keep him in check. Wonder what Hahn has to promise him to stay out of the way of his sales tx dog and pony?
Before anyone gets to excited about this, let's all remember that this is a Parks & Miscikowski motion that was amended in Public Safety Committee to ask the Neighborhood Councils to do this work.
It is a cheap shot to put this on Hahn.
Here is the motion's description from the City's website:
ITEM NO. (10) - 03-2267-S1 Motion (Parks - Miscikowski) relative to instructing the Chief Legislative Analyst to report with recommendations to place a measure on the March 2005 or May 2005 ballot to increase the local sales tax for public safety purposes
Public safety added:
11-16-04 - Council Action - Motion ADOPTED to APPROVE Public Safety Committee report recommendation to INSTRUCT the Chief Legislative Analyst (CLA) with the City Administrative Officer (CAO), Los Angeles Police Department, Los Angeles Fire Department, and Mayor’s Office, and working with other groups, including NEIGHBORHOOD COUNCILS, business and community groups, to report to Council with ballot measure options to hire additional police officers in time for possible placement on the May 2005 General Municipal Election.
It passed with a 13-0 vote and 2 absent (Reyes/Weiss) on Nov. 22, 2004.
If you want to blame anyone blame Parks & Miscikowski (Public Safety members) for directing the Neighborhood Councils to get involved in this matter.
Once again, this is a cheap shot against the Mayor. Get you're facts straight. Just because a reporter spins it one way doesn't mean they have it right.
If that's the case, if the Mayor had any scruples, he would issued a statement backing up Nelson and instruct that the Neighborhood Councils not be politicized to promote this tax measure.
They're treading on dangerous ground here. This is like LAUSD using school resources to promote bond measures.
Is there any proof that Hahn asked Nelson to do this? Maybe Nelson has taken it upon himself to get involved and in the process has politicized his deparment. If the councilmembers wanted the sales tax on the ballot they should have gone around to neighborhood councils themselves and sold the idea.
Rick Orlov is usually not wrong. He pins this on the mayor - and it sounds like Nelson is trying to keep the councils out of it. Wonder if he will stand up to the mayor.
It doesn't sound as if Parks & Villaraigosa were behind getting the councils involved in the political end. It sounds as if the intention was just to make sure they got the info, as well as everyone else.
So you Hahn lovers will have to try again.
Why haven't they asked the opposing viewpoint to speak?
The reason the opposition hasn't been asked to speak is because Parks and Miscikowski introduced a motion with a single end result in mind and the Council passed it (including Villaraigosa). (As the previous poster has shown.)
You should call these COUNCILMEMBERS on the fact that their MOTION is one sided and does not offer the opposition a venue.
They are so arrogant to think we all agree with them.
What about our print media in Los Angeles? I hear on the radio this afternoon that Tony Villa didn't bother to respond to the recall people and not a single word in the print media. It's amazing how the print media, especially the L.A. Times, will do anything to avoid a major negative story on Tony. When you think of it it's the biggest story in the mayor's race at the moment and apart from la Opinion I don't think one journalist has gone around the 14th District. That's why Parks and the other members of the city council get away with what they like. And if the neighborhood councils are as easily duped as the press we're in trouble.
From reading all of these posts, there is so much misinformation that even I, as an L.A. city activist must know a lot more than people who supposedly work on the 4th floor. Isn't this supposed to be where the staffers were going to go after the 4th floor crashed?
I can believe a few of you are city staffers and if the rest of you are with your extremely bad grammar, I'm shocked and disgusted and maybe we should start with some City Council staff cuts to alleviate our budget problems.
This isn't even a halfway decent blog. It's not news. It's nothing more than mayor and council bashing. And lowlife bashing that isn't even fun to read. Poopy? Poopy? You find humor in that? Seriously? Any of you who read this? Calling Antonio Tony? Making fun of his last name? This is entertaining reading in your opinion? Bitter Bernie. Nice... I guess "your" candidate has no good qualifications so you come up with this sophmoric crap.
