May 2007 Archives

The video shown by Councilman Bernard Parks during the Wednesday City Council meeting regarding the LAPD's handling of the May Day parade is drawing more and more attention.

Jack Dunphy, the pseudonym used by an author who says he has been involved with the LAPD, writes on the Patterico Pontifications blog that while he has problems with Chief Bill Bratton, they are nothing compared to his experience with Parks when he served as chief.

Dunphy writes:
Rank -and-file officers on the LAPD certainly have their reasons for being disappointed with Chief William Bratton. I have expressed some of those reasons in my columns on National Review Online, most recently here. But disappointed as we might be with Bratton, you’d have a hard time finding anyone on the department lamenting the fact that L.A. city councilman Bernard Parks was ousted from the job.

So it’s laughable to see Parks insinuating, as he did at a recent city council meeting, that the LAPD would be in better shape today if he had been retained as chief. During a discussion of the LAPD’s handling of the May Day protest at MacArthur Park, Parks played a video supplied by “community members” that portrayed the May Day melee as merely the latest in a series of abuses committed by LAPD officers during Bratton’s tenure. Among these were the videotaped arrests of Stanley Miller, who was struck with a flashlight after fleeing from a stolen car, and William Cardenas, who was punched in the face by officers attempting to arrest him for a felony warrant. For Parks to suggest that these incidents would not have occurred had he been in command of the LAPD is beyond absurd.

But, on second thought, maybe not so absurd after all, but not for the reasons Parks would wish. Under Parks’s autocratic stewardship, morale in the LAPD was abysmal. Officers were leaving the department in droves, far outpacing recruiting efforts. So perhaps it’s true that those controversial arrests would not have occurred, but only because there wouldn’t have been any cops left to make them.

William Bratton could do better, but even on his worst day he’s a better chief than Parks was on his best.

In one of the more unusual moments of LA City Council's three-hour discussion of the MacArthur Park melee Wednesday, Councilman (and former LAPD Chief) Bernard Parks aired a short video highlighting some of the police department's missteps since Chief William Bratton arrived.

There was television news coverage of Stanley Miller, thumped with a flashlight. (Miller ultimately received a $450,00 settlement)

There was Parks and Bratton going at it in a City Council meeting over whether Bratton's harsh words for criminals were insensitive to minority communities.

There was the YouTube.com video of police repeatedly punching suspect William Cardenas in the face.

Parks explained the video was prepared by community members, who were concerned the May Day event was "not an isolated incident but a gradual deterioration of discipline in the department."

On the council floor the video was met with dead silence, a few shocked expressions and a feeling that just maybe Parks might still be a little upset that he was ousted as LAPD chief and replaced by Bratton.

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger announced Wednesday that he's teaming up with Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty to cut global warming. The two will sign an agreement to work together on climate change initiatives. Who knew California and Ontario were so close? McGuinty answers:

"Today, Canada's most populous province and America's most populous state have joined together to tackle one of our greatest challenges - as business partners, as places that share a legacy of innovation and progressive thinking, and as friends."

Amid a term-limits battle at the Capitol, the top national advocacy group for term limits awarded state Senate leader Don Perata a "Golden Pig" award on Tuesday for using more than $1 million in campaign funds on "lavish" hotels, restaurants, parties, travel and gifts, Steve Geisenger from the Media News Sacramento bureau reports in today's Oakland Tribune.

U.S. Term Limits announced it had created the jab for California politicians who "remind us of the necessity for term limits."

Perata, an Oakland Democrat, declined to say much in response to the award, sometimes discounting the group with questions of his own, such as, "(U.S.) Term Limits? Who's that?"

Tim Hodson, director of the Center for California Studies at California State University, Sacramento, said U.S. Term Limits "is a well-funded, out-of-state organization that vilifies anyone and any group that regard term limits as flawed or even suggest changes in existing term-limit laws."

