Hogwash and Hypocrisy

By Daniel Guss

@TheGussReport on Twitter - Words not matching actions are once again all the rage at LA City Hall.

When former L.A. Mayor Richad Riordan passed away in April, those with whom I spoke, without exception, said he was our last great mayor.

He didn't perpetually make a jackass of himself on a national stage like two of his successors, Eric Garcetti and Antonio Villaraigosa, did.  He didn't sloganeer like they did, and current mayor, Karen "Lock Arms" Bass, does.  And he didn't lose his first bid for re-election as James Hahn did in 2005, becoming the first alcalde to accomplish that feat since KKK member John Clinton Porter did in 1933.

Riordan was a moderate Republican, job creator and philanthropist who got LA through some of its deepest crises.  From time to time, he caused minor stirs by shooting from the hip, but at least he was authentic.

But, oh to have authenticity in LA City Hall these days, where post-pandemic words and actions once again gloriously misalign.

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Why Eric Garcetti and Mike Feuer Should Cancel Themselves

 By Daniel Guss

@TheGussReport - LA's Buffoon Bros of Miscarriage and Corruption, Mayor Eric Garcetti and City Attorney Mike Feuer, should spend the coming holiday season reshuffling their future plans.

Eric Garcetti and Mike Feuer

Photo Credit: LA Times

In Garcetti's case, he should pick up the house phone and ring President Joe Biden to withdraw his nomination to become the next U.S. Ambassador to India.  Feuer should withdraw from the Mayor's race and see whether any of the other candidates would welcome his endorsement.  If those candidates are smart, they'll politely decline and change their phone number.

Garcetti and Feuer are more likely than not on the verge of being booted from those pursuits and instead creating mortifying footnotes for their forever Wikipedia pages.  

Better for them to quit rather than being publicly shown the door.

Beyond Garcetti's comprehensive failure as al calde of the second largest American city, everyone from his right-hand man Rick Jacobs to his disgraced former chief of staff Ana Guerrero (and those who covered up for them at the LAPD and City Attorney's office) have been exposed for the bullies and harassers many have long-known them to be, as shown by a series of mortifying exposés and depositions.  It is not possible that these issues have escaped the notice of the FBI and Biden advisors. 

The point is that Garcetti is responsible for all that literally took place right in front of him, and more. The buck is supposed to stop with a chief executive, but Garcetti hasn't taken ownership for any of it, including his welcoming Guerrero back into his office after a lengthy suspension for indiscriminately abusing everyone from little-known locals to historic and accomplished women of color like Dolores Huerta.

As for things that took place right in front of Garcetti.....

Rick Jacobs, Eric Garcetti and others

Photo Credit: LA Times

In fact, logic suggests that someone in the White House, perhaps chief of staff Ron Klain, may soon dial up Garcetti and "politely suggest" that Garcetti do exactly as I recommend.

That way, Garcetti can take his rightful place alongside his inglorious predecessors, like "The 11% Percent Mayor" Antonio Villaraigosa and traffic court judge James Hahn.  He can join some corporate boards, teach a college class and be shown on the 11pm sports report cheering on the Dodgers and Lakers.

I left the Rams out of that thought, because, despite Garcetti's untruthful claims that he "brought the NFL back to LA," they in fact play in the world's greatest stadium in a city he never represented; Inglewood, California.  Sure, Inglewood is in "LA," but that's LA County, where Garcetti has never been an elected official. 

Garcetti failed to get that stadium built in downtown LA as Farmer's Field, though he squandered much time posturing about it, as I pointed out in the Huffington Post a few years back.

And that's the rosier of the two futures outlined in this column.

Our crystal ball says things are much bleaker for Mike Feuer.

It is delusional that someone who is being investigated by the State Bar of California and whose office was raided by the FBI and whose legal hire, Paul Paradis, agreed this week to plead guilty to a $2.2 million kickback scheme while running that scam under the auspices of Feuer's office, thinks he will be elected to succeed Garcetti as Mayor!

Maybe delusional isn't the right word.  Nuts.  Feuer would have to be nuts to believe that.

Mike Feuer

Photo Credit: KTLA

But it's so much worse than that for The Frazzled 'stache of LA City Hall.   

Despite his assertions to the contrary, the U.S. Department of Justice says that Feuer's office knew that Paradis astonishingly represented both the plaintiff and defendant in the scandalous LADWP / PricewaterhouseCoopers lawsuit.

That alone should result in a suspension of Feuer's law license, if not out and out disbarment, even if he didn't personally profit from the bribery, which could include campaign donations to his nascent mayoral campaign.

