Los Angeles Politics Hotsheet for Christmas Eve
Wendy Greuel and her Mini-Mitch
Paul Hatfield has a conversation with City Controller Wendy Greuel. Besides discussing more mundane and technical matters within the Controller's office, Hatfield chatted with Greuel about the recent race to replace her in the District 2 Council Seat. Notably, Greuel attempts to distance herself from Chris Essel, essentially throwing the former movie executive she endorsed under the bus. Nothing stinks like losing.
Rick Orlov is reporting despite cuts made to the City's budget and expenses - including a controversial early retirement program for city workers - Los Angeles is still exceeding it's payroll budget by $85 million. In a letter to the Mayor and City Council Controller Wendy Greuel stated "...salary expenditures continue to exceed the budgeted amount."
One area where the City is doing well is in revenues from red light cameras. According to the LA Times Los Angeles' income from catching red light runners from these cameras has doubled since 2007 and is outpacing other local agencies.
We've heard about who the Ass Clown of the Year should be; who would LA's Grinch of the Year be? Go vote at Metblogs.
If you're harried about what to do for your holiday celebrating, the bloggers at the Cooking With Trader Joe's blog have some lost minute entertaining tips.
All of us at Mayor Sam wish each of you a very happy holiday and Merry Christmas. We appreciate your patronage throughout the year.
Labels: Chris Essel, city budget, paul hatfield, red light cameras, trader joes, wendy greuel
Posted by Michael Higby @ 12/24/2009 02:00:00 AM
37 Comments:
Its insulting for LAPD to say that crime is down. This past week there were killings in every area of LA. Winnekta had the woman stabbed by ex boyfriend, Rampart area had 74 yr old store owner shot by gang members, El Sereno had gang banger shot in car, South LA had 4 gang members shot, Westside had felony assaults, robberies and the San Fernando Valley had a couple of shootings. Why aren't the reporters like Joel Rubin or Rick Orlov reporting the TRUTH?
MetBlog left one important candidate off the Grinch nominees; Carmen 'Nooch' Trutanich, for coming up with the law that will close down most of the marijuana shops in LA. He should also get the award for embarrassing nearly all the clowncil members by publicly exposing the fact that they were about to pass an illegal law. Nooch needs to get with the program and stop worrying about the law, and do what the clowncil wants.
In three short years that will be Mayor Wendy Greuel. Can't wait to start working on her campaign. I for one am very grateful for the things she done for the communities in CD2 and will not whine and wring my hands over the the things some believe she has failed to do.
Wendy= Lying sack of crap.
Looks like they're serving the egg nog already in City Hall!
I'd like some of what 8:56 is drinking, thank you.
8:56 AM OMG your on her campaign committee already, give us a break.
I bet you don't live in District 2 either.
Wendy won against a guy who raised only $30,000 and can't speak English to save his life, Nick Patsouris.
And yet she used the usual Shallman lies claiming he was crooked, begged D'Arcy and IBEW for an additional $250,000 on top of what he already gave her, because she panicked at the last minute. Her campaign made her seem like an innocent who had nothing to do with the fraud and abuse she was "discovering" on her tv ads, playing on her lack of name ID before the campaign.
THIS time for mayor she'll have a REAL opponent or two or three, people with lots of money, and she will have been the Controller who is seen to be presiding over the city as it goes to ruin with this budget crisis.
AND if she's dumb enough to run before even finishing her first term, when she's allowed to keep her job for 3 terms, her opponent will slam her for the waste of money in extra elections for Controller AND before that for CD2. Her being such a fickle "friend" is now more known to the public and she's seen as a conniving opportunist by many. The "pixie" look is over for her.
She'll lose to someone like Eric or Zev or Caruso or most anyone but LaBong. Perry is dumb as a doorpost but she's a black female and has a PC factor and demographic, let's hope that's not enough to make her mayor.
