TGIF Briefs on the Los Angeles Political Machine

Los Angeles City Hall Fiscal Bean Counters are seeking to "cap the pain" of its former illegal Telephone Tax, in a propose settlement deal of a Class Action Lawsuit, that could of cost The General Fund, nine figures in damages.

Are Angelinos getting short-changed in the propose Telephone Tax Settlement?

No Progressive (including "Mayor Gar-Soft-ee") loves to refund Tax Money.

For those who don't believe that one person can effect change at City Hall, then meet Estuardo Ardon.

In 2006, Ardon filed a suit against the City of Los Angeles over its tax levy on telephone services which was not subjected to federal taxation ..........., and nine years later, City Hall is crying a "legalese Uncle", in a attempt to avoid a General Fund-crunching payout. 

But for the 1.6 Million Angelinos and roughly 569,000 businesses register with the city during the timeframe outlined in the lawsuit, don't expect anywhere near a full refund of this act of illegal taxation as noted by Jack Humphreville ........., This is a real screw job. We are due over $1 billion (including interest). But we are getting less than $100 million and we have to jump through hoops to get the money. 

......., and if you have copies of your phone bills from the time period outlined in the propose Settlement, you can look forward to $30 per person or $50 for each business.

** Meanwhile, as the City Hall Fiscal Bean Counters exhale in their 90% plus lawsuit savings regarding the former illegal Phone Tax, they are busy (in secret of course), in projecting the future General Fund infusion of their next tax scheme being disguise as DWP Rate Increases. San Fernando Valley Activists Gregory Lippe and Richard Moss keyboarded an Op Ed in the LA Times which outlines the future "benefits" to the General Fund .........., In 2014, this transfer alone amounted to $266 million, and the two sources combined provided the city with $600 million. If the rate increase is approved, the 20% going to city coffers would amount to an additional $440 million to $450 million over five years. If the rate increase is not reversed after five years, the city would continue to get a projected annual windfall of more than $100 million. 

BTW, those figures more than offset the illegal Telephone Tax payout (times five). 

** Hmmm, was there a certain Mayor Eric Garcetti who sternly stated that Employee Unions (with the exception of PPL, UFLAC and of course, IBEW), should not expect any pay raises, until projected fiscal hits to the General Fund were "stabilized"? Well ........., the reality is that "Mayor Gar-Soft-ee", with the blessing of City Clowncil Central Committee Strongman Herman "Mini Amin" Wesson are secretly proposing a ............., four year contract with ..........., a 2% raise on July 1, 2017, adding $40 Million to the annual deficit and $120 million to the four year cumulative deficit.

"Mayor Gar-Soft-ee Ware"



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

Scott Johnson in CD 14

Friends Don't Let Friends Vote for Wendy Greuel: Here's Why

That didn't work out so well.

In every campaign, each candidate has their supporters and detractors. Usually, one or more candidate is better than the other. In the end, some supporters will be happy as their choice succeeds; others will lament in defeat.

When it comes to the current crop of candidates seeking the Mayoralty in Los Angeles, one candidate is so lacking in basic honesty, credibility, ethics and brings baggage to the table such that it would actually severely damage the City and hurt it's stakeholders.

Dramatic words, steep statements, but in this case, the emotions are backed up by facts and can be clearly documented.

Wendy Greuel would be Los Angeles' worst nightmare.
Read more »

Wendy Greuel Makes the DWP Drool

Another great viral video from the folks at the NearChaos Blog!

Wendy Greuel grants raises to DWP. DWP's union bankrolls Greuel campaigns. DWP raises your utility rates to pay for it all (in the form of de facto taxes). 

The DWP's union boss expects more raises for DWP after negotiations next year (LATimes 2/16/13). Possible rate increases are in DWP's financial plan for 2014, 2015 and 2016 (LATimes 9/25/12). Does anyone know why DWP is exempt from pension reform City Council passed last year? (LATimes 1/29/13)

Morning Briefs on the Los Angeles Political Machine for Hump Day

What happen to our former bloggin colleague Ed (Headington)?

