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Wednesday, October 27, 2010

Los Angeles Politics Hotsheet for Wednesday

Vas te faire encule Conseil municipal!
Shades of France.  How do you get the City Council to stop doing something? Get a powerful public employee union who has several bought and paid for members on the Clowncil to yell and scream.  That's what happened when Bernard Parks brought a motion to rein in the DWP's employee pension program and put under the control of the City. "Uh-uh," said the union that represents the utility's employees.

It's coming down to the wire for the Clowncil to put Jose Huizar's series of election "reforms" on the ballot for next spring.  You need to pay attention to this.  It includes things that sound good like "instant runoff voting" (where the devil may be in the details) and extremely concerning schemes such as consolidating neighborhood polling places into "Neighborhood Voting Centers" where "trained staff" would help people vote.  Contact your Councilperson on this one folks.

If neither jovial 4th District Councilman Tom LaBonge nor his bearded bicycling opponent Stephen Box are your cup of tea you may have another choice for that CD.  Neighborhood Council member Tomas O'Grady has thrown his hat into the ring and is catching attention for his work to help save libraries in Los Angeles.  Of course there is blogger Phil Jennerjahn also in the race and some folks are still pushing businessman Jack Humphreville to run.

KABC's John Phillips deconstructs a questionable LA Times poll that shows candidate for Governor Jerry Brown up by massive numbers.  As in past OLD GRAY HAG ON SPRING STREET's fall classic polls this one is clearly overstating turnout models.  Phillips says the poll is nothing more than "Democratic Party masturbation." Next week both the Times and Democrats may have to find other ways to pleasure themselves.

It happens somewhere every election cycle and this time here in Southern California we have a dead politician on the ballot.  Former State Senator Jenny Oropeza died last week but election rules require her name to stay on the ballot and were she to get a plurality of votes she could even win the race.  John Stammreich has been Oropeza's opponent and while some polls have been showing the South Bay Republican in a dead (pardon the pun) heat with Oropeza no one knows how her untimely passing will impact the final tally.  If Oropeza happens to win the election her office would be declared vacant and another election would be required.

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17 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said:

Hey, you mentioned Phil Jennerjahn in the hot sheet. I guess that means it's bag on Phil day!!!!

Release the hounds!

October 27, 2010 12:13 AM  

Anonymous trojan2002 said:

12:13...LOL

October 27, 2010 7:15 AM  

Anonymous Anonymous said:

Speaking of Phil Jennerjahn, the gambling focusing party clown gives his prognostications and gambling odds on the upcoming elections.

Oddly, he says he is going to leave blank most of the elections.

How very Meg Whitman of you, Phil.

Now get on your way to Hollywood Park. There's a seat open at the No Limit Hold 'em table.

When you get a chance, let us know exactly how much came in for Recall City Hall, and where you "spent" it.

October 27, 2010 7:25 AM  

Anonymous Anonymous said:

In a sad display to continue to get attention for himself, Phil Jennerjahn stayed up past midnight in order to get the first comment on Mayor Sam at 12:13am.

If you remember, when Phil was a contributor to Mayor Sam, he would post his storyline for the day, and then obsessively post the first 2 or 3 comments.

It's all about Phil, so we might as well have fun with it.

October 27, 2010 7:27 AM  

Anonymous Anonymous said:

I'm with 7:28.

I will take an entertaining, day-long stream of Phil Jennerjahn critiques than another BOORISH Joe B. or Red Snot anything!

Who's with me?

October 27, 2010 7:50 AM  

Anonymous Anonymous said:

Yeay, the blog is fun again!

Finally!

October 27, 2010 7:52 AM  

Anonymous Anonymous said:

Steven Box for CD4

Phil Jennerjahn for Ass Clown!

October 27, 2010 7:52 AM  

Anonymous Anonymous said:

Mayor Sam, when is Joe B. due to show up at the Mayor Sam office?

I can't wait for him to stop the fun comments and bore us with another anti-Whitman post or irrelevant poll.

October 27, 2010 7:54 AM  

Anonymous Anonymous said:

HIGBY,

CAN YOU PLEASE POST THAT HARRY REID FIRED HIS HISPANIC MEDIA COORDINATOR BECAUSE SHE LIED MULTIPLE TIMES TO VARIOUS FEDERAL AGENTS INCLUDING THE FBI.

SHE MARRIED A MIDDLE EASTERNER WITH TERRORIST TIES.

HEY JOE, HARRY REID IS FUCKED!

October 27, 2010 8:05 AM  

Anonymous Anonymous said:

THIS COMMENT IS ESPECIALLY FOR O'BAMA LOVERS JOE B. AND VALLEY DOPE.

And it's from the LEFTY NY Daily News! Ha ha ha, lol, good one!

"The President's Diminishing Brand"

http://www.nydailynews.com/opinions/2010/10/27/2010-10-27_obamas_dumb_daily_show_appearance_and_the_presidents_diminishing_brand.html

October 27, 2010 8:22 AM  

Blogger Zuma Dogg said:

Thanks to Los Angeles Times for being thorough in their article on City of L.A.'s Federal defeat @ Venice Beach and getting a quote from Plaintiff Dogg for the article. (Only way to be totally accurate is to get it from the municipal defeating source, itself.)

