Morning Briefs on the Los Angeles Political Machine for Monday

Political Consultant Harvey Englander

Great post Cinco de Mayo Monday to all as the month of May becomes the final sprint for those county,  state and federal office seekers in search of finishing first or second on Primary Day in June. Beyond the exterior efforts of candidates trying to connect with voters, the consultants behind the candidates such as "Parke", "Eric", "Harvey" and "Private Citizen John", are immersed studying voting trends, crafting mailers, raising money and espousing spin on needed occasions for their respective clients. Creativity is a must in this line of work, especially navigating the gray areas of campaign finances and one of the more brazen examples of this comes from none other than the website of Harvey Englander. Penned for Englander by a young scribe who has gone on to "grayer pastures" (on Spring Street), we bring you what we coined "Alcohol and Contributions do Mix".

By Howard Blume The caterers were hustling and the booze flowing at this New Year´s Eve fundraiser for a congressional candidate in the posh Holmby Hills. The mood was growing happy and generous, and campaign consultant Harvey A. Englander was convinced his guests would be willing to exceed the federal limits on contributions of $1,000 a calendar year.
But then, this was New Year`s Eve - the party technically spanned two calendars."I raised twice the money," recalls Englander, sitting in an office cluttered with golf collectibles. "I got the first half of it, the first $1,000, as they came in, and the second thousand as they left."Englander grows serious for a moment. "A couple of guys joked that they wouldn´t give the other thousand when they left." He pauses, then returns to his joshing, insider´s patter. "Well, we certainly couldn´t do anything strong-armed, but you know.""They tried afterward to say that they were drunk. But they didn´t drink that much, because I wouldn´t have allowed that. That would have been crass."

Crass? No wonder why "Harvey's head size" is equated with Darth Vader's helmet..

Los Angeles Times LAUSD Beat Writer Howard Blume (right) being interviewed on "Occupied" Pacifica Radio.

From those early days of earning dollars for gushing musing of self-promotion for the likes of Harvey Englander, Howard Blume now earns his keep, musing on all things LAUSD for the "Old Gray Hag on Spring Street" (or should we say, shilling for charters in LAUSD?)

Blume's byline can be seen twice in today's fishwrap as he ponders why a charter school in Glassell Park with high test schools would face relocation while a Charter School in El Sereno with low test scores would have problems with Charter Renewal. 

Aside from the fact that the Van de Kamp site was built with LACCD bond money for the purpose of being a Northeast LA branch of LA City College and that Academia Semillas del Pueblo failed to improve on benchmarts imposed on them five years ago during the last renewal process. Blume fails to find the one constant that links both of these questionable charter schools and their dubious undertakings, that would be the Education Mayor Antonio Villar. But for the likes of Blume, especially with a rabid supporter of Charter Schools Eli "Lord" Broad eyeing the purchase of his employer, a pro-charter spin (even for one with cult-like tendencies) to his educational reporting may be good for future job security (especially those with ties to Mayor Villar)?

** Rick Orlov in this Monday's edition of his Tipoff Column notes the waning days of the "Reign of Villar"  "the musings of Lord Broad, pending rate increases at DWP and a corporate candidate for mayor in 2013.

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

Scott Johnson in CD 14