Now that Police Chief Bill Bratton has made his initial report to the Police Commission on the May Day melee, look for that panel to once again get on track of discuss the chief's reappointment to a second term.

Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa told reporters on Tuesday that while he still wants a more detailed accounting of what happened at MacArthur Park, his support for Bratton serving a second five-year term has not wavered.

"He is the best qualified to be chief," Villaraigosa said. "I expect the Police Commission will now be acting soon to make that appointment."

The panel had been set to push through the appointment until the problems developed at MacArthur Park and they have put the decision on hold until Bratton completed his preliminary assessment.

Anheuser-Busch -- which has one of its largest breweries in the San Fernando Valley -- is marking a century of business in California.

The company's flaks say they are marking the occasion with a year-long awareness campaign. To kick it off, they are sending souvenir items to state "decision makers," like a customized bottle of Budweiser. Imagine the excitement when thirsty lawmakers open the bottle and find not beer, but a promotional map of the company's holdings in the Golden State. Whoo-hoo!

By the way, I used to live in Northridge about a mile from the brewery, and I can tell you, there's nothing like the pungent smell of fermenting yeast and hops to, well, make you never want to drink beer again. But, as an American male in the age 21-35 demographic, I was always a little curious about the place. So in honor of the company's California anniversary, here are a few by-the-numbers factoids about the Van Nuys brewery:

The "Anheuser-Busch Los Angeles Brewery," opened in 1954, employs about 900 people with a payroll of $100 million.

The 1.7 million square-foot factory produces some 12 million barrels of beer every year. It brews at least 19 different brands, including Budweiser, Michelob and Busch, but also something called "Hurricane High Gravity" as well as Bud Japan and Kirin Ichiban.

About 320 trucks travel in and out of the facility every day. It serves the western United States, Hawaii and 40 export markets.

Statewide, the company employs more than 11,000 Californians in a variety of facilities including distributors, a regional sales office in Westlake Village, and, of course, let's not forget SeaWorld.

Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, who has managed to keep his team together for nearly two years, is losing one of his top aides.
Deputy Mayor Marcus Allen, who has overseen the administrative side of the mayor's office in working with city agencies, told the mayor he is leaving to go into private business with Arnie Berghoff, one of the top lobbyists in the city.
"We are going to miss him," Villaraigosa said. "I didn't want to lose him, but it was a matter of money. He has a family and the city could only pay so much."
Allen came to Villaraigosa after working as chief deputy to City Controller Laura Chick. Before that, he worked in the chief legislative analyst's office after having worked for then-Councilman Zev Yaroslavsky.
***
Allen is joining a joint venture with Berghoff and Harvey Englander and will be a partner with the two. He is scheduled to leave his city service and start with the new firm in early July.

As mentioned earlier in this blog, this is a busy week in the state Legislature as there are several deadlines approaching to pass legislation. Here are just a few of the bills by Los Angeles County lawmakers that saw some movement today:

1) Homeless dumping: SB 275 by Sen. Gilbert Cedillo, D-Los Angeles, is aimed at preventing mental hospitals from released discharged patients into areas where there are inadequate services and facilities to care for them. The bill prohibits a hospital from releasing someone to a location other than their residence without that person's consent. The bill passed out of the Senate Appropriations Committee by an 11-4 vote today and now heads to a Senate floor vote.

2) Lost and stolen firearms: Handgun owners would be required to report a theft or loss of a gun within five days under AB 334 by Assemblyman Lloyd Levine, D-Van Nuys. The intent is to prevent owners from reporting a weapon as stolen only after it has been used in a crime and traced back to them. The bill passed the Assembly floor by a 41-33 vote and now heads to the Senate.

3) New citizen voting rights: Newly sworn-in citizens would be allowed to register to vote right up to Election Day under a bill by Sen. Jenny Oropeza, D-Long Beach. The intent of SB 382 is to allow those who were sworn in close to an election to participate in that vote. The bill passed the Senate 23-14 and now heads to the Assembly.

