Electric Czar Unplugged
Since none of us at Mayor Sam are retired, unemployable or professional journalists we can't always jump on the big breaking stories that the fishwraps and electronic fishwraps actually might give a shit about. Still, our friends at the LA Weekly observe accurately. So here it is, take it.
Anyway this story has been breaking since the pipes started doing the same.
Radio station KNX 1070 summed it up this morning with its teasers to an upcoming report about the DWP's changing leadership: "Is the new boss the same as the old boss?" announcers asked, playing off a famous line by the Who. True enough, the Department of Water and Power's general manager since 2007, David Nahai, turned in his resignation today and was replaced by his former boss, David Freeman. Nahai and his department have come under a steady drumbeat of criticism as one water main after another has mysteriously broken during an historic drought, some with devastating effects. Yet even before these embarrassing ruptures Nahai had become a public pinata in the eyes of DWP customers and policy wonks alike who were unhappy with the cash-rich department's perennial appeals for rate hikes and with its imposition of water-rationing schedules.
Anyway this story has been breaking since the pipes started doing the same.
Labels: dwp, H David Nahai
Posted by Michael Higby @ 10/02/2009 03:39:00 PM
30 Comments:
Rod Spet and Zuma Dogg already wrote about this.
The ceaseless fee hikes, the kleptocratic scams, the drowning firetruck, the drained reservoir, the bursting mains, the downed power lines whenever the windspeed reached above 5 mph...
This guy more than anyone else personified the catastrophic collapse of the City's infrastructure. It's too bad Antonio didn't know enough about the City to realize that this was an important position that couldn't be filled by any ol' fundraiser.
Now complete the GM sweep and rid of Gail Goldberg and we might begin to have a City that works in the interest of its citizens, instead of against them, again.
Guys just remember, be careful what you wish for,
David Freeman is a curmudgeon and a guy that knows his way around LADWP better than anyone else in the world.
He ran the TVA, he ran SMUD, he ran the ISO, he ran LADWP and he ran Power for Gray Davis (after Davis screwed it up).
There will be some asses getting kicked around LADWP.
Some of them may be yours.
Freeman was never Nahai's "boss." Freeman was general manager from 1997-2001, then left to go to work with Gray Davis in Sacramento.
Nahai came to DWP as a member of the board in 2005, after Antonio was elected, then, general manager at the end of 2007 after Deaton was given a sweetener package to officially retire and provide the opening for Nahai's appointment.
Nahai is free at last, free at last, on the eve of Sukkot, he's free at last!
of a thankless job, between D'Arcy and his union demands and anger over NOT pushing through B, and the angry old homeowners who want his hide for representing the hated DWP and D'Arcy and the Mayor.
Freeman has been around so long, and is so old, his hide is as thick as a teepee, he won't care.
Maybe the mayor will have to import another out-of-towner like Carr and Carson, Goldberg, since anyone who's been associated with him in LA is already tainted.
Not much room for upward promotion these days. Except Szabo, who's oblivious to everything. And until he got promoted, never had responsibility for anything, that way he couldn't be blamed. Sad state of affairs. Take on an important role for the mayor and become hated and then ousted.
D. Freeman spells disaster for the ratepayers. He does not give a shit how much the renewables will cost. He will not be around to be held accountable.
Joseph, point of clarification.
Who did you vote for for Mayor and your CM?
6:10, I voted for Villaraigosa in 2005 and David Hernandez in 2009. I left my CM vote blank the last time he ran. My CM is LaBonge.
So Joseph helped create the problem in 2005 and had no better idea in 2009
And couldn't back anyone other than LaBonge?
And he complains about OTHERS?
The unmitigated NERVE of Mailander!
Since none of us at Mayor Sam are retired, unemployable or professional journalists we can't always jump on the big breaking stories.
Don't worry, no one comes to a blog for links to other places that have it first. You are supposed to be covering the things that aren't breaking news on KNX or LATimes.com.
For example, in the past, this blog had all the early inside information on Nahai having drinks with the mayor when the job offer was in the works.
