Talk About Money in Politics

Mayoral candidates Kevin James and Emanuel Pleitez have been excluded from a debate scheduled for this evening, hosted by the Community Coalition (whatever that is) in South Central.

Why? According to a press release from the Pleitez campaign, it is because both he and James
have not yet raised $1 million in campaign contributions.UPDATE: The Community Coalition has given no valid reason at all as to the exclusion of Pleitez and James, according to John Hill of the Pleitez campaign.


On the heels of the LA City Council a day before passing a proclamation bemoaning the Citizens United decision and big money in politics, this "community based organization" puts out the welcome mat for only those candidates who have raised millions in special interest funds.

The Community Coalition's Facebook page states that their mission is to "help transform the social and economic conditions in South LA that foster addiction, crime, violence and poverty by building a community institution that involves thousands in creating, influencing and changing public policy." A rational person might assume that mission should include having as wide reaching a discussion on community issues and how to solve problems touching our neighborhoods.

In considering the exclusion of James and Pleitez - who by the way is a former Obama administration official and a left of center progressive of Latino extraction who can't be easily dumped into the "angry Republican white guy"category they easily throw James into - one need only scratch the surface of The Community Coalition's funding by unions and other special interests and it's cozy relationships with the status-quo elected officials all responsible for LA's "decade of decline." 

Yes, it's silly season, folks! 

Los Angeles Politics Hotsheet for Monday

"Watch it, Bernard Parks,
you fish-eyed fool!"

Bad news for Betty Pleasant and the IBEW.  The City Clerk has certified that Bernard Parks has won re-election to his Council seat without a run-off.

Greedy public employee unions conned unions who represent people who make nowhere near as much as them to march in the rain for higher than average wages and gold plated pensions for the government unions. In the meantime the Mayor is cutting a deal with public employee unions that only forestalls bankruptcy a little while.


Read more »

Astroturfing in the Mid-West

How do you gin up scenes of protestors, fighting big bad Republicans intent on cutting the power of greedy public employee unions?

Craigslist!

Stand, Walk, Chant, Protest (Downtown)

Date: 2011-03-01, 11:03AM EST 

Reply to: gigs-5rcwm-2240867280@craigslist.org

We need more men to protest this coming week. We will call in the morning on when we will need you. We pay $7.50. You will be helping out middle class workers in our State. This job is only for 4 - 6 hours at a time, usually between 3:00 PM till 7:00 PM Please send a picture when you e-mail."


At least in Indiana, they're looking for a few good rabblerousers to chant, scream, hoot, holler and play Parcheesi while the SEIU types go all boo hoo.  Sadly, it does not appear the unions want to pay union wages to do so, the hourly take somewhat south of minimum wage.

We learned about this kind of fake protesting with the efforts by Home Depot to shove a store into Sunland Tujunga.  When the home improvement big box got done calling the good people of the Foothills "racists," they moved up on by gathering up as many brown skinned folks as they could to sing their praises, to wit one somewhat chatty artificial grass activist admitted "I'm, here because they gave me a t-shirt."

Last I heard the only folks going to Craigslist these days are hookers and their "clients." Well, I guess this is the same thing.