Red light cameras also create more accidents as people slam on their brakes at a yellow and the cars behind rear end them. A recent study confirmed that. So maybe the city gets more revenue but creates more accidents and a public safety hazard in the process.
That's why many cities have removed red light cameras, but L A is more concerned with getting revenue whoever it hurts. Look at Rosendahl's "gold in the gutters" parking meter hikes. Look at how some swiped the tripled trash fees that were promised for cops.
Any elected today who even thinks they have a chance in hell of being elected for another position or re elected its not going to happen. All needs to happen is get the same group grass roots support that Paul Krekorian had and take it where ever any of these clowns including Wendy will campaign even if its citywide.
yea Mini-Mitch is in for a motha fuckin surprise if he thinks he gonna coast to victory
Shallman will not be Mayor, but Wendy will.
Remember losers, one win does not make a streak.
Even a blind squirrel finds a nut now and then...
Nice photo. I wonder who took it??? Probably just some new Granada Hills resident at his first holiday parade. ;)
Anyone wants to start cutting city expenses, start with having judges and attorneys showing up to work on time instead of sauntering into work any time they like.
If anyone doesn't believe me, please go on any weekday at 0900 to the 3rd floor of the criminal courts building at 210 West Temple Street downtown. There should be over 100 officers standing in the hallway, every single one on overtime. Around 70% will not be used at all for court on that day.
Sad thing is, there are EASY solutions available to this sick money drain. However, I'm not sure why they are not being recommended by the six figure salary earning LAPD, city, and county administrators in charge of the courts, judges, and officers.
Wendy will have the living shit kicked out of her by Krekorian and friends when she runs for mayor.
They are not a forgiving bunch.
8:56AM ,you must be a moron if you think this low life, lying bitch will ever be Mayor. Wendy is the worst of any politician around. I don`t want to call her public servant. It would be a disservice to true public servants. Wendy is a despicable opportunist, with an IQ of a moron like you, incompetent , ass kisser, corrupt, sold out. Ask her patron D`Arcy. He owns her and if you know pimps they don`t let their girls get away once they own them. She has no principles. She first threw Antonio under the bus, now Essel. But, she can`t mess with D`Arcy.I`m sure she has seen the "Godfather". Once you are member of the family you never get out.
5:24pm. Right on. People think cops love the OT, problem is a lot of times they are on their off days at court. Some have just come off end of watch and go straight to court without having slept. Whoever is scheduling the cops to hang out for hours because they can't get it right how to get them there on time and not waste time is an idiot. ITs the DA's office. COps have complained about this and their goons in the Police Political League don't give a damn. They wasted $400,000 of cops dues trying to get Essel elected and failed. Instead of getting rid of their political hack Paul Haney, getting paid a ton of money, he's still there with PPL.
I suppose Wendy Greuel is appropriate for Xmas, she does have an elfish appearance at times.
Will Wendy make a good Mayor? That's the question. Compared to the rest of the clowncil who have expressed a serious intent to run for Mayor, she's streets ahead of Jan Perry who will be paid back royally for all the people she's screwed and will find fundraising a little harder for a citywide position than when AEG bought her seat. Wendy's consultant, Shallman, already has a file as fat as Perry's ass to attack Perry's candidacy - there's enough dirt on her finances, personal relationships, and authorization of wasting millions of taxpayer dollars on AEG's Dead Jackson Show to ensure the anti-Perry mailers will choke the mailboxes to such an extent that Perry will make Jack Weiss look like a saint.
Ed Reyes is too stupid, vain and will be plagued by his leadership of his pro-legalization of pot lobby. His attitude towards over-development will mean that the entire westside will not vote for him, again, Shallman has a file as big as the "Little Man's" ego.
So Wendy has Perry and Reyes beaten before the primary.
Paul "Potato Head" Koretz won't be a factor, he'll be badly hurt by the brewing movement to recall him and ethics issues. If he holds on to CD5 he'll be lucky.
Rosendahl will probably move to San Francisco to play the Gay card there.