Big things in politics await those who blog at Mayor Sam. In recent memory, the likes of Zuma Dogg, Phil Jennerjahn, Jim Alger, Walter Moore, Michael Higby and this blogger, have parlay their bloggin expertise into campaigns for public office. Now another former bloggin colleague, media consultant Ed Headington, is running for Assembly in the Republican 38th District. 

 Ed is a nice guy and very much respected in the political community for his media consulting. But lets be realistic about Ed chances in this red district that is currently served by Assemblyman Cameron Smyth. Voters in this district are not going to run to the polls to vote for someone who worked for Assemblyman Gil "One Bill" Cedillo and who would be the anglo incarnation of his former boss, if elected. Thus, Ed has to resort to tire (but still funny) political gimmicks, such as the "missing candidate on the milk cartoon". But Ed knows a thing or two about "disappearing".

In the CD 14 City Council Election of 2011, then CIty Councilman Jose Huizar Campaign Manager Michael Trujillo, send out this repugnant, insensitive, bile email to campaign staff and others. If you refer to the list of recipients above, notice the blank space, to the right of "Eric Hogenson", what name was deleted and why, is a political story to be continue ....

** OTHER NEWS:

** The LA Weekly's Gene Maddaus goes in search of evidence of an impending Developer Rick Caruso for Mayor Campaign. The results of his search are reported here and regurgitated by The City Maven.

** The likes of IBEW's Boss D'Arcy, S. David Freeman, Ari Swiller and the City of Los Angeles General Fund, are the lucky ones to benefit from the 11% of DWP rate hikes pass by the City Council yesterday.

** Memo to the likes of EAA, SEIU 721, AFSCME, IBEW, PPL and UFLAC, when are the brothers and sisters going to admit that Mayor Tony Villar, screwed your rank and file big time? In addition, you had 14 supposed allies vote to create a two-tier retirement system for new employees. One can see the late Miguel Contreras rolling over his massage table in disgust..

** Former City Controller Laura Chick can't let go of the fact that City Attorney Carmen Trutanich, beat her and successor The Valley Greuel in court, But then most objective political observers could blame eight years of Mayor Tony Villar, on her.

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

Scott Johnson in CD 14

Breaking News: Court Overturns Council's Veto of DWP Rate Hike

SAN FRANCISCO—A federal judge ruled late Wednesday night that the Los Angeles City Council could not block a planned rate increase approved by the Department of Water and Power Board of Commissioners.

Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals Chief Judge Alex Kozinski found that, during a dramatic and unprecedented emergency evening session, the Council violated the law when they sought to take jurisdiction over the issue from the DWP panel and overturn a series of rate hikes sought by Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa.

Kozinski's decision nixed a unanimous vote by the Council that would have cancelled rate hikes scheduled to take place April 1st.  "In effect, the Council reasoned that it has authority over the DWP Commission, but once they voted on the measure and turned over to the Commission, it cannot impose further restrictions. Hogwash," Kozinski wrote.

Kozinski has scheduled a hearing for June 12th where both sides will make their case.  In the meantime, the DWP can move forward with the hikes.

Council Stands Up to Mayor and DWP

From the LA Times:


Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa’s appointees at the Department of Water and Power on Wednesday evening rejected the City Council’s proposal for a 4.5% electric rate hike, opting for a larger increase that was more in line with the amount Villaraigosa had sought for his renewable energy proposal.


On a 13-0 vote Wednesday night, the City Council voted to veto the DWP board’s latest rate hike proposal, sending it back to the utility for more work.

Solar Energy: The Right Way

By Nick Patsaouras

For more than three years and more recently as President of the Department of Water and Power Board of Commissioners, I fought to end waste, inefficiency and contracting abuses in the city-owned utility and sought to create a Ratepayer Advocate to protect the public in the future.

