January 2008 Archives

A full 90 minutes before tonight's debate between Sens. HIllary Clinton and Barack Obama, the California Republican Party let us know they didn't like what they would have to say.

CRP Chairman Ron Nehring said he doesn't like their campaigns or what he thinks they would do to the couhtry.

"The Democratic candidates for President showed this week how out of touch they are. It's clear that both Senators Clinton and Obama have much explaining to do...."

Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, chairman of Sen. Hillary Clinton's presidential campaign, has received $10,500 from indicted Chicago entrepreneur Antoin Rezko and his relatives or affiliates in previous council and mayoral campaigns, the Daily News has learned. Beth Barrett in the Daily News.

The news comes even as Clinton has criticized her chief rival, Illinois Sen. Barack Obama for taking contributions from Rezko in an increasingly contentious campaign as it heads into tonight's debate in Los Angeles.

Villaraigosa's Deputy Mayor Sean Clegg said today that the contributions are unrelated to the issues Clinton has raised concerning Rezko and Obama.

"It is no coincidence that this attack on the mayo

California is the biggest prize on the delegate map during next Tuesday's primaries and caucuses, when voters in more than 20 states will head to the polls. Sacramento Bee.

But the process by which Democrats and Republicans collect delegates here is anything but simple.

For starters, the Democrats and Republicans have different systems of picking delegates.

For Republicans, there are 170 delegates at stake next Tuesday.

Pundits may discount the 18- to 25-year-old vote on Super Tuesday (or Super-duper Tuesday or Tsunami Tuesday or whatever you wanna call it), but MTV is banking on it.
The cable net just announced a nationwide effort to cover the story with input from 51 "Choose or Lose" Street Team citizen journalists who will be streaming live video from mobile phones at polling places, caucus sites and victory celebrations in 23 states. The feeds can be seen in real time at chooseorlose.com and will be used in hourly cutins on the cable network. They say it's the first ever live mobile-to-web broadcast.
I'm not so excited about the technology thing; I've seen way too many TMZ.com live streams these past two weeks from sidewalks in the vicinity of Britney to be impressed by this particular "first." The thing that gets me jazzed is the potential for quick, accurate documentation of any problematic polling places or trends that indicate entire groups of people being stripped of their right to vote. This may be very handy come November.

Sen. John McCain solidified his front-runner status for the Republican nomination Wednesday, sparring with an aggressive Mitt Romney in a feisty debate at the Reagan Library and securing key bicoastal endorsements from Rudy Giuliani and Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger. Tony Castro in the Daily News.

In a debate dominated by attacks and counterattacks between McCain and chief rival Romney, McCain appeared to take the upper hand.

The Arizona senator launched an offensive against Romney's economic record as governor of Massachusetts, while Romney said McCain was out of the conservative mainstream.

The debate was classic.

Two men arguing a different side of the same issue. Both throwing verbal blows and insults at the other's character. Connie Llanos in the Daily News.

But the heated spat was not between Sen. John McCain and Gov. Mitt Romney - the two candidates who dominated Wednesday's GOP debate at the Reagan Library. It was an exchange between a reporter and a political strategist in the media spin room.

A massive plan to accelerate transportation in the region with a $26 billion high-speed train system received initial approval from the Los Angeles City Council on Wednesday as it created a joint-powers agreement with neighboring cities. Daily News.

The move marked the first step in negotiations to solidify an Atlanta-based firm's proposal to construct a magnetic-levitation train system that would start at the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach, run through downtown and eventually reach Ontario Airport.

Los Angeles City Councilman Greig Smith said American Maglev Technology would foot the bill for the system and has been working with the Southern California Association of Governments on its proposal.

- A bill to convert the Santa Susana Field Laboratory site into a state park was formally introduced in the Legislature this week, but it is likely to be at least a decade before the project could begin. Harrison Sheppard in the Daily News.

Assembly Bill 1842 by Assemblyman Cameron Smyth, R-Santa Clarita, would create a joint-powers authority with seven state and local agencies to oversee the creation of a park on the 2,850-acre property after it is cleaned up by Boeing Co. and turned over to the state.

