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Thursday, August 05, 2010

Los Angeles Politics Hotsheet for Thursday



What happened to August being a slow news month?

In a single day, we have a California ban on same sex marriages being overturned by a Federal Judge, a City Councilmember and his wife being arrested and charged with 24 criminal and felony counts including voter fraud and perjury, and gubernatorial candidate Meg Whitman being handed her ass on KFI's John & Ken Show.

-Councilman Alarcon proclaims his innocence and assembles a high powered defense team. He is due back in court on Sept 27th. And here I was thinking that the November elections were the only excitement left this calendar year!

-Prop H8 goes down, for now. George Takei has a few words of advice , as does Alvin McEwen at the excellent site, Alternet. And for good measure, more words of wisdom from the conservative attorney that fought to have Prop 8 overturned. I wonder how fast he'll will be thrown under the bus by the Goobers? Wow, that was fast!

-Google Apps is still coming to LA City Government, just a bit late and at a penalty after some security concerns were raised by the LAPD.

-More conflicts of interest alleged in the battle for fast food at LAX. Can we get a battle going for better food at Bob Hope Airport? Just asking.

-The Sunland-Tujunga Alliance has a hearing before the rubber stamping North Valley Area Planning Commission this afternoon at 4:30pm at the Marvin Braude Bldg in Van Nuys. This time it's over an industrial propane filling station trying to open right in the center of a pedestrian friendly retail area. Michael LoGrande, are you listening? Councilman Paul Krekorian will be there to speak on the community's behalf (thank-you Mr. Krekorian).

- Oh Noes! Say it ain't so! Hanging with the Mouse gets more expensive starting today!

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25 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said:

It didn't take phil jennerjahn to chime in with more ignorant comments while DODGING the question of why he feels the prop 8 overturning violates the will of the people, but the idiotic and failed recall doesn't?

Phil doesn't answer, because when he is cornered, like a child, he disappears.

August 05, 2010 12:12 AM  

Anonymous Anonymous said:

It took Phil about 5 minutes to spew his ignorant bile. It's always those conservatives who hate gays so virulently that get caught in a men's room arrest for gay sex.

August 05, 2010 12:14 AM  

Anonymous Anonymous said:

From all the negative comments about Conservatives in this update, other than Alarcon, it looks like joe b. has a chubbie!

There's a first time for everything.

August 05, 2010 12:19 AM  

Anonymous Anonymous said:

I'm with 12:12am! You can just see phil getting all bent outta shape over a legal ruling.

Fuck you Phil, and the 8:15 to Ignoranceville, you retard!

Go smash evil. Then go fuck yourself.

August 05, 2010 12:20 AM  

Anonymous Anonymous said:

You people should leave Phil Jennerjahn alone. It's tough being a confused lonely Conservative.

Besides, Phil is coming to grips with his homosexual tendencies. Not that there's anything wrong with that!

Embrace it Phil! You go girl1

August 05, 2010 12:23 AM  

Anonymous Anonymous said:

Will or can the City Council suspend Alarcon while these legal proceedings play out? It doesn't seem fair to the constituents to have a representative that is bogged down defending himself in Court.

August 05, 2010 12:36 AM  

Anonymous Anonymous said:

Good Luck at the hearing STA! You guys do great work and we appreciate you efforts!

August 05, 2010 1:55 AM  

Anonymous Anonymous said:

12;23 an elected official can only be removed when they resign, get recalled, or no longer meet the criteria of the office, that would happen when and if he is convicted of a felony. BTW what happened to innocent until proven guilty? Let the legal system play out!

August 05, 2010 7:33 AM  

Anonymous Anonymous said:

Joe B.,

O'bama is waffling on where he stands on gay marriage. What he says now is different than what he said as a candidate.

The guy can't catch a break, with yet another p.o.v. of his getting scrutiny.

It seems he is glad that the law is overturned, but he is against gay marriage?

Wow, talk about waffling!

Where do you think he is going to land on this issue, now that he is trying to cover all bases?

August 05, 2010 9:06 AM  

Blogger rg- readingnews said:

Alarcon says he's "innocent" but in a criminal setting, that should be "not guilty." In any criminal case, a "Not Guilty" verdict means only that the prosecution, aka "The People," could not prove "beyond a reasonalbe doubt," all the elements of the crime that was charged.

Like OJ's case, he was found Not Guilty of murder by a combination of confused or ignorant jurors, and a bungled prosecution by the DA's appointed pair. He was far from innocent.

I think he could stay in office pending the trial and maybe do a better job with the scrutiny focused on him now. I am no fan of his, but others without criminal charges pending do equally lousy jobs.