To get more information about these bills, go to http://www.leginfo.ca.gov/bilinfo.html.

Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa's endorsement of Hillary Rodham Clinton's presidential campaign -- it'll be official Wednesday -- is the politically shrewd move, coalition politics and Sanjaya-like Obama passion aside.

And it has nothing to do with presidential politics. Gubernatorial politics, maybe. Or, for sure.

By giving Hillary the biggest Latino political endorsement to date, which will be especially helpful in the suddenly important California presidential primary, Antonio assures himself of being able to call in a quid pro quo for Bill and Hillary's endorsement when the mayor announces his 2010 gubernatorial campaign, as everyone expects him to do.

Those Clinton endorsements will mean a lot more in Antonio's anticipated statewide run than anything that Barack Obama or any of the other Democratic presidential hopefuls can offer.

Even as it scrambles to add 600 officers by 2009, the LAPD has slashed its recruiting budget by nearly 70 percent, which some fear will hamper its ability to compete for top-quality applicants, by staff writer Rachel Uranga in today's Daily News.

While the 2007-08 budget the City Council approved last week boosts funding for the Los Angeles Police Department by 4.5 percent - to $1.2 billion - it also cuts money for recruiting from $3.2 million to $1 million.

Those trying to identify and lure qualified candidates say their task will become more difficult with such tight resources.

"It's going to be tough because the name of the game in recruitment is advertisement," said Cmdr. Kenneth Garner, who heads the LAPD's recruiting operation.

Members of the LAPD team find themselves sitting shoulder to shoulder with other peace-officer recruiters at job fairs and reading federal recruiting ads on the backs of buses as they sit in traffic.

"We are going to have to be even more aggressive than we are now," Garner said. "You almost have to be like an athletic recruiter because the best candidates have their choice of where to go."

It's starting to be an anxious time for Los Angeles City Council leadership.

Council President Eric Garcetti, winding up his first two-year term as head of the 15-member body, is looking over his shoulder for potential challengers, in Tipoffs this week..

Garcetti, who succeeded former Councilman Alex Padilla by promising he'd allow other members to play a greater role, is particularly concerned at the prospect of a challenge by Councilman Herb Wesson.

Wesson, a former state Assembly speaker who is no stranger to power politics, demurs on the subject but can't help grinning at the possibility.

It all started after Wesson said he will not run for Yvonne Burke's seat on the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors and was happy being a member of the City Council.

"I haven't decided what I want to do," Wesson said. "I'm not unhappy with Eric as president, but I have to say I don't mind people thinking about me as running for mayor or council president. It makes them take you more seriously."

The council is set to elect its new leaders at the first meeting in July.

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger is showing some California pride and putting his support behind the Anaheim Ducks as the team enters its first Stanley Cup playoffs with a bet against Ottawa Premier Dalton McQuinty, who is supporting is Ottawa Senators

"California is the proud home to the best of the best - that's why I am confident that the Ducks will bring the legendary Cup to the Golden State," said Schwarzenegger, who is scheduled to be at the game and drop the ceremonial first puck.

In the best, Schwarzenegger is betting a custom-made jacket by California clothes designer Tony Nowak, a cornucopia of California's bounties including: Anaheim chiles, the home of the Ducks' Sesquicentennial oranges, famous boysenberry jam from Knott's Berry Farm, extra virgin olive oil from UC Davis, California grown rice, strawberries, peaches, plums and nectarines, California Grown giveaways and a case of California wine, including red and white selections.

McQuinty is wagering a one month supply of Tim Horton's Coffee, a popular Canadian doughnut and coffee chain, a variety of high-quality, world-renowned Ontario wines, including a bottle of ice wine, a sweet wine made from grapes harvested when frozen on the vine, and * a Roots sweater.