Boeing recently reached an agreement with Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger to pay for cleaning the contaminated land to high standards and then give it to the state for use only as open space.

Using the ties of the Kennedy family to Latinos, Sen. Barack Obama's campaign announced Wednesday that Sen. Edward M. Kennedy, D-Mass., will be coming to Los Angeles this week to help build support.

Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton has locked up some of the major Latino officials in the state and Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa serves as one of her national co-chairs.

But, with Kennedy announcing his support of Obama this week, the campaign said it has arranged a trip for him this week -- at a site to be determined -- to try to win over Latino voters before next Tuesday's primary election.

The Kennedy family has been popular in the Latino community dating back to the early 1960s when then-Sen. Robert Kennedy backed the United Farm Workers in their organizing efforts.

The announcement that former Sen. John Edwards is pulling out of the presidential race has left his long-time supporters without a candidate in the Feb. 5 election.

"Actually, it's a pretty good position to be in," said Councilman Herb Wesson, who has stayed with Edwards despite pressure on him to go with either Sen. Barack Obama or Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton.

"I got a call from the Edwards campaign this morning and ever since, I've been getting calls from a lot of people asking for my support."

Wesson said he is feeling no pressure to make a snap decision, but he does want to get involved before next Tuesday.

Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama has won the endorsement of one of the country's largest Armenian-American associations.

The Armenian National Committee of America (ANCA), a grassroots organization that reaches about 500,000, plans this afternoon to throw its support behind the Illinois senator.

Both Obama and N.Y. Sen. Hillary Clinton have expressed support for passage of the passage of the Armenian genocide resolution. But ANCA executive director Aram Hamparian said the organization felt Obama is the candidate ``in the best position to bring about real change in how the government addresses Armenian issues.''

``The Obama candidacy has been about bringing fundamental change to how we deal with the world, how we deal with domestic affairs, and that's the type of change that we need,'' Hamparian said.

The group plans to announce its endorsement this afternoon in Glendale. Also present will be Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Pasadena and Los Angeles City Councilman Eric Garcetti.

With a life-size replica of the Oval Office, the seal of power gleaming off Air Force One and reams of White House documents, the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in Simi Valley may be the ideal setting for today's Republican presidential debate. Tony Castro in t he Daily News.

Just as Hollywood's Kodak Theatre - the site of the Oscars, next to the handprints of movie greats at Grauman's Chinese Theatre, with characters from Spider-Man to Darth Vader panhandling outside - may be the perfect venue for Thursday's Democratic debate.

From historic to Hollywood, the contrast between the venues highlights not only Los Angeles' own idiosyncracies but a culture of celebrity reflected in both campaigns.

Intent on pumping up a flailing economy, the U.S. House on Tuesday approved a massive package of tax breaks and rebates that could make more than 2 million Los Angeles County households eligible for at least $744 million in rebates. Lisa Friiiedman in the Daily News.

The package, worth an estimated $150 billion, passed 385-35 with the support of nearly every Southern California lawmaker. It now heads to the U.S. Senate.

All told, about 13 million California households would be eligible to receive more than $11.8 billion in rebates ranging from $300 to $600 for single filers and from $600 to $1,200 for married couples filing jointly.

Unveiling a flurry of traffic measures designed to dissolve bottlenecks on city streets, Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa on Tuesday also urged car-crazy Angelenos to use public transit at least once a week. Sue Doyle and Kerry Cavanauigh in the Daily News.

From installing diagonal crosswalks that will help cars make more right turns at busy corners to prohibiting vehicles from parking on more major streets during rush hour, Villaraigosa said the steps will soon bring relief to motorists - although it may take up to four months for some to roll out.

"All of us need to get out of our cars once in a while," said Villaraigosa, who also resurrected an old promise to use more public transit.

"If we don't work together to move traffic, we won't be able to say we are doing everything possible to move traffic."