Janice Hahn may hae done less damage due to absences as she campaigned for the Lt. Gov's position. But then she more than made up for it by co-sponsoring the Boycott Arizona resolution with the equally bad-news Ed Reyes.

As for any "presumption of innocence," that's for the system to follow for a procedural handling of the matter and that doesn't limit what real-life facts show us (like for example, that he was not truthful on crucial items.)

This trial, when it finally arrives, will probably be the first time ANY council member will have to take an oath to tell the truth. A very rare thing for any CM to experience. I wonder if they even consider their oath of office where there's something about upholding the laws of the state and defending the constitution. (For Tony, he'd have to pause and think about which country that would be when "loyalty" enters the picture.)

The Council meetings would come to a stop if taking an oath to tell the truth ever was a requirement before each meeting, and then you might see 14 jobs with unscheduled openings quickly materialize.

in CD-14.





Innocence

August 05, 2010 9:49 AM  

Anonymous Anonymous said:

Have you ever noticed that the convervatives who are most stridently against gay marriage are the ones who you catch in secretive gay encounters?

What conservative do we know who is more stridently against gay marriage than Mr. Semi Known himself, Phil Jennerjahn?

I can't think of any!

August 05, 2010 9:59 AM  

Anonymous Anonymous said:

Definitely a Republican political election ploy for Steve Cooley.

Even if Alarcon doesn't live mainly in the house in his district, his other residence is just a block away and in essence the same neighborhood. The same demographics.

Not like when Yvonne B Burke was caught in an elaborate subterfuge, driving from Brentwood to Mar Vista, then having a chauffeur on city dime meet her to drive her downtown to work and back to Mar Vista, where she picked up some mail, then she went back home. She claimed she was "remodeling" the Mar Vista condo but clearly lived in the large house on the westside.

Something like that is of more concern because it cost taxpayer money, was a planned subterfuge, and she resided well outside the district she represented, so arguably didn't know the issues as a local would.

Cooley didn't get Polanski for his show trial so he needs another one and besides, on blogs like Kaye they're egging him on to go lynch us some sleazy Democrats! They've been calling for Jan Perry's head because she dared speak her mind - even if she is sometimes wrong - and exercise her First Amendment rights as citizen and councilwoman.

True Alarcon didn't do himself any favors by trying to redistrict the house he's allegedly really residing in, along with a few hundred others until caught.

But this isn't costing the public anything, is a matter of a block here and there, and pales compared to other issues and abuse of taxpayer money. This IS a waste of taxpayer money. A political show trial, possibly intended to intimidate other Democrats. The thirst for blood on this blog and some others is typical of the Cooley-Trutanich teabagger fan base.

August 05, 2010 10:00 AM  

Anonymous Anonymous said:

Looks like phil jennerjahn has signed up for the one election that he hasn't (YET) come in last place for.

He's running, and guaranteed to lose, to LaBonge, and probably to Box, too.

I don't care WHAT Box's religious beliefs are; this is America and phil unethically attacked him for his religious views and, not to mention, he was completely wrong about.

LaBonge is an idiot, and Box is a one-topic candidate. But both are FAR more likable than obnoxious, childish, abuser, disrespecter of voter choice, last place Phil.

August 05, 2010 10:04 AM  

Anonymous Anonymous said:

10am, it doesn't matter that Alarcon's "other" residence is in the "essence" of the neighborhood.

It is a DE FACTO crime. It could be one YARD outside of the District.

It's a crime.

And how do you think Alarcon got his in-district home burglarized? Because he wasn't living there. The homeless guy didn't show up while alarcon was there. He showed up because "NOONE" lived there.

It's a crime.

And so is falsifying his address with the DMV.

And his wife doing it was a crime, too.

Perjury is the big issue here.

August 05, 2010 10:06 AM  

Anonymous Anonymous said:

Jesus Christ!
Nury Martinez on the city council??!!!

August 05, 2010 10:53 AM  

Anonymous Anonymous said:

10:06, petty petty, obsessed with "getting" Alarcon any way you can.
NOONE is moved by your "argument" that even if his house were a yard outside the district, it's a crime - not when he OWNS a house in the district and even if he did live in the other, it's a block away. I'd feel differently if the house he may actually be residing in is outside his district even by a block AND if it were the only house they owned.

But it's not really "falsifying" his DL when he and his wife DO own that house and could be easily traced to it in case of tickets or accident. They get mail there, they're on public record as owning it - petty, petty.

Again it's different from giving an address you haven't lived in for years or that belongs to a friend (as some do). Also lots of people drive here with cars registered out of state where it's cheaper, either to a second home like in Vegas, or to a parent, to save on insurance.
Even THEN I'm not bothered as long as it's not a fake address or fraud which imperils us on the roads.