And yes, I do speculate that Feuer has already spoken with white collar criminal defense law firms to potentially represent him.  One would have to be a nuts (there's that word again) to be raided by the FBI and not immediately pick up the phone to find one.

But to think he still has even a remote chance of becoming mayor?  

Come on.

Then again, maybe Feuer's counting on LA making the same dumb choices for mayor as it has for the past 20 years with Hahn, Villaraigosa and Garcetti.

Hmmmph.  Perhaps he's on to something.

Nevermind, then. We'll simply say this.  If Feuer runs, he will finish with fewer votes than any other major candidate and perhaps even fewer than the spectacular 9,115 votes hauled-in (without spending a dime) by Venice street performer David "Zuma Dogg" Saltsburg in 2009, when he finished in 4th place in a field of ten.   

That's the over/under for Feuer should he stay in the race. Nine thousand one hundred and fifteen votes.  We will see whether Feuer gets fewer than Zuma Dogg.

Of course, there's more to this story than just that.   

What about the names that keep Mike Feuer up at night and whether and when they might resurface?  That's precisely why Feuer's deputy at City Council meetings, one Strefan Fauble, has established a pattern and practice of illegally censoring this column from participating in the meetings of late and his peers continually failing to cure and correct such abuses, as outlined in upcoming complaints, plural, to the State Bar of California.

(Daniel Guss, MBA, was runner-up for the 2020 Los Angeles Press Club journalism award for Best Online Political Commentary and was a runner-up in 2021 too. He has contributed to CityWatch, KFI AM-640, iHeartMedia, 790-KABC, Cumulus Media, KCRW, Huffington Post, Los Angeles Daily News, Los Angeles Magazine, Movieline Magazine, Emmy Magazine, Los Angeles Business Journal, Pasadena Star News, Los Angeles Downtown News, and The Los Angeles Times in its Sports, Opinion and Entertainment Sections and Sunday Magazine among other publishers. Tell your friends to follow him on The Twitters @TheGussReport, and DM him there to join his distribution list for early story notifications, tips and more.)

Hahn Political Family Matriarch Ramona Hahn dead at 86

Ramona Hahn (center) with children James and Janice Hahn

Ramona Hahn widow of legendary Los Angeles Politician Kenny Hahn and mother of former Mayor James Hahn and would-be Congresswoman Janice Hahn, has pass away unexpectedly at 86.

The death of Ramona Hahn comes on the eve of an contentious congressional special election battle between her daughter Los Angeles City Councilman Janice Hahn and Republican Craig Huey.

A statement on the passing of Ramona Hahn from the Hahn Family is expected shortly. ** Joint statement from James and Janice Hahn. Plus, statement from Janice Hahn Campaign Advisor John Shallman via the LA Weekly's Dennis Romero.

Our condolence's to the Hahn Family.

Your Thoughts..............

Scott Johnson in CD 14 

Caption these.................

"Pictures are sometime better than words"

Your thoughts.....

Evening Hotsheet for Saturday

The final weekend before the election and Mayor Villaraigosa has lots of photo ops planned including swallowing a weiner at Pinks and gnoshing at Cantor's.  The Mayor, aware that Measure B stands a good chance of failing, also took off on a Yes on B Bus Tour Saturday.

Moving on to Measure B, a Green Party candidate has come out in opposition to the "solar" plan. 39th Assembly Green Candidate Jack Lindblad. Linblad issued a statement saying "Defeat of this green-washed, wrong-headed, top-down, anti-union, payola underwritten Proposition does not stop solar development within the City of Los Angeles. Measure B will be defeated and then we will make a real plan for clean energy and clean government."

Time Warner Cable's internet service had significant latency and intermittent outages as we reported earlier in the week. LAist posts up a statement from the cable company blaming it on hackers.  Service credits will be offered on a "case by case" basis, whatever that means.

In a last minute, pre-election campaign stunt City Controller candidate Wendy Greuel has "outed" a number of businesses as "tax cheats" who allegedly owe the City hundreds of thousands if not millions of dollars in unpaid taxes.  Blogger David Markland has an insteresting idea - run some of those businesses through the City Ethics Commission's database of campaign contributors.  Well I did and not much there only two companies on the list came up as donors to local pols and only one still in office: CVE Development owes $130K and donated $500 to Villaraigosa. American Waste Industries owes $225K and donated $1200 to former Mayor James Hahn and $500 to past Council Member Ruth Galanter.

Leland Wong gets five years for corruption

City Hall insider Leland Wong will get some time for his dirty dealings.