Facing the threat of resignations from officers in anti-gang and drug units who hotly oppose plans to make them disclose personal financial information, Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa proposed a compromise Tuesday that he says will protect officers' privacy. Daily News.

Under the compromise, a federal court order would be issued to prevent any financial information from being subpoenaed by criminal witnesses.

The order would ensure privacy for officers and meet the terms of a federal consent decree provision designed to root out corruption among officers, the mayor said.

During his four-decade career, taxpayer-advocate attorney Richard I. Fine has filed cases that have saved California taxpayers hundreds of millions of dollars and required state lawmakers to pass budgets on time.
Troy Anderson in the Daily News.

Whether he was bringing cases that reduced inflated Los Angeles sewer rates or forcing the county to pay child- and spousal-support payments, Fine has championed ordinary people taking on one of the most powerful government and judicial systems in the nation.

"He's a tireless and brilliant fighter for the little man and people's rights," said John Rizzo, president of the Marina Tenants Association, which retained Fine to protect Marina del Rey residents facing eviction during recent marina redevelopment.

With the Democrats gearing up for the Thursday debate, Mayors for Hillary hit the tarmac today in a modern day version of a whistle-stop tour.

Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, Oakland Mayor Ron Dellums and San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom are spending Wednesday in the air to promote the economic stimulus package proposed by Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton.

A statement from the campaign says: "The California Mayors will build on the momentum of this week’s LA Times poll and continue to campaign throughout the Golden State to ensure Senator Clinton wins the February 5th California primary."

Clinton's efforts comes as Sen. Barack Obama is stepping up his television buy in the state, including commercials directed at the large Latino market.

The mayors will begin in Oakland, hop over to Sacramento, and wind up in Los Angeles.

Clinton

The countdown to Feb. 5 has begun and the presidential campaigns of Sen. Barack Obama and Sen. Hillary Clinton began their efforts on Tuesday to draw attention to their candidacies.
While the political world was still buzzing over the Obama endorsements by Sen. Edward M. Kennedy, Clinton countered with her own powerhouse of Los Angeles politics _ Rep. Maxine Waters, D-Los Angeles.
Waters, a major voice in the South Los Angeles area, said she was endorsing Clinton because of her experience on issues ranging from health care and education to opposition to the Iraq war.
And, she thinks Clinton will hold on to win California.
“I think that California is Hillary Clinton territory,” Waters said. “She has a history of providing strong leadership for California and people here are familiar with her.”
Clinton, for her part, said she identified with Californians and had worked to help provide health care for 1 million children and the families of 20,000 National Guardsmen with legislation she authored.
“I think that California is always about the future,” Clinton said. “Californians are in the solution business. They don't want mor eof the same political back and forth.”
As for the endorsements, Clinton said that, in the end, voters will decide among the candidates.
“We all have people who feel very committed to our candidacies,” Clinton said. “It's all to the good because we want to inspire people. At the end of the day, this comes down to a choic between individuals, which of us with our experiences, are qualified to be president.”

Obama
The Obama campaign, in the meantime, laid out an aggressive strategy for California _ and the 21 other areas where primaries and caucuses are being held on Feb. 5 _ to try to cut into the Clinton lead in polls.
Campaign manager David Plouffe said the Obama television buy is being increased in Los Angeles to pair up with a radio campaign.
Since the Obama victory in South Carolina last week, Plouffe said the campaign has raised $5 million through the internet and has 75,000 volunteers working in the different Feb. 5 states.
“This race now is about delegates and we feel we are in a good position,” he said, adding Obama has 63 delegates, Clinton has 48 and former Sen. John Edwards has 26 of the 2,025 delegates to be seated at the convention.
One area Obama hopes to make up some ground in among Latino voters, citing endorsments by Reps. Linda Sanchez and Xavier Becerra along with Maria Elena Durazo of the Los Angeles County Federation of Labor, AFL-CIO.

With the city of Los Angeles short $156 million this year, Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa proposed a dozen spending cuts Monday that include taking away city executives' cars and asking city employees to take five days' unpaid leave. Kerry Cavanaugh in the Daily News.

