Sunday Hotsheet

Jane Harman and her cigar club

Villaraigosa consigliere Austin Beutner is mulling over thoughts of succeeding his boss and says he will decide next month.  In a Daily News piece, the Deputy Mayor says despite his personal wealth, he does not intend to self-fund his campaign.  He'd rather sell himself to the usual suspects.

Has LA's teacher union, UTLA, found itself in it's waning days? The LA Times takes a look at the curent state of the once powerful organization which has not elected a school board member in eight years and isn't even trying this year.  As public employee unions fall more and more out of favor with the public, the UTLA has become the poster child for greedy special interests that have sunk California fiscally.

Congresswoman Jane Harman's decision to leave Congress has left some concerned that the departure means one less Jewish elected official and supporter for Israel (despite Harman's reported business dealings with Iran).  Even if a Jew surfaces as a viable replacement for Harman, some pro-Israel voters might be more comfortable with an evangelical Christian Democrat such as Janice Hahn than a more left leaning Jewish candidate.  Stay tuned.

The Lincoln Heights Blog notes that the birthday of the 16th President of the United States went unnoticed at the local high school that was named for him.  Was it political correctness or just a misfire on the school's part? Hard to tell, but ironic when the Railsplitter recently came in 2nd just after Ronald Reagan in a Gallup poll of Presidents.