On Tuesday, Schwarzenegger will be in Canada for a trade mission to develop and promote California's economic and political ties with Canada. Over the course of three days, the Governor will meet with business, agricultural, academic and government leaders and will visit the Canadian cities of Toronto, Ottawa and Vancouver.

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger released his own plan to combat gangs on Friday and he's getting something that Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa did not receive with his plan -- widespread support from those involved in the battle.
Even before he formally released his plan, the governor's office released a letter from Connie Rice of the Advancement Project, who has been critical of Villaraigosa's efforts as being little more than a token effort.

"The Advancement Project strongly supports your stated commitment to help build robust gang prevention and intervention systems that complement law enforcement's suppressiona efforts,' Rice wrote.
"These efforts, if successful, will serve as building blocks towared comprehensives prevention systems that remove the neighborhood conditions fueling gang.

A webcast of the governor's announcement is available at his home page.

It's one of those lists that everyone loves to read.
The Los Angeles Business Journal compiled its list of wealthiest Angelenos in 2007and it has some familiar names heading the list.
Coming in at first is investor Kirk Kerkorian, followed by Sumner Redstone, Eli Broad and David Geffen.
In all, the list has 41 billionaires with the "poorest" coming in at 50th place with a worth of only $715 million.

Can I get quorum? Anyone? Anyone?

In his CityWatch column, Former Department of Neighborhood Empowerment General Manager Greg Nelson takes city council members to task for skipping too many Education and Neighborhood Committee meetings. The committee oversees neighborhood council issues.

"Is it unreasonable to ask City Council members to show up for work? For the second meeting in a row, and for the umpteenth time, the chair of the Education and Neighborhoods Committee (Richard Alarcon) sat alone and went through the agenda. Without explanation, the other two members (Janice Hahn and Jose Huizar) were absent."

"Let’s keep track of who shows up for work," Nelson urges. "There was a time when you could walk into the City Clerk’s office and view attendance records, but no more. I can’t think of another workplace where attendance isn’t kept."

As has already been noted in this blog (see archives for 5/21/07 entry "State can't find itself?") and plenty of other publications, the state's Unclaimed Property program is a joke. There is some $5.1 billion worth of financial assets that have somehow been separated from their owners, but the state makes almost no effort to reunite them. There have been well-known names, ranging from the governor to famous actors to state agencies -- even the Bureau of Unclaimed Property itself -- that have turned up in the database, as if the state has no idea how to find them.

Well now Controller John Chiang is sponsoring legislation to try to start fixing the problem. His bill, SB 919 by Sen. Mike Machado, D-Linden, would remove current restrictions on the controller's ability to set up a program to find owners of lost assets. It would also allow the state to starting paying interest on claims, which it has not done since 2003.

Here is a summary of the bill

To see if the state may be holding unclaimed property in your name, click here.

Next week will be a hectic week in the state Capitol, because of some approaching deadlines that represent make-or-break time for hundreds of bills.

Friday, June 1, is the last day for fiscal committees to send bills to the floor, while June 8 is the last day to pass a bill out of its house of origin.

And of course, technically June 15 is the deadline to pass a budget - but we all know how that goes. It's treated more like a sorta-recommended-guideline than a set-in-stone constitutional deadline.

In fact, deadlines are never absolutes in Sacramento. Some of the bills that are killed next week may be magically resurrected at some point in the future, through what's known as the gut-and-amend process. But for the majority of them, this is the key time.

Today's Capitol Weekly has a good story on this subject, about how this is the time when the majority party leaders and committee chairs can arbitarily kill bills without much justification, simply due to the sheer volume of legislation that must be handled. The story notes how easy it is for committee chairs to kill bills that are in the suspense file, the place they go while waiting further action or a covert death.

Assembly Republican Leader Mike Villines, R-Fresno, sums it up: "A lot of times the suspense calendar is used as a reminder of who's the majority and who's not."

Now, here's something that should come as no surprise: Councilman Jack Weiss doesn't want to be served with papers to recall him.

