Los Angeles Politics Hotsheet for Thursday

Are Stadium Beer Prices Considered an Environmental Impact?

Yesterday, City Planning hosted the first of what should be many public input opportunities regarding AEG's proposed downtown football stadium. Attendees were asked to submit written comments addressing the concerns they may have over impacts of the billion dollar stadium.  I'm pretty sure when it's all said and done, traffic impacts will wind up being the number one concern that the draft EIR will need to address. And no, the Environmental Impact Report will not be including concerns over stadium beer prices, sorry.

KCET is reported to be in talks with the Church of Scientology to sell  their historic Sunset Blvd studio.
Oh No! Does this mean they'll paint the whole facility that revolting shade of blue? Will Huell Howser have to take the Free Personality Test? Will Xenu be hanging out at the nearby Tiki Ti Bar? We're still waiting for a statement from Anonymous on what their response to the deal will be.

The City Council and Controller Wendy Greuel are warning all city department heads that if they blow their budgets they may not get paid. Now that's an incentive program!

The Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation has been forced to cancel a GOP Presidential Debate scheduled for May 2 due to "lack of committed candidates". The Foundation will try again on Sept 14th, hoping that maybe by then there will be a Republican field worth holding a debate over.

And finally, now that exploding potato head Kevin James has entered the mayoral race, there has been some speculation if any other right wing blowhards might throw their hat in the ring as well. Well, if you follow the social networks you might have seen a recent poll where people are actually writing in the name of our resident Tea Party wacko, Michael Higby, as a choice for Mayor of LA in 2013. C'mon people, I like the guy, but if Michael was Mayor, Los Angeles would become some sort of Libertarian hellhole where the Department of City Planning would be disbanded and people could build nuclear plants in their back yards.
Let's just pretend that poll never happened, okay?

Los Angeles Politics Hotsheet for Wednesday

The Gerald Desmond Bridge aka  "China's Loading Ramp to America"

Help Wanted! As many as 7000 jobs will be opening up in Los Angeles and Long Beach in 2011 and 2012 as work begins on 2 major infrastructure projects; the replacement of the Gerald Desmond Bridge and modernization of Middle Harbor. The Gerald Desmond Bridge is the cracked and crumbling connection between Long Beach and Terminal Island . The bridge was built in 1960 and was never designed to withstand the volume of trucks transporting goods shipped from China to the Los Angeles of the 21st Century.

They're out of scale, out of place, and they are soon to be "out of here". "McMansions" are headed for a slow death as the City Council unanimously passes new guidelines and restrictions on these monuments to bad taste.

 Speaking of out of scale and in bad taste;

Yep, they approved it. 

The LA Council District border wars are about to begin!  "Neighborhood Councils should be fighting to protect their stakeholders" says Michael Cohen at Citywatch. Yea, and what's up with everyone wanting to be in CD2?


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Gov. Brown Halts Budget Negotiations

Good for Governor Brown! He finally was forced to call out the GOP on their absurd demands and obstructionist tactics. Let the people vote and don't ever, ever, mess with CEQA.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

Contact: Governor's Press Office
Tuesday, March 29, 2011 (916) 445-4571

SACRAMENTO - Governor Jerry Brown today issued the following statement on his decision to halt budget negotiations:


"Yesterday, I stopped the discussions that I had been conducting with various members of the Republican party regarding our state’s massive deficit.

The budget plan that I put forth is balanced between deep cuts and extensions of currently existing taxes and I believe it is in the best interest of California. Under our constitution, however, two Republicans from the Assembly and two from the Senate must agree before this matter can be put to the people.

Each and every Republican legislator I’ve spoken to believes that voters should not have this right to vote unless I agree to an ever changing list of collateral demands.

Let me be clear: I support pension reform, regulatory reform and a spending cap and offered specific and detailed proposals for each of these during our discussions. While we made significant progress on these reform issues, the Republicans continued to insist on including demands that would materially undermine any semblance of a balanced budget. In fact, they sought to worsen the state’s problem by creating a $4 billion hole in the budget.

One glaring example is the taxation of multinational corporations. My budget plan requires that gigantic corporations be treated the same as individual taxpayers and not be allowed to choose their preferred tax rate.

This is the so-called single sales factor. The Republicans demand that out-of-state corporations that keep jobs out of California be given a billion dollar tax break that will come from our schoolchildren, public safety and our universities. This I am not willing to do.

Much is at stake, and in the coming weeks I will focus my efforts on speaking directly to Californians and coming up with honest and real solutions to our budget crisis.

Attached is my letter to Republican Leader Dutton last Friday that outlines in greater detail my position."

Los Angeles Politics Hotsheet for Tuesday

Because of the budget shortfalls facing local schools, incoming boss of the LAUSD John Deasy is going to take on some of the pain and cut his salary.  Instead of earning $325K per year, Deasy will only get a $275K annual payout.  Despite the great pain this will cause him, do not worry.  Deasy will still earn more than the Superintendent of the New York City school system, a far larger district than LAUSD.