But while the proposals could generate $35 million in savings, that's still far short of the money needed to close the budget gap - so Villaraigosa is relying on an additional plan for $117 million in cuts, fees and money transfers.

The plan by City Administrative Officer Karen Sisson includes an estimated $72 million in cuts ranging from delaying the opening of new police stations and canceling funds for paving alleys to trimming library budgets for new books.

Los Angeles City Councilman Dennis Zine issued a sharp rebuke Monday as the heavy rain flooding Los Angeles recently has exposed problems at some new city animal shelters, where plastic sheeting is being used to protect animals and prevent flooding in kennels. Daily News.

Zine said use of the sheeting at the city's Northeast Animal Center at 3201 Lacy St. is an affront to taxpayers who approved a $160 million bond in 2000 to build seven new shelters.

Told Monday that the city now might need to pay $180,000 or more from the bond to correct deficiencies in the shelter designs - modeled after shelters used in Pasadena - Zine erupted.

WASHINGTON - The state of our union is strong.

I'll drink to that. And, come tonight, so will an entire subculture of young political wonks who have turned the hallowed annual presidential State of the Union address into one big excuse for a drinking game. Lisa Friedman in the Daily News.

So while the pundits listen to President Bush's speech to Congress with pen and pad in hand, others will clutch shot glasses and pound whiskey every time the commander in chief utters familiar words and lines.

Phrases like "economic stimulus," "freedom is on the march," and "nuclear" will be accompanied with clinking shot glasses in common rooms and apartments across the country.
"It's an event that feels like it deserves attention. But you definitely don't want to be watching it alone," said Justin Krebs, who has hosted State of the Union drinking games for the past five years in New York City.

"It's definitely something that goes down better with a few drinks."

Tipoffs:Did the move of California's primary election to Feb. 5 diminish its role rather than enhance it in presidential politics? Should Democrats go to a winner-take-all?

Faced with a possible recession and loss of a telephone users tax, Los Angeles leaders have begun planning for the worst-case economic scenario for the city - a half-billion-dollar budget shortfall next year. Kerry Cavanaugh in the Daily News.

Already the city is bracing for some immediate cuts to close a $75 million budget gap by June 30, which likely will mean reducing services and postponing new projects.

But looking to the 2008-09 fiscal year that starts July 1, Chief Administrative Officer Karen Sisson said last week that she anticipates the city could be short as much as $300 million.

If a telephone users tax on the Feb. 5 ballot fails to gain voter support, that figure could climb beyond $500 million.

Touted nearly a decade ago as a way to boost clean energy in Los Angeles, a Department of Water and Power program funded by ratepayers is largely subsidizing solar power systems for wealthier residents even as it falls far short of its energy goals, the Daily News has learned. Beth Barrett in the Daily News.

Since its inception in 1999, DWP ratepayers have paid $50.8 million to fund the city's Solar Incentive Program, which has financed half the cost of 1,022 solar power systems for residential and commercial property owners.

But of the $18.1 million in residential solar subsidies, nearly three-quarters has gone to 633 customers in five council districts encompassing upscale Westside communities, the West San Fernando Valley and the Silver Lake area.

Angelenos could pay as much as $120 a year in telephone taxes if Measure S passes Feb. 5, rewriting the city's existing telephone users tax to include modern technologies and help Los Angeles avoid legal challenges that could void the current tax, which generates $270 million a year.Kerry Cavanaugh in the Daily News.

The measure would allow the city to tax voice mail service, pagers, text or instant messages sent by cell phone or PDA, and private communications services such as T-1 lines businesses often use.

A city resident with a landline and a personal digital assistant such as a BlackBerry - which can be used as a mobile phone and computer - would be taxed on the telephone and text services, which could add up to $10 a month in taxes or $120 a year.

Already grappling with a regional economic squeeze, consumers shivered with concern again last week as news of a possible U.S. recession rippled through the San Fernando Valley. Sue Doyle and Brandon Lowery in the Daily News.

