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Friday, October 23, 2009

Los Angeles Politics Hotsheet for Friday

Joe B's CD2 Election Blog reports that former City Council Candidate Frank Sheftel has come out in support of former opponent Chris Essel.  A statement from Sheftel at the blog details his reasons for doing so.  However Sheftel does not indicate if he believes the Armenian Genocide happened or not.

AEG President Tim Leiweke says that City Attorney Carmen Trutanich "bullied" him and demanded that AEG reimburse the City for nearly $6 million in costs for the Michael Jackson memorial at Staples Center.  Nuch says when it comes to being a watchdog over the City's cash he doesn't mind being a bully.  Going after the sacred cows and power elite in LA is a good thing for Nuch to do.  It will bear him far more good will and political capital than going after the pot shops and busting crazy old loon Mayoral candidates.


What do you do when you're a termed out Assemblyman in need of a job? You get the Mayor to hire you at the Port.  What happens when, because LA's politics are so incestous, you have to give that job up because your wife's law firm represents the unions that the Port's employees belong to? You move over to the DWP.  That's what Wally Knox is doing and that's SO LA!

LAX has raised parking fees at the airport's economy parking lots.  Lots B and C will see a $2 per day increase going up to $10 and $12 a day respectively.  Tip: Check out LAX Park Place where you can get indoor valet parking for around $9 a day, with free shuttle and no waiting for that damn bus.

Nanny state alert! The City of Calabasas is considering a ban on plastic grocery bags.  Now we all know the old, dead Republican Mayor hates plastic shopping bags and uses reusable cloth bags at stores like Ralphs, Trader Joe's and HOWS.  He doesn't need the government to tell him to do that nor do those stores need big brother to motivate them to do something that makes sense and is environmentally friendly.  Remember when plastic bags are outlawed only outlaws will have plastic bags.

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40 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said:

However Sheftel does not indicate if he believes the Armenian Genocide happened or not=Higby off the deep end. I guess this has become a one issue election. Typical Mayor Sam fashion to attack someone for an opinion that differs from yours.

October 23, 2009 6:18 AM  

Anonymous Anonymous said:

Mayor Sam, are you being paid to promote that parking business at LAX?

Lately, your unwillingness to disclose potential conflicts of interest is disturbing.

What's really bothersome is that you don't answer questions like this even if it IS innocent. That's what spurs suspicion about your business relationships. Examples include your foot-dragging after being asked a million times about why you endorsed Kirkorian.

October 23, 2009 7:11 AM  

Anonymous Anonymous said:

Higby, Phil Genderjane has still not apologized for trashing that Neighborhood Council guy's reputation.

Phil put out a suspect post about the guy, and you promised that he would apologize and correct the story.

But since that time, Phil has posted a half dozen other stories about things that are especially unimportant, such as Craig X. Rubin's alleged arrest this week, and Sheftel endorsing Phil's CD2 candidate. As if anyone cares about stuff like this on a slow news cycle.

When is it that Phil is going to apologize for doing this man wrong? Why is this not a top priority for the blog? You need to make sure that the blog's reputation as something of a cesspool doesn't fall any further.

October 23, 2009 7:15 AM  

Anonymous Anonymous said:

What Chris Essel loves?

- SB 1818
- Greig Smith and Mitch Englander
- Developers
- Movie industry people (unless she can make more money outsourcing)
- Oppressing neighborhood councils
- Antonio Villaraigosa

October 23, 2009 7:20 AM  

Anonymous Anonymous said:

Wally Knox was a welcome addition to the Port of Los Angeles executive team. He will be missed by staff.

October 23, 2009 7:38 AM  

Blogger Michael Higby said:

No I am not being paid to promote that parking business.

I don't think MS can drive enough traffic to a parking lot for some jack.

But if they want to comp me next time I take a flight out of LAX, sure. I used that lot once and it was excellent service (though I had trouble finding it).

October 23, 2009 8:58 AM  

Blogger Michael Higby said:

I chose to support Krekorian because of my observations of him in action as an Assemblyman and more importantly my interaction with his staff members.

Practically all of the local elected staff people I've known are incompetent, corrupt, useless, AWOL or all of the above. There have been a few such as Stuart Waldman, Myron Cotton who used to work for John Ferraro and a few others who were excellent to work with.

Paul's staff is just the same way.

When your Clowncil members staff only come to your NC meeting to pass out free light bulbs or to announce the next hamburger giveaway its a real pleasure when you meet a group of guys who are smart and who are actually interested in engaging the community on real issues.

October 23, 2009 9:01 AM  

Anonymous Anonymous said:

WHY HASN'T PHIL APOLOGIZED?

ISN'T CORRECTING HIS SLANDER A PRIORITY?

