South Bay Pipeline

Laura Richardson gets her tweet on

2009-11-09T03:40:11Z

Looks like Rep. Laura Richardson is embracing social media. Her new Twitter handle, effective yesterday, is CLRintheHouse.

Her first few posts came from the floor debate on health care, and so far it looks like she's willing to throw some partisan elbows:

Even they (the Republicans) aren't buying it or interested. They are looking around and they are bored. They realize it is over!

Some, though, you had to be watching C-SPAN to understand:

Re: Dingle; factual and embarrassing to other side of aisle said, "it's just not a substitute." Stands weak frame, not from age, but fight.

Looks like she's still getting her feet wet. No hash tags or bit.ly links just yet. For that, we turn to Rep. Dana Rohrabacher, who has been on Twitter for some time and is a full-fledged TCOT (Top Conservative on Twitter). What was he tweeting yesterday?

Dems are not giving us the right to a real debate on #healthcare for #illegals. Obamacare=Illegalcare #killbill #illegalcare #tcot

#Obamacare means more for #illegals, less for our #seniors. #illegalcare #killbill #tcot

#Obamacare cuts Medicare by 100s of Billions of $ & spends Billions of $ 2 provide #healthcare for #illegals. #killbill #tcot

The #Obamacare powergrab will take billions from our seniors & subsidize #illegals, but worse it will destroy our freedom. #killbill

When the Berlin Wall came down 20 years ago, we made the mistake thinking that socialism was defeated. #hcr #tcot

Richardson is going to have to step it up if she wants to keep pace with Long Beach's other congressman.

Harman on the Stupak amendment

2009-11-09T03:23:32Z

Though the House passed its health care reform bill last night on a 220-215 vote, it was not an entirely joyous moment for the body's liberal Democrats.

The House first passed an amendment, 240-194, that would prohibit coverage for abortion in the newly formed health insurance exchanges. Federal funding for abortion is already prohibited, and supporters of the Stupak amendment say they are merely extending that prohibition to the new health care plan.

But opponents of the amendment -- including the South Bay's three Democratic representatives, Jane Harman, Laura Richardson and Maxine Waters -- say it is a significant expansion of the Hyde amendment of 1977, and would prevent women even from spending their own money on health insurance that includes coverage for abortion.

Each South Bay Democrat voted against the Stupak amendment before voting for the full bill. (Waters cast the 218th vote for the full bill, putting it over the top.) The South Bay's lone Republican representative, Dana Rohrabacher, voted the for the Stupak amendment and against the full bill -- as did all other Republicans except one.

In a statement, Harman says she will have to reconsider her support for the health care bill if the Stupak amendment is contained in the version approved by the conference committee. Full statement after the jump.
]]> HARMAN CONDEMNS STUPAK AMENDMENT ON ABORTION

It is going to be very difficult for me to vote for a health care bill that contains the Stupak amendment on abortion.

Far from codifying the Hyde language, which has been included in House appropriations bills since 1976, the Stupak amendment would essentially make it impossible for most women to use their own funds to purchase insurance to pay for abortions. This is not chipping away at a woman's right to choose, this is an outright assault on my constitutional rights - and it is wrong.

I respect the right of any woman or man to oppose abortion. But, in return, I expect those who are anti-choice to respect my views. My views are that abortion should be safe and rare - but that a woman's constitutional right to privacy as articulated in Roe v. Wade is inviolable.

I am old enough to remember the days of back alley abortions. Some women I know had them. I cannot bear the idea that the 111^th Congress would restore that horror.

The Stupak amendment is insulting and destructive. Its passage would pair us with the government of Afghanistan in sending women's rights back to the Stone Age. I intend to vote for this bill, but if it contains the Stupak amendment when it emerges from Conference Committee, my conscience demands that I reconsider my support.

Deja vu: Harman not under ethics investigation in wiretap case

2009-11-06T23:09:33Z

Rep. Jane Harman has received assurances that she is not under an ethics investigation, following the disclosure last week that the House Ethics Committee looked into her wiretapped phone call.

Rep. Zoe Lofgren, who chairs the committee, wrote to Harman this week stating that "the Committee is not conducting an investigation regarding your conduct."

