Los Angeles Politics Hotsheet for Wednesday

Oh this is going to be great! Weinstein Company is going to take on Scientology in a new movie scheduled to begin  principal photography in June.  Phillip Seymour Hoffman will play L. Ron Hubbard, the hack science fiction writer turned creator of the world's most expensive religion. The film reportedly follows Hubbard's return from serving in the Navy in WW2 and through the creation of the religion in 1952. Writer/Director Paul Thomas Anderson ("Boogie Nights," "Punch-Drunk Love" and "There Will Be Blood") penned the script.

Frontiers Magazine publishes a complete fluff piece on LACCD candidate Scott Svonkin and doesn't  bother to fact check the story in the slightest. The piece is so badly reported that the LA Weekly does something that they rarely do; they respond to Frontier Magazine and call them out for their sloppy journalism.

 The U.S. Navy really lives up to their slogan as a "Global Force for Good" by authorizing Navy chaplains to begin performing same sex marriages on military bases that lie in states that recognize these unions. 

And in California, SB117 has passed in the State Senate, mostly down a party line.
The bill was introduced by Sen. Christine Kehoe, a San Diego Democrat. Under SB117, "State agencies would be prohibited from contracting with businesses that do not provide equal benefits to their employees' same-sex spouses or domestic partners".The bill now goes to the Assembly.

Rut-Roh Republicans! The Democrats are reintroducing the DREAM Act bill today, and the timing could not be better.

Los Angeles Politics Hotsheet for Tuesday

Your Los Angeles Department of Water and Power forget to bill a number of customers for several months and then hit them with back billing, some bills in the tens of thousands of dollars.  "We fell short," a DWP spokesman told KNBC.

LA City Clowncil members aren't too sure about the idea of a "collections sheriff" to seek unpaid City taxes and fees.  No wonder, they can't even get the DWP bills right; better to shelve this idea.

Metro is cracking down on individuals who illegally hawk merchandise on it's trains in Los Angeles. Everything from candy to pirated DVDs are offered up on board.  No word if they plan to crack down on board members who have cozy relationships with contractors.

The Church of Scientology is buying KCET's current studios as the former PBS affiliate looks to downsize.  A commenter at CurbedLA however would have preferred a Whole Foods Market.

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