From the Los Angeles Times,

A judge on Friday sentenced former Los Angeles city commissioner Leland Wong to five years in state prison for his role in a "pay to play" corruption scandal that plagued the administration of former Mayor James Hahn.

Wong was found guilty last summer on 14 of the 21 felony counts brought against him in a case that focused heavily on his work for Evergreen, a Taiwan-based shipping company that had been seeking a lucrative lease at the Port of Los Angeles.

With Wong sentencing and with the investigation of Ted Stein drawing to a close, the curtain goes down for the final time on the dubious dealings of the Mayor Hahn era.

No word on the start date for the sequal "Political Follies of Villar".

Mayor Sam's Hotsheet for Wednesday

Mayor Poopy may have a new role. Governor Schrwarzenegger has forwarded former Mayor James Hahn's name to the State Bar Commission on Judicial Nominees Evaluation as a possible appointee to the Los Angeles Superior Court. Should Hahn be eventually appointed to the Court he'd be the first former Los Angeles Mayor to serve on the Court since Fletcher Bowron.

This has got to be the most ridiculous idea to come before the Council in I don't know how long. Clowncilman Richard Alarcon has got unanimous support from the Council to support Assembly Bill 1819 which would allow 16 and 17 year olds to "pre-register and vote." This is something that will lead to more voter fraud but will add to the bureaucracy to make it happen. The idea is to get young people more involved but the logic is lost on me. What's next? Allowing teens to pre-register for their first kegger or their first age of consent sex?

The Former Fishwrap of Record has endorsed City Councilman Bernard Parks for County Supervisor. The Times says that Bernie has "shown a steady hand chairing the City Council's budget committee, and would bring similar care to the much larger county government."

We reported yesterday that Mayor Villaraigosa appeared in the Canoga Park Memorial Day Parade. A columnist at the Ventura County Star reports that protestors showed up to shame the Mayor for his support of Special Order 40. Speaking of the Canoga Park Parade here are photos of future Mayoral candidate Zev riding in the parade.

Access Hollywood is reporting that Britney Spears could be planning a Vegas comeback special. Spears could be paid $10 million for the special and follow up with a series of concert dates in sin city.

And finally, I had the opportunity to join Rita of Sunland a few months back at the premiere of Doug McIntyre's and Penny Peyser's homage to legendary jazz artist Jack Sheldon, the biographical Trying To Get Good: The Jazz Odyssey of Jack Sheldon. Now if you want to see the film now is your chance. There are a number of screenings scheduled from this Friday the 30th through June 19th at The Westwood Crest Theatre.

Manic thoughts and actions from "AN ASSORTED CAST"

Happy "MANIC TUESDAY" to all.

Many stories to drive your "MANIC INNER SELF" to distraction. Lets spin the PROZAC bottle and see where it points.

Hmmm., could that be one Councilman Bernard Parks, aka, "BITTER BERNIE" ? Since ex. Mayor James Hahn took his Chief Badge away from him. "BITTER BERNIE" has been one continuous manic episode of resentment, towards all things LAPD. If he can't lead the "MEN IN BLUE", then why let them have more officers ? Witness his latest "MANIC EPISODE" which if not treated, would raid the "TRASH FEE FUND" to offset the cities looming budget deficit. (Click photo for "interactive Bernie")

****MANIC ALERT FOR THURSDAY**** The official portrait of ex. Mayor James Hahn will be unveiled in a City Hall Ceremony. No word yet if the portrait will cry out for a manic want of persona. BTW,one should post guards with pictures of the "Bitter Bernie" to pervent vandalism.

Manic, or shall we call it "ACTS OF MANIACS" ? Played out on the corner of Western and Slauson. A all female mob went "GANGSTA" leaving one women dead.

Hopefully tax payers will go manic over the cost overruns at the new LAPD headquarters site.

One person who may have a "MANIC EPISODE" in the near future is Fabian Nunez. Rumors out of Sacramento is that a certain state office holder may finance the "NO ON PROP 93" Campaign.

A certain "MOOO BOY" is going manic spinning his bosses monetary habits. But one would be manic in protecting his patronage.

Then there is the "MANIC POSTER BOY" that being the "POLITICO FORMERLY KNOWN AS ANTONIO VILLARAIGOSA, tony villar. Rumors are abound on his manic episode in front of a staff of CRA staffers.

Consider this your "MANIC THREAD" to rant on those of your choosing.

This is election day. In Montebello, Robert Urteaga is a front runner for a seat on the City Council. Would victory drive some here (Meathead, and U) into manic depression ?