It's nuts and shows Cooley's cowardice to go after Alarcon but NOT touch the real issue of those who drive without licenses or insurance and commit accidents and hit-runs but can't be traced.

You people admit you just want to "get" Alarcon, so say so. He's not a likeable guy, his arrogance combined with his socialist agenda as long as he's pandering to his low-class Latinos by blowing other people's money, is far more a danger to L A than these trivial excuses. 18 counts and dragging his wife into it is over the top.

Go after them at the voting booth for their policies which have hurt L A. This is just a cowardly move designed to intimidate all the Democrats. Kind of serves them right though for not realizing that Cooley-Trutanich were wolves in sheep's clothing all along.

WHERE is Zine these days? He seems to be voting with the majority, courting the unions, turning away from his support for the hardcore right of Clowns Carmen and Cooley. Probably just because he needs them to run for Controller, lord help us - then he'll go right back to the right.

August 05, 2010 11:36 AM  

Anonymous Anonymous said:

I'm sure I've mentioned this before, but it bears REPEATING!

Antonio V. CARPET-BAGGED into the CD14 race in 2003 by renting an empty unfurnished home there (not 1 block, but 4 MILES from where he and his then wife and kids ACTUALLY lived and owned a home, and had ALWAYS lived - in CD1, in Mount Washington).

He threw bedsheets over the windows, plugged in a fax machine, and slept there once or twice a week until the election was over.

Now, let's look at the outcome. . . if he'd been CALLED on it then, and hadn't BEEN a sitting councilmember with only ...

80 FAKE NEIGHBORHOOD WATCHES

to his credit for less than two years in office (when he admittedly spent MORE time campaigning for John Kerry for president during half of 2004 and running for mayor himself from mid-2004), he would have had FAR LESS visibility and credibility as a mayoral candidate in 2005, and one of the other high-profile challengers would have likely been involved in a runoff with Jimmy Hahn.

"Hahn v. Hertzberg" anyone?

There's MORE at stake than just the current job. Let a LIE lie, and the LIAR keeps lying in wait for the next career jump, all the while in our overpriced employ.

August 05, 2010 12:34 PM  

Anonymous Anonymous said:

So far Alarcon is guilty of convincing the District Attorney and his staff, after a long investigation, that he is a felon. That carries some weight with me. No one has even hinted that this filing is the result of a political vendetta. In fact, I believe it was a Grand Jury indictment. That's pretty serious.

They don't do that to amuse themselves.

And how come nobody has mentioned Felipe Fuentes as a possible replacement?

August 05, 2010 4:18 PM  

Blogger mulholland terrace said:

80 FAKE NEIGHBORHOOD WATCHES

It was just so good to see that in a meaningful context again.

August 05, 2010 4:42 PM  

Anonymous Anonymous said:

Is Jim Alger going to move into CD7 and run? So he can use his Senator title again?

August 05, 2010 5:52 PM  

Anonymous Anonymous said:

In discussing local L.A. politics, I think:

80 FAKE NEIGHBORHOOD WATCHES

is always in meaningful context. For the past half-decade, it has so aptly defined the smoke-and-mirrors ineffectiveness of the current regime in office.

(Sadly, I hear they're having a funeral this weekend for one of the original FAKE NEIGHBORHOOD WATCHES. She was hit by a car while crossing the street on her walker earlier this week, near Huntington and Eastern.)

. . . seems she wasn't watching for traffic.

August 05, 2010 6:14 PM  

Anonymous Anonymous said:

please call me asap and i will move into richard house to run for his seat.

August 05, 2010 8:54 PM  

Anonymous Anonymous said:

Take about being petty! Who cares about the 80 fake neighborhood watches issue? There are more important things to worry about like rooting out political corruption such as when a City Councilman knowingly violates the law by living outside his district. If elected officials are allowed to violate this law, then which other ones will they be allowed to cheat on?

August 06, 2010 2:37 PM  

Anonymous g said:

THIS ALARCON THING IS ALL SMOKE AND MIRRORS NO ONE WILL PROSECUTE HIM. THEIR NEVER HAS BEEN ANY REPROCUSSIONS FOR ELECTED OFFICIALS. THE PEOPLE OF LA NEED TO HIT THE STREETS LIKE THE PEOPLE OF BELL. THIS IS WHY AUDITS OF THESE OFFICIALS ARE IMPORTANT. THERE'S ALOT STILL LEFT UNFOUND.

August 06, 2010 3:18 PM  

Anonymous Anonymous said:

10:am Alarcon's other house is not just a block away, it's more like
15 miles as the crow flies! Panorama City is not way close to Shadow Hills. Quit making excuses for a lie.

August 07, 2010 1:36 AM  

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