You're Welcome, America! Free speech is FREE once again at Venice Beach and all across the City of Los Aneles.

October 27, 2010 8:46 AM  

Anonymous Anonymous said:

Where is my tom la bonge comment?

I probably post here less frequently than anyone else, and you delete my tom labonge comment?

Cancel my subscription, Mayor Sam. I'm done.

October 27, 2010 9:30 AM  

Anonymous Anonymous said:

Not me 7:50 AM

That's just stupid and there's a lot of important stuff going on.

October 27, 2010 9:48 AM  

Anonymous Anonymous said:

Instant runoff voting is a VERY BAD idea, that will make it virtually impossible to unseat all but the most obviously unsavory of entrenched incumbents.

It's often the "second wind" after a primary, where a grass roots candidate who has barely kept an unpopular (but well-funded) incumbent away from the 50+ percent by a handful of votes, can begin to mount a credible challenge and raise funds from supporters of the "also rans" who also challenged the status quo and each had their own peanut gallery of fanatical supporters.

People often, barely know who their FIRST CHOICE is in an election, let alone a SECOND CHOICE, which is the "new" decision IRV will require them to make -- on the spot. (Look at some of the state polls right now -- one week before election and upwards of ONE-THIRD of voters are UNDECIDED, still).

IRV would do away with that second chance to a "first impression" and ensure that the incumbent ALWAYS wins in a close race -- just based on name recognition alone. Given a choice of 3, 4 or 12 challengers, most voters who favor a change will vote for the one challenger they've researched enough to feel comfortable with, then -- opting for the "devil they know" -- just go ahead and select the incumbent as their "second" choice, ensuring NO CHANGE ever actually takes place.

OPPOSE this, if you want ANY chance of reform in politics.

Run like HELL away from it. Real DEMOCRACY is well worth the extra costs of a final election, after a deadlocked primary. The straw man argument that this is to "save taxpayer money" is as bogus as the. . .

80 FAKE NEIGHBORHOOD WATCHES

Elections are one of the BEST investments of our taxes that MOST of our politicians ever take part in. Giving the people REAL choices, and a chance to really THINK about who should win from among the top two vote getters in a primary, is worth EVERY damn dime spent on it.

October 27, 2010 10:35 AM  

Anonymous Anonymous said:

Democratic Party masturbation is right!

October 27, 2010 11:37 AM  

Anonymous Anonymous said:

Do Los Angeles Council members have a lucrative pension similar to their salaries? Let the readers know.

If council does have a pension benefit, why is that topic not on their discussion radar? As the council moves forward with ballot measure(s) for pension reform, council could include language in the ballot measure to amend their salaries that should NEVER have been attached to judges’ salaries.

Los Angeles Charter - Article II
Sec. 218. Compensation of Elected Officers

(a) Compensation. The Mayor, City Attorney, Controller and members of the Council shall receive compensation for their services only as provided in this section and shall not receive any other compensation for those services.

(1) Salaries. Members of the City Council shall be paid a salary equal to that prescribed by law for judges of the Municipal Court of the Los Angeles Judicial District or its successor in the event that court is dissolved or reconstituted.

The Controller shall be paid a salary that is 10% more than that of a Council member. The City Attorney shall be paid a salary that is 20% more than that of a Council member. The Mayor shall be paid a salary that is 30% more than that of a Council member.

The Controller shall be responsible for ascertaining the salary of Municipal Court judges and for setting and adjusting the salaries of elected officers in accordance with this section. Salaries shall be paid in bi-weekly increments unless the Council, by ordinance, prescribes otherwise.

(2) Other Benefits. The Council may, by ordinance, subject to referendum as specified in Article IV of the Charter, confer benefits other than salary upon elected officers as additional compensation for their services. However, benefits from the Los Angeles City Employees’ Retirement System may not be provided for elected officers that would exceed benefits generally provided to members of the System who are non-represented officers or employees of the City or, if there are no non-represented officers or employees, that would exceed benefits generally provided to other members of the System.

(3) Operative Date of Changes in Salaries. The salaries of elected officers shall be adjusted in the manner provided in this section upon the effective date of any change in the salaries of Municipal Court judges.

October 27, 2010 1:46 PM  

Anonymous g said:

you all should be more concern the way the media meaning DAILY NEWS ,LA TIMES, ABC,CBS,FOX, AND LOCAL MEDIA WILL ONCE AGAIN MAKE UP YOUR MIND FOR YOU. BE CAREFUL IN MARCH. THEY LOVE PEOPLE IN OFFICE THEY CAN ATTACK. THE HELL WITH ANYONE'S FINANCIAL PROBLEMS THEY USE THIS SET UP TO GET YOU TO BUY THEIR NEWS. BAD NEWS SEEMS TO SELL BETTER THAN GOOD NEWS. SAME IS TRUE FOR POLITIANS.

October 27, 2010 3:17 PM  

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