The Times says business is scoping out the Downtown area for new locales because of talks of a new football stadium.  Or could it be that retailers such as CVS, Walgreens and Fresh N Easy are just following the population growth in the City Center?  When Gucci moves in next to Staples however, we will know it's because of Farmers' Field.

Read more »

Los Angeles Politics Hotsheet for Monday

"Watch it, Bernard Parks,
you fish-eyed fool!"

Bad news for Betty Pleasant and the IBEW.  The City Clerk has certified that Bernard Parks has won re-election to his Council seat without a run-off.

Greedy public employee unions conned unions who represent people who make nowhere near as much as them to march in the rain for higher than average wages and gold plated pensions for the government unions. In the meantime the Mayor is cutting a deal with public employee unions that only forestalls bankruptcy a little while.


Read more »

How Do You Spell Villaraigosa?

The City employee and Teachers' unions expect higher than private sector wages and gold plated pensions?

Sunday Blog Roundup

Only four years left to really screw up Griffith Park!

Militant Angeleno has some shots of the latest design for City of Los Angeles street signs along with a fascinating history of previous LA designs.

L.A. Can't Drive: has the tale of a driver who could not handle North Hollywood's challenging five point intersection at Lankershim, Vineland and Camarillo.

Newly re-elected lame duck Clowncilman Tom LaBonge has his bucket list for LA's largest park at Griffith Park Wayist.  Wayist: "the Griffith Park Master Plan now reduced to a Vision Plan so that it can be filed away and ignored."

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Solidarity Saturday in Los Angeles

photo: Christine House

As many as 10,000 Union members and supporters marched from the Staples Center to a rally at Pershing Square to show support for their fellow Union members in Wisconsin who are currently under attack by Tea Party Governor Scott Walker.  Teamsters prez, James Hoffa, issued a statement saying, "To look out at the thousands of working men and women at today's march is inspiring... Let this serve notice to all the anti-worker, corporate interests that are attacking America's middle class - we will not let them win!"

More at KPCC and the LA Times.

Geraldine Ferraro, 75

FoxNews: Geraldine Ferraro, the first woman nominated for U.S. vice president by a major political party, died today at age 75 after a long battle with blood cancer.

Friday Free for All

More after the jump...

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Of Hamburgers and Homophobes

Today, blogger, serial candidate and sometime Hollywood Tour Guide Phil Jennerjahn threw Kevin James under the lavender bus.

That's radio talk show host turned mayoral candidate Kevin James who likely has identical positions to Jennerjahn on issues such as business tax reform and event waivers and individuals such as Mayor Villaraigosa and Council Members Jan Perry, Paul Koretz and Paul Krekorian.

What's Phil's beef? James is a self confessed homosexual.

I don't know what the gay or straight positions are on trash pickup, low income housing or Tom LaBonge's shady dealings with the Hollywood Sign but Phil must.

But because it is likely that Phil would not support Alex Padilla, Wendy Greuel, Jan Perry, Eric Garcetti for Mayor, he might want to consider getting behind James, of course no pun intended.

We're suggesting the two get together at a local In-N-Out, have a Double Double Summit and work out their differences.

Of course, Kevin really has better things to do. Phil will continue to amuse.

By the way Phil not sure why you were surprised.  Kevin has been out for years and very active in Gay political circles.

Los Angeles Politics Hotsheet for Thursday

Happy Birthday wishes to CD 2 Councilman Paul Krekorian, from all of us here at Mayor Sam!
And Happy One Year Anniversary to the Health Care Reform Law! Still standing strong and fully funded!

SurveyLA is coming to North Hollywood! "SurveyLA has been conducting a citywide historical survey and is coming to North Hollywood and Toluca Lake soon. According to its website, it is looking for places that are important because of reasons such as architecture, city planning, landscape design, ethnic heritage, residential development, commerce or industry." Full story at North Hollywood-Toluca Lake Patch. No word yet if North Hollywood's Gateway Arch is considered significant, historical, or just embarrassing (see pic below).

At least you can't miss it.

 Everyone's favorite predatory pricing, mom & pop shop destroying, vendor exploiting retailer, Wal-Mart, may soon face the largest sex discrimination lawsuit in U.S history! The decision to allow the class-action lawsuit to proceed is now in the hands of SCOTUS. If successful, the lawsuit could affect 2 million women and cost the big box billions of dollars!

Damn, why didn't I think of that?  Sales of Emergency Bunkers are skyrocketing! From portable ones that run a few thousand to $20 million dollar "fit for a king" luxury hide-a-ways, the disaster protection business has never been better; "...U.S. companies selling doomsday bunkers are seeing sales skyrocket anywhere from 20% to 1,000%". And it's only March!

