This is the city: Los Angeles, California. I work here. I'm an ex-mayor. Los Angeles is a magnet for people from all over the world. Some of them run for public office. Inevitably some of them stray from the golden rule and rule for those that have the gold. That's when I go to work. My name is Yorty. I'm a dead pol.
CD14 Council Candidate Rudy Martinez will join us tonight, in studio live at 8:00 PM PST on Live LA Saturday Night with David Hernandez, Frank Sheftel and myself on LATalkRadio.com.
A lot of attention has been focused on LA Council races, especially the hot and spicy politics in CD14 but there are races elsewhere, even in other cities. West Hollywood has a contentious race with nine candidates going for three seats. Among the issues include development in the compact but upscale city and the appointment to a vacant of youngster Lindsay Horvath to an empty council seat instead of a special election being held to fill the vacancy caused by the death of a Council member. All nine candidates engage in a contentious debate Wednesday evening.
Speaking of the West Hollywood race, candidate Scott Olin Schmidt (formerly known as the Boi from Troy blogger) will be joining Frank Sheftel, David Hernandez and myself, Saturday night at 8:00 p.m. on latalkradio.com.
Should a city employee wish to take the day off to spend with their families they must take it as a floating holiday.
Imagine that?
However New Years' Eve is a WeHo city holiday and City Hall will be closed. No doubt to get an early start on the drinking and frolicking "the Creative City" is known for.
This morning, I began seeing a number of TV ads running promoting Measure E. I was curious as to where they were coming from, since they did not have the usual political disclosure found in most campaign commercials.
I found the ads on YouTube under an anonymous "MeasureE Information" account:
The spanish-language ad said that they were "Information Sponsored by Los Angeles Unified School District" (in English, see attached), but the English-language ads showed nothing of the sort. Once FlashReport wrote about the ads, the Spanish-language ad was taken down and edited to remove the disclosure language
As a resident of West Hollywood and a Taxpayer, I have a number of questions. Here are just a few:
1) Were taxpayer funds used to create, develop or run these advertisements?
2) Did LAUSD budget for these commercials while they were sending layoff notices?
3) Are the children in the ads actors or students?
4) Were children taken out of classroom instruction to produce these commercials?
5) Why is there no disclosure on any of the ads, and why was the disclosure in the Spanish-language ad removed?
6) Why were the ads posted anonymously on YouTube rather than clearly stating that they were sponsored by LAUSD?
Our democracy relies on transparency and openness. Taxpayer finds should never be used to promote a vote in an election--either way--especially at a time when you are laying off teachers and administrators.
Thank you for your time and I hope to hear your response soon.
Sincerely,
Scott Schmidt
West Hollywood, CA
Scott Olin Schmidt is a nationally recognized blogger who publishes weblog about culture, politics, and sports. He has written for Wonkette, Gridskipper, and Spot-On.com. He has been quoted by Instapundit, Gawker, Defamer, Kausfiles, Hugh Hewitt, and numerous other weblogs. He is the blogger behind the legendary but now defunct blog "Boi From Troy."
