The Second Edition of "Wendy Watch"

"Workin '9 to 5 and Barely Gettin' By"

It's A Rich [Wo]man's Game

(Los Angeles, CA)- City Controller Wendy Greuel makes over $200,000 per year of taxpayer funded salary. But the question is, does she really even work from 9:00 to 5:00? It's common knowledge that most of her work consists of issuing countless press releases about audits ‘she’ (or her city staff and highly paid consultants, rather) conducts regarding the endless waste she claims to have found.  Unfortunately, there are two problems: 1) She voted for most of these problems while on the city council, and 2) when she ‘finds’ all of this waste, she does nothing about it. 

With all of this auditing going on you would think she must keep long hours at the office. Recently, the Los Cerritos Community News published on their website Wendy’s entire calendar for the term she has been Controller.  We took a look and think you should too.  Here are a few recent items we found that were definite ‘head-turners’. 

    

      

Calendar of L.A. City Controller Wendy Greuel

   

Tue Jan 10, 2012

7:30pm. General Agenda, 8 p.m. WG Speak 20 min. Mayoral Candidate Series @SCRA Community Meeting

Where: Staff: Marisol- Beverly Garland Holiday Inn, 4222 Vineland Avenue, North Hollywood, CA

  

RED FLAG: Marisol is a member of the Controller’s staff.  One        wonders why Greuel would think it's ethical for her to assign taxpayer        funded staff to mayoral campaign events which an Ethics ordinance             [Section 49.5.5] suggests may be inappropriate.

Fri Jan 20, 2012

            12:30pm (Studio City) Lunch with Eli Marmur

            Where: Bistro Garden

RED FLAG: Following the meeting with Mr. Marmur (during her        business hours), Mr. Marmur donated $1,000 to the Wendy Greuel for        Mayor campaign on February 1, 2012 and again on June 30, 2012.        The question is, what did she promise Mr. Marmur in exchange for that        contribution?

Fri February 12, 2012

            10am (BRENTWOOD) Call Time with Noah Mamet

            Where: Noah Mamet’s Office

RED FLAG: “Call Time” – (a.k.a.- “fundraising calls”?) during business        hours.  We’ll assume she wasn’t on the phone with the GASB        Board Members unless they were donating to her campaign.

Tue March 13, 2012

            5pm (Playa Vista) LMU LA 10th Annual Urban Lecture Series: 5pm-7pm (90 min.             conversation, 30 min. Q&A)

            Staff: Shannon

  

RED FLAG: This event was a mayoral campaign debate and once        again Greuel assigned her city controller staff to a campaign event.         The taxpayer loses again!

Fri May 11, 2012

7:30am Conference call with ETeam re: Thai Community Development Mayoral Forum

            Where: ETeam, en route

  

DOUBLE RED FLAG: This calendar item deserves two flags.               “ETeam” is Controller Greuel’s Executive City Staff. An                Ethics ordinance [Section 49.5.5] for the city suggests that using                the City Controller’s Executive Team for Mayoral debate prep                may not be acceptable under the Ethics code.

Tue May 15, 2012

            5:30PM (Downtown) WG Event hosted by Andy Cohen, Gensler

            Where: Gensler

RED FLAG: Gensler conducts business with the City. An Ethics        ordinance [Section 49.5.5] suggests it would be inappropriate for the        Controller to have a fundraiser hosted by businesses that contract with        the city.

Thu May 24, 2012

3:30pm (Downtown) WG Event Hosted by Mohammed Islam, Modern Parking

  

RED FLAG: The Controller conducted an audit of unpaid occupancy                    taxes from city parking lot operators in August 2012.  This audit                    became public knowledge not long after the President of Modern                    Parking, a city parking lot operator, hosted an event for her campaign.                     Interestingly enough, her audit did not produce any concrete evidence                    regarding which specific operators owed taxes to the city and how                    much. Conflict of interest or coincidence? Let the public decide.

Wed Jun 20, 2012

            5:30pm (Downtown) WG Event Host by John Ek

            

             RED FLAG: John Ek is one of the most powerful lobbyists and                     campaign contributors at city hall. His level of involvement is quite                     impressive at city hall on many fronts. Wendy Greuel works tirelessly                     to define herself as a proverbial watchdog, but one doesn’t have to                     look hard to find countless examples of campaign events hosted by                     those leading the “special interest” efforts downtown.