Los Angeles Politics Hotsheet for Friday
Following his indictment on 18 felony charges the LA Weekly points out that the City Council has the power to "suspend and even call for the replacement of" Councilman Richard Alarcon. Alarcon has been charged with voter fraud and perjury in relation to claims he does not live within his Council District.
However anyone who has followed the Los Angeles City Council know that it's an insular fraternity in which one member doesn't challenge another, even on votes and one that protects it own. Mike Hernandez was arrested doing lines of coke on his City Hall desk and still was allowed by his colleagues to remain in office. So unless there is some huge outcry by the public the Clowncil will do nothing.
But don't expect that to happen. A team of politically connected rainmakers as well as the usual suspects are building a moat around Alarcon and promising to protect him. Amazing given how much he's screwed his district that they want more.
Still more interesting are the rumors that we're hearing as to who threw Alarcon under the bus and ratted him out to Cooley the Clown. Stay tuned.
Some in LA jump on the Richard Alarcon "Don't Cry for me Pacoima and Sylmar" tour. In the meantime everyone else in the City checks out on local politics and instead are outraged about price raises at Disneyland. However in the tiny city of Bell God bless the folks there who, pitchforks and torches in hands, are calling for accountability from crooked pols.
World Champion bicyclist Lance Armstrong has some advice for Antonio Villaraigosa following the Mayor's recent bicycle mishap: "the goal is to stay on the bike."
Though the Mayor has been posturing that his accident has made him a born again bicycle advocate Bikeside LA isn't buying it. The group is calling Villaraigosa's coming "Bicycle Summit" a "triple fail."
Labels: bikeside la, city of bell, lance armstrong, mayor antonio villaraigosa, mike hernandez, Richard Alarcon, steve cooley
Posted by Michael Higby @ 8/06/2010 02:00:00 AM
35 Comments:
It is time for him to go.
It is time for them to go.
It is time for the people to make them gone.
Isn't Hernandez still (or was) quasi councilman after he left office and became a chief of staff for another councilman?
I don't understand the people sticking up for AlarCON. Why have rules if they are not universally applied?
BTW, still waiting for the police report and witness statements on the Mayor's accident. Can't his bodyguards give a statement at least?
Michael welcome back from your sojourn.
For some reason I doubt you were in Spain with the first lady.
AND, jobs numbers came out today. The Mayor should stop thinking about bikes and thinking about jobs. Cutting the sales tax will CREATE jobs. Won't bore you all with how and why etc. But the numbers I've crunched shows that a decrease to even 9% would create another $82K in sales compared to $1Mil taxed at 9.75%.
More sales= More jobs.
Villaraigosa is such a schmuck.
I bet there was no other vehicle involved. I bet Mayor Villaraigosa fell off the bike all by himself because he doesn't know how to ride one. I can't believe this clown is our Mayor. I just can't believe it. HOW DID THIS HAPPEN??!!
The Times is compiling a list of City Manager salaries for LA County. Go here: http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-salary-database-js,0,6202025.htmlstory
Welcome back, Higby. I hope you are feeling better.
Can you ask Joe B. to tell us how he feels about the stimulus/porkulus now that unemployment is still teetering at 9.5%?
Oh, and tell him to stop preventing comments that disagree with him. Yesterday, it was all about attacking Phil Jennerjahn, and not allowing supportive comments of Phil, or critical comments about Obama or things that Joe B. writes. And dopey Red Spit is starting to do the same, unless it is Joe B who controls comments made on Red Spit posts.
Once a bully, always a bully. God, how dare I post something positive about Phil! I think when you're not here, you should just let the blog go dark until you get back. These two ingrates can't mediate or moderate their impulses.
Higby,
Why do you allow Phil to post on your blog anymore?
Everything he writes pertains to namecalling, paranoia, and skewing every position into that of a freedom killer.
At the same time, Phil refuses to answer why he feels he can overrule the vote of the people who elected idiot Antonio Villaraigosa, but then says that the judge didn't have the right to overrule the vote of Prop 8 supporters.
In other words, Phil throws rocks, and then ducks when challenged to respond to a legitimate question.
And his attack, and refusal to apologize for, on Steven Box's religious views.
Phil is just a fucking child in a middle-aged man's body. He disrupts the flow of conversation with his immature verbal rock throwing.