Supporters of the recall effort complained Thurday that Wily Weiss is refusing to accept service of the notice of his recall, making it more difficult for them to start their effort.

What did they expect?

To recall supporters, Weiss' behavior is validating their claims that he "displays disdain for his constituents."

The group said a process server was rebuffed by a Weiss secretary when they went to his office, and was told the councilman would not meet with him.

"The server suggested to Weiss's secretary that it would be better for the councilman to receive these documents in the privacy of his own office, rather than be confronted at a public meeting or event, but it was to no avail," the recall organizers said in a statement.

Looking to deal with the ongoing problem of runaway film production, Assembly Speaker Fabian Nunez is forming a special panel to keep the movie business in Hollywood.

Nunez said he is forming the Select Committee on the Preservation of California's Entertainment Indusry, to be chaired by Assemblyman Paul Krekorian, D-Burbank. The committee will look at what the state can do to stop runaway production due to incentives being offered by other states.

"California 's entertainment industry is a treasured part of California's heritage, and it is also an invaluable foundation for our economic future," Krekorian said. "So many other states and countries are working overtime to lure this industry away from us because they know it produces tremendous economic benefits and revenues with good middle class jobs. Let me make clear -- we are going to fight hard to keep those jobs here, keep California competitive and make sure the state is a great partner for this industry."

Can't we all get along?

That's the question that Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa and New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg will try to answer at a forum they are convening next month with leaders from government, media, business, labor, philanthropy, religion and the non-profit sector to explore ways to improve political dialogue and decision-making at all levels of government.
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger is scheduled to be the keynote speaker at the conference to be held June 19.

The conference, " Ceasefire! Bridging the Political Divide," is organized by the Center on Communication Leadership at the USC Annenberg School for Communication.

Despite concerns the system would bring back the days of "backroom deals," Los Angeles County supervisors voted Tuesday to grant vast new authority to CAO David Janssen and to give him a whopping pay raise from $242,116 to as much as $399,000 a year, staff writer Troy Anderson
reports in today's Daily News.

Under the $1.7 million reorganization approved 4-1 by the board, Janssen's title will be changed to chief executive officer, and he'll have five deputy CEOs who will oversee clusters of departments. On July 1, department heads will begin reporting directly to Janssen rather than taking orders from the supervisors.It was less than a year ago that Janssen had submitted his retirement, agreeing to come back only after supervisors promised to increase his power.

The supervisors plan to ask voters next year to approve the reorganization as part of the County Charter.
Advocates said the plan would allow the supervisors to hold one person accountable for fixing many of the county's problems.

" This plan has a lot of promise," Supervisor Gloria Molina said. "That doesn't mean there aren't things I worry about. This is a very big and bold step. But it makes me nervous and I know I'm not the only board member who is nervous about putting this in the charter and not being able to go back later and change it."

At Tuesday's meeting, advocates for open government and Supervisor Michael D. Antonovich
blasted the proposal, saying the new structure would allow many decisions to be made behind closed doors.
"Our chief administrative officer stated that the new governance will be `better' because policy discussions will be exempt from the Brown Act," Antonovich said. "This is a step backward toward the old days of backroom deals and catering to an all-powerful bureaucrat."

Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa will lobby state leaders for critical gang reduction and public transportation funds today.May 23 at the State Capitol, Sacramento, CA 95814.

Villaraigosa will also join Assembly Speaker Fabian Núñez for a to make his case that legislators reject Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's Revised Budget Proposal that would divert hundreds of millions of gas tax dollars to pay for non-transit expenditures.

The mayor will urge state legislators to restore the funding, which is critical to maintaining current Metropolitan Transit Authority (MTA) bus service without massive fare increases.

Newly elected Assemblyman Felipe Fuentes (and former chief of staff to Alex Padilla) is taking another city hall staffer with him to Sacramento. Councilman Tony Cardenas' longtime Chief of Staff Jose Cornejo will be Fuentes' main man in the Capitol.