The turmoil that sent lawmakers scrambling to cobble together a nationwide emergency stimulus plan came as the Valley endures fallout from the subprime mortgage crisis and a writers strike that has hammered the entertainment industry.

Coupled with rising home foreclosures, recent layoffs at longtime Valley-area industry giants Countrywide and Amgen, and pricey tabs at the gas pumps, the shifting economic landscape is leaving consumers clutching their pocketbooks tighter.

Jose Cervantez's last words to the health inspector hung in the air like the smell of diced onions and garlic he had just sauteed.

"We'll have no business," he said. "To me, it's not fair you are doing this." Susan Abram in the Daily News.

But inspector Scott Hunter continued, changing the letter grade on the front window of Cervantez's North Hollywood Mexican restaurant from a blue A to a scarlet C.

"Part of the problem was food temperature," Hunter said after he poked around Cervantez's refrigeration system, stove top and shelves, finding items that should be chilled to 41degrees were actually stored at 47.

Oh, how far the once-mighty U.S. dollar has fallen.

It's been a steady five-year decline for the greenback, a reality reflected by the fact that the Canadian dollar is now a more valued currency on the world market for the first time since the deep U.S. recession of the late 1970s. Kristopher Hanson in the Daily News.

And in the past 12 months, the dollar has deflated to about half the value of the British pound, and it now demands about two-thirds the value of the Euro.

A hamburger and pint of beer in London, if you can afford to get there, can set you back $25, and in India, where the rupee trades 34-to-1 against the dollar, the government has stopped accepting U.S. currency at tourist sites such as the Taj Mahal.

California's community college students will pay less for classes if voters pass Proposition 92, which in addition to cutting tuition by 25 percent would guarantee long-term funding for two-year schools. Lisa M. Krieger in the Daily News.

But the measure creates no way to pay for itself, and it could mean higher costs for students at state-funded four-year universities, which would be forced to compete for a smaller share of California's shrinking general fund.

The measure has sharply divided California's educational community, with the endorsement of the Community College League of California but opposition from the University of California, California State University and the California Teachers Association.

Complete election wrap in today's Daily News.

Los Angeles Holocaust survivors and their families, many with tears in their eyes, commemorated the 63rd anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz on Friday with the symbolic groundbreaking for the permanent home of the city's first museum dedicated exclusively to remembering the slaughter of 12 million in World War II death camps. Tony Castro in the Daily News.

The new home of the Los Angeles Museum of the Holocaust will be made possible through a landmark agreement with the city to build the state-of-the-art facility in Pan Pacific Park next to the Holocaust Memorial Monument in the Park La Brea area adjacent to The Grove.

"The liberation of Auschwitz 63 years ago was the first step towards extinguishing, once and for all, the fire of the Nazi concentration camps," Mark Rothman,a museum executive director, said at ceremonies moved indoors because of the rainstorm.

When the 15-story NoHo 14 project broke ground in early 2004, the project was described as the "quintessential smart-growth, transit-oriented development" by several city leaders.Connie Llanos in the Daily News.

With its open floor plans and modern design, the building was to be the Valley's first residential skyscraper - the first signs of urbanization in the area.

But since the initial groundbreaking fanfare, the building has been plagued with delays, rumors and controversy.

Well, that didn't take long.

Less than two weeks after taking a leave from her job as head of the county Federation of Labor to work for Sen. Barack Obama, Maria Elena Durazo has been named national co-chair of the campaign.

Durazo, whose roots are in organizing workers, will serve as one of the main surrogates for the Obama campaign leading up to the Feb. 5 primary election. One of her first jobs is hosting a series of round table discussions around the state focusing on the economy.

With Los Angeles' budget short at least $75 million, City Councilwoman Wendy Greuel asked her colleagues Wednesday to revive 10 proposals that could save millions of dollars. Kerry Cavanaugh in the Daily News.