Finally, I hate sending people to this jerks blogsite but Phil Jennerjahn is in full homophobe/neanderthal mode today as he throws Republican Mayoral candidate Kevin James under the bus for simply supporting gay marriage and opposing the Mormon Prop 8 law.
Go witness the sputtering human trainwreck known as Phil "Dangerous Enemy of Brain Cells" Jennerjahn , but please don't do it if you just ate.

Los Angeles Politics Hotsheet for Wednesday

Just how bad is it at the Department of City Planning?

So bad that developers can now stamp and approve their own applications.

3 long hours of waiting at LA City Planning can get awful darn boring, but sometimes you just might see something that makes it all worthwhile.

For those of you who follow bad City Planning decisions and the efforts by communities to enforce Community and Specific Plans, you might enjoy reading the latest appeal filed today by the Sunland-Tujunga Alliance.

I'd also recommend this newly submitted document from the Community Alliance for Open Space, a North Valley group that has filed suit against the City over Richard Alarcon's ridiculous truck driving school that he wants to place in designated Open Space.

Enviro activists and local heroes John Quigley, Andrea Bowers, Julia Jaye Posin and Travis Jochimsen are scheduled to be arraigned today on multiple charges following their fight to protect 249 old growth trees in the Santa Anita Wash north of Arcadia. The Department of Public Works thought it would be a great idea to rip down the trees and convert the woodlands to a dirt storage area. As the scheduled hour of destruction approached, John Quigley and Andrea Powers took the last ditch step of climbing up in the trees to try and stave off the bulldozers. After a day long stand-off, the Department of Public Works eventually leveled what had been a pristine wooded area. Los Angeles County District Attorney Steve Cooley now wants to jail the activists. Adding to the shenanigans is the bizarre conduct of Sheriff deputies at the scene who blocked access to press outlets trying to cover the story. LA Weekly has even more including video of a Sheriff's deputy making up the law as he goes along.

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City Budget Woes? Nah, Take a Hike!

I often wonder why of all the missives from Councilman Tom LeBong that hit my mail box, none of them ever have anything to do with city issues or even what the 4th District Councilman's policy goals are.

I get detailed reports sent out by Councilman Paul Krekorian's office on what he is doing for business in LA.  Bill Rosendahl is working on homeless issues.  Even Richard Alarcon is always trying to build something.

When it comes to LeBong howevrer, it's always pumpkin bread, parades or hikes. 

You would think the citizenry would tire of this clown act but LeBong was just comfortably re-elected to a lame duck term, greasing the skids for the next clown out of Los Feliz.  Apparently folks there love their pumpkin bread and don't really care much beyond that. Oh, my free calendar too, please, Tom?

Redistricting is coming soon.  Please, please, please move me into CD2.  Thank you.

Los Angeles Politics Hotsheet for Tuesday

Michael Scott for Mayor?

In an editorial that was just way too long for me to read, as I enjoy season three of The Office on Netflix, the Daily News calls on the Mayor and City Council to "toughen up" with regard to the City budget.  The Office is funny but that made me laugh, too.

It looks like Bernard Parks has won and and avoided a run-off in his City Council race but leftists and the always classy Betty Pleasant don't seem to want to admit it.  The unions targeted Parks, further setting up the IBEW as the poster child for why what Governor Walker is doing in Wisconsin is the right thing.

Last Friday the LA City Council got a lot done.  They celebrated a belated St. Patrick's Day, Persian New Year and Latina History Day.

Los Angeles Politics Hotsheet for Monday

As the City of LA and AEG get more serious about demolishing a portion of the Los Angeles Convention Center to build an NFL stadium in Downtown LA, competing stadium builder Ed Roski is firing his local lobbying team.  It's a race to the finish to see which billionaire can lure an actual team to their site.

The LA Marathon continued on despite a massive downpour.  Thousands of runners were later treated for hypothermia and 25 were sent to local hospitals for additional care.


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Torrential Downpour News Brief

The first day of Spring.

Here they come! The fastest growing ethnic group in the state is Asian, and the Asian-American community is rolling up their sleeves to get these potential voters naturalized. No word yet on how the California GOP intends to alienate this segment of the populace.

Sunland-Tujunga's very own  Lydia Grant will be part of a spirited  panel discussing the Parent Trigger, tomorrow night at the Skirball Center-Monday, March 21, 2011 7:00 PM - 9:00 PM
The event is co-sponsored by California Teachers Empowerment Network, Parent Revolution, The Heartland Institute and Children of Jewish Holocaust Survivors. Hit the link for more details.

Actor Jimmy Smits has signed on to play a lead role as the Mayor of Los Angeles in a new NBC project that is going by the working title "S.I.L.A" for now.
From TV Squad- "the as-of-now untitled project is described as a complex ensemble drama in the style of 'Traffic' and 'Syriana' set in the world of crime, law enforcement and politics in sprawling modern-day Los Angeles".