If that sounds familiar, recall that the Justice Department also sent Harman a letter in June stating that she is not the subject of a criminal inquiry into the matter.

This goes back to April, when CQ Politics published a story claiming that Harman had been taped agreeing to press for leniency in an espionage case against two former AIPAC officials in exchange for support in her bid to become chair of the Intelligence Committee. Harman has said she never intervened in the case and has called the disclosure an abuse of power.

According to a document obtained last week by the Washington Post, the Ethics Committee subpoenaed Harman's wiretapped call. The Post also reported that the Justice Department denied the request.

Recall for a moment that South Bay Reps. Maxine Waters and Laura Richardson were not initially investigated by the Ethics Committee, but rather by the semi-independent Office of Congressional Ethics. So why didn't the OCE also look into the Harman wiretapping? Who knows, but it's interesting to note that the co-chair of the OCE is Porter Goss, who has a not-insignificant role in the whole affair.

Read the full Ethics Committee letter after the jump.
]]> The Honorable Jane Harman
U.S. House of Representatives
2400 Rayburn House Office Building
Washington, D.C. 20515

Dear Congresswoman Harman:

We are writing with regard to information contained in media reports and other sources of alleged wiretapped conversations related to a controversial criminal prosecution of two former officials of the American Israeli Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC). While the Committee does not confirm or elaborate on media reports, the Committee is not conducting an investigation into your conduct.

Should you have any questions, please contact the Committee's chief counsel, R. Blake Chisam, at (202) 225-7103.

Sincerely,

Zoe Lofgren
Chair

Jo Bonner
Ranking Republican Member

South Bay, hello: It's Nov. 6

2009-11-06T18:27:18Z

Readers, for your informational pleasure:

The day after narrowly losing his bid for a seat on the Rancho Palos Verdes City Council, former Mayor John McTaggart died Wednesday. "He's gone out with flying colors," his wife Flo said. "As far as I'm concerned, he gave the city a boot in the you-know-where."

A mint-condition 1965 Volkswagen microbus stolen in the 1970s turned up in a cargo crate at the Port of Los Angeles this week. The pristine car has just 70,000 miles on it and is probably worth up to $30,000 more than it was 35 years ago. Some old hippie is probably totally stoked right now.

No one was injured Thursday when a power pole fell on a school bus carrying physically disabled children in Redondo Beach. Check out pictures of the scene.

Turns out that Carson's prediction of revenue for its new utility-users' tax is a bit too high. Like by at least $1 million.

A Manhattan Beach man rescued his bed-ridden neighbor from her burning home early Thursday.

A Gardena woman has turned her baking habit into a profitable business. Mmm. Cookies.

Two Carson High linebackers like to compare their approach to the game to that of their San Diego Chargers counterparts.

South Bay, hello: It's Nov. 5

2009-11-05T16:12:17Z

Coming at ya, readers:

Lomita's City Council race has ended in a tie for the third seat, a relative rarity in local elections. Also, check out our post-election coverage.

Say goodbye to bikini-clad baristas in Torrance. The controversial Bikini Espresso is closing.

The family of a man killed in a shootout that also injured a sheriff's deputy this week in Lawndale said the incident could have been avoided had a parole agent arrested Juan Carlos Aguilar for drug possession earlier that day. Check out pictures of the aftermath.

John Bogert opines about a rite of passage -- school dances.

Trial has started for the former Torrance plastic surgeon accused of working while on disability and double-billing for procedures.

Los Angeles city leaders have approved $1.3 billion worth of construction contracts to expand the Tom Bradley International Terminal at LAX.

Several South Bay cities and agencies will get nearly $13 million for various projects from Los Angeles County, Supervisor Don Knabe announced in his state of the county speech Wednesday.

Two Mira Costa High School girl volleyball players are glamming up the usually inglorious middle blocker position.

Is race a factor in ethics probes?

