The Craig X Rubin-Lindsay Lohan Matrix

I was having a delicious vegan lunch with the Mayor Sam bloggers the other day, when, out of the blue, I blurted out,

"Hey, what ever happened to former mayoral candidate, Temple 420 priest, father of 5; Craig X Rubin?"

Now I know.

Mayor Sam's Hotsheet for Thursday

Ron Kaye and I were both interviewed for a piece by T.A. Frank in The New Republic about Tuesday's elections. Frank keenly observes how screwed up our City is when he notes that the election "failed to make the front of The Los Angeles Times."


Calitics deftly wraps up why Tuesday's election was a dismal failure for the Mayor.

He ended up with just 56% of the vote after running a dismissive non-campaign where he refused to debate and spent almost no time in the city. One of his top lieutenants, Jack Weiss, is now in a runoff for city attorney despite spending millions on his campaign. And Measure B, the solar power initiative which the mayor backed, is too close to call at this hour, as provisionals and late absentees are tabulated.

To top that off one of the Mayor's picks for school board has either narrowly won or perhaps narrowly lost a race that should have been a cakewalk for her.

Continuing on this theme, our friend Jill Stewart at the LA Weekly says "The anti-Villaragiosa blogosphere will now have bragging rights to say Villaraigosa's key opponent was his own record." I guess we just did.

And it appears, just like Dick Nixon, we may not have Walter Moore to kick around any more.

Another Mayoral candidate we probably won't hear from again anytime soon is Craig X. Rubin. Rubin held his "victory" party appropriately at "The Comedy Store" and told supporters "The party starts at 9 p.m. and is expected to last until Rubin and his supporters hear the words, 'And the winner is Rubin'" No word if the party is still going on at this time.

Following the election, LA's leaders are dealing with what could be a ominous budget situation. Rick Orlov reports that "Interim City Administrative Officer Ray Ciranna predicted the budget deficit - $430 million this year - will worsen as revenue declines in virtually all areas, including taxes on sales, hotel rooms and parking." Of course the Mayor and City Clowncil have been spending like drunken sailors for the last four years so they only have themselves to blame.

Speaking of City spending, LA Weekly readers are not too happy about our $300,000 a year Council members. One reader, Nick Antonicello of Venice Beach chimes in with the following question, "How does Bill Rosendahl, with his bombastic and clownlike approach to government service, earn more than a U.S. senator or member of Congress?"

Stories You May Have Missed Over the Weekend

• Is Walter Moore Running Mates with Jack Weiss and Yes on B? 
• Great Debate Video Excerpts 
• Tony Villar's Hot Dog Photo Op  
• Greuel Slimes Patsaouras; Nick Issues Challenge
• Emails Show Moore Controller Candidate Evans in Bizarre Situation 
• Of Dying Fishwraps and the Future 
• Saltsburg Responds to Moore and Rubin Debate Threats
• Craig X, The "Weed President"

Emails Show Moore Controller Candidate Evans in Bizarre Situation

During a discussion with Mayoral Candidate Craig X Rubin about threats he alleges fellow candidate David "Zuma Dogg" Saltsburg made against him, Rubin claimed that Saltsburg also allegedly made threats against little known and Walter Moore affiliated candidate for City Controller, Kathleen "Suzy" Evans.

An investigation by the Sister City has discovered that there was reportedly some disagreement between Evans and Saltsburg following Evans allegedly sending the following email to approximately 200 local Republicans:

No offense here, but have you heard this guy speak? and have you seen him? Yuk!!! He needs a bath and a mother or wife to take care of him.

If you are voting for the loudest candidate he would win.  I have seen him numerous times because I am on the campaign trail and he's at the various forums.  I would never vote for him. And I think Kevin James has him on his show for comedy relief. 

Walter Moore is our best hope and choice for mayor.  Zumma Dog would be a disaster.

Kathleen Suzy Evans
Controller Candidate

Upon becoming aware of Evans email, Saltsburg claims he called Evans expressing disappointment with her email and left her the following message "You're running for City Controller and you can't control yourself - you look like a schlep." 

The Sister City came into possession of another email from Evans, this time to Rubin himself that apparently conflicts with Rubin's claim that Saltsburg threatened Evans.

Hi Craig,

I was told you got a death threat from ZD.  ZD left an extremely nasty message on my answering machine yesterday. He didn't threaten me, but... I'm not sure  if I should report this to the same detective that took care of your case.  Call me if you have time....I'm incredible busy. I will be at the forum in Hollywood tomorrow.

Thank you, Suzy Evans - City Controller candidate

Saltsburg said he was astonished by Evans' email telling the Sister City "Could you imagine Wendy Greuel putting out a campaign piece saying another candidate is 'smelly and homeless'?"

