Mayor Sam's Hotsheet for Labor Day
The lobbyists who try to convince LA City Council members to vote in favor of their clients' projects and who direct millions of dollars to influence local elected officials are up in arms over an LA City Ethics Commission plan to require them to wear badges at official City meetings. Some lobbyists feel the rule should be extended to representatives of homeowner groups and community activists.
It's a typo but in Labor Day themed post at LA CityWatch, SEIU LA/OC Regional Director Julie Butcher refers to the presumptive Democratic candidate as "Barack Osama."
Daily News blogger Greg Hernandez reports from the Democratic National Convention. Among his observations was Council President Eric Garcetti welling up over speeches by Ted Kennedy and Hillary Clinton and that San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom seemed to have more star power than Mayor Villaraigosa.
High-end retailer Neiman Marcus is coming the San Fernando Valley. The store will open a new branch at the Westfield Topanga Mall this week. Councilman Dennis Zine told the Daily News "We want to be better than Beverly Hills," in referring to his West Valley based district.
He lost a tough primary battle to get elected to the State Assembly but Stuart Waldman has found a place to land. The San Fernando Valley based business advocacy group, VICA, has chosen Waldman as it's new president, replacing the husband of school board member Tamar Galatzan, Brendan Huffman, who is stepping down from the position. Let's hope that under Waldman VICA articulates a progressive, creative business vision for the Valley that is more than car dealerships, condos and Home Depots.
It's a typo but in Labor Day themed post at LA CityWatch, SEIU LA/OC Regional Director Julie Butcher refers to the presumptive Democratic candidate as "Barack Osama."
Daily News blogger Greg Hernandez reports from the Democratic National Convention. Among his observations was Council President Eric Garcetti welling up over speeches by Ted Kennedy and Hillary Clinton and that San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom seemed to have more star power than Mayor Villaraigosa.
High-end retailer Neiman Marcus is coming the San Fernando Valley. The store will open a new branch at the Westfield Topanga Mall this week. Councilman Dennis Zine told the Daily News "We want to be better than Beverly Hills," in referring to his West Valley based district.
He lost a tough primary battle to get elected to the State Assembly but Stuart Waldman has found a place to land. The San Fernando Valley based business advocacy group, VICA, has chosen Waldman as it's new president, replacing the husband of school board member Tamar Galatzan, Brendan Huffman, who is stepping down from the position. Let's hope that under Waldman VICA articulates a progressive, creative business vision for the Valley that is more than car dealerships, condos and Home Depots.
Labels: eric garcetti, gavin newsom, hillary clinton, Lobbyist, mayor antonio villaraigosa, stuart waldman, ted kennedy, VICA
Posted by Michael Higby @ 9/01/2008 04:00:00 AM
7 Comments:
The efforts to somehow silence or eliminate lobbying will be about as succewsful as was Prohibition.
The appropriate way to deal with the issue of influence is to require absolute compliance with Internet reporting of any and all gifts and expenditures.
This could be accomplished simply and would give everyone access to see who gives what to whom.
Take off the lomits and leave it to the bloggers and media to ferret out undue influence and blast it across the net.
Impose huge penalties for violations and enforce them.
This would cause the unions and the homeowners groups, who exercise strong influence with the elected and appointed officials to disclose as well.
What is the matter with our council that they cannot se this as a perfect solution for all the efforts to contain influence?
Nothing they have done or propose to do will help as much as full, immediate disclosure within 24 hours on the Internet.
Congrats to Stuart!
LA Slimes Opinion...great piece, Greg Hernandez
Gavin, Antonio and Denver
When I'm wrong, I'm wrong. And I'm wrong. There was no embrace this morning between rival mayors Gavin Newsom of San Francisco and Antonio Villaraigosa of Los Angeles, no jabs at the press for wanting to make a united Democratic front into a potential gubernatorial smackdown. Newsom spoke to California Democrats at the convention in Denver, then walked off the podium and down the hall with a trail of paparazzi, while Villaraigosa marched past. The two did not even look at each other.
Newsom not only delivered the speech of a man running for governor, he killed. He hit his campaign talking points or, at least, those things that ought to be his campaign talking points: San Francisco's universal healthcare program, universal preschool, universal this and universal that. Environment. Living wage. Same-sex marriage -- not by taking credit for launching the movement, but by calling on California Democrats to defeat Proposition 8, the gay-marriage ban.
He repeated these words often, and he sold them: "If we can do it in San Francisco, let me promise you, we can do it in the state of California." Or: "I promise you. We have evidence. This is not an assertion, this is not another political speech. I will show you how it's done. We have done it in San Francisco. It can be done anywhere."
