Sunday News Wrap-Up: Big Day for Hertzberg

Huggy cleaned up this weekend with big stories in the papers including an endorsement by the Daily News, while the Times took slaps at both Tony Villar and Poopy. Here are the big articles:

The Daily News Editorial: Hertzberg for mayor

Mayor James K. Hahn didn't promise voters the moon when he ran for office four years ago. What Los Angeles wants of a mayor, he said then and says now as he seeks reelection, is a nuts-and-bolts manager who can make the city work, not a leader with "vision" or even a leader who is particularly visible. The scion of a political family with 20 years as city attorney and city controller, Hahn sold himself as right for the job he had defined.

L.A. needs new vision, passion and leadership in City HallWith its police department understaffed, its streets jammed, its economy sluggish and its leadership under county and federal investigation, the city of Los Angeles is in a state of crisis.

But on March 8, voters can begin to turn things around.

The first step, of course, is to vote Mayor James Hahn out of office.

At his best, he has slurry-covered some streets and synchronized some traffic lights, as well as made some other small, incremental improvements to the city.

At his worst, he has overseen the corruption of city contracting practices, squandered millions of dollars of public money to promote himself, given away the treasury to city employees, and raised fees and rates without improving services.

Either way, Los Angeles cannot afford four more years of Hahn. The problems are too big.

The people of Los Angeles need a mayor with the vision, the imagination, the energy and the integrity to radically overhaul City Hall and solve the city's problems.
...
As a city in crisis, L.A. needs more than just an upgrade in the Mayor's Office. It needs a whole new direction. It needs a new vision for the future. It needs a new attitude in City Hall, and a mayor who can bring it about.

And that will only happen if the voters -- Democrats, Republicans and independents -- seize the day and turn out to the polls in large numbers. The special interests that have corrupted City Hall will spend millions to preserve their privileges. But their money will be wasted if all who want a better Los Angeles show up and vote to end the politics of cynicism and failure that Hahn represents.

To restore our once-great city, the voters of Los Angeles couldn't do better than to vote for Bob Hertzberg for mayor on March 8.

The LA Times Editorial: Choose the Moon

As voters, many with mail-in ballots already in hand, weigh whether to give Hahn another four years, here are two questions to ponder:

Has he met these modest goals?

Can't the nation's second-largest city have the moon as well? Hahn's top two achievements came in his first two years in office: He hired outspoken police reformer William J. Bratton to head the Los Angeles Police Department, and he led the campaign that kept Los Angeles from breaking apart into three cities.
...
Measuring the Mayor

By Hahn's definition of the job, his record as mayor is mixed — two striking accomplishments, one key failure, a lot else that falls in between. But his is not the full measure of a mayor.

A candidate doesn't get to define what a mayor should be. The people do that. And surely this most vibrant of cities yearns for a leader to match.

Leadership is not just about charm and warmth. Los Angeles' two previous mayors weren't glad-handing back-slappers any more than Hahn is. Tom Bradley hid his emotions behind a poker face. Richard Riordan was hardly a riveting speaker. Neither was a perfect mayor. But Bradley was an extraordinary coalition builder who worked hard seven days a week, in his office and in countless civic functions and ceremonies. He oversaw the rise of downtown office towers and hosted the Olympic Games. Riordan broadened the city's notion of a mayor, urging school reform, championing a new City Charter and recruiting his billionaire buddies to get Disney Hall built. What the two shared was not just energy but the ability to energize others.

What Los Angeles needs is a mayor who not only hires a reformer police chief but rallies all neighborhoods to support his campaign against crime, a mayor who not only beats back secession but wins over and unites the disgruntled residents. It's a tall order. Los Angeles should reach that high.

The Times' mayoral endorsement will run next Sunday.

Steve Lopez in the LA Times: Playing It Safe in a Blood Sport

Antonio Villaraigosa wanted to get one thing clear right off the bat when we met for dinner.

Yeah, he admitted, we drank some wine together one night a few years ago, and he doesn't doubt that it took me a week to recover.

"But you drank a bottle before I even got there," he alleged.

I'm not saying I did or I didn't. But sooner or later everyone overindulges in one way or another, as I'm sure Villaraigosa would agree. I'm reformed, though, and he claims to be too. I might have had my doubts if he suggested we meet at Hooters, but he wanted to go to La Serenata in Boyle Heights.
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"Let's go to Kate Mantilini," he said.

Hey, I go where they ask me to go. When Mayor Jim Hahn chickened out on a man-to-man encounter and told me to meet him at a Croatian fish feed along with 200 of his San Pedro neighbors, I didn't complain.

But Kate Mantilini?

I kept my mouth shut. But if I were running for mayor of Los Angeles, there's one thing I would never do. I would never take a columnist to dinner in Beverly Hills.
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"You know who this guy is?" I asked them.

"He looks familiar," said one, eyeing Villaraigosa as if he were Antonio Banderas.

Antonio Villaraigosa, I said. He's running for mayor of L.A.

They nodded politely, but hadn't heard of him.

Now the waitress returned, and I asked the L.A. resident if she'd heard of Villaraigosa. No, she apologized.

"Do you know who the current mayor is?" I asked.

She smiled confidently.

"Arnold Schwarzenegger," she said.

Hahn can't catch a break, can he?

And last but not least, another Patrick O'Connor cartoon in the Daily News for us to enjoy:















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