Recently in Politics Category

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.