Primary Post-Mortem

Presidential politics bore me to tears, and for some reason, this cycle is especially bad. The posturing, the panting pundits, the pageantry, the puppets—err, candidates. It all just grates on my nerves. So, let’s go local, because despite a record low statewide turnout, it was a fun night with a few unexpected twists in the Mayor Sam faves.

Who knew? Despite Stuart Waldman’s key endorsements and perceived front-runner status, Bob Blumenfield pulled an impressive—and decisive—53% in a four-way race. Waldman and Laurette Healey each drew 21%.

No surprise there… Fran Pavley defeated Lloyd Levine 2-to-1. Unfortunately (as others have pointed out), this doesn’t mean he will now go away. Someone, somewhere, will find him a public teat to nurse while planning his next run.

Lord, have mercy! In recent weeks, Bernard Parks locked up a series of big endorsements and the momentum appeared to be on his side, but yesterday he fell short of the magical 50%—and, um, short of Mark Ridley-Thomas by five. The two face a run-off in November. Here’s to five more months of great bloggings from Parks!

This is your open thread for the day. Feel free to gloat, lament, and analyze—or, completely change the subject.

Why Lloyd Levine Wants to Be a State Senator

Lloyd's term as an Assemblyman is coming to a close and he needs a job to keep him in Sacramento.

Why?

He's getting married to Sacramento news anchor Edie Lambert. You could have followed their entire courtship from first date to engagement on board Southwest Airlines flight 1455 right here on the blog.

Can't blame him, she's a cutie. And unless he wants to have a long distance relationship from the Valley to the State Capitol or start over on the Bachelor, Lloyd needs to go home to Sacramento.

If Lloyd isn't elected to the State Senate, he does have at least one skill to potentially bank on - he did win the Capital Nose Picking Contest against Republican Assemblyman Cameron Smythe.

Problem is the voters are going to overwhelmingly choose Fran Pavely, for right or wrong. But you never know, love may win in the end.

Update. Here is some video of Edie. Maybe some of our readers are right.

Mayor Sam's Hotsheet for Tuesday

Zuma Dogg reports that the LA City Council was bamboozled by an Assemblyman Felipe Fuentes authored law that would remove much of the Council's control over planning decisions. Speculation is that Fuentes was inspired to write the law at the behest of his mentors, City Clowncilmen Richard Alarcon and Tony Cardenas in order to facilitate development at the controversial site of the Verdugo Hills Golf Course. I would imagine if the Clowncil spent less time on public proclamations for Mickey Mouse and cheerleaders and passing nonsense resolutions against the war they'd have more bandwidth to recognize shadiness right under their noses.

The Daily News endorses Assembly Candidate Stuart Waldman and State Senate Candidate Fran Pavley in this morning's paper.

Mayor Villaraigosa gets behind the wheel in the Canoga Park Memorial Day Parade Monday. One blogger forgave the mayor's "ineffectiveness" in handling the City's finances.

KNX reports that City Controller Laura Chick says the city is doing a horrible job in promoting it's tourist attractions. Chick is pushing for the city to have multi-lingual greeters at LAX, neighborhood tours and more publicizing of the various festivals held around the City.

Los Angeles World Airports is working to grow service at it's LA/Palmdale Regional Airport but its finding tough going. Currently United Airlines has two daily flights to San Francisco. The City hopes to expand the number of flights by encouraging the use of more fuel efficient turbo prop airlines, yet some passengers are leary of the planes and prefer jets. At the same time airlines are reluctant to expand into Palmdale until there's more demand; yet demand is driven by availability.

LAist repots that the state's ban on talking on your cell phone while driving finally goes into effect on July 1st. However a loophole in the law technically allows you to still send text messages while driving.