So, unless Rick Carusso finally gets off his ass and makes a run, it looks like LA will have its first female Mayor. Good luck Wendy.
Krekorian will be wise to keep his bitterness contained. He won, thus has no reason to get sideways with the next Mayor.
If he does get nasty, and she wins, the district will suffer greatly.
Politics makes strange bedfellows.
The California Prison Guard Union just fired Don Novey, or anyway cut him loose before he completed a contract that was to have run another year. He was mad as hell and wrote a scathing letter about the head of their union published in the papers.
BUT he still allegedly gives advice to the PPL and is paid well for it - he was the one pushing for Essel like for that other Shallman client who spent his professional career defending the worst criminals against LAPD and the rank & file were furious when they found out he put them at odds with their own chief and the city's political leadership, NOT how you get what you wnat for your membership paying the dues they're throwing away.
Details anyone on if Novey's still tight with Weber?
So, Wendy or Rick Caruso?
You guys know you'd swallow your tongues and vore for Wendy...
Wendy won as controller against two nobodies, the biggest name of which Nick Patsouris, can't speak English to save his life, and couldn't raise more than $30,000. And then with a typical Shallman sliming and claiming fake "corruption" charges at the end. AND begging D'Arcy for an emergency infusion of $250,000, making her fundraising at over $600,000 20:1 over Nick's.
So claiming she has proved anything is a big joke. Shallman's also been exposed as the master liar and gutter consultant he is, in this race for Essel, just as he was for Nooch. All his whining that THIS time this blog didn't attack the opponent on his behalf, picked up by the Times - all so pathetic.
They had nothing on Weiss and the ethics commission said so.
If the shoe were on the other foot Trutanich would have sued for libel, but as usual Democrats believe in free speech as a strong principle while conservatives and reactionaries try to clamp down on criticism. Look how Trutanich is shamelessly threatening to sue and even jail people from Perry and AEG's honchos and lawyers to volunteer commissioners for doing their jobs. Look how it's been reported here and elsewhere that he had Jane Usher threaten a blogger just for reprinting a comment on a blog! Look at how he's singled out Don Duncan of Americans for Safe Access for prosecution, for speaking his mind and "daring" to participate in the democratic process. As reported in the L A Weekly but there of course with their usual twist, that they love Cooley-Trutanich. Meaning Jill Stewart does so they all have to.
THAT is in the file for next time against him. With the Wendy supporter saying all she's got is Shallman's bag of blackmail on Perry, Reyes and so on, shows she's done nothing to run on. And proves what an ambitious egotist she is if she throws in the towel on the Controller job after one term. Eric's termed out and has more at stake, but Caruso would beat them both.
Wendy had a lot of goodwill until recently but if she turns into one of "them" as voters already think she is, she'll pay for it.
El Pequeño is not stupid. He is loved by the gangs and drug dealers who he fights for to make sure they are not discriminated against. Viva El Pequeño!
Don Duncan who represents Americans for Safe Access, is also a 'consultant' for business who want to open up marijuana stores. He should have told Ed Reyes that he had a financial interest in the amendments to the pot shop bill that Reyes submitted on Duncan's behalf.
I don't think anyone said Duncan was going to be thrown in jail, like Perry, but clearly Ed Reyes was very upset and humiliated when the LA Weekly broke the story about Duncan's business interests and wanted revenge.
Americans for Safe Access sounds like a typical 'do-gooder' cause, like Mothers Against Drunk Driving, or People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, however, unlike those organizations, ASA looks like it is being used by Duncan for commercial gain.
Whatever happens, Ed Reyes made a bad mistake with trusting Duncan without questioning his motives. That kind of stupid mistake is sure to be used by Shallman to make sure Ed Reyes will stand no chance against Greuel.
I don't know Duncan but he's clearly well known in the medical cannabis community and turned out thousands of votes for Trutanich, who used him and should have vetted him himself, if allegations about him are the case. He sure shouldn't have deceived him into writing and blogging about the great "victory of our friend Trutanich" first, because he never meant to support Duncan's views and second, if it's true that Reyes was duped, what about him?