Cornejo worked with Cardenas when he was an assemblyman and stuck with him when Cardenas was elected to City Council.

Fuentes also announced the appointment of Gerardo Guzman as his district director. Guzman worked with state electeds Richard Alarcon, Cindy Montanez and Paul Koretz before serving as the Southern California Field Director for the State Democratic Party Coordinated Campaign this past fall.

As negotiations ramp up over Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's proposed $146 billion state budget, some fear that reforms designed to avert a repeat of the financial meltdown California faced after the dot-com bust have been abandoned, Sacramento bureau staff writer Harrison Sheppard reports in today's Daily News.
While many note the economy is stronger now than it was five years ago, when the tech collapse sucked billions out of state coffers, analysts say ignoring budget reform leaves California vulnerable to another downturn.
"The window of opportunity to reform the budget process was wide open when the budgets were continually late and very acrimonious," said Tim Hodson, executive director of the Center for California Studies at California State University, Sacramento.
"We've had two years of relatively on-time budgets and relatively collegial budget-making. That has taken the urgency away and closed the window."

Is Los Angeles safer today from terrorists than we were on 9-11?
No, according to a panel of experts at a forum Monday at University of California, Los Angeles.Staff writer Troy Anderson reports on the forum in today's Daily News.
America is just as vulnerable to attack as it was on 9-11, with street gangs funding terrorist groups and also draining resources from law enforcement agencies working to head off future attacks.
The experts said the war on terrorism has been replaced by the war on gangs - a huge concern in Los Angeles, which has an estimated 40,000 gang members and is an attractive target for terrorists.
"We are not safe and we will not be safe for many years," LAPD Deputy Chief Mark Leap said at the forum sponsored by the university's School of Public Affairs.
"There are many, many more people who consider themselves jihadists now. And criminal enterprises are being used to support terrorist activities."

I thought I was done with journalistic profilers when I left public office nearly seven years ago. I can't even remember the last time I held a press conference, since I no longer need to let the voters know of my existence. Nor do I need to serve up quotes that fit neatly into stories that someone already has prepared. My guard is down. I am de-toxing from living in the media. Now I simply blog away and work on books. But when my friend Connie Bruck called a few months ago to discuss Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, I said yes, thinking it was an important subject and that she would be, as they say, fair and balanced.
Hayden writes about what he says was left out in the New Yorker profile of Villaraigosa in this essay on the Hufington Post.

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger is scheduled to appear on "The Tonight Show" this Wednesday night. The guv's spokesman tells me there's no particular announcement planned - Jay Leno just asked him to appear and he said OK.

Here's an interesting tidbit: Schwarzenegger has appeared on Leno's show more often as governor (seven times) than he ever did as an actor (three times), according to a quick check of www.imdb.com, the Internet Movie Database.

His most famous appearance, of course, was on Aug. 6, 2003, when he launched his candidacy in the recall election -- stunning the state's political establishment after he had been dropping hints to everyone, including his own advisors, that he would not run.

(As a side note, I was backstage with other reporters from around the world in Leno's Burbank studio that day.

I recall the absolute shock we all felt, and the exhilaration of an already-wacky story -- i.e. the recall -- that suddenly just got even stranger and more exciting.

But it didn't really show in our faces at the time. Leno had a camera set up on us backstage. I think he was expecting some 1940s-era image of reporters in trenchcoats and fedoras running for payphones and shouting "Stop the presses!" or something. It was sort of anticlimatic as we were all just a bunch of nerds glued to our laptops, IM-ing our editors and rewriting our leads, barely looking up at the cameras.)

Schwarzenegger has returned to the show since then to tout his various initiatives as governor, to mark the anniversary of his election, and to stump for his re-election.

Oh, and it's worth also mentioning that Schwarzenegger, or at least his exaggerated alter ego, has also made a few appearances on Conan O'Brien's show, too, like this hilarious one where he talks about his motorcycle accident last year.