Zev Yaroslavsky has put the wheels in motion for the County to meet the State Supreme Court declared date of June 16 to allow gays to marry and get marriage licenses. To facilitate the crush, the County will open up a special branch license office in WeHo. In the meantime, the Court's ruling will mean a cash bonanza for political consultants on both sides of a coming ballot measure seeking to overturn the Court's decision on the November ballot - donations are pouring in from all over to the yes and no campaigns.

FLASH: Daily News Endorses Waldman, Pavley

Though he has to sit first through a verbal spanking from the MOLDY GREENSHEET OF RECORD, 40th Assembly District Candidate Stuart Waldman garners the endorsement of the Daily News, a significant victory for the former Chief of Staff to Assembly Speaker Bob Hertzberg and current seat holder Lloyd Levine.

Though the News is disgusted by the spat between Waldman and chief opponent Bob Blumenfield over Blumenfield's questionable campaign financing, they gave the nod to Waldman based on his past experience and their hope once in office he'll put all this behind him. The paper also stated that fellow candidates Laurette Healey and Dan McCrory "just aren't viable candidates."

In a related story, the Daily News endorsed Levine's opponent for the Democratic nomination for the 23rd State Senate District, Fran Pavley. The News compared Levine to Blumenfield saying the Assemblyman's "tenure has been more about serving himself than the Valley."

Voters in both races go to the polls June 3rd.

Corruption in AD 40 Race? Charges filed Against Blumenfeld and Healey

We all know how shady local politics are but Assembly candidates Laurette Healey and Bob Blumenfeld are quickly becoming the poster children for alleged shady dealings.

First off, we've become aware of a complaint filed with the State Labor Commissioner by a person employed by the campaign to secure Laurette Healey the Democratic nomination for the 40th Assembly District seat being vacated by Lloyd Levine. The individual claims that they were to be paid $3500 a month for their services. Three weeks into the engagement the campaign worker was asked to sign a contract. They asked if they could time to have a lawyer review it. When the worker told the Healey campaign there were elements of the contract they could not agree to; the campaign allegedly refused to pay the individual for work performed prior to the request by the campaign for a contract. To see the complaint filed against Healey, click here.

The other bad little kid in the AD 40 Democratic race is Bob Blumenfeld. A third candidate in the race, former AD 40 Chief of Staff Stuart Waldman, has filed charges with the Fair Political Practices Commission alleging that Blumenfeld's employer, Congressman Howard Berman and Blumenfeld's father, political operative Michael Blumenfeld created an independent expenditure committee - the Santa Monica based "Valley Democrats for Change" - as method to launder contributions from Berman and the elder Blumenfeld to the candidate's account. If this allegation is correct, Berman and Blumenfeld would be in violation of campaign laws which limit the amount an individual can contribute to a campaign. According to the complaint released by the Waldman Campaign, Berman and Blumenfeld reached this limit last year. Additionally, the law prohibits independent expenditure committees from working in concert with the candidate; Waldman's complaint details and alleges involvement and coordination from Berman and his staff in the Blumenfeld campaign.

In a related story, bad news for the man Waldman, Healey and Blumenfeld are seeking to replace. Levine's opponent in the 23rd Senate District Democratic race, Fran Pavley, is running 2-1 ahead of Levine in recent polls.

Pavley Leads Levine In, uh, Pavley Poll

Here's a straight shot from a credible Jack Hoff source:

"The Fran Pavley for SD 23 campaign is circulating the results from a 400 sample survey conducted by Goodwin Simon Victoria Research between March 2-4. It finds that Pavley leads 36% to 18% over primary election opponent Asm. Lloyd Levine in the initial ask, and 'after balanced positive paragraphs about both,' Pavley's lead increases to 56% to 29%. The poll also finds 'Pavley crushes Levine' in the half of the Senate District that overlaps AD 41, which Pavley represented for six years, and that she leads 'among men and women; liberals, moderates and conservatives; Catholics, Protestants and Jews; Latinos and Anglos; and among all age groups.'"

JH: As a compromise, Levine has just offered Pavley the highly prized Chief of Staff position upon his election...