It's no secret that Duncan owns one of the 4 successful dispensaries in West Hollywood, so he never pretended to be disinterested. If Trutanich is now prosecuting him it sure seems to their community that it's for political persecution for speaking his mind. I don't know what Reyes thinks or knew, but he's not the one who's "investigating" Duncan.
Trutanich by the way according to the Daily News just threw himself a Christmas party at the Long Beach Yacht Club where he lived until he ran and still owns a home on a luxury canal. People are furious that he didn't even spend the money in LA and seems to be thumbing his nose at us, like, if you don't like me anymore and try to reign me in, screw you, it's nicer where I come from anyway.
The story was about how this group including Knabe and of course Cooley who were there have been dropping big hints that Jim McDonnell would be interested in the job of Long Beach Chief and has now been interviewed, even though the job was supposed to be chosen from the local ranks. Their rank & file are furious. There's no doubt McDonnell is a good man but getting in with this crowd isn't making him look good.
Novey is still getting paid a lot of money from Police Political League. Dumb asses wasted $400,000 on Essel and they still keep him. WTF??? Now you can't even go outside city borderlines without being criticized. Trutanich who I have issues with has every right to go where ever he pleases and have his Xmas party in Honduras for all I care. You people are getting ridiculous and petty.
Mr. Duncan fooled a lot of people it seems. He certainly had virtually unlimited access to Ed Reyes and his staff.
When Reyes chaired the joint session of PLUM and Public Safety and tried to read the amendment that Duncan wrote, Reyes became confused and asked his assistant to read and explain it. It really begs the question; did Ed Reyes even understand the change in the law that Duncan had convinced him to make? If Reyes had known that Duncan was a paid pot shop consultant, then would Reyes have been so willing to simply parrot Duncan's law?
Those who know Ed Reyes believe that he is so stupid that he probably wouldn't have minded following the pot shop legalization law that Duncan was promoting, but Reyes now has to worry about his credibility because LA Weekly have outed this.
The depth to which Duncan had penetrated Ed Reyes office is disturbing and now that it has become public knowledge it is impossible to let the whole thing simply be swept under the carpet. The City Council's demand for an investigation into Duncan's penetration of an elected official's office is appropriate as steps have to be taken to ensure this sort of thing does not happen again.
9:27AM, There is so much shit on Wendy, it would fill the Pacific Ocean. Eric has the records. And Garrick is not a push over. Ask Antonio. Cant`wait till she runs for Mayor and we send her back to lobbying for Dreamworks.
December 25 at 3:38PM blathers "Trutanich ... just threw himself a Christmas party at the Long Beach Yacht Club .... People are furious that he didn't even spend the money in LA ....
Sometimes you pick the location of your party for the convenience of your guests, but you probably don't understand courtesy.
As far as all those "people" that are furious, that would be you posting as "LA Taxpayer" and then agreeing with yourself as "LA Taxpayer too".
8:26, how much does Trutanich pay you to troll the blogs for him all the time and WHAT "convenience of what guests" are you talking about? The guests of Long Beach where he really still has his heart and wants to live, but reluctantly had to carpetbag to L A to pretend to give a damn about our issues? What L A Taxpayer 1-2 are you carrying on about, that you're prowling the blogs to attack for him? You people all made a stink about the cops buying lunches out of L A because it didn't contribute to the local economy, but what about him? You don't think after he carpetbagged to town he'd find the city big enough to find some hotel or club to support?
WHAT Long Beach people is he throwing the party there for? Was this a political gathering for Long Beach officials, like the Daily News article suggested?
Everyone knows he has a handful of people who multi-post on every blog to sound like more, because that's all he's got left. After the Shallman debacle for Essel, everyone's onto their game. There are hundreds of comments on every blog, people waking up to the truth. Persecuting Duncan whose help he courted to get elected can't stop it. What other official does anything like this, is so insecure? What other official even has a chief deputy right threatening letters to bloggers? Who else shows such a contempt for public and private citizens to speak their minds and do their jobs?