The California Chamber of Commerce has honored Woodland Hills accountant and VICA vice chairman Greg Lippe with its 2007 "Small Business Advocate of the Year Award."

Lippe, co-chair of VICA's Government Affairs Committee, makes frequent visits to the state Capitol on behalf of the association to lobby for business issues. He also writes a monthly column "Capitol Punishment" for the San Fernando Valley Business Journal.

He was nominated for the award by Brendan Huffman, president of the Valley Industry and Commerce Association.

“Greg is a tremendous champion for VICA and employers throughout Los Angeles," Huffman said. "He stays on top of a lot of issues and maintains strong relations with state and local officeholders so that they hear the business perspective."

Lippe is managing partner of the accounting firm Lippe, Hellie, Hoffer & Allison LLP in Woodland Hills.

Lippe was one of five businessmen to receive the award this year. The others were: Blake Christian, a CPA from Long Beach; Jamil Dada, vice president of Provident Bank in Moreno Valley; Timothy L. Fowler, owner of Betterton Mason and Wyatt, in Lockeford; and Jim Schmidt, a banker and retired attorney from La Mesa.

Talk about an existential crisis. Apparently the state of California is having trouble finding itself.

The state agency that is in charge of holding on to unclaimed property _ and ostensibly finding the rightful owners _ apparently has some of its own money sitting in the Unclaimed Property Fund.

This is the fund which holds on to financial assets that somehow have lost their owner. For example, bank accounts that have been abandoned, stock certificates left in a safety deposit box that is no longer paid for, checks that have been mailed and returned addressee unknown, etc. If there has been no contact with a customer for three years, companies that hold such property are supposed to turn it over to the State Controller's Office.

The state is currently holding some 8.2 million unclaimed assets valued at over $5 billion in this fund.

The California Taxpayers Association, which has long complained that the state makes no efforts to find the rightful owners of property, found that the Bureau of Unclaimed Property itself actually has financial assets in its own Unclaimed Property Fund.

See for yourself at www.searchthevault.com. Plug in property ID # 018074436, and it shows the Bureau of Unclaimed Property has $6,703.50 in unclaimed funds.

Cal-Tax also found that the state's two main tax-collection agencies, the Board of Equalization and the Franchise Tax Board, have almost $1 million sitting in the Unclaimed Property Fund.

"It's unbelievable that the bureaucracy in charge of finding the owners of unclaimed property can't even manage to find itself,'' Cal-Tax acting president Teresa Casazza said.

By the way, if you happen to be really, really bored, a fun way to kill a few minutes is to see how many famous names you can find in the database, and wonder how the heck the state can't find 'em. Here's a few examples:

Schatzi on Main, the Santa Monica restaurant owned by the governor; two political committees for Lt. Gov. John Garamendi; more than $10,000 in salary checks for actress Angelina Jolie; four different listings for Antonio Villaraigosa and six for Corina Villaraigosa; 34 separate listings for the Los Angeles Times; Los Angeles city; Los Angeles County; Los Angeles International Airport; LAUSD; California Secretary of State; the Governor's Office; 53 entries for Boeing .... the list goes on and on.

*** New info/update: Whoa. Looks like the Bureau of Unclaimed Property has indeed found itself. I re-checked the UCP website just a few minutes ago, around 12:20 p.m. and that Property ID number listed above isn't coming up anymore. But I swear it was there less than an hour ago.

Interesting. Cal-Tax sent out that email about the fund around 10 a.m. today. I'm guessing they got a few press inquiries and reacted quickly. Now, about that remaining $5 billion ....

New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson has been campaigning for months for the Democratic nomination for president, has appeared in the major debate and, today, makes his campaign official _ in Los Angeles.
Showing the importance of the California primary next February -- not to mention the greater chance of media attention -- Richardson is set to formally announce his candidacy at a 10 a.m. news conference at the Biltmore Hotel.
Prioi to his announcement, Richardson is doing a series of one-on-one interviews with Spanish-language stations to take advantage of his Mexican-American heritage.