Saltsburg continued, "This is the Walter Moore agenda, Moore's candidate Suzy Evans has teamed up with Craig Rubin to defame Zuma Dogg."

Evans did not respond to our request for a statement or a copy of Saltsburg alleged offensive message.

Saltsburg Responds to Moore and Rubin Debate Threats

BREAKING NEWS: We have received word that mayoral candidates Walter Moore and Craig X Rubin have allegedly joined together to ask that fellow candidate David "Zuma Dogg" Saltsburg be barred from a candidates forum held this afternoon at the Henry Fonda Theatre in Hollywood. This is in response to allegations from Rubin that Saltsburg made death threats against Rubin; allegations that Saltsburg has denied.

Via a third party, we received the following email sent by Rubin:

"I would appreciate you all helping me to make sure that Zuma, who is no longer a viable candidate (not that you all ever thought he was to begin with), stays out of the remaining debates by unanimous consent rather than me alone. I think Walter will be on this, but if not I will do it alone."

We then contacted Saltsburg for his reaction, contained in the clip below. Speaking directly from the Fonda a few moments ago, Saltsburg says he intends to participate in the forum and that he "does not answer" to Moore nor Rubin.

Craig X, The "Weed President"

Cannabis for the children?

The Reverend Craig X Rubin: And you people tell me Zuma Dogg is crazy?

Incident At Mayoral Candidates Forum

We are receiving reports that mayoral candidate David "Zuma Dogg" Saltsberg was escorted by police from a candidates forum today. Mayoral candidate Phil Jennerjahn sent MS an email saying that Zuma had been detained by the LAPD due to alleged threats he made against fellow mayoral candidate Craig X Rubin.

A phone call to LAPD Wilshire Division confirmed that Zuma had been detained but was released soon after. It is unknown if any charges will be filed, and we are waiting for further statements from both Zuma Dogg and Craig X Rubin.

We'll bring you more information as it comes in.

Watch the Great Debate!

Today's the day! Mayor Sam's Great Debate will be held this afternoon featuring candidates David Hernandez, Phil Jennerjahn, Walter Moore, Craig X. Rubin and David "Zuma Dogg" Saltsburg. Panelists include Moderator Ron Kaye, LA Weekly Deputy Editor Jill Stewart and blogger Debbie Lopez. Tune in here to watch live streaming video of the event.

Live blogging the debate as it happens at MS2.

You can also get live Tweets from the debate at Mayor Sam's  Twitter page.

Online TV Shows by Ustream

And then there were five

Candidate Phil Jennerjahn will be participating in The Great Debate this Sunday, sponsored by Mayor Sam.  With that, the list now includes:

David Herndandez
Phil Jennerjahn
Walter Moore
Craig X. Rubin
David "Zuma Dogg" Saltsburg.

Panelists are Ron Kaye, Jill Stewart and Debbie Lopez.

We're sorry but all seats have been given out.  However you will be able to watch the debate live on streaming video.  You can however still submit questions for our panelists to ask by clicking here.

And now here's Phil Jennerjahn and I'm sure he approves this message:

Mayor Sam's Hotsheet for Monday

Monday Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa will unveil a $5 billion "affordable" housing plan intended to build homes for the homeless and low income.  However no one other than the Mayor himself seems to be excited over the massive boondoggle whose details are sketchy at best.  And even the Mayor says that he's not sure where all the money will come from. 

He's part Zuma Dogg, part Walter Moore and even a little bit of 1970s era Jerry Brown thrown in - and he's running for Mayor.  Marijuana activist and enthusiast Craig X Rubin will announce his campaign, joining Mayor Villaraigosa and Moore in the 2009 campaign.  In addition to creating a church around pot use Rubin served as a technical advisor on the Showtime original series Weeds and claims to have sold a bong to actor Brad Pitt.

Governor Schwarzenegger is not very popular these days with conservative Republicans and California's prison guards' union - in fact the union is spearheading a recall of the Governor.  That being said, former Governor Pete Wilson spoke to state Republicans over the weekend at their fall convention urging them to get behind Schwarzenegger as well the redistricting measure, Proposition 11, on the November ballot.

One blogger has an intriguing idea about what to do with the Wall Street bailout funds, particularly the $85 million slated to rescue insurer AIG - give it to the taxpayers.  The writer calculates that could be a windfall of $400,000 for every man and woman over 18 years of age.  The idea being rather than giving it back to the investors those funds could stimulate the economy like no tomorrow in the hands of the people.  Sounds good to me.

And finally the latest conspiracy theory raging these days is that President Bush will declare a state of national emergency over the current economic mess, declare martial law and indefinitely postpone Novemember's elections. Whoever is passing this idea around must have been smoking some of Craig X Rubin's weed.