Mayor Sam's Hotsheet for Tuesday

Edward Headington joined the blog as a contributor Monday. Check out his inaugural post about yet another Ralph Nader presidential campaign. Ed is a veteran political observer, media consultant and occasional pundit. We expect him to bring quite a bit to the blog. Welcome, Edward!

San Diego City Clowncil members only make $75,386 per year. However, Los Angeles City Clowncil members make near executive level salaries of $178,789 annually. The San Diego folks must be crying foul; they're looking at creating salary increases based on the same formula used by LA. How about getting a real job?

A new service here at the Blog - the Mayor Sam Event Calendar. We'll try to keep this as updated as much as possible and add to it regularly. Its linked in the Mayor Sam Network section. Feel free to send us additions to the calendar.

Boi from Troy reports that the knuckle draggers - uh I mean conservatives - took over the California Republican party from the KENNEDY REPUBLICANS.

I'm all for legalized gambling but I bet the folks at the Fran Pavley for Senate Campaign might want to know that - untrue to his usual Nanny State leanings - Lloyd "The Bachelor" Levine is working to re-legalize widespread internet poker in California. I am sure the tight-assed, old fart, nanny-poo, do-gooder liberals in the 23rd Senate District might not like this. Or the Indian casinos. Or horsetracks.

Franklin Avenue reports that legendary LA hot dog eatery Pinks will be giving out free dogs on Friday and Saturday.

Atwater Village Newbie isn't sure but it looks like the City is still allowing drivers of the Honda Insight, Honda Civic Hybrid, Toyota Prius, and the Ford Escape Hybrid to park free at City parking meters. If anyone knows, please let us know.

And finally, a new blog here in LA - Stuff White People Like. Do they include recipes for tater tot casserole?

It’s hard out there for a bachelor

This morning, the Los Angeles Times followed up on a story that broke in yesterday’s Capitol Weekly. Fifty-thousand mailers are headed for postboxes on the leafy Westside extolling the “green” virtues of the absentee ballot, prominently featuring a photo of “environmental champion” Fran Pavley.

The mailer is being distributed by EdVoice, an education-oriented nonprofit based in Mill Valley, Calif. There is a picture of Earth on the cover and the request "Protect Our Planet." It urges residents to "vote for president with a carbon free ballot" and includes a dig at those who would drive to the polls by car for "polluting the air and contributing to global warming."

Fran, of course, happens to be running for state Senate against Lloyd “The Bachelor” Levine, but EdVoice insists the mailer has nothing to do with electing the former Assemblywoman, and everything to do with “getting out the vote.” Quipped the Capitol Weekly:

…if you can find a way to capture the steam that must be coming out of Lloyd Levine’s ears, you might be able to power a small city for a few hours.

Levine has declined comment.

Anatomy of a "Deal?"

Somewhere along the way to Assemblyman Lloyd "The Bachelor Wannabe" Levine endorsing his longtime Chief of Staff Stuart Waldman for his soon to be termed out seat (a seat the Waldman was and is far more qualified for than Levine could ever hope to be) insiders said a deal was made that threw the loyal Waldman under the proverbial bus.

The alleged deal goes like this. Levine, locked in a tough primary race against fellow Assemblymember Fran Pavley for a State Senate seat, needs some juice to have a shot against the popular Pavley. So, along with his mentor and daddy - political strategist Larry Levine - Lloyd goes to local king maker Congressman Howard Berman.

The tale continues. Yes indeed Howard will give his blessing to young Lloyd. But there's a price. Levine must retract his endorsement for Waldman to succeed him and transfer it to Berman's protege, Bob Blumenfeld.

Then in a move that baffled many at the time, Levine unceremoniously pulls the endorsement and fires Waldman from the job he held and excelled at for many years - several of those years with Levine's predecessor Bob Hertzberg.

Though Levine issued statements that hinted no deal was made; visit Levine's website and indeed - Berman's endorsement is prominent!