Saturday Short & Sweet News Brief

Gloom and Despair at the Goober Convention

 The California GOP has gathered in Sacramento for a misery loves company themed convention. The party is almost broke, morale is at a historic low, Latinos don't like them, and there are no bright stars on the horizon. Whitman and Fiorina, of course, headed for the hills some time ago.

 Arizona, still suffering from the economic blowback caused by SB1070 has just nixed a new round of immigrant bashing bills proposed by the author of SB1070, Sen. Russell Pearce. The most vocal opponents of the bills? The Arizona business community. 60 CEOs from a broad swath of Arizona corporations signed a letter to the Senate that stated;

Arizona’s lawmakers and citizens are right to be concerned about illegal immigration. But we must acknowledge that when Arizona goes it alone on this issue, unintended consequences inevitably occur. Last year, boycotts were called against our state’s business community, adversely impacting our already-struggling economy and costing us jobs. Arizona-based businesses saw contracts cancelled or were turned away from bidding. “Sales outside of the state declined. Even a business which merely had ‘Arizona’ in its name felt the effects of the boycotts, compelling them to launch an educational campaign about their company’s roots in Brooklyn. It is an undeniable fact that each of our companies and our employees were impacted by the boycotts and the coincident negative image.
“Tourism, one of our state’s largest industries and employment centers, also suffered from negative perceptions after the passage of SB 1070. The fact Gov. Brewer directed $250,000 to repairing Arizona’s reputation strongly suggests these efforts – whether fair or unfair - are harmful to our image".

Hey, what happened to the "Boycotts won't hurt Arizona" crowd?

Breaking News- Judge Blocks Union Busting Law in Wisconsin

A judge in Wisconsin has just halted implementation of Gov. Scott Walker's Budget Reform law asserting that the GOP passed the bill without a true quorum. More details here.

Friday Free for All: A Gay Old Time Edition

During the campaign for the 43rd Assembly race, supporters of the current incumbent began a whispering campaign that Sunder Ramani was anti-gay. Sadly, nice guy Ramani nor his staff (which had gay members) did not aggressively counter this slander. Ironically, it's now one of the current Assemblyman's biggest supporters that is in the middle of an outing brouhaha himself in Glendale.

John Drayman, Glendale Clowncil Candidate and a major supporter of the current incumbent (who by the way is probably even happier than Tom LaBonge at a photo opp that the gregarious pumpkin bread eating Clowncilman was elected to a lame duck third term) has leveled lewd conduct charges against incumbent Councilman Mike Mohill who is openly gay. Mohill was arrested decades ago back when it was illegal for a gay man to troll for sex.

Drayman, who seems to be attempting to distort Mohill's "record," may have one of his own. Patch reports Mohill alleges that Drayman is a closet case.

And all of this from the fellow travelers of folks who smeared the name of a good man.

Kiss of Death

Mayoral candidate and exploding potato-head Kevin James now has the support and some funds from the anti-Latino, racist buffoon, Walter Moore.

Truly, a match made in heaven!

If you recall, Walter Moore's  past position as a board of director of Clean Sweep LA largely discredited that organizations efforts and his public support of Kevin James will likely damage that campaign as well.

Potential candidates for any office in the City would do well to distance themselves as far as possible from Mr. Moore and his culture bashing myopic vision for Los Angeles.

Los Angeles Politics Open Thread for Thursday

The End is Near.

Open thread this morning, have at it brothers and sisters...

Los Angeles Politics Hotsheet for Wednesday

There are things we know we don't know, ...and then our head explodes.

Quite possibly the greatest 10 minutes of Talking Head television was made back in 2008 when local right-wing radio hothead, Kevin James, made an appearance on Chris Matthews' MSNBC show to bag on then candidate Barack Obama. As this classic clip aptly demonstrates,  Kevin James was completely eviscerated. Not so much by Matthews, but by his own lack of basic historical knowledge. Since that appearance, Kevin James has seen his KRLA radio show moved later and later into the evening to the point that it now begins in the dead zone at midnight.

So, with nothing left to lose, this exploding potato-head had a Jennerjahn moment yesterday and will announce his candidacy for Mayor of Los Angeles on Wednesday on the steps outside LA City Hall at 10am.
Well, at least it will be an entertaining campaign.

"Kevin, when you're in a hole, stop digging." -Mark Green

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Kevin James to Run for Mayor

I can hear the Tories clucking now, but this is actually an interesting idea.

Attorney and Radio talk show host Kevin James is announcing he is running for Mayor of Los Angeles.  

The stay at home bloggers et al no doubt will look for everything they can to discredit Kevin, one of the few media figures in LA who has dedicated hours of airtime to examining City issues.  However, Kevin is a serious candidate with a base, relationships to raise money, a real political consultant (not himself or a relative) and a background as a federal prosecutor to boot.  Announcing now gives James plenty of time to build a winning organization.

He may not have impressed MSNBC's Chris "Thrill up my leg" Matthews one day, but then most folks outside Los Feliz, Studio City or Brentwood could care less about cable pundits like Matthews.