But if you want to keep him here, then you should allow open challenges to HIS views, and not delete things he cries to you about. You've deleted completely legit comments about him, his views, and his behavior.
Now that Phil has officially filed, AGAIN, for CD4, he should be able to stand up for himself without Daddy Higby's protection.
I made the comment last week, and this week is more proof for my theory.
They are building a moat around Alarcon, because while the rest of the CA (mainly republicans & moderate independents) have been asleep, the democrats have targeted the latino population.
The 27th congressional district is going to look VERY different in 2014. Sherman will be OUT. Alarcon is a possible candidate for a heavily tilted latino district in the NE Valley.
If not him, it will be one of his acolytes, Padilla or Fuentes. Cardenas is a long shot, but likely depending on how the 27 & 28 districts.
The moat is to protect not just themselves and AlarCON, but the latino congressional democrat from the NE Valley
mayor sam i am a phil jennerjohn fan too and joe has prevented my comments about him too and they were in almost complete agreement with him.
it is one thing to have an open debate and a whole other thing to pile on someone just cuz you dont like him.
this only happens when u are away and joe is in charge.
as for the person who said they want to here joe's opinion of the 9.5% unemployment rate even tho obama said it would never get over 8% if the 900billion was spent on the stimulus. joe can ignore these questions when he is in charge but i hoipe you can get him to answer.
true: once a bully always a bully. except when cornered with sharp questions.
9:45am = phil jennerjahn
hey phil, why dontya just focus on your next last place finish in stead of posting that you are some one else and cant get positive things commented about you.
you have to stop crying to higby to delete comments about you that you don't like. youre either a man or a crybaby. you talk like a man, but you cry like a baby.
STFU Phil!
People in the Panaorama City are making asses of themselves. Showing everyone they support a thug like Alarcon. The so called leaders are the biggest crooks like Bobby Arias who is an ex gangster and still supports gangsters. Most of the people got something from Alarcon. It amazes me the stupidity of people. The DA would not have indicted unless there was evidence. Voter fraud is a serious issue but these lame people are just as corrupt as Alarcon
And the hottest thing missing from the hotsheet:
Stephen Box on Kevin James early this morning! Dude be kicking ass and taking names.
Go to the KRLA Kevin James archive, put it on, and turn it all the way up so your neighbors can hear!
--
Newsweek acquisition raises concerns over buyer Harman’s business ties to Iran.
www.boycottnewsweek.net
Newsweek-Harman-Iran scandal about to break: www.boycottnewsweek.net
MAYOR DROPS BIKE
Protective details are never far from the person they're assigned to. Usually at least one in front and one in back as a minimum.
So he's pedaling down Venice Blvd and this taxi causes him to fall without any of his detail getting a description of the vehicle, the driver or even a partial plate? These are trained LAPD officers and either they're incompetent (which is unlikely) or there's another story that will never surface as to the true cause of the mayors' accident.
A fracture to the elbow is not going to heal like new. He's going to have troubles with it for the rest of his life. But I wonder if he's going to claim he was on City business and claim a disability at pension time?
LA Sinecure
9:37
Redistricting shouild be interesting next year. Michael Berman, Howard's brother is the reason Howard's district isn't majority Latino now. Michael helped draw the last plan. To offer up Sherman as the white sacrifice protects Howard and his pal Henry Waxman, both of whose districts have been gerrymandered to keep them in office. . Great to see how the great white liberals continue to prevent Latino majority districts. .. Of course, the performance of current Latino officeholders doesn't inspire confidence that if the districts were drawn fairly, anyone of them would be fit to be in Congress.
I'm surprised and disappointed at the "leaders" from Panorama City who are declaring Alarcon's innocence. RA himself isn't asking for that, but just for people to be open-minded and not to pre-judge, like declaring that he is guilty or innocent without knowing the facts and hearing both sides.
THEY (THE COUNCIL,MAYOR) WON'T REMOVE THE MUSTACHE FROM OFFICE IT DOESN'T FIT THEIR WAY OF DOING THINGS . HE'LL GET A SLAP ON THE RIST AT BEST. THE PEOPLE IN LA NEED TO LEARN FROM THE LATIN TAXPAYERS OR RESIDENTS IN BELL. YOU NEED TO GO AT THEM LIKE A REVOLUTIONARY THAT'S SOMETHING ALL POLITIANS UNDERSTAND. IF YOU USE THE COURTS THEY OWN THE JUDGES AND SHERIFFS LOOK AT RICHARD FINE'S CASE.