Now we're being asked to give a blank check to the DWP and City Hall to spend billions of dollars on the nation's largest solar energy initiative ever -- a proposal that has no planning, no financial analysis, no engineering study.

Approval of Measure B on the March 3 ballot would be a costly mistake. It will cost ratepayers dearly, set back hopes for reducing our dependence on fossil fuels and provide the special interests and politicians with a license to steal.

I resigned from the DWP Commission in October right after this measure was introduced without even being brought to the DWP board, right after my efforts to bring transparency and accountability by creating the Ratepayer Advocate were brushed aside.

From my experience as an engineer, businessman and 30 years as a watchdog on government spending, I can tell you as a fact the DWP isn't up to the job managing a solar energy this big and this important.

As things stand, the DWP just doesn't have the managerial skill and experience to handle a $3.6 billion solar initiative that's supposed to deliver within five years more than 30 times as much solar energy as the DWP has been able to deliver in the last 12 years.

Despite its high wages and benefits, the DWP has a very hard time recruiting and keeping workers and maintaining existing water and power facilities. Its management and staff are already overburdened trying to fulflil the Department`s commitment to complete a multi-billion dollar investment to bring those facilities up to date.

Just 11 months ago, DWP management felt the best it could do was manage a program to add 20 megawatts of rooftop solar energy to government buildings. Now, it is being asked to own, install and maintain a 400 megawatt system on commercial and industrial buidlings as well plus oversee a public/private solar energy program twice as big.

If past performance is any measure of future success, DWP isn't up to the task of handling this much money. A wind farm in Utah was financed by Lehman Bros., the failed investment firm, and now DWP faces losing that project as part of its renewable energy portfolio or being hit with big cost increases.

Measure B is a blueprint for disaster and the public will get the bill. Let's go back to the drawing board and come up with a renewable energy plan that makes fiscal sense and common sense, that protects ratepayers from catastrophic increases in their bills and delivers what we all went: A renewable energy program that we can afford, that is well planned and managed and makes Los Angeles the center of a thriving clean energy industry.

Raising Taxes in a Recession: A Terrible Idea

I've posted several times that the idea of raising taxes in a recession is a poor one. It doesn't matter if its to balance out of control spending or worse to pay for boondoggles like the transit tax scam or the gang tax.  With Angelenos struggling to pay bills, buy gas and get by the last thing the economy can handle is more taxes.  And to top it off your DWP and trash rates were raised significantly again.

Wednesday I had a conversation with a former elected official who now sits on an important local panel.  It doesn't matter who they are.  With respect to the proposed sales tax increase to pay for Westside transit projects the individual told me "investing in infrastructure is one way to stimulate a stagnant economy."

We've heard many politicians say this but it's never really panned out.  Did constuction of the Metro Red Line boost the economy in the late 90s? No, it came from the dot.com explosion and rising property values.  Indeed, the current downturn will naturally be well over before the first train is even run.

The best thing the City Council and State Legislature could do is to CUT taxes and fees.  That means they'll need to make some pretty painful spending cuts.  However very quickly they will see that revenues will increase the more they cut taxes and the more that private investment is stimulated.

It wasn't George Bush or John McCain or even Ronald Reagan who said that "It is a paradoxical truth, that tax rates are too high today, and tax revenues are too low, and the soundest way to raise the revenues in the long run is to cut the tax rates," no, it was President John F. Kennedy who in 1962 significantly cut taxes which led to a long term economic expansion that was stalled by the massive increase in social spending of Lyndon Johnson and his escalation of  the Vietnam War.

Arnold.  Antonio.  Anyone.  Want to follow the lead of JFK?

Saturday Special Hotsheet

Old Bank Building in Highland Park - Photo by Mayor Sam

The Daily News asks "Wasn't the last trash fee increase supposed to pay for new cops?" Yes, it was. They also accuse the Mayor of lying. Wow. The Mayor lie? Unbelievable. Yes, the Mayor lies.