Chief Bill Bratton sworn-in for a second term

In a ceremony mixing "CHOWDER PRIDE" with Hollywood theatrics, LAPD Chief Bill Bratton was sworn-in for a second term at the Police Academy in Elysian Park.

With Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa looking on, the ceremonial "Pining of the Badge" was done by the chief's dad, William E. Bratton. This was a emotional moment for the chief. His father has been on hand for each of the chief's previous promotional ceremonies, except in 2002 when his mother, June was very ill.

One cannot argue that Bratton has turn around the state of affairs at the LAPD since taking over in 2002. Since then Bratton has become arguably the most popular politician in the city.

He has confronted controversy head on, whether it be the shooting of Devin Brown, or the May Day protest at MacArthur Park. Crime is down overall from 2002. Yet gang violence is still of paramount concern. One thing that is sure, Chief Bratton enjoys national support for his policing efforts, ....... and somewhere, is a former chief who bitterly laments what could of been.

P.S. who was the guy that had the insight to hire Bratton ????

Hahn redux: former mayor flirting with another run?

Pancakes & Politics, July 20, originally uploaded by L.A. Chamber.

Is Jim Hahn laying the groundwork to star in the sequel voters denied him just two years ago? Word on the street is, at least one recent policy speech definitely crossed the line.

Friday marked the latest installment of Pancakes & Politics, a monthly Chamber-hosted powwow of business and government bigwigs.

Under the banner, Ready for Takeoff? The Case for the Modernization of LAX, the gathering of top-tier members heard from, among others, Deputy Mayor Jamie de la Vega and LAWA Board President Alan Rothenberg.

Though his name didn't appear on the published list of speakers, an eye-witness source tells the Sister City that Jim Hahn also addressed the group on the subject of airport modernization, delivering what could have easily been misconstrued as a stump speech.

In the land of short memories and continual reinvention, anything is possible. Let’s watch for continued signs of an effort on the part of the former mayor to raise his profile in the coming months.

Perhaps he’s simply hedging his bets, or perhaps our “Average Jim” is already convinced that by 2009, circus-weary Angelenos might just welcome, if nothing else, a return to normalcy.

Mayor Sam's Hotsheet for Tuesday

Richard Alarcon is at it again. Apparently he pissed off CM Ed Reyes and other members of the Clowncil for his Johnny Come Lately views on LA River restoration, and the City's $2 billion plan. Yes, he wants more goodies for his district and admitted as such that during his time of seeking different political offices he kind of was out of the loop on the river issue. The $2 billion plan is probably a lot of boondoggle and pork, but folks have been working on this for years. Alarcon has a lot of nerve to make a stink at the last minute.

More after the jump.

Remember Mayor Poopy? He's back. Sort of. Don't get your hopes up, yea, imagine that, missing James Hahn. I guess I was right I would regret endorsing Tony Villar for Mayor. Boi From Troy reports that the former Mayor is speaking up for his handling of things here in LA following 9/11. Apparently, when Mayor Villaraigosa came back from his self imposed MayDay exile south of the boarder, some folks said Kenny's boy went AWOL when Osama hit. Not quite true. But does anyone remember four words we'll never have to hear again: Acting Mayor Alex Padilla?

Ace Smith - Villaraigosa operative and one of a series of people I was accused of being - has signed on to the Hillary Clinton campaign. The San Francisco Chronicle profiles the political mastermind.

Pasadena blogger James McPherson has put on hold his idea to hire offshore writers from India to write about happenings in the Rose City. Blowback has been so intense McPherson needs to regroup. On the other hand, traffic and linkage must have gone through the roof.

Can a Mayoral takeover of a school district such as what Mayor Villaraigosa has proposed work? The education blog Edspresso says its possible, but apparently probably won't work for an attention deficit elected like Tony V.

Things are getting nasty in a Congressional special election. Zelda has called Long Beach Democratic Assemblywoman Laura Richardson "homophobic." Richardson, who is seeking to replace the late Congresswoman Juanita Millender-McDonald who passed away recently, apparently once referred to Zelda as pursuing a "radical gay agenda." Zelda is supporting one of Richardson's major opponents, fellow State Senator Jenny Oropeza.

And finally, this guy is about to beat Mayor V for photo ops. Assemblyman Lloyd "The Bachelor" Levine is going to ride his bike from San Francisco to Sacramento for "Bike to Work" day. Why isn't he starting from Van Nuys? But seriously, biking to work is a very good thing especially when you're not doing it to get elected to replace Zelda.