Who did you hear threw Alarcon under the bus? My guess if I were to connect the dots would be the current city controller.
The white district attorney is filing these charges against Alarcon just because Alarcon is one of the best of the latino politicians in Los Angeles.
Cooley and Walter Moore are racist xenophobes !!!!!!
Alarcon will be found innocent, Si Se Puede !!!
The people who came out to say nice things about all the good Richard Alarcon does for his constituents should be asking him why he would put it all at risk because he refuses to simply live in the district with the people who elected him to represent them.
The purpose of Prop R, which extended the council term from two terms, to three terms, was to allow a councilmember to get in there and get some "long term" projects done. Because by the time you learn your way and become effective, there's no time to get any long-term goals accomplished.
But, AlarCON had to go and flaunt a loophole, where he ran for an additional term, since he was eligible, even though it was not in the spirit of the measure. And too bad the authors did not put a clause allowing only first term and existing council members to serve three terms.
But AlarCON slipped in, and now not only doesn't CD 7 get the "long-term" CM they were supposed to under term extensions, now he isn't even going to finish out his term.
All because he felt he was above the law, above his people, and just could not bring himself to live in the district.
What a crazy thing to go to jail and lose your seat over. It almost immediately qualifies you as a sociopath.
So to the people who are happy because he approved a project for you that he had his shady contractors work on, and that's where the real corruption transacts; they should be asking Mr. AlarCON why he put it all at risk when all he had to do was live in his district.
Again, never under-estimate a sociopath.
And for the record, the horseshoe cannot be happier, even though they won't suspend him. They ARE popping champagne corks. The way it was described to me was, "Do you remember how people felt about Jack Weiss? Well that's how they feel about AlarCON."
You can't make someone leave before he has been found guilty. We still have a principle in this Country of "innocent until proven guilty". As much as some people in this Country would like to change that, it is still the previous.
As much as I am not a fan of Councilman Alarcon. He will stand trial and if found guilty, I am sure the Council will remove him from his seat. But until that happens he should be allowed to stay.
3:21pm, you're totally wrong.
City Council DOES have the ability to force out Alarcon right now. The indictments can be sighted as the reason.
Know what you're talking about before you try to SOUND like you do. Idiot. City Council is not a court of law; it has its own rules, and they can most certainly give him the boot.
I think some of the Alarcon supporters here are forgetting his other residential hijinx from Wakeland Avenue.
This isn't just an innocent, first-time mistake.
You won't see any CMs looking to apply any rules available to get Alarcon out of office. They see that they might be in a jam themselves someday and need the courtesy.
But they should know as well as anyone that Alarcon was just stupid and set himself up for this. That should be reason for all to cast him out, just for being so stupid and obvious. The other CMs have things, too, that could cause problems but they are a lot better at the coverup.
The CD is getting a disservice if all the energy gets split with the criminal case on his mind.
Looks like the "Valley supporters" are the ones who are prime examples of special interests and non-profits who have a lot to lose if Richard goes bye-bye. Just like all the other supporters of lousy incumbents, they have a sure thing and would lose all if a new guy comes in.
in cd-14
Just want to rock some worlds inside city hall by revealing the reason a complaint was filed with DA's Public Integrity Unit over Alarcon's residency. (Should I say it now, or leave something for later?)
O.K., I'll say it now. Wendy wasn't happy with Crew Alarcon over Verdugo Hills and that Assembly move Fuentes pulled.
Just wanted to post it to make a bunch of people inside City Hall scratch heads wondering how it leaked out.
For what it's worth one of the a.m. radio ranters said that if Alarcon is found guilty later, anything he votes on NOW could be invalidated; so if he's a tie vote or makes the quorum, they'll have to revote that item. This pundit said that would be the reason Council might want him out now before the verdict is in.
Don't know if it's true but someone can check it out.
It's a political vendetta alright.
Times for Cooley's run for higher office. Cooley is VERY disappointed to have lost the chance to drag Polanski back for a huge, expensive and wasteful, show trial.
He and Jerry Brown are tied on who's kicking the most ass and getting most facetime over the crooks in Bell - who LOOK LIKE crooks, how photo-perfect - so Cooley needed his very own bigger fish to fry (maybe literally).