Printing and binding city reports: $6 million.
Calligraphers to decorate proclamations and honors: $550,000.
Pet food for animal shelters: $529,000.
The cost of running Los Angeles city government: pricey.
The expenses are just a few among millions of detailed items that make up a $6.8 billion budget the City Council is set to consider today.
Daily News staff writer Kerry Cavanaugh examines some of the expenses that draw little attention in this report.

With a majority of the Board of Education now backing his reforms, Mayor Antonio Villaraigos has dropped his lawsuit to get greater control of the district, but what lies ahead for the troubled district.
Most specualation is about school board member Monica Garcia replacing Marlene Canter as board president and, in today's Daily News Tipoffs we also look at plans by the new board to meet over the next 45 days to map out a 100-day strategy.
At the same time, the mayor is preparing to announce which clusters of schools he wants to take direct responsibility for.

Its 200-foot ramp stands ready to beckon giddy children through a wonderland of fun.
Its leaders stand determined to keep the Children's Museum of Los Angeles from becoming a derelict hulk at Hansen Dam.
And the clock is ticking.
The museum has less than a month to produce $1.25 million in cash and pledges to get a matching city loan to pay its builder. After struggling for years to raise money, officials say they are revamping their strategy to try to win community support.
"It's a call to action. We're almost there," said Cecilia Aguilera Glassman, the museum's new chief executive officer. "We are extremely confident that we'll reach our initial goal."
Staff writer Dana Bartholomew reports on the museum's problems in Sunday's Daily News.

Growing up in Sun Valley, Joselyn Arroyo saw firsthand the heartbreak of trading a bright career for sweat and sacrifice.
It happened to her parents - both professional engineers from Mexico, who were reduced to backbreaking jobs as bakers and housecleaners after they crossed illegally into the United States with her when she was just 3.
And it almost happened to her.
Although she earned a bachelor's degree from California State University, Northridge, the diploma was as good as blank without a Social Security number or U.S. citizenship to go with it.
Staff writer Susan Abram details the story in the Sunday Daily News.

Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa's spending plan to combat gangs fails to make any significant investment or strides in quelling violence, Los Angeles' leading anti-gang expert told the Daily News in a report by staff writer Beth Barrett.
The criticism surfaced Friday as City Controller Laura Chick said she has notified the mayor that she will not proceed with a planned audit of the city's anti-gang programs.
The review had been hailed by the mayor as a key to streamlining the effectiveness of city anti-gang efforts, but Chick said the audit grew politicized, funding for it never materialized and council members set an unrealistically short deadline.
"I've never had so much active participation on the part of so many people telling me what the scope should be," she said. "I have to defend the independence of the Controller's Office."
The setback came as noted civil-rights attorney Connie Rice criticized the mayor's $168 million budget for youth and anti-gang efforts, saying much of the money is actually tied up in salaries, facilities management and equipment costs. about $19.5 million.

With his victory in the school boad elections, Mayor Antoniio Villaraigosa announced Friday that he will not appeal a judge's ruling that his LAUSD-takeover plan is unconstitutional but will work instead to take advantage of the "unprecedented opportunities" offered by new district leadership.
His announcement came during a morning news conference at the Miguel Contreras Learning Complex, where he and his former Los Angeles Unified School District adversaries shared hugs, kisses and laughter - an event that stood in sharp contrast to the acrimony that's marked the past 18 months.
With the election Tuesday of his two reform candidates to the school board, Villaraigosa said he believes he can work through the system rather than through the courts to solve myriad problems in the district.
"This has been a tough and contentious year," he said.
"We've had debates. We've had arguments. We've been to the Legislature. We've been to the courts. We've been to the ballot box. We've enjoyed victories, and we've shared defeats."
Full report in the Daily News by staff writer Naush Boghossian.