Z-man hitting the tape strong

We noted Saturday (and elsewhere) that David Zahniser is moving to the Weekly very soon. But that doesn't mean he's slowing down to a trot at Copley---and his latest has got pay-to-play innuendo all over it.

This morning, Z-man breaks big, letting the City know about the unusual extent to which the Mayor's office is lobbying for Richard Katz, among other things a former Assemblyman with a special devotion to water politics and also Fleishmann-Hillard consultant (Doug Dowie was Katz's chief of staff, and scratched back later) to become the new Metro Water District Chief.

"It's a political campaign, and it's never been that way," said MWD board chairman Wesley Bannister, who represents the Orange County Municipal Water District. "We've turned a slow, methodical selection of a person based on skills and knowledge and talent and turned it into a whirlwind political campaign."

Z-man also lays on the table Katz's support of the Cadiz project, a planned water storage facility in the Mohave that has given the Mayor $61,450 since 1999.

As Mickey Kaus would say: "Too interesting!"

Enjoy your morning chewing on the Z-man's page turner, CHE.