Betty Pleasant in 60 Seconds

Columnist Betty Pleasant
(as portrayed by
actress LaWanda Page)

Our old friend, Betty Pleasant, has taken to having an early cow over Kevin James' support of Eric Garcetti for Mayor.

Of course, this was motivated by hackery by her favorite politician, Mark Ridley-Thomas, who is an active supporter of Wendy Greuel (one of the few local electeds that is, by the way).

Mark is one of those folks who thinks that if you criticize President Obama you are racist. Kevin James, once a Republican talkradio host, has, as have many others, criticized the President's policies.

It's much ado about nothing because many in the local African American community are far more upset at Wendy Greuel's vicious personal attacks on former Mayoral candidate Jan Perry than a radio host's critiques of the Administration in Washington. Or one can recall Betty's many vulgar attacks on Councilman Bernard Parks.

And you if aren't sure if Kevin James is a racist, I suppose you could ask his new BFF, Perry, with whom he hosted a radio show this morning. Or if Classy Betty wants to call Jan a sell-out, go to someone with total street cred on this kind of issue, civil rights activist Najee Ali, who isn't too concerned about James either. In fact, Ali notes that Greuel backed Hillary Clinton for President (Garcetti was an early Obama supporter) in 2008 and refers to the Pixie as "a true Obama hater."

Morning Briefs and Outtakes with Something about Missing Documents

Hey "staffer whats your name", have you seen some missing petitions ??

Memo to Councilman Jose Huizar,

Instead of having your staff role playing "lo jacks" whenever former Deputy Chief of Staff Henry Casas enter CD-14, why don't you maintain your constituent files ??

In this month's The Voice Newspaper, column inches are devoted to the multi-year saga of El Sereno residents who had been seeking help regarding some Caltrans property on Maycrest Avenue which has become a "shooting gallery" for local drug users.

And what help did they get from the El Sereno Office of Councilman Huizar ?? This is not good.

We now fast forward to 2009, three years later and the problem has not been resolved. Enrique Aguilera owner of Aguilera’s Hair Studio one of the businesses that is affected by this on going problem recently met with Councilman Huizar’s District Director, Arturo Gonzalez to get update on the project. Aguilera was shocked and could not believe the update he received at that meeting. Aguilera stated “I found out that the documentation we submitted including the signatures have been lost.” Aguilera said “According to Gonzalez the Councilman office
has lost the documentation during the move to the new El Sereno Constituent Center, the new home of Councilman’s Huizar office on Huntington Drive.

This is after all the work that was accomplish starting in 2006.

The stakeholders met with Councilman Huizar in 2006 to ask him for his assistance in resolving this problem and to take on the communities concerns. Huizar was well aware of this problem and used it as a wedge to gain votes for his re-election campaign and according to the stakeholders, during one of their meetings he promised them that he would take care of this problem if he were to get re-elected. A couple of the stakeholders allowed him to use their names on re-election campaign flyers and re-election website and list them as community
members who supported him. They stated, “We believed him and did vote for him.”

Seems to me that once Huizar won his first full term in 2007, all constituents concerns were put on the back burner of priorities.

Other News:

** The Los Angeles County Democratic Party recently bestowed the "Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt Award" on worthy recipients in the respective Assembly Districts within the county.

Some of this year awardees will be familiar to Mayor Sam regulars.

44 AD Dolores Helen Hickambottom and Eliot Sekuler.

45 AD Carol Jacques and Bill Rumble.

46 AD Gloria Gasca and Ulisses Sanchez.

For the likes of Sekuler, Rumble and Jacques, This award is dedicated to their efforts in "sharing the wealth" of the Southwest Museum with the disenfranchised widower Jackie Autry.

** This question for the CD-2 "Cut and Pasters", is this comment in response to a LA Weekly story regarding the Special Election from former City Controller Candidate Nick Patsaouras, a indication of an imminent endorsement ??

From all the candidates Tamara is the only one with a concrete , SPECIFIC commitment; that is to fight for an IG/Ratepayer Advocate at the LADWP. Tired of platitudes such as, I am for efficient government, I have business experience , I will fight for NCs , I have been a Valley resident for most of my adult life etc etc;The scandalous, continually escalating utility rates are unsustainable, unless the waste,fraud and abuse are checked on a day to day basis. I hope the NCs take notice.

