Afternoon Briefs and Outtakes before "El Grito" Festivities
"LA Times photo of "guess who" during today's City Council Public Comment session"It is 4:15 PM and with tonight's "El Grito Celebration" getting ready to begin, 13 well-paid politicians (minus Dennis Zine) sit behind close doors in search of the collective wisdom to draft some sort of resolution to the dire financial state of affairs on Spring Street.
For Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, he has fallen back on his well-worn practice of abandoning others for the sake of political self-preservation by announcing his withdrawal of support for the "Early Retirement Agreement" crafted with the "Coalition of Unions" minus EAA. Villaraigosa has even mention that four letter word "V-E-T-O" as a threat, if the City Council goes ahead with the passage of the "Early Retirement Agreement".
For the likes of SEIU's Julie Butcher and AFSCME's Cheryl Parisi, the Mayor's act of "going back on his word" should not be met with shock or surprise. Many who have "join hands" with Villaraigosa over the span of his political and personal life will all agree that when times get tough or when something comes along that will benefit Antonio, he will act with "self-advancement" as his paramount thought, just ask Jack Weiss, Gil Cedillo, Tamar Galatzan, Martin Ludlow, Corina and his dad.
But in this saga, the bigger issue here is the financial welfare of the city. The likes of LACERS General Manager Sally Choi were the first to assert some needed truthful leadership, in butting heads with the "Coalition of Unions" with her steadfast stance that the fifteen year time period for paying back contributions to LACER, would be fiscally detrimental to the city's financial well-being.
Choi's reward for speaking the fiscal truth was having SEIU's Julie Butcher unleash a verbal tirade and release Choi's personal contact information to her "union brothers and sisters". But Choi held firm even when the City Council's budget committee overrode her recommendation of a five year repayment plan and sided with the unions on the fifteen year option.
Now the council sits behind close doors and mulls over whether to face a mayoral veto, the wrath of the unions. or maybe think of a solution that will place the taxpayers as the paramount interest?
PM UPDATE: Ron Kaye and Chelsea Cody report at "OurLA" that Council President Eric Garcetti has "(He) told members to stay on call and be available to resume the recessed session sometime between 9 p.m. Tuesday and 9 a.m. Wednesday for a vote on an early retirement package being worked out in talks among unions, the mayor's office, Council members and top bureaucrats.
PM UPDATE # 2 at 9:05 PM: Councilman Bernard Parks is currently on air with KRLA's Kevin James discussing today's developments regarding the budget. He has just stated that the pension fund is 3 to 4 billion dollars in the hole!! Further, The CAO, CLA and the Council President are working through the night with union leadership, on a solution to present to the full council by tomorrow afternoon. Parks just stated that there was never the ten votes needed to pass the refinements to the pension plan/ Early Retirement Plan as dictated by State Law.
OTHER NEWS:
** KFI's Eric Leonard reports that Department of Building and Safety General Manager Andrew Adelman has resign this afternoon. Adelman had been placed on paid leave pending the resolution of his sexual assualt case. The LA Times catches up at 6:02 PM and the LA Weekly chimes in at 6:20 PM.
** Former President Bill Clinton is endorsing San Fransisco Mayor Gavin Newsome in the 2010 race for Governor. No doubt in this blogger's mind that the former impeached President has not forgiven Attorney General Jerry Brown for introducing the Whitewater Land Deal in Arkansas into the 1992 Presidential Campaign. Will Mayor Villaraigosa join his "social friend" in supporting Newsome?
** Continuing on the subject of questionable land deals, Los Angeles Times Reporter David Zahniser provide the details of what you get when the DWP, Mayor Villaraigosa friend Ari Swiller, Deputy Mayor S. David Freeman and the City of Vernon, all go land banking in Kern County for the same piece of property to build some windmills.
Walter Moore has this salient observation on Ron Kaye's LA post regarding this story.
The DWP was not "outmanuevered" at all.
Rather, the evidence indicates that all the entities are being maneuvered according to a single plan: cronies buy land at low price, then have their career politician lackeys buy the land from them at a high price, using taxpayer money.
This is the same story that happens every day downtown. It's a variant on the multi-million-dollar subsidies for the downtown developers and "anti gang" programs, and the dollar-a-year leases.
They get away with it because the local media -- with a few remarkable exceptions like David Z -- are too lazy to hammer home to oblivious voters how badly they're being ripped off.
Meanwhile, those of us stupid enough to have stayed here this long better start heading towards the exits. There is no scenario where this town pulls out of the nose-dive.
** One should note that among the performers tonight in celebrating "El Grito" at City Hall, is the band "Quetzal". You may remember them for dropping out of the "Festival Shalom" festivities in CD 14 due to the involvement of the Israeli Consulate. Plus they had some kind comments about a certain City Councilman.
** Downtown News Editor Jon Regardie has the latest from City Attorney Carmen Trutanich regarding the continuing legal standoff between the City Attorney and City Controller Office.
Trutanich provided these comments,
At Monday’s event, Trutanich addressed the matter, stating that only the City Council can settle the case, and that the opinion he offered before the election became moot once the judge issued a ruling.
However, after meeting in closed session last week with City Attorney officials, the Council did not settle the case.
The decision could be made final next month Trutanich said that the Controller’s office will conduct an audit of the city attorney’s workers’ compensation program starting Wednesday.
“But does that mean that when Wendy files a request to audit a city councilperson that they’re not going to object to it?
Absolutely not,” Trutanich stated. “If we dismissed our lawsuit we’d have Rocky II, and Rocky III, and Rocky IV. If the lawsuit stands you’re going to have Rocky II, and Rocky III and Rocky IV.
The only way to address the matter now, he said, is to put a ballot measure before the public giving the controller’s office the right to audit elected officials.
“I have already drafted it,” he said of the proposed measure, which has not yet gone to the Council. “I am going to make that available.”
Your thoughts.....................
Labels: Andrew Adelman, Ari Swiller, bill clinton, dwp, gavin newsom, Julie Butcher, LA City Council, LACERS General Manager Sally Choi, mayor antonio villaraigosa
Posted by Red Spot in CD 14 @ 9/15/2009 03:49:00 PM
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