The owner of this blog is OLD. How many years have you been there now IF you are even truly a council staffer? And don't give me that Mayor Sam crap. How old were you when you worked for him?
I definitely know who MEAT is, but I wouldn't out him for this blog's sake. I'd rather call him on the phone and ask him if he really wants outed.
Greg Nelson running for Council? Ha Ha Ha I bet he's getting a kick out of this.
OK HERE IS THE REAL ISSUE.
The real issues is that Hahn has no vision, no ability to think out of the box, no common sense and no creativity. We already had the sales tax tried on us and it failed, MR. genious Mayor. So, just jump on a bandwagon that has already gone downhill and ride it again? Then reject out of hand any suggestions by others as to how to get more cops, how to get more funding, etc, etc, etc. What is it you believe in ? NOTHING?
Hey, you find a way to get a screwed up 11 billion dollar airport plan approved, but you cannot figure a way to get us more cops from sources other than our pockets and in a way other than that which will cause the City to lose business to other Cities around us which will cause us to lose any benefit we might gain in the increase of the tax? Are you really that stupid....that incompetent.....that uncaring?
You know, you have a good chief of police who thinks out of the box to create new ways of fighting crime with the minimal finances and resources he does have available and it works in bringing down crime in this City....and you mean to tell me that you cannnot think out of the box to find a way to get more cops to this good chief who has accomplished more with less ?
Frankly, either you really don't care about this City or you don't have the mental capacity and ability to lead it. Either way .... STEP ASIDE. Your father, whom I knew, would be and your sister whom I know.......can be, nothing but ashamed of what your letting happen to this City while you sit in your office contemplating what plan's others have come up with(even if they failed) that you can retry.
It sincerely really is terribly sad for you and most importantly for the City of Los Angeles.
To the last moron who posted: we don't care what you think.
This site is not the LA Times nor the Daily News. A blog is all about opinions. However, we do work very hard to bring you information that you either don't know about, or isn't getting much play in the media. Then we talk about it.
Many of our readers spew a lot of verbal caca. Often, they bring us interesting viewpoints and important information. Consider our blog the digital equivalent of the old neighborhood watering hole where people held court on the issues of the day.
Yes, this blog is sometimes "out there." Along with our icon, Mayor Sam, that is part of our hook. Each site has their own.
If you have something to contribute, we welcome you. We don't even care if we agree with you or not or if you criticize us. But if you don't have something to contribute, your coments will grow tiring if all you have to talk about is people's grammer or our fun names for elected pols and others who have chosen to make a dime off us.
Lastly, it is obvious we are very concerned about the direction of the city. As lifelong residents, staffers and activists, we are quite alarmed in many cases. It is true we are seriously opposed to the administration of Mayor James Hahn and particularly its role as the most ethically challenged administration in Los Angeles in nearly 70 years (sorry Mayor Frank).
Having said all of that, if you want to play, welcome. If not as Joe Pine used to say, "Go gargle with razor blades!"
Shameful Mayor Sam that your blog has become a Hahn bashing site. You use to be BALANCED. Why aren't you posting the other negative articles on Tony's website his using Bob Dole slogan from his 1996 prez campaign, Hertzberg posting ad on his website that was controversial etc. The city of LA VOtES
YES 64% on Measure A. They are sending a loud message that we need more cops and they don't mind paying for it. Poor people....please....if you look at the districts and how they voted the poorest Latino districts voted YES 74% and 71% so that argument goes out the window. Why didn't anyone complain when Neighborhood Councils got involved with the alarm issue? The DWP issue? Now it's political! It was Tom LaBonge who first made the comment in council to make sure that Neighborhood Councils be involved in the sales tax for more cops. Why aren't you saying anything about ALL the council members who passed the motion? Easy to use Hahn as a scapegoat. Parks has ABSOSLUTELY NO support in CD14. Remember the march from HOBK to Parker Center because of the homicide rate and his taking away 80 officers from HOBK? He never came into Boyle Heights.