October 23, 2009 9:03 AM  

Anonymous Anonymous said:

Joseph Mailander has started yet another blog. http://griffithparkwayist.blogspot.com/

October 23, 2009 9:17 AM  

Anonymous Anonymous said:

I agree that it is regretable that Phil is refusing to apologize. It's a poor reflection on the entire blog, especially Mike Higby.

October 23, 2009 9:27 AM  

Anonymous Anonymous said:

Who cares about Sheftel endorsement.

October 23, 2009 10:12 AM  

Anonymous Anonymous said:

I see Mailander wasted no time trashing Higby on his new blog.

October 23, 2009 10:24 AM  

Blogger Joseph Mailander said:

Joseph Mailander has started yet another blog. Griffith Park Wayist

Another classic MayorSam comment: this one they all know, every one of them, with absolute metaphysical certitude, is not true--but they approve it anyway.

October 23, 2009 10:29 AM  

Blogger Michael Higby said:

I can't speak for anyone else Joseph but I have no idea what blogs you're starting, quitting, starting, whatever.

I checked out that link and it looks to me like you're blogging there.

Its filled with all your usual invective, pompous elitist claptrap, bigotry and lies about me.

But I get you Joseph, after all now that I bruised your ever fragile sensibilities you're doing to me what you taught me to do to Kevin Roderick, Marc Cooper, Mickey Kaus, the Mayor, et al.

Its just a shame - so much talent to be over modulated by so much bitterness and hatred. I honestly wish you no ill will and hope you find peace. Just leave me out of it.

And in the words of Forest Gump, that's all I have to say about Joseph.

October 23, 2009 11:13 AM  

Blogger Joseph Mailander said:

Jesus, Michael, who leaked to you the information about Chris Essel's problem fundraiser? I don't dispute that it's newsworthy, but I do dispute the idea that you as an announced Krekorian supporter should be ceaselessly promoting it. You've not demonstrated yourself in this race to be anything other than a mudslinger for Krekorian.

I'm not bruised so much as vastly disappointed. You seem to have experienced a profound regression politically in the past year, and are more interested in making messes than trying to clean things up.

CD2 politics have become a complete mess and a turnoff to the district. The community will not get anyone worthy of it representing them, and that includes Paul Krekorian. To throw mud on one candidate and pretend another is the "solution" because they want to turn NoHo like a Republican wet dream development cluster is completely at odds the spirit of the district. This race has become a great waste of time for all involved, and your blog has been more divisive for the district than unifying for it. It could have been very different.

October 23, 2009 11:47 AM  

Anonymous Anonymous said:

"A vindictive clown, trying to punch way out of midlife crisis," is a right-on photo blurb for Trutanich, from the Griffith Way blog. Higby of course doesn't like it when the pot calls the kettle black and outs his pet project Trutanich as what it is.

Even more pathetic is that we have to carry on our payroll those two dead-weights Jane Usher and more ludicrously, David Berger the nasty Trutanuch Lapdog Pitbull, whose only reason d'etre and reason to be "rewarded" with this job as "special assistant" and "head of ethics" (!!!) was those nasty attacks. I LOVE all this attention the Nooch is attracting to himself for threatening to jail and sue everyone from his BOSS and client a City councilwoman to the head of Building & Safety to Volunteer Board & Commission members to "unnamed others" even BEFORE he took office.

Add to that bullying a cancer patient at the Neighborhood Council meeting and we have quite a spectacle. And expose us to enormous financial liabilities.

As this is writen long-time Dep. DA now Dep. CA Carter is trying to explain to the Council why they felt it was OK to threaten Perry and AEG, but it is pretty lame. WE're paying Carter and Livesay to do that buffoon Nooch's job and cover for him (so with the wasted salaries of Berger and Usher, that's 4 over-priced people to do his job) but it's transparent.
And Jan Perry is justifiably mad.

NOW this is another one they're taking back to court and will keep litigating. (Like Chick's lawyer Woocher - who's have settled for a mere $100 thou this summer, but after using Chick to get elected, the Nooch trashed her, too. Carter even tried to claim that a slip of the tongue she made to a newspaper abrogated Nooch's solemn promise: HOW LOW will Carter go, to cover for this guy?)

October 23, 2009 11:59 AM  

Anonymous Anonymous said:

So, the equation escapes me on this one. I mean another of the very poorly supported sub-candidates (now 4 of them?) has endorsed one of the two people involved in the runoff in CD2. Is that supposed to mean something?

If two wrongs don't make a right, do 3, or 4, or even 5 LOSERS = one winner?

The vast majority of the people who voted, which wasn't that many, said with certainty that they placed no value on the candidacy of the other "8". Now they're going to value their opinion as to which of the remaining 2 to vote for?

Nah! Having their candidate lose THAT badly serves as a wakeup call to most people that they screwed up in selecting them in the first place, time to break ranks and take the next decision seriously.