And get a load of this zinger:
"I appreciate some people wanting to take over school districts; I certainly respect the desire for change, but we decided to do it differently. We decided to build a partnership with our public schools." Was he talking about anyone in particular?
Villaraigosa could have answered that his partnership for schools gets under way next week, or that he has environmental programs of his own. But his was not a gubernatorial campaign speech. He talked about what Democrats have been talking about all week -- if they are going to get what they want, they have to elect Barack Obama. But these delegates were starting to tire of hearing that from people other than Obama himself.
"I wanted to come and say a few words to you," Villaraigosa told California Democrats, "not to talk about anything I'm doing in Los Angeles, but to speak to you about what we all need to do throughout the state, throughout our city and throughout the nation."
I have some sympathy for Villaraigosa. Earlier this week (and this summer), reporters and others got on his case for spending so much time out of state campaigning for Hillary Clinton, then for supposedly not doing enough to get Clinton voters to back Obama. And now, when that's exactly what he's talking about in Denver, I'm saying he didn't equal Gavin Newsom in presenting himself as a potential governor. He can't win for losing. He's not even a candidate for governor (Newsom has opened an exploratory campaign, Villaraigosa deflects questions about his intentions).
Still, Newsom sure sounded inspiring in comparison, and his list of solid accomplishments from his first term helps listeners ask themselves what Villaraigosa has to show for himself. It also diverts attention from the fact that San Francisco is a fabulously wealthy boutique of a city, with a combined city-county government that makes it easier to turn talk into action.
Am I giving Newsom too much credit? Am I going too easy on Villaraigosa? Listen for yourself:
Newsom is a scumbag who should be indicted for actively aiding and abetting illegal gangbanging felons, and then releasing them to San Bernardino to an unguarded half-way house from where they escaped to further terrorize the local community all without telling anyone in San Bernardino. What an elitist, arrogant attitude from the mayor of that "boutique city."
That's one thing Hernandez has right, that S F is so wealthy and expensive to live in, it actually has to try to lure illegals there to work as the maids, gardeners and other menials for the rich, childless gays whose schools aren't bursting. L A has its schools full of 3/4 immigrants, mostly anchor babies, vs. 50% in Calif. as a whole and 20% in the U.S. S F's % is probably way lower than even the national average -- their workers commute from Oakland and elsewhere.
Poor Antonio does sound tone-deaf, though -- of course he should have played up his strengths, as he sees them, like low-life Newsom did. Sucking upto Obama at that point must have just seemed desperate, as he got dissed anyway for supporting Hillary early on.
L A does have the greatest % of recycling in any major city (S. F. has more, but look at their demographics) and in green building, plus dealing with the enormous challenge of these immigrants and their housing and transportation needs. L A has made significant strides in reducing smog, and trying to deal with pollution from the ports, which carry most of the burdens for the whole western U. S. He has to admit and address those issues and how L A is totally different.
He should have listened to people who told him trying to "fix" a handful of lowest performing schools, his immigrant base, was a no-win situation -- if he'd have picked an equal number of middle class schools which are the REAL deprived ones for decade, he'd have had the support and results he needed. He's done himself in by pandering to the lowest denominator and ignoring the middle class, except to comment that L A has the fewest of them of any of the top 20 cities. DUH, wonder why? Taxation without fair returns?
Still, Newsom is the bigger scumbag and must never run California or anything outside a prison detail.
The following was aired on CSPAN on Sunday, August 31 from the presidential candidate Sen. John McCain and his running mate, Gov. Sarah Palin, campaign in O'Fallon, MO.
All politicians should implement the below success story from VP nominee Gov. Sarah Palin as a “Best Practice.”
This was what Gov. Sarah Palin said:
“In reform, keep the Government focus on the things that matter most. In Alaska what we have done is undertaken a thorough review of the operations of our Government. The guiding principal of reform can simply be stated we want a Government that is COMPETENT and DEPENDABLE and FREE of CORRUPTION and SELF DEALING. We don’t want bigger Government. We want a Government that does a few big things and does them right. And that’s why as Governor of the great State of Alaska I stood up to the old politics as usual and took a special interest to the lobbyists, to the big oil influence, and to the good old boy network. As Senator John McCain noted I came into office causing major ethics reform. I pledge to end the culture of corruption in and around the capitol and to put the people first in the affairs of our Government. And today that ethics reform is now the law in the state of Alaska.”
It would be harder to govern a local Von's than the state of Alaska. Loser candidate, loser experience.
oh that really sucks for stuart. obviously nobody wants the poison vica job!
who bets that stuart loves tamar and thinks she'll be the best candidate for cd 2??
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