Stay tuned.

Jerry Brown, Dragonslayer

More on Jerry and the CRA, Trojan says: 

The CRA repeal pays off more in the long term than the short term, and is like pouring a little bleach on city hall. A lot of people I speak to who know about CRA think this is just over $1.5B and a not a huge deal. But the long term debt and interest expense reductions is a big deal. With that said, I don't know how much more fight Brown has in him on this.

The wealthy special interest groups (developers, unions, rich kids looking to build a stadium etc.) with a lot on the line will continue to go at him hard. And with deep pockets, who knows what stink they can raise.

In the end, the only way this gets done is through a compromise with unions. CA will get shafted by the unions or continue to get shafted by the CRA system. As our last governor learned, a fight with unions is a fight to the political death. Unless Brown's ready, and has the stomach, to slay the dragon he will lose.

Is Jerry a dragonslayer? Time will tell.

Los Angeles Politics Hotsheet for Tuesday

Politicians are scared out of their gourd that Jerry Brown is going to shut down the CRA and all their shady projects.  Problem is, a lot of the money local pols need to run come out of those projects.  Jerry Brown's people at least are honest and saying they don't buy the crap from Jose Huizar or Antonio Villaraigosa that CRA projects create any real jobs.

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Los Angeles Politics Hotsheet for Monday

Gary Friedman / Los Angeles Times

In the last election the LA Times finally (kind of?) woke up to the fact that the status quo in LA they have long promulgated - whether it was the whites only Committee of 25 cabal of the real Mayor Sam's day or the current Latino-left-labor-developer unholy alliance of today - might not be good for the City.  Now they call on the status quo incumbents (and incumbent lite in the form of CD12 Clowncilman-Elect, Mitch Englander) to lead.  Ha.





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Even MORE Astroturfing in the Midwest

Posted by MiaZagora

I wonder who hired the guy in the deer suit, the cop/stripper, and those 60's rejects in the drum circle? Most of those people were bussed in. It's showmanship, and you can never believe what you see.
There were 14 busloads brought to Nashville a couple of weeks ago - they gave them free kegs of beer (for stamina, I guess) and put them up at the Hilton - I suppose so they wouldn't have to break into the capitol building and nasty it up. All paid for by Organizing for America.

During the townhall meetings when they were still debating the Obamacare bill, they paid and fed union members to ride a bus and stack townhall meetings.

One unannounced, televised meeting for Obamacare was held in Ohio, and Obama himself made an appearance. The locals knew nothing about it until that day when they shut down the streets. The Presidential motorcade came by, followed by busloads of "local" supporters. NO ONE FROM THE LOCAL AREA WAS ALLOWED INSIDE, and there were SEIU members posted outside to make sure no one even got near the place.

But, it was televised and billed as a local meeting with local people - not the hand-picked, bussed-in audience that it really was.

Last Night's Podcast is Up

If you missed, I hosted Live LA Saturday Night, with David Hernandez and Frank Sheftel away for the week.  Guests were John Phillips of KABC Radio, producer/blogger Suzanne Lauer, the LA Weekly's Simone Wilson and former child star Rodney Allen Rippey.  The podcast is here.

If You Live In Wisconsin, Don't Forget To Set Your Clocks Back 50 Years This Weekend

Meanwhile; Wisconsin Protesters Refuse to Quit.

Tractors Roll Into Madison on Saturday to Protest

Meltdown

Via Twitter;

FLASH: #Japan chief cabinet secretary Edano: confirms radiation leak at Fukushima plant

Japan officials say they can contain it. If so, no threat to US. If not, radioactivity will carry east, as in Chernobyl.

Japan nuclear plant update: Hourly radiation leaking from Fukushima is equal to amount permitted in one year, official tells Kyodo


Via FoxNews; "We are beginning to see the beginning of a core meltdown".

Cue to 00:47 to see the explosion;

MayorSam on the Air

Tune in to Live LA Saturday Night on LATalkRadio.com this Saturday night at 8:00 p.m. PST as I take the helm of the show with no David Hernandez or Frank Sheftel anywhere in sight!

My guest co-hosts are John Phillips of KABC Radio and producer/blogger Suzanne Lauer. We'll also have Simone Wilson of the LA Weekly to recap last week's City elections and a new feature, "Rappin' with Rippey," featuring legendary child star, Rodney Allen Rippy.

Astroturfing in the Mid-West

How do you gin up scenes of protestors, fighting big bad Republicans intent on cutting the power of greedy public employee unions?

Craigslist!

Stand, Walk, Chant, Protest (Downtown)

Date: 2011-03-01, 11:03AM EST 

Reply to: gigs-5rcwm-2240867280@craigslist.org

We need more men to protest this coming week. We will call in the morning on when we will need you. We pay $7.50. You will be helping out middle class workers in our State. This job is only for 4 - 6 hours at a time, usually between 3:00 PM till 7:00 PM Please send a picture when you e-mail."