Speaking of more lies from your elected officials, you knew about the DWP rate hikes the Clowncil pretended to be against and then voted for a week later. What you don't know about are secret DWP surcharges that can be passed onto you with no notice on a regular basis. These surcharges are even more than the rate increase.

Not believing Chief Bratton's "Culver City" spin, the troops are defying their leader. The Los Angeles Police Protective League has come out against his stand in favor of Special Order 40 and is supporting Councilman Dennis Zine's watered down version of Jamiel's Law. It's a baby step and a bit in the wrong direction, but it's a start nonetheless.

Billionaire investor Ed Roski announced his plans Friday for a new football stadium for Los Angeles, this one on land he owns in the City of Industry. Though there is no team slated for the stadium, local pols are still pursuing the dream of an NFL team at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum and state legislators are vowing no public funds, Roski's going to go ahead anyway.

If you went to law school and have big time student loans to pay, you might consider becoming an attorney for Britney Spears. In the last month she's spent $375K for lawyers in her child support case, almost as much as in her conservatorship hearings and a weekly retainer of $10,000 to her court appointed lawyer.

Services for Fallen Firefighter Today

There are two events celebrating the life of fallen Firefighter Brent Lovrien today, Thursday, April 3rd, 2008.

Candle light vigil:
5p.m.
Fire Station 5
8900 Emerson Avenue
Los Angeles CA 90045

Funeral services:
9:30a.m.
Cathedral of Our Lady of Los Angeles
555 West Temple Street CA 90012

The loss of Firefighter Lovrien is absolutely tragic.

What may add to the tragedy is the use of his death by the Los Angeles City Council as an excuse to put an even greater financial burden on their constituency.

FF Lovrien, may your god go with you.

Mayor Sam's Hotsheet for Thursday

It may have taken the parents of an innocent young man killed by gang members joining with Walter Moore; but after weeks of denying it, Mayor Villaraigosa and Chief Bratton have admitted that race may play the part in the recent rise in killings. Earlier Wednesday, Mayoral candidate Walter Moore joined with the parents of murder victim Jamiel Shaw in calling for laws that would deport criminal alien gang members and allow police to question criminals who are illegal aliens about their immigration status. Could the end of Special Order 40 be coming soon?

Westchester Parents points out that its not that the DWP rates that are responsible for the DWP's aging infrastructure (which General Manager H. David Nahai shamelessly used as a reason to raise rates) but the fact that the City regularly siphons funds off the DWP.

Thursday Laura Chick will release her audit of construction on LAPD's new headquarters which is severly over budget and behind schedule (that's putting it mildly).

Not only is the City raising water and power rates, they're jacking up the price kids have to pay to go to the LA Zoo.

If you were planning to go to the Council Meeting on Friday or watch it on TV 35, don't bother. It's been cancelled.

The City wants more parking meter money so their promise of free parking to hybrid vehicle drivers may be coming to an end.

Here in Van Nuys posts up a photo of Van Nuys in 1945 thinking the place looked a lot better back then compared to now. On the other hand readers pointed out that they would prefer not to go back to those days of folks beating up Blacks or gays.

And finally if you enjoyed Britney Spears portrayal of a crazed doctor's office receptionist on last week's episode of How I Met Your Mother, don't get used to it. The show's producers have no plans to bring her back.

DWP Rate Hikes Pass City Council

With the ceremonial "grab of the ankles", Los Angeles tax payers were relieved of more of their hard earn money.

The City Council voted this afternoon to raise power rates by 9% and water rates by 6%. (link to L.A. Times story by David Zahniser)

Withstanding the appeals of various Neighborhood Councils and average citizens, DWP General Manager H. David Nahai invoked the memory of a fallen firefighter to sway wavering council members into casting votes that would pass the controversal fee rate increases.

With the dirty deed done, who will be the main beneficiary of this new flow of revenue?

DWP Intrastructure??

IBEW??

Cadiz CEO Keith Brackpool??

DWP General Manager Message Boy Joe Avila??