2009-11-04T21:01:51Z

Politico goes there, citing unnamed black lawmakers who see a racial disparity in the recent actions of the House Ethics Committee. South Bay Reps. Laura Richardson and Maxine Waters were referred for full investigations last week, bringing the number of black lawmakers under scrutiny to seven:

What especially galled black lawmakers was that the ethics committee voted to move forward with the Waters and Richardson probes following the OCE referrals, while Graves -- who OCE also thought should be investigated by the ethics committee -- saw his case dismissed...

"It is kind of crazy," said an aide to one senior black Democrat. "How can it be that the ethics committee only investigates African-Americans? It doesn't make sense."

Waters, who voted against the creation of the Office of Congressional Ethics, is said to particularly livid that her case was referred.
]]>

"A lot of that has to do with outside watchdog groups like [Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington] that have to have a level of success to justify OCE," the CBC member said...

But these same groups won't go after Rep. Jane Harman (D-Calif.), this lawmaker claimed, "because she has plenty of money to defend herself," and the outside groups don't want to take a risk. The Democrat said the ethics committee would be going up against Harman's lawyers and "going up against" the powerful American Israel Public Affairs Committee if they push the OCE to pressure the ethics committee to act.

I don't know who this unnamed lawmaker is, but this line of argument sounds similar to one advanced last year by Richardson. In explaining why she was defaulting on her mortgages, Richardson pointed out that unlike Harman, she is not fortunate enough to be independently wealthy.

Again, I don't know who Politico's source is, but it does seem notable that Harman's wealth keeps surfacing as a point of resentment among her fellow Democrats.

For the record, CREW did file a complaint about Harman's wiretapped phone call, and the House Ethics document that leaked last week showed that the committee followed up on it.

Hermosa called: Keegan is out, Fishman and Duclos in, Bobko still in

2009-11-04T07:38:43Z

With all seven precincts counted, Hermosa voters ousted one City Council incumbent, but kept another and added two new folks to the dais today.

With 24.8 percent of the vote, Howard Fishman was the top vote-getter. Following were Jeff Duclos and current Mayor Kit Bobko, respectively earning 18.3 and 15.8 percent of the vote.

Two-term Councilman Michael Keegan finished fourth with 13.7 percent of the vote.

Also trailing in the eight-candidate field were Josh Ochs with 10.6 percent; Kathleen Midstokke with 9.3 percent, Christopher Reed with 6.4 percent, and Marc Schoonover with 1.1 percent.

Fishman still leads as precincts start coming in Hermosa race

2009-11-04T07:11:17Z

With absentee votes and three of seven precincts reporting in the Hermosa Beach City Council race, Howard Fishman is still leading in the race for three seats.

Fishman has 23.9 percent of the vote; Jeff Duclos has 18.7 percent, and current Mayor Kit Bobko has 15.6 percent.

Incumbent Michael Keegan is still trailing with 12.9 percent.

Burns leads in battle for Hermosa schools

2009-11-04T04:29:21Z

Readers, absentee votes are also in for the Hermosa Beach City School District race for three seats.

Here are the early results: Jack Burns leads with 28.3 percent of the vote, followed by Ray Waters with 25.3 percent and Carleen Beste with 24.2 percent.

Trailing are Sienna Tucker with 14.3 percent and Jake Pike with 7.9 percent.

There is so much more to come, so stay tuned.

Fishman leads in Hermosa Beach absentees

2009-11-04T04:14:29Z

We're off, readers.

Looks like absentee votes are counted in Hermosa Beach's race for three City Council seats.

Here's the so-far top vote-getters in a field of eight candidates: Howard Fishman leads with 23.64 percent; Jeff Duclos follows with 18.0%; and current Mayor Kit Bobko has 15.76 percent.

Incumbent Michael Keegan is trailing with 12.62 percent.

PHOTOS: Hawthorne soldier's funeral

2009-11-03T22:06:47Z

Laura Wehde, photographer at the Mitchell Republic newspaper in South Dakota, sent these photos she took at the funeral for Sgt. Eduviges G. Wolf, which is underway today in Alexandria.

Wolf, a Hawthorne resident who graduated from Leuzinger High School, was killed Oct. 25 while fighting with her Army unit in Afghanistan. We'll have coverage in tomorrow's Daily Breeze and later on dailybreeze.com. She left behind two children and a husband.