OF course a Democrat, and Latino, since "everyone knows" they're all crooks in L A. Anyway his and Trutanich's rightwing base do.
(They also want Jan Perry's head, but a black and a Latino would be too much at once and besides, much as he and Clown Carmen tried they had nothing on Perry and actually made fools of themselves having to back off after threatening to jail her and Leiwike/ AEG, and anyone and everyone else over vague "criminal aspects" that turned out to be the political hot air everyone knew they were all along.)
In fact Alarcon is the least sympathetic one of the bunch of L A Latinos and looks like a bandido so he's the lowest hanging fruit. His explanations involving a homeless vagrant and trying the redistricting attracting too much attention.
It may hurt Cooley with the Latino voters though. Whatever the case with Alarcon this guy is an overly political, overly ambitious wolf in sheep's clothing like his protege-puppet Clown Carmen, and should not get even more power.
Hey LA Sinecure,
You're on the right track, but...
The proof is in the pudding. Sure the LAPD protective detail should have been on top of this. I have no doubt they were, but I bet they were set aside. The real telling detail in all of this is Tony V's reaction to all of this. Talk about out of left field. All of a sudden he is the biggest bike advocate in town? Methinks he is trying a bit too hard to cover his trail (or tail). Why would he all of a sudden call a bike summit? Think about it. He doesn't give a (you know what) about bicycling issues. Something ain't right here.
Armstrong said, "The goal is to stay on the bike." I was high and I read it to say, "The goal is to stay on on bike." And then I thought, "The goal is to stay on one woman." Good advice for Tony.
Higby, welcome back!!!
I just heard an interesting tidbit that it was Fuentes who threw Alarcon under the bus. If RA is pushed out, Fuentes could run and possibly get his seat, finish out his term and still have twelve more years. In any case, it's a no win situation for CD7 and the rest of the city.
People who live in Shadow Hills, CD2, have said that RA and his family live there. He should have followed the rules or he wouldn't be in this mess. He was living there when Wendy last ran for CD 2 but he probably knew he couldn't beat her so he opted to run for the state instead. The opportunity to run for a third term came up with the passage of Prop R and when Padilla vacated his seat for the state. When he ran and won CD7 as a resident, he tried to negotiate with Greuel to give up CD 2 territory so that he would be legal before anyone discovered he didn't live in his CD 7 district.
I can't believe Panarama City and the rest of CD7 don't believe rules should be followed. This sets a bad precedent for everyone and not a good image for those who think it's ok to lie. What happened to honesty, accountability and transparency. No excuses or variances should be allowed that are against the law. What he did is against the law and unacceptable.
BTW, anyone who believes that the third term was wanted by councilmembers in order to do a better job is a fool. They wanted the third term in order to collect pensions from the city. They must do 10 years in order to get it and 2 terms is only 8 years. I'm not sure if Alarcon gets the pension because his terms were not consecetive, but the city pays much more than the state, which was a huge incentive for him to return when he had the opportunity. It's time we clean out the horseshoe and get honest leaders.
People need to stop voting based on someone's last name. People need to vote on the issues. Otherwise they get what they deserve.
Alarcon is acting like the illegals who refuse to admit when they commit crimesd asnd make excuses. All the people who are coming out to support the Mexican Mafia thug who verbally abused women in council chasmbers are cut from the sdame cloth as th eOJ supporters. A crime is a crime and the DA and Grand jury thouroghly investigated this and spoke to witnesses. This indictment will give Cooley all the Latino votes he needs to win AG. Why? Cause look at the city of Bell. Latinos have had it with dirty politicians and there's more still in office.
I heard the real story was that the Mayor hit a pothole and took a spill. Because it would be a bit embarrassing to admit he hit one of his own unfilled potholes, the story about the swerving taxicab was invented.
But the Mayor's office screwed that up by giving the press conflicting stories about how the taxicab and the Mayor came into contact. The proof the taxicab story is bogus: the Mayor does not want any charges against the taxicab driver they found to take the fall.
Yeah, right. Why should anyone driving in the vicinity take the fall for the Mayor on a false charge that they had anything to do with his fall from his own bike?
Interesting that many of his constituents still support him!
Post a Comment
Subscribe to Post Comments [Atom]
<< Home