At least in Indiana, they're looking for a few good rabblerousers to chant, scream, hoot, holler and play Parcheesi while the SEIU types go all boo hoo.  Sadly, it does not appear the unions want to pay union wages to do so, the hourly take somewhat south of minimum wage.

We learned about this kind of fake protesting with the efforts by Home Depot to shove a store into Sunland Tujunga.  When the home improvement big box got done calling the good people of the Foothills "racists," they moved up on by gathering up as many brown skinned folks as they could to sing their praises, to wit one somewhat chatty artificial grass activist admitted "I'm, here because they gave me a t-shirt."

Last I heard the only folks going to Craigslist these days are hookers and their "clients." Well, I guess this is the same thing.

Footage from Ventura Harbor of Chilean Tsunami on February 27, 2010

Currents, not the waves are the dangers that are the cause of concern for public officials, as most beaches are close in Southern California in wake of the Tsunami Advisory and Warning resulting from the 8.8 Earthquake in Japan.

The footage above was taken in Venture Harbor which shows the currents that cause damage last year in the wake of the tsunami generated by the 8+ Chilean Earthquake. Expect about 12 hours of beack closures as the energy created by the Japan Earthquake makes its way to our shores. 

8.9 Hits Japan

CNN footage is stunning!
Tsunami warning issued for Hawaii.
Wave expected around 3 a.m. Honolulu time.
Quake is 100x stronger than the quake that hit Haiti.
CNN
BBC

Outtakes from CD 14: Bloggin responses to Councilman Huizar's Victory

Will this 2007 momento re-appear courtesy of Councilman Jose Huizar's "Big Billboard" friends?

Hola from the "Cut and Paste Republic of CD 14" where no far-fetch bloggin conspiracy is beyond cyber reach, considering this from the Burbank Blogger.

CD14: Huge loss for Rudy Martinez, who has spent the last several months spending his own money to tell people that Huizar was about to be arrested and that polls showed the race 51-49 either way.

In the end, Martinez got crushed in the voting. He leaves the race poorer, with his reputation in tatters, and the political world is abuzz regarding the real reason Martinez was propped up to run, and why people goaded this dupe into running such a nasty campaign. Hint: it has to do with another Councilmember's citywide ambitions. Major post to come on this theme.

Hmmm, who could be this "other" City of Los Angeles City Councilman? Could it be that someone well known to Mayor Sam readers is back scheming in the political shadows?

More bloggin speculation and observations on CD 14 latest election cycle after the jump. 
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Los Angeles Politics Hotsheet for Thursday

Some corporate takeovers don't go as smoothly as planned.

After what must have been one hell of a Koch binge, Republicans in Wisconsin blatantly violated the state's Open Meetings law and shoved through a modified Budget Reform Bill on Wednesday. Funny enough, there was nothing in this version of the Budget Reform Bill that had anything to do with balancing the budget, but rather had everything to do with busting the public unions by stripping them of collective bargaining rights. Expect a swift backlash from the unions, and court challenges up the ying-yang. Already in the works is a recall effort of Gov. Walker and the Republican Senators. This recall effort will not, I repeat, will not, be led by the transplanted Wisconsin wacko Phil Jennerjahn, so there may actually be a chance for success!

UPDATE; Protesters jam Capitol, Assembly vote delayed .

That cheering you're hearing is coming from the Van De Kamp's Coalition and everyone else that has suffered from the colossal mismanagement at the LACCD. Projects director, Larry Eisenberg, a focal point of the Times 6 part investigative series  that exposed the fraud, waste, and abuse of $5.9 billion in construction bond funding, has been fired.

Ron Kaye is covering the "Cesspool On Vine", the CRA-City Council Approved developer give-away that is turning stomachs throughout the city. Of note; Councilman Krekorian was the sole vote against this sham! 


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Winners and Losers

Winners

The Mayor
The corporate takeover of LAUSD
Developers
Public Employee Unions EXCEPT IBEW
The Blogger Known as Mulholland Terrace
Wendy Greuel
Mike Gatto
Paul Krekorian
Lydia Guiterrez

Losers

IBEW
Medical marijuana collectives
MayorSam bloggers
Clean Sweep
CDs 4, 6, 10, 12 and 14
Walter Moore
Mike Trujillo
LA Weekly
The City of Los Angeles

The Truly Blessed by God Just in time for Lent

Tom LaBonge
Jose Huizar

Councilman Jose Huizar Elected to a Second Term in CD 14

This blogger wants to congratulate CD 14 Councilman Jose Huizar on his re-election to a second full term  I look forward to four more years of objective blogging on your future political exploits. In addition, I like to commend challenger Rudy Martinez for his efforts in expanding the political dialog and bring attention to issues such as the CLARTS Fund and economic renewal in CD 14. As Martinez stated in his gracious concession speech, this campaign was only the beginning of his new foray into the political world and he will continue the dialog on bring a better tomorrow to the constituents of CD 14. That discussion, this blogger will continue to post here at Mayor Sam.