So tell us - there was no deal?

By the way - can anyone tell us why Lloyd has a legal defense fund with contributions from the likes of AT&T?

Fran Pavley: Environmental Superstar

Capitol Weekly takes a look at liberal legislator Fran Palvey, the Assemblywoman who wants to be a State Senator. Pavley is sort of seen as an environmental superstar which is probably behind the reason for ridiculous nanny state legislation from her possible primary opponent - Assemblyman Lloyd "The Bachelor" Levine like trying to ban light bulbs or imposing state mandated schemes to recycle grocery bags.

These silly proposals are only a shallow attempt to try and match Pavley's long environmental record and more importantly - they're not working. Levine is far behind in fundraising and in polls. Insiders say Levine is considering dropping out of the race to seek a Los Angeles City Council seat.

Fundraising Troubles for Lloyd Levine?

Our friend Nanny Lloyd "The Bachelor" Levine isn't having a lot of luck lately. First he had to withdrawal his latest nanny state legislation the "Cutting off Animal Private Parts Act of 2007" due to a lack of political support.

Now it appears that his so called shining star is lacking luster in his bid to best someone who is described as an "old liberal hag" in the Democratic sweepstakes for the State Senate. Lloyd is far behind in fundraising and isn't spending his dough as wisely it would appear according to figures from the Secretary of State.

Perhaps Fran Pavley will kick his butt after all:

Lloyd Levine Contributions 1/1/07 – 6/30/07:
$160,924.00
Cash on Hand: $159,327.70

Fran Pavley Contributions 1/1/07 – 6/30/07:
$206,990.79
Cash on Hand: $508,406.13

When Will Lloyd Levine Stop Playing Nanny?

The Nanny State kicks into high gear on July 1st.

Its not good enough that when I shopped at HOWS Market the other day I voluntarily bought their cloth grocery bags and bypassed plastic and/or paper to carry my purchases home. Nope, Lloyd Levine - "the guy guy who got his name in the papers by asking pets to be neutered and lights to be fluorescent" also known as the Bachelor who screws over his friends had to pass a law to MAKE YOU recycle your grocery bags.

Thank God for Lloyd being my Assemblyman, my daddy, my mommy and nanny all in one. Perhaps you would like to pass a law to provide for the collective wiping of our asses?

Memo to Fran Pavley: PLEASE wipe the floor with this clown.

Mayor Sam's Hot Sheet for Wednesday

A tragic event occurred Monday at what is supposed to be a happy place for young and old alike. During a performance of the Circo Hermanos Vasquez in Whittier Narrows, a 35 year old trapeze artist fell to his death. OSHA investigators are reviewing the accident as they should; however a gasbag local politician is trying to use the tragedy to get press: County Supervisor Gloria Molina has arranged free county "counseling" for anyone who saw the event. Folks, this is not a function of government, people have endured tragedies long before county crisis counselors were on the scene.

Click Read More to Continue...

If you haven't had a chance to check out Joe Mailander's excellent "A Guy in LA" series now carried here exclusively on Mayor Sam, please do so. Joe has a unique take on many local issues and I'm grateful to have him here. For fun, we have the usual blogging dust-up Joe is so good at it, however this time it's not with the Westside White Guy but with our buddy Don Garza the Central City East Blogger. Joe and Don are sparring over a plan by LA Clippers owner Donald Stirling to build a massive homeless services center in Skid Row. Don's passion is understandable given his situation, however Joe makes a good point. And I'm all for yurts!

Want to run for Congress? Due to the sad passing of Congresswoman Juanita Millender-McDonald there will be a special election for her seat in June. We dished up some speculation as to who might run for the seat but there's always room for you!

California Progress Report takes another look at the coming Fran Pavley-Lloyd Levine race to take over Zelda's State Senate seat. Pavley is doing quite well in polls, especially among folks who are dedicated voters, Jews, 2-1. The Bachelor has some catch up to do.