Most of the cost-saving measures have been suggested before, but proved politically unpopular and stalled. Now, with the city facing the first drop in revenue in a decade and program cuts expected to balance the budget, Greuel said city leaders should start trimming costs and generating more money.

"We need to be more disciplined in how we spend taxpayers' money," Greuel said. "We must use our current financial situation to fundamentally re-examine our spending policies and place a heavier emphasis on fiscal responsibility."

Los Angeles schools could lose up to $20 million - and be forced to close many of the region's school-based health clinics - under a plan by the Bush administration to stop reimbursing districts for certain Medicaid costs. Lisa Friedman in the Daily News.

And Los Angeles Unified School District officials, in Washington this week protesting the new Medicaid rule, are taking the lead in what is shaping up as a national fight.

Local officials said about 150 organizations, including schools, hospitals and disability-rights groups across the country, have already met to protest the changes costing more than $635 million nationally.

Looking to turn trash into treasure, Los Angeles' Bureau of Sanitation has launched a plan to help generate millions of dollars from the spaghetti jars, old newspapers and shoe boxes residents throw out. Sue Doyle in the Daily News.

Under the massive citywide recycling program - known as the Zero Waste Plan - most of the 3,600 tons of trash picked up daily in Los Angeles will be recycled, reduced to compost or turned into alternative energy by 2030.

The plan's goal is to stop the piling up of old yogurt cups, coffee grinds and other junk in landfills, where they churn out greenhouse gases.

In an effort to rescue businesses haunted by the intangible horrors of Los Angeles' city bureaucracy, the Valley Industry and Commerce Association this week rolled out a team that draws on city contacts to solve members' problems. Brendan Lowery in the Daily News.

The Red Tape Busters work out of a Sherman Oaks office that VICA President Brendan Huffman describes as fairly typical - no poles to slide down and no custom car with a blaring siren.

Even in the middle of a fiscal crisis, California can still improve its school system by boosting support for minority students and expanding preschool programs, state Superintendent for Public Instruction Jack O'Connell said Tuesday.Harrison Sheppard in the Daily News.

O'Connell delivered his fifth annual State of Education address to educators and administrators in Sacramento who were painfully aware that Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has called for cutting $4.4 billion from schools in the next 18 months as part of an effort to close a $14.5 billion budget deficit.

"We have a serious budget shortfall, but improving our education system is the key to ensuring that California has a well-qualified work force to secure a healthy economy in the future," O'Connell said.

Seeking to reverse job losses that have plagued Los Angeles, a panel expects to disclose a plan today to boost economic development, with action ranging from expanding the city's international airport and seaport to creating tax-incentive zones for business.Daily NJews.

Since the peak of local employment in 1995, the report from the Los Angeles Economy and Jobs Committee says L.A. has lost 100,000 jobs to neighboring cities and regions that have developed strategies to attract businesses.

Authors of the report, "Building a World-Class City for the 21st Century," say city leaders need to take strong action to stem the job losses.

So Republican ex-Senator Fred Thompson is finally, mercifully taking his hat out of the presidential race. The pundits will no doubt be asking variations on "what took him so long?" given his consistently lousy showing in the primaries and caucuses to date. (It was only in Wyoming that he came in maid of honor to Mitt Romney.)

But Hollywood observers may note that Thompson's campaign kicked off officially only in September, just weeks before the Writers Guild of America went on strike, effectively freezing TV and film production. Thompson, best known as District Attorney Arthur Branch on "Law & Order," may have the most interesting what-I-did-during-the-strike story when the business of making show business finally resumes.

While more of California's elected officials are going hybrid green, the Capitol's most powerful Democrat rolls candy-apple red in a $38,600 Dodge Charger with 22-inch rims. John Simerman and Harrison Sheppard in the Daily News.

Sen. Don Perata, D-Oakland, is far from alone among state lawmakers in his taste for gas-slurping automotive luxury at mostly taxpayer expense.

More than half of the senators who use state-leased cars opt for traditional gas vehicles that get 20 combined city/highway miles or less per gallon, according to an analysis of Senate data using new federal fuel-economy ratings.