Outtakes from Metro, East by Northeast.......

Mid-day missives on topics germaine to points east and northeast of the "Tower of Waste on Spring Street".

"Look for the un...,err, Reagan label"

State Senator Mark Ridley-Thomas support by labor unions in his quest to replace Yvonne Burke on the Board of Supervisors, has been reported, discussed, and debated, in regards to the impact on the outcome in November's runoff.

But today, the LA Times reports how the Thomas campaign bought their way onto a Republican "Slate Mailer"which honors the virtues of the Reagan Revolution. This is the same guy who strategy was to paint his opponent City Councilman Bernard Parks as someone "too conservative" for the 2nd District seat.

Excerpts below,

Ridley-Thomas paid $2,400 to get his name on a Republican mailer touting the legacy of Ronald Reagan, according to a campaign finance report. The mailer praises Reagan for "his ideals of limited government and personal freedoms" and name-drops President Bush. It was shipped by an organization called "Continuing the Republican Revolution," an outfit run by Newport Beach political operative Scott Hart.

Candidates who received "endorsements" on the mailer paid Hart’s organization, according to campaign finance records. The Times got curious and asked if we can indeed count on Ridley-Thomas to champion a "Republican revolution." Ridley-Thomas' campaign spokesman, Fred MacFarlane, said: "Well, I think, you know, we can appeal to Republican voters as the best choice for all the people in the 2nd District, notwithstanding any revolution."

The mailer comes shortly after Ridley-Thomas said he would highlight his opponent's conservative streak and assist Parks, who is a Democrat as well, "in identifying himself as a
Republican."

This nugget from "Parque"

01/23/03 Continuing the Republican Revolution Tustin, CA 92781 Antonio R. Villaraigosa Council Member - CD14 1250526 - Villaraigosa for Council E - Payment (LIT - Campaign Literature) [Period: 01/19/03-02/15/03] $1,000.00 [Election: 03/05/03]

and this from 2001

01/01/01* Continuing the Republican Revolution Newport Beach, CA 92660 Antonio Villaraigosa Mayor 1234344 - Villaraigosa for Mayor - General 2001 E - Payment $18,000.00 [Election: 06/05/01]

***"TONY VILLAR, THE ORIGINAL RED SPOT OF CD 14***

Delay request for Grand Avenue Project rejected by the joint City County Authority that oversees the project. August 15 will be the possible "make or get out" date for the developers of Eli Broad's vision.

Richard Alatorre gets $7,200 for "advising" the Housing Authority.

You can get 3 toilets for that amount at Estrada Courts. BTW, if the US Attorney has some spare moments to look for corruption in local government, then this is a good place to start.

Who payed $71,000+ to Steve Sugerman in 2007 and early 2008??

Q2 2007 Sugerman Communications Group Autry National Center Los Angeles, CA 90027 Autry National Center Improvement Project $10,000.00

Q3 2007 Sugerman Communications Group Autry National Center Los Angeles, CA 90027 Autry National Center Improvement Project $18,061.80

Q4 2007 Sugerman Communications Group Autry National Center Los Angeles, CA 90027 Autry National Center Improvement Project $18,000.00

Q1 2008 Sugerman Communications Group Autry National Center Los Angeles, CA 90027 Autry National Center Improvement Project $25,531.82

Total Payments Received from Clients : $71,593.62

Motives of "LA Voice Pico"??

Word from activists in Boyle Heights is that this organization "bussed" in supporters to inflate their audience at an event last week in the St. Teresita Church. Maybe this had to do with Jeff Carr, Monica Garcia and mayor staffer Abigail Ramirez being in the audience.

Mayor Sam's Hotsheet for Friday

Absolutely disgusting. Some dumbasses have vandalized the outside of Council Member Jack Weiss' district office with swastikas and other racist graffiti. Lets hope the police find the clowns who did this.

More after the jump

We broke the story last night; LAist has an excellent interview with Joseph Mailander, following his stepping down as editor of the longtime LA blog, Martini Republic. Though Joseph still co-owns the blog, his absence will create a huge vacuum and like LA Voice without Mack Read, or KABC without Mr. KABC or Kevin James, MR is in dangerous shark-jumping territory. Indeed, we've already delisted MR from our "hot blog" section and replaced it with Mailander's new entry, splice the mainbrace.

Los Angeles City Librarian Fontayne Hughes will show up on Patt Morrison's radio show Friday to discuss the Library's recent unveiling of free wi-fi at all City libraries. Kudos to Hughes, this is a great program.

It doesn't get a lot of attention, but CurbedLA has a good piece on the up and coming berg that is Koreatown.

The union for broadcast technical employees, NABET, has come out with a statement regarding the treatment of broadcast crews by the LAPD during the pro-illegals rally on Tuesday. Indeed, the cops should have been beating up and deporting the illegal alien criminal gang members and trouble makers rather than TV reporters.

Mailander has proposed yurts as good low income, transitional housing for the homeless (as opposed to spending millions on "affordable housing" and Skid Row hotels). Another option as seen over at CurbedLA are low cost homes are cargo containers.