Now that was exciting. If you aren't announcing it before the LA Times, no need to hurry once it breaks.
Dave Freemanis a knowledgeable, able guy. We are lucky to have him, although within a couple of weeks the burros around here will be comparing him to satan or even Obama.
Well, maybe not as bad a Obama. Let's say Jimmy Carter.
Now, if we can get J. Ramallo to follow D. Nahai. He was Nahai`s enabler, a deceiptful, arrogant, ignorant, highly paid bureaucrat. Came from Antonio`s shop.......
Now we have the fox watching the chicken coop.
Martinilander admits he voted for David "Throw Guillermo Under The Bus" Hernandez for Mayor. Shit howdy! Zuma will have a tantrum!
What on Earth can you find wrong with Joe Ramallo? Seriously.
What happened to KFWB? They fired all their news reporters and went to talk radio.
Bring back the news!!
PUT UP SOME FRESH CONTENT YOU LAZY BUM!
Martinilander, I like that Kristen! Good one.
Jack Weiss in line to be next head of DWP. Seriously. Mayor Villaraigosa is quietly sounding out the idea. Despite narrowly losing out on a Deputy Mayor appointment to Homeland Security, Weiss still enjoys the Mayor's favor and brings with him strong support from environmentalists. As the DWP is about the biggest environmental issue in LA, a leader with strong connections to environmentalists like Weiss is a 'no brainer' for the Mayor. Weiss was an ardent supporter of Solar Energy Measure B, and is seen by many as having sacrificed his bid for his coveted Los Angeles City Attorney post, to promote Measure B.
Jack Weiss will not be allowed into that position. Any discussion is just as a courtesy to Jack, from his friend, to keep the illusion going that he is still a player and relevant.
1:12, what a miserable creature you are - feel better now, having gotten that nonsense out of your spleen? The previous poster is right that Weiss took the fall for the whole council and mayor over Measure B, but why would he want a thankless job like that, look at how much crap Nahai took til he had enough. Weiss would be ideal for anything involving the environment or public safety though, and with Trutanich flaming out and having the OpEd writers who endorsed him hiding in shame and writing editorials against him (like Daily News) or being fired (like Jim Newton at the Times), people realize they should have all done more to prevent this huge mistake from happening.
With Bratton leaving having had enough of the crap from councilmembers undermining his years of work with LAPD since Weiss left, Trutanich at war with the Controller and most of the council and pitting them against each other in camps (Zine-Parks-Perry mostly vs. the rest), Joe Mailander's right that this city is in shambles now.
When you say "none of us at Mayor Sam are retired, unemployable..." at first I thought it was Red Spoot or a joke - forgetting about Zuma dogg? And WHAT does phil do, really, is he a costumed character at Universal or Six Flags?
Jack Weiss may work with Bratton on anti-terrorism. They've worked together for years and Jack developed a manual and protocols with Bratton on working with other agencies to maximize their reach. Bratton's just developed a system to help people identify and share data on suspicious activities that could be associated with terrorism - just endorsed by the National Association of Police Chiefs (that he heads) this weekend.
Jack Weiss is an environmentalist? Really now. Where did you get that information? You make it up?
And at the risk of dragging a portion of the proceeding thread over here where I discussed the evils of the Rubalcava family after someone brought up their name, here I read Ron Deaton and bingo. If anyone wonders why the Dominic, Sharon and son Alex were all on the take, I'm sure a smart person could connect the dots to Arnie Berghoff/Harvey Englander and Ron Deaton.
That is what is wrong with the DWP, not David Nahai.
Weiss should have been allowed to run for City Attorney without having to carry Measure B on behalf of the Mayor and the City Council who both stabbed him in the back when he needed them the most.
The Mayor moved way too fast in dismissing Kelly Candaele after the mistake he made in holding a fundraiser for Jack at the Mayor's request.
The rest of the Council treated Jack like a pariah, not one of them coming to his defense and not even honoring or thanking Jack for his 8 year's of service.