City of Los Angeles General Fund??

Ari Swiller and S. David Freeman of Renewable Resources??

"BOSS D'ARCY" of IBEW??

The Environment??

The average DWP rate payers??

DWP Decision Day

Today's the day the Council reconvenes on deciding to up DWP rates or not. Last week the Council effectively voted to put off the decision when they were seemingly not convinced this was the right move.

It appears that DWP General Manager David Nahai is going to use last week's tragic death of a Los Angeles firefighter in Westchester following an explosion caused by worn out electrical cables as a part of his dog and pony that rates need to be increased to replace the departments aging infrastructure.

A significant movement by Neighborhood Council leaders against the rate hikes lead to the Council's unwillingness to go along. Several news cycles and one tragic incident later City Hall watchers will be curious to see if the Council hangs tough.

It is not likely, but the Council could easily take a look at the significant waste, fraud, abuse and bloated salaries at the DWP that have been detailed here as well as in other blogs and local newspapers.

We will know soon. Anyone want to place bets?

Mayor Sam's Hotsheet for Tuesday

A big day for one of the projects on our list of faultlines for the Coming City Superstorm happens Tuesday in the Los Angeles City Council Chambers. Councilman Greig Smith will seek to put an end to work by the City of Los Angeles on the environmental impact report for the controversial Las Lomas development. Smith will battle Councilman Richard Alarcon who is seeking to bring the project under the control of the City of Los Angeles despite objections from the County and the City of Santa Clarita.

Mayor V wants to raise your trash fees and he supports raising your electricity and water rates too. If you want to protest the trash tax, KFI's John and Ken are encouraging you to mail your trash to Tony Villar.

Our friend Jon Regardie at the LA Downtown News has a great piece - the Tony Villar re-election announcement press conference that wasn't. But we can dream right?

Rick Orlov is right that it won't go anywhere but a group of "progressive" Democrats held an event to issue a "no-endorsement" for Democrats Henry Waxman and Howard Berman. I guess Waxman and Berman are not liberal enough for this group. (Okay I'll stop laughing.)

And finally Mayor Villaraigosa won an award from a Filipino group and told attendees gathered "Filipinos are not invisible to me." By the way the event was held at the Autry National Center, another faultline on our list of The Coming City Superstorm.

DWP Rate Hike On Council Agenda for Wednesday 2/20 & Boyle Heights Illegal Vending Crackdown

TUESDAY NIGHT DWP RATE HIKE UPDATE:
The DWP rate increases are on the LA City Council agenda for Wednesday 2/20/08. Tune in for the Councilmember debate, with enough opposition to force "no decision" and Nahai and Villaragosa will be bitch slapped back to committee. (Oh no...think of all the services they will threaten to interrupt while it sits in committee? Won't be able to buy any cases of glass Windex bottles from the 70's at double the price.)

But DWP has a little "rate increase campaign" targeting councilmembers. And ZD says this shiznit is always inevitable. Get ready for a lot of back and forth debate, with a couple CMs taking a stand, only for all to "reluctantly vote yes, this one last time, only because it means the little old ladies won't have their air conditioners brown out.) Read this and see video, and tell me if you think DWP needs a rate hike? Alert the community. Copy and paste this link and send it to others via email.

ILLEGAL VENDING CRACKDOWN?: Oh no...now what am I going to complain about? After endless rants by Zuma Dogg, but mainly because Father Marrietta of Resurrection Church, illegal vending in Boyle Heights (and parts of El Sereno) is on the LA City agenda today.

Although I would like to think it was because of my huffing and puffing, here's what most likely happened. Father Marietta held a meeting with about 300 people from the community regarding the Vernon power plant. And while he had a captive audience, he got them activated on the illegal vending issue in BH/ES, and they put the pressure on CM Jose Weaselar. Hence the agenda item. Here's the item.

ZD on Illegal Vending And Economic Repercussions

(Originally posted September '07)

zumadogg@gmail.com
lacityupdate.com