October 23, 2009 12:24 PM  

Blogger Michael Higby said:

When you're getting complaints, emails and phone calls from both the pro and anti Nuch people that the blog is opposite to their aims you know you're doing something right!

October 23, 2009 1:00 PM  

Anonymous Anonymous said:

"Nuch says when it comes to being a watchdog over the City's CASH he doesn't mind being a bully."

Angelenos need more bullies, like TRUtanich, who will fight for ALL Angelenos and NOT SPECIAL INTEREST GROUPS.

October 23, 2009 1:17 PM  

Anonymous Anonymous said:

Michael, something is not right when you direct Phil to apologize for trashing an NC person, and he thinks Craig X. Rubin is more important than apologizing and restoring the man's reputation.

Just wait until YOU make a mistake yourself, send out a correction, and some jerkoff holds you accountable for the original act without mentioning that you corrected it.

Just wait, boy. You just wait. If Phil does this over the weekend so nobody can see it, it means nothing. For you to suggest that you're doing things right more often than screwing things up, is the mindset of a guy who is out of touch.

October 23, 2009 1:50 PM  

Anonymous Dennis Young said:

It does not look like Higby got the Essel story from Krekorian. It was reported by the LA Weekly first. That does not qualify as a leak. Nor does it qualify Higby to continue to claim that this blog has the "news before it happens."

October 23, 2009 1:58 PM  

Blogger Michael Higby said:

Private note to the commenter who mentioned "the elephant in the room"

I would love to do what you have suggested. The issue with it is not my opinion but that doing what you suggests leads to a ton of off the hook phone calls complaining. Our way keeps it simple and really takes little away from the discussion.

October 23, 2009 2:27 PM  

Anonymous Anonymous said:

Any posting from Higby and Joe B should come with the following disclaimer.

Owned and operated by Eric Hacopian

You guys are disgrace.

Your bought and paid for by Armenian money.

October 23, 2009 2:53 PM  

Anonymous Anonymous said:

Okay, so file this under "one possible way to balance the City's budget . . ."

NEWS ITEM
Dallas police chief: Dozens of tickets issued for not speaking English

Friday, October 23, 2009
By SCOTT GOLDSTEIN / The Dallas Morning News


Dallas Police Chief David Kunkle said this afternoon that his officers have written at least 39 citations to people over the past three years for not speaking English.

Apologizing publicly to the city's Spanish-speaking community, the chief said all officers and supervisors involved will be investigated for dereliction of duty. All pending citations will be dismissed, and people who paid fines will be reimbursed.

October 23, 2009 3:01 PM  

Anonymous Anonymous said:

Higby why are you refusing to force phil to apologize or allow him to lead discussions if he refuses to? It's a very bad reflection on you.

October 23, 2009 3:21 PM  

Anonymous Anonymous said:

Why do you allow Joe's blog to post its link (u know he was the one who did it) even tho he is trashing you?

October 23, 2009 3:26 PM  

Anonymous Anonymous said:

2:53

Are you serious? Is Armenian money legal tender in this country?

COOL, care to swap, Higby? Then you can truthfully tell people "Frankly, I don't give a DRAM!" (Look it up.)

I really need to "move out" of Kruggerands. (Mom wants the shelf in the basement back for her Fourth of July decorations).

October 23, 2009 4:10 PM  

Anonymous Anonymous said:

Mayor Sam, the nasty notes are going out to warn neighborhood council people who haven't taken the city's ethics training.

Did you get yours yet?

D.O.N.E. says you're all skating on very thick ice!

If another year goes by and you haven't taken the training, they're going to make you attend meetings where there's no milk and cookies.

October 23, 2009 4:13 PM  

Anonymous Anonymous said:

Anyone have a referral for a good holocaust designer? Mine just up and moved out of town.

I need to have the rumpus room reworked into a study.

October 23, 2009 4:19 PM  

Anonymous Anonymous said:

Michael you should post the circus this afternoon at city council. It lasted two hours of grandstanding and outright rude behavior by the clowncil morons. They showed no class and acted as if they were raised in the ghetto especially Jan Perry. They were all defending AEG who has given them all campaign donations. AEG wanted to put up signs around LA Live the city attorney saw a legal issue with it and they all acted like imbeciles. Ed Reyes had the nerve to stand and say we need to have trust. HELLOOOO we don't trust clowncil members. Alarcon behaved like a thug straight out of the hood. Hahn another hypocrite idiot who doesn't know how to put two sentences together. It was the most embarrassing meeting aired ever. The funniest and most highlighted part was John Walsh really slamming all of them and stating the truth.

October 23, 2009 5:10 PM  

Anonymous Anonymous said:

When push came to shove Zine joined the Council majority in slamming his buddy the Nuch - like all bullies if you push him back he backs off.

