Hotsheet for Monday, Happy Birthday Mr. Teleprompter President!!
We start our morning by extending Happy Birthday Greetings to the "Presumptive Teleprompter President"(BTW, The Rasmussen Reports daily Presidential Tracking Poll for Monday shows the race for the White House is tied with Barack Obama and John McCain each attracting 44% of the vote. However, when "leaners" are included, it’s McCain 47% and Obama 46%.)No word yet on what Hollywood Starlet (Scarlet Johanson?) will serenade the "Second One" with "Happy Birthday Mr. Teleprompter President". But we know a certain "Doll of The Valley" who would jump at the honor.
If Barack Hussein Obama is the "Presumptive Teleprompter President". Then Antonio Roman Villar Jr. is the "Parke Scripted Teleprompter Mayor".
Villar Jr. returns to Los Angeles after vacationing in Iceland. The Daily News greets him with a editorial on the $1,600,000 raised in the "TROLL FOR DOUGH A-THON".
On one side, an optimist might see the donations as the expected fruits of a successful first term. Villaraigosa has been such a great city leader that people can't help but open their hearts and wallets to make sure he sticks around for another term. Indeed, the idea of spontaneous grass-roots support is exactly the tack that the mayor's campaign is pushing.
But a cynic might see evidence of a darker truth in the $1.6 million collected by an incumbent for an election with no serious competition. Nor has Villaraigosa achieved anything much noteworthy. He still could do so before the election next year, particularly if his school-reform effort has early and recognizable achievements. But so far, he's been a ho-hum mayor.
Ouch!!
The Daily News Rick Orlov Monday column on all things political, leads off speculating whether Councilwoman Wendy and Controller Laura will do a "flip flop" regarding their respective positions.
****Click here to see who Zuma Dogg ran into at the Starbucks in Malibu.****
This is sooooo good!! courtesy of Ron Kaye and the "WWG"
Nothing wrong with taking favors from people who want favors
"Manny fever: Mayor Villaraigosa's deputy chief of staff, Jimmy Blackman, sat in the owner's box on the field level at Sunday's game." That allegation, reprinted in its entirety, appears on LA Observed today, raising questions about a mayoral staffer taking such a valuable gift from someone like Dodgers owner Frank McCourt who does business with City Hall. Dodger tickets became an issue during Mayor Jim "pay-for-play" Hahn's administration but he and his staff were clean. The tickets were paid for by the people who used them.
.........and in closing, last week the LAUSD Board of Education celebrated their approval of a $7,000,000,000 Bond for additional school building by partaking in a "munch-a-fest" at the Pacific Dining Car. Submit your guess here on the cost of Monica Garcia's portion of the "munch-a-fest".
Labels: "TROLL FOR DOUGH A-THON", Barack Obama, Jimmy Blackman, laura chick, lausd, mayor antonio villaraigosa, monica garcia, Ron Kaye, wendy greuel
Posted by Red Spot in CD 14 @ 8/04/2008 07:26:00 AM
17 Comments:
Try to imagine if Troy Edwards or Tim McOsker was caught taking freebies from the Dodgers four years ago. Laura Chick would be holding a news conference right now calling for a federal investigation. Looks like Joe McCarthy has turned into Charlie McCarthy.
Wendy has only raised 300,000 in a yr?!? i would jump in that race...not a done deal.
How about if Laura Chick, Cindy and Tamar forget carpetbbagging and we run someone who has real experience and standing in the 2nd District - Abby Diamond, leader of the No 2 Home Depot Movement
10:57:
agreed. then Hal netkin can run for CD 3 as well.
Why does Gil Cedillo always look like he just walked out of a methadone clinic?
Where does it say that Blackman TOOK free tickets or anything else from the Dodgers? He went to a game, sat with Dodgers brass. Not a crisis...
It's not a crisis, 11:41 am, it's a crime. Not any different than if Howard Sunkin handed him $400 in a brown paper bag.
Or Mayor Sam, how about if Tamar just goes away. Far, far away and forgets that she ever wanted that CD 2 job.
Abby Diamond would make a fine replacement for Wendy.
Anybody but Tamar and her recently-quit-as-head-of-VICA-so-she-could-run husband. She's not a good school board member and she wouldn't be a good council member.
Actually first poster, it would depend on when Troy Edwards or Tim McOsker got caught. Laura was with Hahn before she was against him. Four years ago, yes, six years ago, no.
Why would Wendy try and raise money when she has nobody running against her? This leaves her free to drag her friend Tamar around begging for money and endorsements.
Sorry, there is nobody left for CD 2 except for Cindy or as Mayor Sam suggests, Abby. Who cares about carpet bagging? We should have 15 areas and 5 at-large council members, I think.
1:39 and Higby, you want a woman for CD2 (Abby D) who, as poster Rita of Sunland says 1) goes to meetings with a large sheet of plain paper pinned to her chest; 2) is so bitter, she won't talk to her even when trying to make amends (nice trait for a public official there); 3) is obsessed with self-promoting events in S-T, from HD to health fairs; and 4) doesn't even live in LA but in Pasadena. Talk about possible carpet-baggers.
2:38 -
You are confusing Abby Diamond with Nina Royal.
Get your facts straight before you come here spouting off. It makes you sound stupid.
And somebody here actually KNOWS FOR SURE that Howard Sunkin gave Jimmy the tickets? that Jimmy did not pay for these on his own??? Unless you know that for certain, how can anyone talk about any kind of misdeed or ethics violation???
3:48: No one gives a sh't about your people from cowpoke Sunland-Tujunga. The endless carryings-on about one damn retail store in the whole so- called town, and dragging the rest of us into the mess, trying to involve us in expensive lawsuits, is tiresome.
Pay for your own damn lawsuits, or picket HD when it opens, or set up your own underwear stands in the parking lot for those who can't drive to K-Mart. You can ALL pin sheets of paper with talking-points and protests to your chests, for all anyone cares.
the Blackman controversy is interesting because it points out a flaw in the city's ethics laws.
If Blackman got a seat for the Dodger game for free, it's something he must report on his quarterly conflict of interest statements which are public records.
Of course, someone could ask him if he got tickets for free.
The flaw is determining a value for a seat in the owner's box. Those tickets aren't for sale, and realistically you can't give them the same value as other seats in the area. I've known City Councilmembers who asked the promoter to get them tickets to a sold out concert, and they would pay face value. But again, realistically, the tickets weren't available to the public and might have been selling for thousands of dollars on the secondary market. The City Ethics Commission has never figured out how to deal with this loophole.
The goal should be to prohibit city officials from using their position to get valuable favorts from people who do business with the City .
4:35 you're an idiot. No disrespect to Nina Royal (who publishes the North Valley Reporter newspaper and does many good things in the community) but don't confuse her with Abby Diamond.
Abby Diamond is indeed one of the key leaders of the No 2 Home Depot campaign but she's been hired by other cities to consult on land use issues and has been honored by various business and political organizations for her work.
Abby would make an amazing Council person. Far more thoughtful, knowledgeable, articulate, classy and distinguished than Laura Chick, Tamar Galatzan or Cindy Montanez.
And you know Abby would never take free tickets from the Dodgers.
The City Councilmembers used to get two free tickets to each Dodger game. That stopped when the ethics reforms came in. For everyone I guess but certain Assistant Deputy Mayors.
abby diamond can't raise money beyond charging at rodeo at the LVT Equestrian Center...nuff said.
yeah, there's plenty of candidates out there who didn't raise enough money to prohibit an opponent from entering...and guess what, they lost.
300,000 isn't scaring anybody.
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