No one, like Higby said not even Parks and not Antonio who comes in for the most of the crap and not Perry who he's threatened to jail for doing her job. It's amazing he still has his job. If she or Garcetti challenged his behavior under the Charter he'd have to defend himself and show cause.
Good for AEG having the guts to stand upto him and the vague accusation of "criminal aspects" which has you people defaming AEG all over the place without substantiation. In fact even Trutanich admitted he's got no legal standing for his demands on them or for the amount. Yet you make fun of Perry for calling it a "donation" which is what it would be. WHAT is wrong with you people? Don't you understand he works FOR THE PEOPLE, TAXPAYERS, AND OFFICIALS OF LA, and is not their dictator and jailer? That he does not set or invent public policy to suit his political aims?
The comments on the L A Weekly article about his singling out Don Duncan are very interesting. I'm sure all 100 or so very critical and some insightful posts were all written by "one person." Who you're trying to silence.
Sounds like Trutanich is already running for DA and shoring up support since the county of L A includes Long Beach.
TRUTANICH MUST BE STOPPED!
Weaselly little morons posting about Trutanich are the unemployed Weiss campaigners who have been left without a job since their golden boy got thrown out of public life.
It's pathetic that these people have been screwed over by Weiss; he promised so much but could not deliver. Now all the little trolls can do is pretend that anyone gives a flying fuck about AEG, Jan Perry, Don Duncan, or any of the other corrupt icons of LA politics. Trying to make that bunch of trash look like victims shows how screwed up the Ace Smith driven campaign really was. Trutanich is the only politician that has the guts to stand up to these sleazebags, and Weissholes totally miss the fact that Los Angelenos love the fact that Nooch is sticking it to them.
11:47:
And just who is going to run against Englander? His endorsement list is pretty long (LOTS of NC leaders on it too)
Amonymous on December 26 at 8:50PM blathered 8:26, how much does Trutanich pay you to troll the blogs for him all the time .... yadayadayada .... he has a handful of people who multi-post on every blog .... "
The only way you could claim that people are debunking the garbage you post is if you yourself are trolling blogs posting diatribes against Trutanich and finding that someone has written a rebuttal. That would make you the ultimate Troll, by your own definition. In fact, you wrote and posted your 500 word reply to my 8:26 posting here only 20 minutes after it showed up - you were obviously trolling this blog too.
As far as being paid by Trutanich, you are just showing your own frame of reference, a world in which payment is required. Your projection (look up "projection" in a dictionary) shows that someone is paying you to write your propaganda all over the blogs. In your frame of reference, you are incapable of understanding that people could take time to debunk your drivel just because they are offended by your nastiness, negativity and total lack of interest in facts or veracity.
Showing you for the lying moron you are is pro-bono. Baiting you is done for amusement, but you make that too easy and almost take the fun away from it.
1:32 am typical Trutanich troll, nasty and all about vindictiveness. Which is all he's brought to L A and it's been exposed. A hateful bunch behind a hateful person, who can't arrest and sue enough people to keep that hidden. Quite a list of people they hate and are persecuting and suing, but it's only a partial list. Add "everyone but a handful of Republican hacks" to that list. Then after being up all night he repeats himself at 11:10. What a blessing to this city you Titanich hacks are as a group, too.
The Daily News in its current editorial "Stop the Feud" says in so many words that "Trutanich cannot be trusted not to reverse course" whatever he promises, because he has shown he doesn't keep his word.
This paper already said something similar months ago when it said that Trutanich is putting his own ego and need to score a "win" even it costs a lot more above the city's good.
I love my hometown, and hate the inattention to the road by today's drivers. We all see it everyday. I've driven in town my entire adult life, and today I drive more defensively than ever.
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