From Los Angeles Business Journal....I'm smiling Meat and CD14Lover.....Read them and weep....Polling thus far – virtually all of it internal to the individual campaigns – shows Hahn and L.A. City Councilmen Villaraigosa and Parks each getting at least 20 percent. Hahn generally gets the highest percentage – between 25 percent and 30 percent – followed by Villaraigosa and then Parks in the low 20 percent range.
Both former Assembly Speaker Bob Hertzberg and state Sen. Richard Alarcón trail significantly, either in the high single-digits or in the teens, depending on the poll.
To the critical blogger above:
Fortunately we live in a free society (relatively free). If you don't like the show, then you can change the channel. The discussions can be crass at times and the humor "sophomoric" (note the correct spelling!). The exchange of ideas are occasionally intellectual and frequently confrontational, much like the world of politics. (And if you think this is bad, watch a session of the British Parliament). The age of Mayor Sam and his tenure in the City Council is irrelevant. If you don't like his ideas then attack the fallacy of his ideas not him.
And finally, to blogger who posted that the "recall" of AV is the big story in this campaign - get real! The basis of this recall, that "Tony lied to us", is crap to the nth degree. Recalls are meant for corruption and incompetence. When you abuse a mechanism that is supposed to protect our system of government, as in this case, you hurt the public.
This is the local equivalent of Republicans going after Clinton for an extramarital relationship - except in this case AV hasn't done anything! The real issue in this campaign is corruption - but corruption centered on "pay-to-play" politics. The public was directly and negatively impacted by those actions. That, my friend, is cause for critical journalistic scrutiny!
To the previous blogger. You get real...Antonio hasn't done anything wrong? He's wasted our tax dollars by doing absolutely nothing for his constituents. There's accountability here. You opened the door to corruption...how about taking money from a known drug dealer for your campaign like Antonio did and taking money from a corrupt company like ENRON. Antonio and Parks are the last person to be critizing anyone on corruption when he has yet to clean up his own backyard.
It's 10:38am city council meeting has started and there are only 3 council members on the floor in chambers. What the hell is going on? Isn't there anything to be done about this crap? Didn't they just get sued and appeals court ruled against them cause they don't pay attention? They just got back from 2 week vacation.
I heard there was a baby shower somewhere on the fourth floor a handful of the electeds were at this morning.
Where is the Sgt of arms when you need him?
They just got embarrassed all over the place by that appealate courts ruling for not paying attention and they don't even show up on time. Who's the person responsible for making sure their in chambers? The meeting only lasted less then 40 mins. when they started making announcements. What a waste of tax dollars and what a way to start 2005 with these same lame asses.
I'm the blogger who posted my opinion that the recall is the biggest story in the mayoral campaign. A major mayoral candidate , and Villaraigosa is a major candidate, I am sure you would agree, is the target of a recall. A major theme of his campaign in 2003 was that if he won he would serve the full 4 year term. He told everybody that. Read the Boulevard Sentinel. Read the LA Weekly. Read The Nation and many other publications of the time. Antonio gave a promise to the people of the 14th District. He also said he would do better than the imcumbent. According to the LA Weekly that was the reason he moved into the 14th District to specifically challenge Pacheco. Has he done better for the 14th than the former chairman of the powerful Budget and Finance Committee? A lot of residents in the 14th don't think so. And it would be very hard when he has been out of the district so often campaigning first for Kerry and now for himself. Look where he gets his contributions from, not the eastside but the rich westside where he spends all his time. Villaraigosa abandoned the 14th District district. Nothing gets done in the 14th anymore. It's an insult to his constituents to tout that he gets them all working on clean ups. He should be pushing for better services by the city. And let him list the 70 odd neighborhood watches he says he has brought into being. No, he is more concerned with the vendors on Venice Beach. So little is being done by his office in the 14th that former supporters of Villaraigosa are now calling him "Villagoslower". Fortunately there are some people, and maybe 12000 more, who won't tolerate his lies. Read the recent Boulevard Sentinel, a paper that endorsed Villaraigosa in his race against Pacheco, and you will see how one man, the owner of the paper, believes he was betrayed by Villaraigosa. In my opinion, Villaraigosa betrayed the whole district and the whole district has the right to hold him accountable and recall him - to the nth degree, my friend.
