Ask And You Shall Receive*

On Friday I posted asking if Hahn was going to pull a Villaraigosa. Turns out he did, just three days later.

The irony of the whole story is Antonio being offended by Hahn doing it. This is a little like the pot calling the kettle black:

"Once again, Jim Hahn is jumping on the caboose as the train leaves the station," said Villaraigosa campaign manager Ace Smith. "While he is unable to do the hard work it takes to craft policy, he is always able to hold a press conference to take credit for it."

At some point someone needs to listen to Bernard Parks - Stop politicizing the police. This is getting beyond ludicrous.

***Hot off the presses of the Antonio spam machine (I guess they didn't delete me):

Dear William,
You may have seen the recent debate about Mayor Hahn's plan to raise the city sales tax to hire more police officers. Last Friday, six members of the City Council, including me, voted against placing Mayor Hahn's proposed sales tax increase on the March 8th ballot.

We all agree that we must do everything we can to make our city safer. But Mayor Hahn's plan was the wrong way to do it. We don't have to raise the city sales tax to hire more cops. And we don't have to wait another month -- or more -- to take action.

You see, Mayor Hahn presented the people of Los Angeles with a false choice. The Mayor would have you believe that unless we increase the city sales tax, we can't hire more police officers. And he thinks that we have to wait until after the March 8th election to do anything.

Neither of those two facts are true. And that's why the City Council refused to support Mayor Hahn's plan.

Fortunately, there is a better solution.

In my Plan for a Safer LA, I have laid out an approach to hire 300 more police officers -- immediately -- by using state and federal funds that have already been approved for Los Angeles, as well as cutting waste and fraud in local government. That will provide some needed help right away.

Then, to keep us safer over the long run, we need to do more. My plan calls for hiring 1,300 more police officers in Los Angeles, and 5,000 additional deputies and officers countywide.

Investing in a larger police force is absolutely necessary to building a safer Los Angeles for years to come. But city residents shouldn't bear this burden alone.

That's why I believe that any plan must also be a county-wide plan, not simply at the city level. Crime does not respect city borders, and we need to coordinate and cooperate with our neighbors if we truly wish to improve our communities.

If you support my plan, I ask you to sign my petition urging Mayor Hahn to act now and hire more police officers. And I encourage you to forward this email to everyone you know, asking them to join with us.

During the 2001 campaign, Mayor Hahn promised to hire 1000 new police officers. Unfortunately, he's fallen more than 800 cops short of that promise.

Now, four long years later, in the eleventh hour of his term, Mayor Hahn has decided that it's time to do something. Unfortunately, his plan was the wrong one. And the City Council wisely rejected it.

We can make Los Angeles safer -- it just takes leadership. It's the kind of leadership I intend to return to City Hall. If you agree that it's time for a change, I hope you'll sign my petition and then invite everyone you know to join my campaign today!

Sincerely,
Antonio R. Villaraigosa

How timely...Note the absence of someone's name from "his " plan