Your thoughts..............

Scott Johnson in CD 14. 

Post Election Open Thread

Good Times at the Sportsman's Lodge

Mayor Sam and myself are all victory partied out, so have at it amigos; the good, the bad, and the ugly...


Update: Huizar Destroys Martinez

BREAKING: Food Trucks and Politics - Dinner Time GOTV for Box!

If Stephen Box pushes veteran Tom LaBonge into a run-off tonight; it may be because of the Food Trucks.

Bottom line is this - old school Tom HATES the food trucks and has tried to make their lives miserable. Stephen Box has been quite supportive on the other hand and has earned massive support from the trucks and their foodie fans.  Box has even organized meet-ups of trucks and voters that have been quite successful.

Something interesting is happening right now - in a scene perhaps reminiscent of Egypt the downtrodden masses are using social media to turf out a decades in power dictator.  Twitter is abuzz with food truck operators and fans tweeting out the vote for Box.  

Developing.

The Choice is Clear in CD4: Stephen Box

Reports abound that polls taken by non-campaign sources show LaBonge coming in second.  Hence his recent desperation and bizarre behavior.

I wish we had known about this sooner, but it appears that LaBonge may have perpetrated a massive shady fraud on the so-called "Save the Hollywood Sign" effort.

The guy has to go.  There is no worse Councilman than LaBonge.  Even the shady or clueless ones.

Stephen Box will upset the apple cart, which we need.  We even need a whole new apple cart.

Say goodbye to the past, goodbye to pumpkin bread and goodbye to "What high school did you go to?"  It's now the think-outside-the- BOX era.

The Choice is Clear, Rudy Martinez for City Council in CD 14

Rudy Martinez at Clean Sweep LA Kickoff

Letter of support from former LAPD Deputy Chief and now Riverside Police Chief Sergio Diaz.

Four years ago today, a certain person was proud to walk up to his polling place and help elect current CD 14 City Councilman Jose Huizar to his first full term. Now on this election day in 2011, that same person typing these words implores you to vote for Rudy Martinez to replace Councilman Huizar.

More after the jump.

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Open Thread for Election Day

No HotSheet today as it's Election Day but updates will be posted as they happen.  Feel free to post up your election day observations, predictions, voting irregularities, observations, etc.

Do we need a "Mini Monica" on the LAUSD Board of Education?

LAUSD School Board President Monica Garcia

Monica Garcia's Chief of Staff Luis Sanchez

Do the citizens of Los Angeles Unified School District's Area 5 deserve a union-back candidate in Bennett Kayser or School Board President Monica Garcia's Chief of Staff Luis Sanchez? Kayser is a veteran of past LAUSD elections, losing to out-going District 5 School Board Rep Yolie Flores-Aguilar in 2007. Sanchez is the latest "anointed one" via the Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa/ Councilman Jose Huizar faction in Boyle Heights.and served the Mayor well as an Recreation and Parks Commissioner.

More after the Jump.

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Getting out the vote Councilman Jose Huizar Style

Why do the names of Francine Godoy and Gustavo Valdivia pop into my head when viewing this mailer ?

East Los Angeles Community Corporation Executive Director Maria Cabildo (speaking in support of CRA) and CD 14's other connected non-profits will gather for their once-in-every-four-years appointment with the polling place tomorrow, as Councilman Jose Huizar awaits the verdict of the electorate on his quest for another term in office. 

The likes of ELACC's Cabildo, Legacy LA, Eagle Rock Center for the Arts and other connected non-profits, understand when they pimp for public money, that come election time, their clients and supporters must turn out for their "Political Sugar Daddy", in CD 14's case Councilman Jose Huizar.
More after the jump.

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CD 4 City Council Candidate Stephen Box gets endorsement of LA City Workers

The endorsement of Stephen Box by LA City Workers is a major game changer in the contentious CD 4 Election proceedings.

Your thoughts....

Scott Johnson in CD 14

Street Hassle, Ron Kaye: CD4 Race Tightening; Desperate LaBonge Goes Uber-Dirty

Street Hassle via Ron Kaye.

After a lot of hustling by challengers Tomas O'Grady and Stephen Box this past weekend, the late smear tactics of Councilman Tom LaBonge indicate that the race in CD 4 has considerably tightened.

Where's my pumpkin loaf?

Van de Kamp Coalition's Dan Wright urges support for Reform Slate in LACCD Trustee Election

Reform slate for Los Angeles Community College District.

Blogger note: In my four plus years of blogging on Mayor Sam, one citizen activist stands out for his ceaseless dedication and devotion to causes of his choosing, that person would be Mt. Washington Attorney Daniel Wright. Whether it is his tireless crusade to reopen the Southwest Museum or legal work on the behalf of the Van de Kamp Coalition, Wright is not one to stand down if a cause is rightous and ethical. Below we post his email on the behalf of the Reform Slate for LACCD which has this blogger's full support. (S.J.)