Newsom out, Harman in?

2009-11-03T21:49:03Z

After Gavin Newsom dropped out of the governor's race last week, the search was on for Democrats who might try to impede Jerry Brown's clear path to the party's nomination.

Since this conversation is largely about money -- who has it, and who can raise it fast -- one of the names on everybody's list is South Bay Rep. Jane Harman. Harman, who ran for governor in 1998, visited the Breeze offices a couple weeks back and made it pretty clear that she has no intention of running again.

Harman is a security wonk, first and foremost, and has been focused lately on corruption in Afghanistan -- a topic that wouldn't be anywhere near the governor's portfolio. In the editorial meeting, she lamented that the office has been greatly diminished over the years as Sacramento has become more and more dysfunctional.

Nevertheless, the Great Mentioner isn't giving up so easily. Over the weekend, no less a mentioner than Former Speaker Willie Brown mentioned Harman in his weekend column.

No comment from Harmanland, so we take it that her earlier comments stand.

Also being mentioned: Dianne Feinstein, Bill Lockyer, Loretta Sanchez, Bob Hertzberg, and ... Maria Shriver?

Dr. Drew helps seriously injured player at Chadwick game

2009-11-02T23:03:00Z

Dr. Drew Pinsky, the radio and television personality, ran onto the Chadwick School football field Saturday to assist a seriously injured student.

The player, Jackson Allan, a sophomore at Polytechnic School in Pasadena, suffered a traumatic head injury that caused him to lose consciousness, according to a letter issued by Poly's Head of School Debbie Reed.

Pinsky, who hosts "Celebrity Rehab with Dr. Drew" on VH1, and the radio show "Loveline," is the parent of a Poly student. He and Chadwick parent, Dr. Roger Lewis, provided care for Allan until paramedics arrived at the Palos Verdes Peninsula campus.

Allan was taken to County Harbor-UCLA Medical Center where he underwent surgery to relieve pressure on the brain from internal bleeding.

Lewis is a faculty member and emergency room doctor at the hospital.

The Facebook page, "Get well soon Jackson Allan" provides updates on his condition, listed Monday as critical but stable.

RPV Republicans dress up as Democrats for Halloween

2009-11-01T00:25:22Z

In the past few days, Rancho Palos Verdes residents have received some unusual election mailers that seem to suggest City Council candidate Anthony Misetich -- and in some cases, candidate Brian Campbell -- are Democrats.

The two men are registered Republicans.

Two of the top spenders in the seven-candidate, nonpartisan race for two seats on the council, Misetich and Campbell have received endorsements and support from conservative groups on the Hill. One flyer sent to Republicans calls Misetich a "proven Republican leader."

Now, their names are on a mailer that urges Democrats to "exorcise" their right to vote -- and promotes the legalization of marijuana.

That mailer -- along with another one that more explicitly seeks to link Misetich and other local candidates to Democratic leaders -- has prompted a flurry of e-mails and accusations between the candidates, current council members and local party leaders.

On the first mailer, the statement describing Misetich notes he's endorsed by L.A. Councilwoman Janice Hahn and former state Sen. Betty Karnette and "local Democrat leaders."

Palos Verdes Peninsula school board candidates Anthony Collatos, Heather Haddon Matson and Greg Royston are on the mailer too. (Matson is a decline-to-state voter and the other two are Democrats, though all three have backing from some staunch PV conservatives. More on that in tomorrow's paper.)

See below for a version sent to me by to a voter in the Eastview area (which is outside of PVPUSD, so it doesn't include school board candidates).

(I'm sorry if you have to squint to read these things. I'm having trouble with our blogging software and can't seem to make them bigger.)

Anyway, these are done by an outfit called Voter Information Guide, out of Sherman Oaks. The mailers are a product of Levine and Associates, run by political consultant Larry Levine. (You'll see his food-related Web site is -- somewhat oddly -- promoted on the mailer.)

Some of the mailers do not include Campbell, who told me he had tried to back out of the mailer once he realized it would include candidates in the school board race, which he described as ugly. The statement about him in the mailer, he said, was pulled directly from his Web site without his permission.