I'm the blogger who posted my assessment of your opinion that the recall is the biggest story in the mayoral campaign. Below is my response to your last posting:
1. I agree that AV is both a major candidate and target of a recall, at least a rumored one. I contend that the motivation behind the recall – that in running for Mayor he has broken his promise to fulfill his term – is a weak excuse for a recall, which is generally set aside for incompetence and/or criminality, neither which applies here. I think people behind the recall are doing it for political gain and to undercut his bid for mayor.
2. During redistricting, Pacheco actually gerrymandered around AV’s home to keep him out of the race. AV had to move into a new residence in order to run.
3. Every candidate is getting money from rich westsiders. Let’s face it, that’s where the money is and you need money to win campaigns. I’m sure you’ll concede that the eastside doesn’t have the funding base needed to win a campaign.
4. I don’t believe it’s an insult to get communities to perform clean-ups. I do it in my community because IT IS MY community. I also don’t think performing clean-ups and improving city services are mutually exclusive, both can and should be done. And as a councilperson, you do end up engaging other issues outside of your district, such as vendors at Venice Beach.
5. You speak about people who “won’t tolerate his lies” but you only list one – backsliding on his promise to fulfill his term. You know as well as I do that the Mayor has management authority over departments that provide city services. Quite possibly, the Mayor may be holding back services to CD 14 to hurt AV. I find it ironic that you don’t go after the Mayor because, according to your accounts of anger in the district, people are feeling short-changed in the city services they’re receiving. If AV were elected Mayor, he certainly could bring more resources to the 14th district.
In response to the previous blogger, I will answer his points in order.
1) I believe the recall is real, you do not. One of us will be proven correct at a later date. It seems to me that a recall is the power given directly to the people to show their serious displeasure of a sitting official. I do not believe Governor Davis was either a criminal or incompetent but enough people signed a piece of paper and he is no longer in office. So, whatever you personally think or whatever the original intent was, recalls are obviously a viable option to disgruntled constituents. If the recall gets 12000 or so signatures, it is likely that AV will no longer represent the 14th District.
2) You wrote that Pacheco gerrymandered the borders around Villaraigosa's home. That is false. If you are a regular of this blog you will see links to newspaper articles showing how the boundaries were changed. And for your information, Antonio was never in the 14th District to begin with. So, on this point you are hopelessly misinformed.
3) Every candidate gets money from the rich westside. And Villaraigosa has many powerful friends on the westside. On this, I am in agreement with you. But, why, then, doesn't he use this base to bring money into the eastside? Read his 2003 campaign literature and his interviews and decide for yourself if he has lived up to his promises. Why doesn't he tap his rich friends for the money to finalize the purchase of Moon Canyon, for example? As the 14th District councilmember, Villaraigosa has been a failure. Or do you believe his new promise, "Hey when I am Mayor I will be able to take care of the 14th. Remember, I live there." Actually, he lives in the 14th because Pacheco made a motion as the outgoing counilmember to change the boundary to allow AV to leave his rented home and move back into his "real" home.
4) It seems Antonio boasts of two major accomplishments in office: - His "days of service" and the number of neighborhood watches that have been set up under his watch. To begin with, it appears approximately 14 neighborhood watches have been set up in the last year. That is a long way off from AV's often repeated number of 72. I believe that is a lie, but I'll make a concession and call it an exaggeration. If you are one of the many who participate in the AVs "Days of Service" maybe I should thank you. There has been a few chairs and tables and a television set dumped on my street in Hermon for the longest time. Can you do something about that for me? It wasn't a problem when Pacheco was represnting us. City services were working much better back then.
5) Hahn is the problem, you say. If our councilmember can't fight for the 14th and get his way with a mayor who Antonio himself thinks is a dud, what is that saying about Villaraigosa's skills and abilities? In fact, the opposite of your point is true. Mayor Hahn bent over backwards to please Villaraigosa when Antonio came on the council (and Villaraigosa has repaid the mayor by bending him over forwards) and therefore we should have had superior services in the 14th District. But, no, Antonio wasn't interested in the mundane work of a councilman. He had to go off and campaign for Kerry (taking city staff with him) and, then, after Kerry's loss, Antonio was back on the campaign trail - for himself this time.
