TGIF Afternoon Political News Dump 9-23-11

What is it about porn stars and fire(fighter) hoses?

Welcome to another edition of TGIF Political News Dumps for 9-23-11 and can we agree that LAFD would love to dump this embarrassment forever. But as the firefighting blogger at patmcoskerforcitycouncil.com reminds us, this is not the first time that LAFD's "apparatus" has been used in the production of porn. 

** LA Weekly's resident expert on Los Angeles County Redistricting Gene Maddaus joins Editor Jill Stewart in bloggin dispensing of news items today, supporting regulars the "Bloggin Commandante" and the "Snarky One", Thus, we will give Maddaus a pass on him neglecting to remind readers that longtime Valley Activist David Hernandez is the Republican Candidate in the quest to keep City Councilman Tony Cardenas "away from D.C." in 2012.

** Jill Stewart joins the chorus of Mayor Sam and City Watch in commending CD 15 City Council Candidate Joe Buscaino for his inclusive stance on upcoming debates in the Special Election's proceedings. Thus, it should come then as no surprise that negative innuendos about Buscaino are starting to make the rounds in the cybersphere. This will surely make Assemblyman Mike Gatto cringe in indignation. 

** The race (Asian-Pacific) and special interest (Maria Elena Durazo) pandering continues as Gene Maddaus posts his last in the series of tutorials, that chronicles past racial voting behaviors, on the saga of Los Angeles County Redistricting. Great Work Gene!

** Lastly, to Governor Jerry "Moonbeam II" Brown, two-thirds of Californians say "KEEP YOU HANDS OFF PROP. 13!".

Your thoughts and great weekend.

Scott Johnson in CD 14  

Friday Free for All: That's SO Jerry Edition

Antonio Villaraigosa came to Sacramento this week to call for the nuking of Proposition 13. Wednesday, the Mayor was dissed by Governor Brown who says he's not interested in making any changes to the holy grail of California politics.  "I will focus my attention on ensuring financial stability and making the state more efficient,"  Brown told the Associated Press.

Last year the City Clowncil voted to boycott doing business with any company based in Arizona in protest of the Grand Canyon state's successful immigration reform law. Since then, the City has failed to avoid to do business with Arizona companies.  The latest opportunity to give an economic whammy to our neighboring state exists in the form of a pending $90 million contract with Arizona based Honeywell, to upgrade computer systems at LA's sewage treatment plants. The computers are needed to replace out of date monitoring systems and help alleviate the odds of an ecological disaster. Councilman Ed Reyes plans to vote no on the contract and a losing bidder is trying to peg a second chance to the boycott being complied with.

Read more »

Los Angeles Politics Hotsheet for Wednesday

Councilman Paul Krekorian passed Tuesday a series of changes as to how the City's system of neighborhood councils do business, but the legislation was characterized by some as more so "improvements" than reform.  In the meantime, Department of Neighborhood Empowerment General Manager BongHwan Kim is reportedly floating a proposal where the panels must garner voter participation equal to one percent of their population. Blogger Joseph Mailander supports the move, while Village to Village's Paul Hatfield finds huge fault. In my view, the one percent solution is a good idea.  Neighborhood councils, with a few exceptions, are noted for profligate spending on "projects" and put little if any resources or efforts towards outreach. I noted to Mailander my own experience where while serving on the MidTown North Hollywood Neighborhood Council the board opted to cancel a budget for election advertising and bought uniforms for local high school cheerleaders. I think it's appropriate to expect the panels to achieve some level of viability if they're going to have access to tens of thousands of taxpayer dollars.

Read more »