Thursday afternoon's "close out" on the Los Angeles Political Scene

Mayor Villar at Summer Night Light festivities (in daytime).

** As the number of Summer Night Lights shooting victims for 2011 stands at 3 (or 4 if Cypress Park incident is related to SNL) Mayor Villar is planning a "night out" for his fellow mayoral chums to visit the Summer Night Lights Program at Costello Park in Boyle Heights/ VNE Territory (Kevlar is optional for this visit).

** THIS IS FUNNY VIA THE LA WEEKLY'S JILL STEWART!

 Credit to LA Weekly's Keith Plocek

Via Stewart's amusing post on the upcoming CD 15 Special Election, do we really need city council members who think, vote and agree the same way "99.993% of the time" while sharing DNA with Mr. Potato Head?

** Los Angeles Wave Newspapers "Soulvine Columnist" Betty Pleasant checks in for her weekly musings on happenings within the African-American Community and this week she comments about the upcoming 102nd Annual NAACP Convention in Downtown LA.

Speaking of which, are there any initiatives in play or outreach activities being developed to lure all these NAACP delegates away from Downtown L.A. and into South L.A. where the Black people are? Instead of having our visitors spend all their time and money in those garish downtown venues, shouldn’t they be picked up and transported, en masse, to Crenshaw, Leimert Park, Watts and points south to Inglewood? Shouldn’t they come and see us, eat our food, shop in our stores and go to our churches? Heck, we have stuff and our NAACP brethren from around the country ought to be encouraged to come and see us. If they resist, we should kidnap them.

Don't tell Councilman Bernard Parks about the "kidnap comment"........

** Do we have a feud brewing between Assemblyman Mike Gatto of Silver Lake/Canyon Drive and La Canada-Flintridge's Assemblyman Anthony Portatino? (REALLY fighting hard to hold back mob analogies) Via the Gatto Truthers at the Burbank Blogger, they speculate this about why Assemblyman Portatino's office budget was cut by Assembly Speaker John Perez.

According to official records, Portantino went substantially over budget in his office budget, spending significantly more than was allocated to him. However, he claimed Democratic leadership's refusal to approve special, additional funds for him was payback for his abstention on key votes this year.

But then the real reason the Gatto Thruthers are exercised over Assemblyman Portatino may have to do with this passage in a press release from his office regarding California Controller John Chiang actions against state legislators.

It has been an honor to have served the State of California in the State Assembly.  I have tried to chart a course that puts the best interests of California ahead of petty politics.  Last week, I put the needs of California's college students and cities ahead of an expedient budget plan that was ultimately vetoed by Governor Brown.   I was prepared to forego my salary to ensure a better budget and I supported State Controller John Chiang when he withheld our pay.  I didn't run for office for the benefits, I ran because I wanted to help all our children be prepared for a global high tech economy.

Hmmm, did a certain "Infant Assemblyman" take offense considering how the likes of KFI's John and Ken mocked his narcissus, self-loathing Temper Tantrum?


Your thoughts..............
Scott Johnson in CD 14