By Doug Dowie
Correspondent
I was reminded of two things Sunday: newspaper-editor-turned-blogger Ron Kaye is still having a big impact on L.A. politics, and you need to be incredibly dedicated to run for office in this city - especially if you're a mom with a son who is "four and three-quarters."
Following up on my first contribution to RonKayeLA.com, I attended the LA's BEST brunch yesterday. I've been going to this event for 10 years, but I'm still impressed with the turnout. The mayor, just back from the fire at Universal Studios and smelling like smoke, was there, as was his predecessor, who was a big supporter of the after-school enrichment program while he was in office.
Other notables in the crowd of about 500 included NBA stars Baron Davis and Shaun Livingston, astronaut Buzz Aldrin, actors Doris Roberts and Forest Whitaker, Ray Cortines (who is almost single-handedly trying to fix the problems at the LAUSD) and LAPD Chief Bill Bratton, who needs programs like LA's BEST if he's ever going to make a dent in our gang problems.
I'm not sure if the chief checks out Ron's blog, but I'm sure his wife Rikki Klieman does.
"I read what you wrote about LA's BEST," she told me when I made it over to her table to say hello. " I printed it and gave it to my husband. This is a great program."
As a board member, Rikki is biased, of course. But she's also right.
I sat for a while with Janice Hahn and Wendy Greuel, her husband, Dean, and their son, Thomas. Wendy was an aide to Tom Bradley when he started LA's BEST. She's now a City Councilwoman and a candidate for City Controller.
I hadn't seen Thomas for a while. When he was a baby, Wendy would bring him along to events and I'd entertain him while she talked politics. He is clearly a very important part of her life. She's balancing being a politician - and a mother.
Now, as Thomas told me, he's "four and three-quarters years old." He also informed me that we were wearing the same outfit, which means either I'm dressing like a child, or he's got incredibly good taste.
Three hours later, I met up again with Wendy and her family at the UCLA Alumni Awards. Our friend, Jeff Seymour, was being given the 2008 Alumni Award for University Service, an honor most of us thought he received years ago. He certainly deserved it. Jeff works his ass off for the school, and I'm sure he has a little bruin tattooed somewhere on his body.
Also in our row - people with kids sit in the back -- were our friends Richard Katz, Wendy Mitchell and their 15-month-old son Mitchell, who, Thomas pointed out, was wearing an outfit similar to ours. The kid's very clothes conscious.
All of us sat through the first half of presentations to see Jeff get his award and hear his speech, and then I took the boys out in the lobby. They were doing fine - their moms gave them their cell phones to play with (only in LA!)-- but no kid should be forced to sit through 20 or so acceptance speeches.
We had a great time. Mitch, who has been become a wonderful addition to my life since he was born, crawled around (he knows how to walk, his mother points out, he just chooses to crawl), while Thomas ranked the relative merits of Spiderman, Transformers and the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles for me. (Transformers won.) The only unsettling moment is when one of the students working the event asked if I was their grandfather.
After about an hour, Wendy and her husband retrieved Thomas. They were headed to yet another event.
I've been around politicians for 30 years and I've known Wendy a long time, but I was struck by what it's going to take for her to become Controller. She is arguably the smartest and hardest working member on the City Council, her Valley constituents love her and she would undoubtedly do a great job. But it's going to take months of spending weekends attending non-stop events all over the city and about $2 million to get there.
"You know, Thomas," Wendy said as we walked to the door, "Doug was the every first person who told me I should run for the City Council."
I quickly added: "That's true, kid, but I had nothing to do with this one!"
It was almost 5 o'clock. The candidate and her husband had started early and looked tired, but Thomas seemed ready to go. Twenty-five years from now, when he's running for mayor, he'll probably recall when he campaigned with his mother when he was just a boy.
Let's hope by that time, with his mother's help, we've done something to fix the problems that have plagued us for the past 25 years. If not, I have feeling he'll be up to the job. I'm positive he'll be well dressed.
(Doug Dowie is the former managing editor of Daily News, L.A. Bureau Chief for the United Press International wire service, chief of staff to then Assemblyman Richard Katz and head of the Fleishman-Hillard public relations office in L.A. His appeal of a wire fraud conviction involving Department of Water and Power billing is pending in federal court.)
Ron Kaye is the former editor of the Los Angeles Daily News where he spent 23 years helping to make the newspaper the voice of the San Fernando Valley and fighting for a city government that serves the people and not special interests.
Twice in recent years, Los Angeles Magazine listed Kaye among the city’s most influential people, specifically in the area of politics. Kaye has been variously described in the media as the “accidental anarchist,” “the Patrick Henry of the San Fernando Valley” and a “passionate populist.” He is now committed to
carrying on his crusade for a greater Los Angeles as an ordinary citizen. Previously, Ron worked at the Los Angeles Herald Examiner,
Associated Press, Cleveland Plain Dealer and The Australian as well as papers
in Fairbanks, Alaska and Yakima, Wash. He also wrote for Newsweek magazine, The Guardian in London and the National Enquirer.
Doug: Stay in public, keep writing. You can be Colbert to Kaye's Daily show, or choose a better corollary. Blog on.
I think that Doug needs a grip on reality. Before you tell everyone how much Wendy "The Tool" has done for her district I suggest that you cruise Laurel Canyon from Oxnard North To Vanowen. Where once was a section of stores behind Sears is now a school. On the stretch South of Victory are a strip of empty and decaying buildings.
When I confronted one of Wendy's lackeys about the school before it was built and why she had not opposed it I was assured that the Councilwoman was on it. I was told that they had a plan for the area South of Victory to replace the commercial district taken for the school.
Well you can see how well that has gone if you take a drive as I suggested. No she is not good and there are constituents who do not love her, myself for one.
Kathleen Evans is the only choice for controller and she actually has been a controller in business and she is a CPA. She has the experience and training that Wendy Greuel lacks.
I work for the City of Los Angeles.
Where I work everyone thinks Wendy is an asshole and none are voting for her.
We hope she gets her ass kicked in the upcoming election and would hate to see her signature on our checks!
Deleted my post...how gay.
actually it's up where you put your comments http://ronkayela.com/2008/06/dowie.html