Indeed, it's Sort of a Hotsheet!

Paul Krekorian's "Letter-Gate" scandal has ended the days of his every so often column at Studio City Patch. Following disclosure that a letter from a "constituent" asking a question and praising the Second District Councilman was actually not from a real person and a fabrication of his Press Chief, Jeremy Oberstein, the AOL owned property has now demoted the Krekorian column to the "blog" section of Patch, user provided content that is about a step below Facebook postings.

Phil Jennerjahn is telling us "We told you so."

Labor maven Madeline Janis is whining about former Mayor Richard Riordan's pension reform efforts. Her screed is that the former millionaire mayor's administration was fraudulent and ineffective, which is probably true to some extent, and that any "development" successes such as the Staples Center, Hollywood and Highland, etc. were the result of deals done between union interests and developers. Poppycock. It is indeed Riordan's brand of crony capitalism and clueless Downtown LA mentality, partnered with the thuggery of LA's union establishment that is responsible for a dearth of successful development in LA and the City's slide into fiscal collapse and over irrelevance.

Los Angeles County is cutting staff and shuttering several courtrooms as part of a cost savings measure. Among those closing include legendary courthouses in Beverly Hills and Malibu, where a number of high profile celebrity cases have been prosecuted with the likes of famous troublemakers Lindsay Lohan, Robert Downey, Jr., etc.

Krekorian's Biden/Kinnock Moment

It was a seminal moment of the 1988 Presidential campaign when now Vice President and then Democratic Senator Joe Biden plagiarized a speech originally given by Neil Kinnock, a member of the British Labour Party. Biden was later discovered to have "borrowed" from speeches by Robert Kennedy and others. Needless to say, Biden was forced to abandon his campaign for the Democratic nomination that year.

Since politicians are always spinning, it's not unexpected that we find them re-inventing portions of their personal narrative. Both President Obama and Governor Romney were accused of such during the now shuttered 2012 campaign. 

How interesting it is though, when we find an elected official creating out of whole cloth, letters and comments from "constituents," when often these very communications are used quite frequently to document or gauge where stakeholders' views are on a certain pressing issue.

Which brings us to Los Angeles City Council Member Paul Krekorian.

PURE IMAGINATION:
City Council Member Paul Krekorian

The latest kerfuffle to hit the Second District rep involves his monthly column "Ask Paul" which runs in  various editions of Patch, an online newspaper of sorts that targets hyper-local news and issues.

Krekorian was recently using his latest column to gin up support for a controversial plan addressing billboards in Los Angeles - and to deflect criticism from billboard critics of Krekorian's plan away from the Council Member himself. 

Cupcakes, anyone?
Jeremy Oberstein,
Krekorian Spin-meister

According to a story by Dakota Smith in the Los Angeles Daily News, Krekorian's column (actually written by longtime communications director and former journalist, Jeremy Oberstein) referred to a Studio City resident who questioned the plan but praised Krekorian's "integrity."  Turns out, not only the question but the "resident" was a fabrication created by Oberstein.

Krekorian's office had claimed that the voter in question is a "composite" of the many types of comments they receive. 

Following the discovery, the editors of Patch removed the original story with an explanation and allowed the Krekorian team to publish raw comments they claim their office has received on the billboards plan.

In the meantime, Krekorian has found himself coming under fire from many sources, including long-time anti-billboard activist Dennis Hathaway who was dubious of Krekorian's plan to begin with and was of the mind that Krekorian was shilling for the billboard industry, not really responding to his constituents' concerns on how to address the problem.

The Council Member's misstep even caught the attention of famed blogger and gadfly, John Walsh, who offered to stage a "Fake Letters to Paul" contest, offering, in his usual flamboyant fashion, the winner "First Booby Prize is Breakfast with Paul Krekorian. Second Booby Prize is Breakfast and Lunch with Paul Krekorian and Third Booby Prize is Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner with Paul Krekorian."

Los Angeles continues to remain fun!