Campbell said he stopped payment on a check to Levine, but the check was cashed anyway. When Campbell realized the check had cleared, he said, his campaign called Levine's office and was told his name was already on some mailers, but he would be removed from the remaining unprinted mailers.

Misetich told me Friday that the mailers were simply part of a slate that he bought onto, and that different messages on similar mailers were targeted at Republican, Democratic and independent voters. He said he didn't think they were deceptive, noting that the mailers never overtly stated he was a Democrat. He also said he had not seen the mailer until Friday morning, when we spoke on the phone.

A consultant to Misetich's campaign, Tom Shortridge (who works for former L.A. Councilman Rudy Svorinich's firm), noted in turn that a mailer from candidates Jeff Lewis and Paul Tetreault failed to include a name and address for Lewis' campaign committee. Tetreault's was included. Shortridge also suggested that by including a Daily Breeze editorial board statement endorsing Tetreault, the mailer implied the paper had also endorsed Lewis. (The board chose Misetich.)

OK. Are you keeping up?

This morning, I got an email with a new, much nicer-looking mailer from Covina-based "Democratic Voters Choice" that seeks to place Misetich alongside icons of the Democratic Party, with pictures of JFK, FDR, Harry Truman and Barack Obama. Campbell's not on this one, but the three school board candidates mentioned above are, as is PV Library District candidate Barry Yudess.

"This November we can continue to move forward by electing good progressive candidates who share our values," the mailer states. See:

Both of these slate mailer organizations are apparently known for sending out this kind of campaign material. I'm also told that deceptive Republicans-as-Democrats mailers have been sent out in past RPV council elections.

Whew. Happy Halloween!

WaPo: Harman, too, was subject of ethics inquiry

2009-10-30T06:09:11Z

What a day for the South Bay's representatives in Congress.

First, Reps. Maxine Waters and Laura Richardson were referred for full Ethics Committee investigations.

Now comes word that ethics investigators also looked into the wiretapping of Rep. Jane Harman. Due to a file-sharing error, the Washington Post today got its hands on a secret Ethics Committee memo that detailed investigations into more than 30 members.

Here's the part of the Post story about that document that deals with Harman:

The committee on June 9 authorized issuance of subpoenas to the Justice Department, the National Security Agency and the FBI for "certain intercepted communications" regarding Rep. Jane Harman (D-Calif.). As was reported earlier this year, Harman was heard in a 2005 conversation agreeing to an Israeli operative's request to try to obtain leniency for two pro-Israel lobbyists in exchange for the agent's help in lobbying House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) to name her chairman of the intelligence committee. The department, a former U.S. official said, declined to respond to the subpoena.

Harman said that the ethics committee has not contacted her and that she has no knowledge that the subpoena was ever issued. "I don't believe that's true," she said. "As far as I'm concerned, this smear has been over for three years."

Harman also requested transcripts of her intercepted phone call, but did not receive a response from the Justice Department. She was informed that she was not a target of a criminal investigation.

The Harman wiretap story is complicated enough to make the allegations against Richardson and Waters look simple and straightforward by comparison.
]]> Porter Goss, who wanted to launch an investigation of Harman. As the story goes, he was thwarted by then-Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, who invoked Harman's support for the Bush administration's warrantless wiretapping program in her defense.

The leak of this account back in April has been widely attributed to Goss.

Why would he do that?

Well, less than a week later, Goss published an op/ed in the Washington Post expressing anger at Harman and Pelosi over the torture issue. Similarly, the original story about Harman's conversation first broke in 2006, three days after Harman unilaterally released a report on disgraced Rep. Duke Cunningham which also didn't make Goss look good.

It certainly looks like a two-step process: 1) Harman does something that angers Goss; 2) a story appears about Harman's wiretapped call.

Returning to the narrative for a moment, there are some holes. Such as: 1) Is there a crime there? 2) If not, what would Goss have been investigating? 3) Whatever it was, why would the CIA director have jurisdiction over it?

For her part, Harman says she doesn't remember the specifics of a four-year-old phone call, which is why she'd like to have the transcript and make it public.