Monday Hotsheet at 3 a.m.

"What was that, Bob?" Blumenfield with Dan McCrory

Joseph Mailander a guy in la • elsewhere • email

A moment of silence please, for Rep. Tom Lantos. He is remembered in death as Congress's sole holocaust survivor. He also was, as a Democrat, a strong supporter of both wars in Iraq.

First answer to the first question in last night's Dem debate in the heart of the Valley's 40th Assembly District, sponsored by Progressive Democrats of America - San Fernando Valley, was a shocker. Bob Blumenfield, replete with dozens of high profile endorsements, including Nancy Pelosi's, was asked what the first piece of legislation he would bring to Sacto if elected. Of all things to choose, he said he wants to make it easier for the State and municipalities to pass taxes and bond measures by rolling back the 66% requirement to 50%. He argued that we needed to make it easier for Democrats to raise taxes because the State's infrastructure is "$100-$500 billion short"---well, that sounds like pretty accurate estimation accounting, eh? Somewhere---somewhere---in a $400 billion range? As City taxes become a hot-button issue in the wake of Prop S, that kind of rhetoric just could elect an unelectable Republican in the Dem-solid 40th.

Stuart Waldman came off as the most affable and least scripted candidate. Laurette Healey took aim most at Blumenfield; she seems fit to serve and could catch fire if health issues rise to prominence; she also doesn't think LAUSD has enough money. Union darling Dan McCrory seems well intended but a bit of an underfunded longshot.

But all the candidates will be relieved to know this morning that, as the Daily News reports, the Valley counts. The US Census Bureau had been considering eliminating it as a special statistical tract. That thinking is over.

It may play to Encino, but Healey may have trouble convincing people elsewhere around town that LAUSD doesn't get enough State money. The Times' Joel Rubin breaks down the LAUSD's payroll kerfluffle this morning:

Go live they did, plunging the district into a crisis from which it is only now emerging. Over the course of last year, taxpayers overpaid an estimated $53 million to some 36,000 teachers and others, while thousands more went underpaid or not paid at all for months.

A review of documents and interviews with current and former officials about the yearlong crisis shed light on fundamental problems that plagued the district and prevented it from solving the fiasco faster. Dysfunctional management and internal power struggles allowed the project to go forward with no one fully in charge and hampered the district's ability to mount an effective response when serious problems arose. Years of shoddy record-keeping and strangely complex union contracts made answering basic questions -- including how much people should be paid and what jobs they worked -- almost impossible.

OK, everyone, grab your smelling salts: the former fishwrap of record also published a story yesterday about Catholics, and neither a lawsuit nor a three-decade-old crime nor His Eminence were mentioned. The rebirth of St. Cecilia's, so close to Florence and Normandie, at the hands of Oaxacan and Central American parishoners, is truly a remarkable story.

Why is 2008 turning out to be such an awful year year for homicide in LA? And why are they happening where they usually don't happen?

And lastly, hey, does anyone know the name of that guy who does the uptight, commentless, LA-centric aggregator-blog across town? I guess not---why else would you redesign to make your name so prominent?