Tuesday Water-Cooler Chit-Chat

You know the race is getting ugly when even the Daily Trojan Sports section starts taking shots at the local electeds. Both Mayor Hahn and Councilman Bernard Parks attended the Trojan Championship Rally, because "you can't have a championship rally without an overzealous politician about to run for office." While at the rally, Parks referred to Pete Carroll as Pete "Carrot" and Mayor Hahn "looked like a dad coaching his 6-year-old daughter's tee-ball team" NICE!

In additional Hahn news, the LA Times notes that Hahn who repeatedly denounces three of his opponents as Sacramento politicians, is flying to the state capital today to raise money with the help of state legislators and one of the state's most influential lobbyists. This wouldn't be newsworthy normally except for the fact that the only term Hahn utters more than "Sacramento Politicians" is "Chief Bratton." Talk about the pot calling the kettle black...

Speaking of Chief Bratton, What happened to the sales tax hike that Hahn has been so ardently ramming down the throats of Neighborhood Councils? Turns out he should have been focused on the "ACTUAL" City Council, where he is now one vote short of the promised land of ballothood. Kudo's to the 6 Councilmembers for listening to the people and realizing that another half-assed attempt to ram this through without proper thought would likely not go over very well. We NEED cops. We get it. But do it without fleecing us.

On the much-maligned city department front, the port of LA is the one in the hot seat today as news surfaces of a possible conflict of interest. The LA Times reports that a city employee union complained Monday that the Port of Los Angeles has donated $30,000 to the San Pedro City Ballet during the last three years, calling it a conflict of interest because Mayor James K. Hahn's wife is on the dance company's board of directors.