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Monday, November 14, 2005

Definition of Pay to Play

Via AP:

The city's Building and Safety Department, which enforces zoning codes and issues essential permits for construction projects, has been ordered to stop holding charity fundraisers after some construction companies made donations.

The department will prohibit employees from soliciting money for charity, department Assistant Bureau Chief Robert Steinbach said.

The agency also will return about $7,800 of nearly $12,800 in donations it raised from a "casino night" fundraiser held Monday at a Hollywood nightclub, Steinbach said on Thursday.

Some construction and development companies paid undisclosed amounts to be listed as event sponsors.

Kudos to the Mayor for stopping this action. While nothing bad may have actually happened, it was certainly a ripe environment for such activity...

21 Comments:

Blogger Walter Moore said:

Mayor Ameriquest didn't want anyone cutting into his share. Dollars developers squander on lesser officials are dollars they could donate directly to him, after all.

November 14, 2005 7:44 AM  

Anonymous Anonymous said:

Several of those developers, Mark Handel (MWH) and T. Viole Construction Co., have given record sums of money to non-city committees belonging to Alex Padilla. Check for yourself. Every major pending & controversial project is from these people in C.D.7

November 14, 2005 7:46 AM  

Anonymous Anonymous said:

It was ok to raise thousands of dollars for the Mayor's inagural, but it's not ok to raise money for building and safety. There's something wrong with this picture. Here you have a Mayor who takes private jets, won't pay, then raises money for LA's Best through the disguise of wanting a big party to usher himself in to office. Now he's Mr. Clean, oh, you shouldn't do that building and safety department. What bull is this.

November 14, 2005 8:40 AM  

Anonymous Anonymous said:

Walter Moore is right on this one.

November 14, 2005 9:28 AM  

Blogger Joseph Mailander said:

I can't read the italics here on my Powerbook anymore. Did you change the font recently?

November 14, 2005 9:52 AM  

Anonymous Anonymous said:

Kudos to the mayor for stopping it.

Bullshit! It happened under his watch and maybe after his Ameriquest incident Building & Safety figured it was ok. Antonio is no better after harshly critizing Hahn. He's doing the exact same thing and even his depts. are being rewarded. This city is finally finding out Antonio is corrupt and doesn't care what the residents think. He will never apologize for Ameriquest.

November 14, 2005 10:03 AM  

Anonymous Anonymous said:

Once again Mayor Sam noted;

downtownnews.com
With its almost daily updates, the Mayor Sam site (mayorsam.blogspot.com) evolved into the best space for daily news on the race, as well as the prime place to watch overheated Pacheco and Huizar supporters tear into each other. Additionally, martinirepublic.com posted thoughtful interviews with four candidates. Last week Pacheco's website touted his endorsements from both the Mayor Sam and the Martini Republic sites.

November 14, 2005 10:23 AM  

Anonymous Anonymous said:

Results by Community - CD 14

Boyle Heights JH, 64% - NP, 25%
El Sereno JH 64% - NP 23%
Eagle Rock JH 40% - NP 29%
Highland Park JH 48% - NP 32%
Mt Wash JH 53% - NP 27%

Huizar won 70 out of 71 precincts.

November 14, 2005 11:06 AM  

Anonymous Anonymous said:

BOGUS NUMBERS... nothing's been certified (get a life Skelton you slimed another one out).

November 14, 2005 12:34 PM  

Anonymous Anonymous said:

Bogus, I say. BOGUS!
THE FINAL NUMBERS WILL SHOW THAT PACHECO WON!

November 14, 2005 12:38 PM  

Anonymous Anonymous said:

NO, but how about we let the OFFICIALS post them, and not some numbnuts amateur number crucnher two weeks before they're final?

You're probably one of those nancy lefties still creaming yourself that Kerry REALLY won last year, becuase CNN's EXIT POLLS couldn't be WRONG!.

November 14, 2005 1:08 PM  

Anonymous Anonymous said:

(Huizar wishes he had a handful of rabid supporters as dedicated as Pacheco's. All he gets is AV's hand-me-downs.)

Maybe someday when Jose grows up, he have a constituency all his own?

Nah!

November 14, 2005 1:10 PM  

Anonymous Anonymous said:

Yes. I'm sure Huizar would prefer a few rabid supporters to the option of kicking his opponent's a$$ and becoming the newly elected representative.

And if you think Pacheco wouldn't trade in you sorry-a$$ support for that council position, then you're more than rabid . . . you're stupid.

November 14, 2005 1:43 PM  

Anonymous Anonymous said:

Antonio stopped what?!

This stuff has been going on at the Department of BS for years. However, triple A has raised it to new levels.

Contractors and developers buy access to top DBS managers to get their projects moving.

So Antonio stopped it; great for him.

Is he going to stop the fund raisers that DBS does for the “March of Dimes”?

How about the DBS “Picnic” that developers go to? No?

How about the golf tournament?

What, you guys think Casino Night is the only scam triple A had going on?

November 14, 2005 2:06 PM  

Anonymous Anonymous said:

This is an example of pay-to-play.

Since we all know that James K. Hahn will not ever be in trouble for having fundraisers in high staff positions as opposed to qualified people, this is the time to end all contributions. I'm convinced.

Developers should stop spending money on campaigns. Unions should stop spending money on campaigns.

The time has come.

November 14, 2005 5:41 PM  

Anonymous Anonymous said:

To laughing in Encino:

I'm guessing Antonio "stopped it" because it was going to be exposed anyway. He was probably not happy about stopping it.

November 14, 2005 5:44 PM  

Anonymous Anonymous said:

"Definition of Pay to Play"

So what is the status of the investigation of the Florida contributors to Antonio's campaign? In the newspaper it sounded like the supposed contributors were called and didn't even know who he was. Did they pay a fine or something?

November 14, 2005 6:52 PM  

Anonymous Anonymous said:

What is the status of the same exact Florida contributions to Greig Smith's CD 12 campaign?

Were they okay because it wasn't the mayoral election? He still has to vote on the issues.

November 15, 2005 12:06 AM  

Anonymous Anonymous said:

Personally, I believe only funds raised by residents and businesses in the each distict should be ok for council races and only money raised by residents and businesses in the city should be ok for citywide races.

November 15, 2005 4:07 AM  

Anonymous Anonymous said:

People who have personal or collected interests cannot be denied a right to promote or oppose a candidate or issue. That's the most fundamental expression of free speech.

November 15, 2005 9:15 AM  

Anonymous Anonymous said:

Yeah yeah yeah on the 1st amendment. But go follow Arizona's clean money campaign and you'll see how it will work after being enacted for about 2 years.

It's the only way the City will survive and be productive.

Those who get real special interests (not the Arnold kind) to back them will eventually be caught because the average public is learning more about this.

November 16, 2005 12:48 AM  

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