Antonio made his promise to stay in the 14th District for a full 4 year term a major part of his campaign. Nobody asked him to make that promise. Now, whatever you think, you are just one view out of 75000 registered voters, that is if you live in the 14th. District. I do live in the 14th and, therefore, I cancel you out.
Finally two points. 1) I am not a Hahn supporter. 2) Los Angeles should get used to recalls. They are the future. We will be far better served by our councilmembers in the future if this recall succeeds.
I remember Gray Davis saying the same things I"m hearing on AV's recall. Its not going to happen, a political ploy etc. But then it did happen. You look at Antonio's accomplishments on his website and there's nothing from the one and 1/2 years he's already been in office. Take a look at Eric Garcetti's webiste as councilman and all the things he's done in his district. It puts Antonio to shame. Now he puts out an e-mail about a little bus route. Big f----ng deal. There's homicides and a major gang problem and he's thinking about shuttles. Good going Tony
Thank goodness for term limits because in about 8 years the Mayor and council will be out termed. Staff will disappear and history will repeat itself.
Hey Meat and CD14LOver. this is what your bright candidate said to press today after getting minor endorsement....A clean environment is the foundation of a livable community," the Eastside councilman said during a news conference outside the Department of Water and Power's downtown headquarters. "It's not a luxury. It is a necessity." What a lame ass! Doesn't he know that public safety is what makes a community livable. All he knows how to do is pick up a broom
Here's what Betty Pleasant said about Jim Hahn in her Soul Vine article today:
Councilman Jack Weiss and former Assistant Deputy Mayor Doug Boxer endorsed Councilman Antonio Villaraigosa for mayor, and they sent a letter Tuesday to members of the Los Angeles County Democratic Party urging the party’s endorsement of Antonio. They reminded the party members of how, four years ago, then mayoral candidate Jim Hahn — in the manner of an ill-tempered 2-year-old denied a piece of candy — trashed the Democratic Party after he failed to win its endorsement for mayor. Hahn sent out a mailer targeted to Republicans that branded the Democratic Party as “a liberal special interest group,” that attacked Sen. Barbara Boxer for supporting Antonio in that mayoral race, and which featured on its cover a grainy picture of Antonio in front of the Watts Towers! Hahn is a Democrat and a nasty piece of work.
Here's what Eliseo Villanueva said about Antonio Villaraigosa in a statement issued from his recall group:
"Villaraigosa Thumbs Nose at Voters"
"Antonio Villaraigosa has ignored us since he got into office and it doesn't surprise me he's ignoring us again. It's unfortunate that Antonio only shows up at events when he's promoting himself or a cause outside the 14th district. He's been away out of the state more than 66 days since he was elected an now he is away from the district campaigning for mayor. He never intended to keep his promise to serve the full 4-year term as our councilmember and snubbing us just proves the point. He has been an absentee councilmember and only had his own ambition in mind when he moved into the 14th district to take on the sitting councilmember. Unfortunately it is not news when a politician breaks a promise but this year we hope that abroken promise will break a politician"
Eliseo Villanueva is a nobody! As another blogger mentioned, he's probably a Pacheco supporter who can't get over the fact that his guy lost. At least CD14 can be happy that Villaraigosa ended the career of one corrupt politician.
If Eliseo Villanueva is a nobody, why are you writing about him? I say because Villaraigosa and his supporters are scared. The recall is going to finish Antonio.
Sometimes this blog serves as a place for good laughs. I was simply using Eliseo as the joke. Believe me, if I wanted to be serious, he wouldn't be part of the discussion.
Not very persuasive comeback, my friend. You are worried.
From: DWP Rascal
No & neither do his cronies. Also could you please give Villaraigosas' people their own string to whine & cry on. They can't ever stick to the subject.
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