Comment by nick patsaouras from tarzana on Aug 26th, 2009, 23:51 pm.

** Former activist blowhard from South-Central Los Angeles Najee Ali, is piping for early release from prison where he is serving four years. Maybe he can serve out the rest of his sentence by working for Congresswomen Maxine Waters ??

** Celeste Fremon reports that Deputy Chief Sergio Diaz wants to be the next LAPD top officer. look for the likes of Councilman Jose Huizar and Ed Reyes to support Diaz.

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

Mayor Sam's Hotsheet for Tuesday

Couldn't happen to a nicer guy.  Community activist Najee Ali who orignally supported the family of murdered teenager Jamiel Shaw, Jr. in their quest for justice and then later turned on them by claiming that Jamiel was murdered because he was a gangbanger is going to jail himself.  The LA Times reported that Ali plead guilty to charges of attempting to bribe a witness in a criminal case. Ali was sentenced to four years in prison.

City Controller Laura Chick will release her performance audit of the Los Angeles Department of Animal Services' Spay and Neuter Program Tuesday. Earlier this year, the Los angeles City Council adopted a mandatory spay and neuter ordinance which will go into effect in October.

The Daily News reports how local City elected officials are footing the bill for their travel to the Democratic National Convention in Denver.  Wendy Greuel and Bernard Parks are paying their own way. Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, Controller Laura Chick and City Council members Eric Garcetti and Janice Hahn have their supporters up for some "PayPal love."  Council Republicans Dennis Zine and Greig Smith do not plan to attend the Republican National Convention; with Smith telling the News one of the truest statements to come out of his mouth in some time, "that most in the GOP consider him a "RINO" - Republican in Name Only."

The National Black Republican Associationclaims that civil rights leader Martin Luther King was a Republican.  The organization has been putting up billboards around the country stating this claim and has plans to put up 50 such billboards around Denver during the Democratic convention.

This is a few days late thanks to Google but City Councilmen Bernard Parks and Tom LaBonge held a press conference at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum to salute the Olympic Games in Beijing.  What the hell? Do they not have pressing issues in their community? Hey LeBong - you're my Clowncilman come on over here I'll show you several blocks overgrown with weeds and trash that you need to clean up.  Trust me, you're not in need of trying to find things to keep you busy.

Congrats to comedian Ellen DeGeneres to finding a young hot chick to marry.  The 50 year old former sitcom and current daytime talk star legally tied the knot with her longtime galpal, actress 35 year old Portia DeRossi at a ceremony at their Los Angeles home.

Community Activist Najee Ali gets four years in prison for attempted bribery

One can't wait to see comments from the likes of Congresswoman Maxine Waters and Police Chief Bill Bratton on this story.

From the LA Times.

Activist Najee Ali, known as an outspoken critic of law enforcement, was sentenced to four years in state prison today after pleading guilty to trying to bribe a witness in his daughter's criminal case.

Ali, 45, was arrested and charged on March 11 with attempting to intimidate a witness and attempting to bribe a witness. The former gang member, now a community activist, allegedly tried to tamper with a witness outside his daughter's preliminary hearing at Superior Court in Alhambra earlier this year, said Sandi Gibbons, a district attorney's spokeswoman.

The charges against Ali's daughter -- two counts of assault with a deadly weapon and one count of leaving the scene of an accident -- stem from an incident involving her vehicle and a group of motorcyclists on the San Bernardino Freeway, Gibbons said.Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Frederick R. Rotenberg sentenced Ali after the activist pleaded guilty to attempting to bribe a witness at the Alhambra courthouse.

A court clerk initially said Ali pleaded no contest, but Gibbons said the activist entered a guilty plea. Prosecutors dismissed a count of witness intimidation. Immediately after the sentencing, he was taken into custody and placed in isolated detention at the downtown jail because of his notoriety, officials said.

.....and the sound of silence falls upon South-Central, ....at lease until the next Maxine Waters News Conference.