Los Angeles Voters-

If you were angered in 2009 when the Los Angeles Community College District (LACCD) Board of Trustees took the $72 million Van de Kamps campus away from LA City College, TODAY you can spread the word for change in tomorrow's LACCD Trustee Board election.

If you read any of the six Los Angeles Times articles on fraud, bond abuse, and senseless waste of millions of dollars of your tax funds by incumbent Trustees Mona Field and Miguel Santiago and LACCD management, TODAY you can spread the word for change in tomorrow's Board election. Read the series: http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-community-colleges-html,0,3512910.htmlstory

Read the rest after the jump.
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LaBonge Goes All High School

The day prior to what could be the biggest election of his political career always controversial and never boring Councilman Tom LaBonge finds himself in a minor brouhaha.

He has unfriended local businessman, activist and talkradio host Frank Sheftel on LaBonge's Facebook page.

LaBonge, who is known for starting off introductions asking individuals "What high school did you you go to?" has been at odds with Sheftel in the past over various issues in the District but, according to Sheftel, they have had an amicable working relationship over the years.

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Los Angeles Politics Hotsheet for Monday

The Times recaps their endorsements for Tuesday's ballot.

Rich Goodman is running for City Council on $4,000. He might win. Okay, back to reality, his opponent, incumbent Tony Cardenas is backed by the developer-union holy alliance that owns this City. But then again Goodman got the endorsement of the LA Times and Cardenas won in 2007 with fewer votes than that which could fill the Nokia Theatre. So who knows.

While he tries to get a higher than allowed fence for his Mayoral manse, Antonio Vilaraigosa wants to scale back benefits for retired city workers.



Read more »

Michael Moore Goes To Wisconsin

 Michael Moore led a rally before tens of thousands of opponents to Gov Walker's union busting budget reform bill on Saturday in Madison. Moore marched with Madison Firefighters Local 311 to attend the event."You have awoken a sleeping giant, the working people" Moore said to the crowd.

“Never forget the three biggest lies of the past ten years, Number one: America is broke. Number two: there are weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. Number three: the Packers can’t win the Super Bowl Without Brett Farve.”-Michael Moore

Michael also referred to the Budget Reform Bill as "the scam of the century" and pointed out that Four hundred of the very wealthiest Americans have more wealth than 155 million Americans on the other end of the scale combined. And yet it’s the teachers who need to sacrifice.

Recent polls are showing overwhelming disapproval of Gov Walker's attempt at dismantling unions as protests enter their 4th week.

More on why the public employee pension threat is a myth   (sorry, Paul Hatfield).

Charlie Sheen to Address Nation at 7pm

Rumors abuzz across the internets and Twitters that beleaguered actor Charlie Sheen will take to the Ustream airwaves Saturday evening at 7:00 p.m. PST.

There is no confirmation at this time that Sheen will be endorsing Jose Huizar for Council, but stay tuned.

Clean Sweep LA Video and CD 14 Mailer

Clean Sweep LA Visdeo with KRLA's Kevin James on audio

CD 14 Mailer # 1

CD 14 Mailer # 2 

Your thoughts..............

Scott Johnson in CD 14

Former Councilman Huizar Campaign Manager Michael Trujillo still on Campaign Payroll

Disgrace former CD 14 City Councilman Jose Huizar Campaign Manager Michael Trujillo, who was terminated for authoring the controversial "bullet to forehead email", is still being paid by the Huizar Campaign according to the latest Ethics Commission expenditures report.

Further, after being fired on Monday, February 7, Trujillo has received the following payment listed below.

03/01/11 Michael Trujillo Los Angeles, CA 90017 Jose Huizar Council Member - District 14 1325226 - HUIZAR FOR COUNCIL 2011 E - Payment (CNS - Campaign Consultant) [Period: 02/20/11-03/02/11] $3,250.00 [Election: 03/08/11]

Trujillo, prior to this latest payment, received the following amount for work before his termination..

01/28/11 Michael Trujillo Los Angeles, CA 90017 Jose Huizar Council Member - District 14 1325226 - HUIZAR FOR COUNCIL 2011 E - Payment (OFC - Office Expenses) [Period: 01/23/11-02/19/11] $1,286.56 [Election: 03/08/11]

The fact that Trujillo is still on Councilman Huizar's is bound to reignite the controversy over Trujillo's comments that included statements such as "(Rudy is a disgusting human being that needs to be sent back from the vile bag of tripe he emanated from." and "We are going to unleash the dogs of Satan on Rudy and he is going to wish he never heard the words 'team huizar".

With Trujillo continuing to profit from his vile attack on Martinez, on top of Team Huizar's latest negative mailer, highlights the desperate straits that Team Huizar finds themselves as election day approaches, not to mention reopening old wounds..

Your thoughts..............

Scott Johnson in CD 14