October 23, 2009 6:20 PM  

Anonymous afairman said:

Higby, you're a TOOL.

One that is being wielded and used.

Do you know how silly and narcissistic you sound?

"I support Krekorian because his staff was nice to me."

OK, so by that litmus test, you can be manipulated by any elected official.

Jack Weiss was an ass, but his staff was VERY friendly. Nuch didn't have a staff, because he wasn't an elected official yet.

But by the Higby test, we'd all vote for Jack Weiss.

Your position is furthermore silly when you take into account that at least TWO (if not three) of Krekorian's staff are running for higher office themselves, including the guy running the show.

Did you ever think they were nice to you because of this fact? i.e., that it was in their self-interest?

Mailander is right in many ways. You matured politically when you stopped backing lost causes. But then you regressed when you made it all about you.

To get Higby's endorsement, indeed him letting his blog be used as a propaganda machine, all you have to do is be nice to him.

That's called Stockholm Syndrome. Our politicians have everyone so used to being beaten all over town, and you are obviously so used to being made fun of, that you get so excited that someone did what they are supposed to do, after all, and that is treating constituents with respect.

You dont question their motives, you don't see anything in shades of gray. It's all because some self-interested propagandist treated you well, probably knowing full well that you buy your ink (or your pixels) by the barrelfull.

Don't be such a tool. Stop being used.

October 23, 2009 9:51 PM  

Blogger Michael Higby said:

951 you are a moron who does not know how to read.

I didn't say his staff was "nice to me."

I said they were competent compared to most of the morons who work for elected officials.

October 23, 2009 10:14 PM  

Anonymous Anonymous said:

You're exact words were "because of MY interactions with them."

Right there, for everyone to see.

So, we stop judging our elected leaders by their actions and we judge them instead on how we have witnessed their staffs act?

We forget that Krekorian is presiding over the biggest fiscal nightmare in our state's history, all because

his staff is "competent"????

Your word again, Mike.

Amazing how our standards have fallen.

Admit it Mike.

October 23, 2009 10:25 PM  

Anonymous Anonymous said:

And stop censoring comments. This attempt to mobilize the Armenian donor base and appeal to wealthy Jews is disgusting. Our community will not be used.

October 23, 2009 10:26 PM  

Anonymous Anonymous said:

I thought I fired all the dissenters.

Higby, ferret themout and fire them. Then fire yourself.

Eric Hacopian, Owner

October 23, 2009 10:31 PM  

Anonymous Anonymous said:

Higby, using an identifiable Jewish corpse to shore up an Armenian-theme ethnic campaign for krekorian would backfire for you/ him with Jews - if more of them read this blog. NOT a good idea.

Meanwhile, what about Trutanich as a Serb: according to BBC news, Karadzic is just about to go to the Hague for war crimes but a majority of Serbs in Bosnia still justify his behavior. Including massacring 8000 men and boys, just CHILDREN, in cold blood in Srebrenica in 1992 because they were Muslim. Genocide in its ugliest and purest terms.

So is it wrong for Trutanich to have gotten his biggest initial base from that community, the Dalmatian- American club and community, in San Pedro?

You can say most of them don't agree with the Serbs in Bosnia but seretly, many do. So why should someone shun ALL Turks because Krekorian wants to 'use" the issue for his own benefit? Would he refuse to help a Turkish constituent?

October 23, 2009 11:07 PM  

Anonymous Anonymous said:

I agree with 6:20PM. Zine crashed his cojones on his motorcycle on his way to pump some babe.

October 23, 2009 11:09 PM  

Anonymous Anonymous said:

The grandstanding and behavior of these council members was beyond shameful. They all behaved like a bunch of uneducated thugs. Ed Reyes standing and saying we need to trust our city attorney was beyond laughable coming from a guy who is responsible for the 1,000 medical marijuana shops. Alarcon talking like the Mexican Mafia thug he is. He speaks as if he's talking to gang bangers. Smith doesn't know how to speak to anyone without sounding like a thug himself and Illiterate. Smith has major issues with his temper. Perry was the most embarrassing sounding like a ghetto bitch. She has no professional decorum at all and showed a complete lack of CLASS. The stupid questions they asked showed their lack of intelligence. We need to show City Attorney Trutanich our support for this fiasco of a meeting. Its about time we had a real leader in this city that has the balls to go after corporate corruption and money people like AEG. THEY ALL TOOK CAMPAIGN DONATIONS FROM AEG. HELLLOOOOO Thanks Nuch

October 24, 2009 5:42 AM  

Blogger Kim-SubMeter Maid said:

I will definitely try LAX Park Place the next time I leave from LAX, if I don't take the flyaway from Van Nuys. Thanks for that tip.

October 24, 2009 1:31 PM  

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