Weiss would have the support of the Sierra Club and the Santa Monica Mountain Conservancy to help run the DWP environmentally not commercially. Also, with Jack's anti-terrorism experience, he could protect our precious water resources properly by placing more guards at DWP facilities and aggressively going after water wasters.
2:20 am., no doubt Jack was not rewarded for his friendship and loyalty to a mayor who was loyal only to himself, throwing Candaele under the bus after he had asked him to hold the fundraiser, with Ace in charge of scheduling so many events, Jack just showed up and walked into a trap. Shallman harped on it like the EThics "violaiton" of a few thousand dollars which the commission had made clear was nothing, they were just the soundbites Shallman deals in. no doubt the council cowardly all unpopular and afraid of saving their own hides. By that time I'm sure Weiss wouldn't have wanted a send-off from them, can't see him as a hypocrite, and he can't stand hypocrisy.
But B isn't the only issue he took a hit on for the mayor and council - the Shaw issue focused on illegal immigration, and ignorantly since it was not a city issue at all, but the mayor's team sidestepped it instead of letting Jack tackle it head-on. Just last week the mayor got (bad) national press for urging the Obama administration which many think is too liberal on immigration issues, not to pursue workers at American Apparel who are illegal and using fake ID's. Then he got tagged with the mayor's development issues as personified by the very unpopular Gail Goldberg, though he had his own very clear vision and agenda which did not coincide. And there was just plain editorial bias at the Times, finally Newton had to resign as head of Editorial and Hartenstein is taking charge of the tone of the whole paper, but too late - Basically, Weiss took a hit for the Mayor's issues in general because they gave the Mayor himself a pass since he was running against a bunch of tomato cans. (Except Moore who was too rightwing - but then they gave a pass to his running mate Berger who is no different from his now boss Trutanich, who just had Shallman to spin him. Now they've all realized but too late, left the city a mess, divide against itself.)
The Times is STILL spinning stories to favor Trutanich, censoring the other point of view and comments. Like Maeve Reston's story yesterday about how Trutanich has told the council to order Greuel to fire her & Chick's lawyer, insisting that his office is the only one allowed to represent her - even though it's also the party suing her. They've refused to pay anything to Chick's lawyer, even 1/3 proposed by Rosendahl, to let the meter keep running and the battle brewing, on principle.
Claims it's about saving money are lies - Chick and Doug McIntyre say it's a "smokescreen" for his ego and turning a "hero" for the people into "losers" who must be crucified.
Then Trutanich claims he's doing the council's bidding, after telling them to make this decision - more double-speak from the master of it.
But Reston never mentions that Trutanich promised Chick to uphold her position to get her endorsement, that he intentionally lied to her. They're still protecting their "investment" in blowing their cred on endorsing Nuch when his whole career was just like the stuff he's doing now.
Getting rid of Newton was only getting someone to take the fall for their mistake -- but Robert Greene is still there and spoke yesterday at the OurLA event against City Hall, he'd support the devil as long as he were against Antonio. That's the real issue about Jack, it was about opposing Antonio, not about him at all - they manufactured soundbites and chose to ignore the truth about Nuch as an excuse. Person who says they didn't have the guts to go against Antonio himself is right - they'd have looked even more nuts supporting Moore or one of the other "tomato cans." The pothead priest or dogg, maybe? Phil the Costumed Character?
Anonymous at 1:59PM says: "no doubt Jack was not rewarded for his friendship and loyalty to a mayor who was loyal only to himself, throwing Candaele under the bus after he had asked him to hold the fundraiser, with Ace in charge of scheduling so many events, Jack just showed up and walked into a trap.
Are you saying that this was a setup, where the Mayor asked Candaele to host an illegal fundraiser and had Jack walk into a trap? Positively machiavelian!
Anonymous at 5:36PM writes: Then Trutanich claims he's doing the council's bidding, after telling them to make this decision - more double-speak from the master of it.
Your logic is flawless, so I'll try your own logic on you: It is your decision, but I'm telling you to go away and never post in this blog again.
There, we are done - this idiot is never coming back!
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