An old dog who’s been involved in LA politics for a long time once told me why our current leaders like Antonio and Fabian Nunez (former leader, now “consultant) tend to flaunt their power with the trappings of success usually associated with millionaires – expensive restaurants, great wine, designer clothes and a wink and a nod when it comes to ethics.
They think it’s their turn, the old dog said.
I thought about this the other day when I read that Antonio, Fabian and former Ayatollah of the Assembly Willie Brown had dinner recently in one of Beverly Hills (note: not LA!) most expensive restaurants, Cut. (Great doggie bags, if somebody would like to try to bribe me.)
Willie Brown obviously thought it was his turn, too.
I think the old dog that shared this with me had it right. Just think about: If you met any of these guys when they were say 16, what do you think the odds were that they would be being among the most powerful leaders in California? A million to one? Maybe.
These guys are scrappers. They don’t have impressive educations. They operate from their gut. And because they hang out with lots of rich people who want things from them – remember their power – they tend to believe they should enjoy the same lifestyle.
That’s why a lot of people hate them. And I envy them. Remember, I live on kibble in Ron’s backyard.
And I’m scrappy too!
The Dog Trainer’s top dog columnist, Steve Lopez, did a dumb online poll last week, asking his readers for the “worst Angeleno of all time.” The winner? Not Richard “Night Stalker” Ramirez. Not Charles Manson. But Antonio!
The poll was ridiculous – and Lopez admitted it. But it says a lot about how people feel about LA right now, at least those who took the time to vote.
They are pissed off. They want a leader who can fix our problems, not a celebrity – even if it’s his turn.
Woof!!
Those 3 have completely lost touch with where they came from.
Willie was once a great leader who held back the right wing forces attempts at dismantling Californias safety net and peoples chance for advancement.
Now? he’ll sell out his mother for any contract-his biggest client is the Indian casinos.
Fabian…is a triple dipping consultant whose term as Speaker will be looked on like Bushs’ terms- a period when he did nothing to prepare or stop the economic train wreck that is now california.
Antonio-the phoniest of the bunch. I wonder how often he goes to dinner in East LA? He is still close to labor, because he needs their votes and money…but you watch; befor long Antonio will have very few friends left-Maybe Brackpool and whatever remnants of the Clinton cabal want to stay involved with the embarrassment that his Mayoralty has become.
Your viewpoint on this is something that I have noticed over the years generally with Latino politicians, and maybe I should say Mexican and Mexican-Americans who have come from a modest working class background, either in the urban or agricultural surroundings. As a Mexican-American, I tend to have noticed such social/political climbers more with more interest since I come from the same kind of background, as well.
I have noticed that many, though not all, turn into the adult equivalent of a kid in a candy store. The analogy applies further to consider a kid would be very pleased with what’s before him and have to work on what he’ll choose to buy; you also have some with ideas of other that solve that dilemma by simply working on that by applying he five-finger discount.
I suppose that these guys just can’t believe their good fortune and, as noted, adopt the idea that there is some entitlement to live the life in the manner of the wealthy. It’s what? Their destiny, their reward for their shrewd manipulation of situations that removes any guilt in so doing this upward conversion in life style.
You have others who have come into politics already wealthy and I don’t see that happening with them. Riordan and Schwartzenegger, of course are a couple, criticized for separate reasons. That financial disparity among politicians might be what confines the mentioned behavior to only some, and maybe it’s strictly on a financial basis and not cultural or ethnic one, as there are lots of other politicians who try to get themselves a good share of benefits by reason of their position.
But with these Latino fellows from Tony to Fabian and let’s be fair and include Republican Abel Maldonado in this part- They don’t forget where they come from, and regularly expoit it. That is, they will do it and act as if there were in that situation yesterday in order to connect with fellow Latinos, if it can get them sympathy, support, credibiity, envy, but most of all, VOTES.
I am so tired of hearing long-winded reflections, especially from Tony, about the past and their struggles (many of which tales have undoubtedly filtered out the seedy or uncomplimentary aspects of that past) every time they can, and those opportunities seem endless during campaign season. It could serve as a role model maybe, except for the fact that these guys are so seedy that you might not really want your kids to model anything about them, especially their characters.
Back to Abel Maldonado, the most recent example that I noticed getting on this bandwagon. When he was announced by the Gov. as the pick for Lt. Gov. they made the announcement at an ELA park and the regular scripts were followed by Maldonado, all the “American Dream” stuff and “I used to live right there…” All just so wearisome for me to hear. But the part that caught my attention was the follow-up he gave in Spanish that many thought was just the same platitudes translated.
Maldonado launched into an entirely different tone with some added spirit of militancy that hinted at, in short, “we are the majority and will be getting ours”- No “American Dream”, or “You can be anything in this great country.”
But he must have been in a brain-freeze state or just stubbornly arrogant to do that as many non-Latinos, news people among them, understood that Spanish, at least to notice how he shifted gears into a less humble content, and they reported that version of the content, at least at KFI.
So maybe I am just a bit envious of their positions where they wield lots of influence, but then they are or have become truly devoid of character and of the underlying purpose of being an elected official to do the work FOR the public and not turn into the kid in the candy store, a kid who also has groomed a larcenous spirit that is regularly exercised in that public position.
After hearing that about Maldo I’ll have to hope Gavin Newsom does throw his hat into the ring for Lt. Gov after all – certainly over Horrible Hahn.
Boy, are you a silly dog. How can you admire a con man? Say one thing and do another, a bully and a thug. A politician is a con man. Well, some admire the power of deceit and coercion… scrappy, oh boy.
And referencing an above commenter, it has nothing to do with being Mexican-American. It has to do with Villaraigosa’s moral values (lack of them).
BTW, your “old dog who’s been involved in LA politics” doesn’t know what he’s talking about. They don’t do it because they believe that “it’s their turn”.
THEY DO IT BECAUSE THEY CAN GET AWAY WITH IT.
THEY HAVE NO MORALS.
THEY DON’T COMPARE WHAT THEY SHOULD BE DOING WITH WHAT THEY ARE DOING.
Who was the 4th person at dinner? There had to have been a 4th, because there is no way those guys picked up that check.
Bruno, baby, these aren’t scrappers! These aren’t junkyard dogs! These are lapdogs. Don’t mistake their lush lifestyle for toughness. They did not fight their way to their current position any more than Paris Hilton’s dog did. They are on the leash of special interests.
Bruno, you cute little doggie, these guys are selfish, arrogant, ruthless thugs who have no class. I wonder who paid the bill at CUT because dinner for 3 runs about $400 without drinks. I want to let the guy know who talks about Mexican Americans know that we are nothing like Fabian, Antonio, Cedillo, Huizar, Reyes, Alarcon, Cardenas, Molina, Roybal Alard, Romero and the rest. We are educated and have class and morals. We take great pride in our neighborhoods and helping each other unlike the above. Look at the city especially the Latino communities. They are worst off today with more Latino politicians then ever before. Its a sad statement of how greedy and selfish our own people (politicians) can be.
Fine examples indeed…It’s an interesting mindset which is being ingrained to los sheeples…
If you’ve heard some of the census radio ads, you’ll hear how important it is to BE COUNTED! That’s how you can make sure you’re represented…er, that’s how you can make sure you get your share of money from the Government!
Obama Bucks, Sacramento social progressivism, L.A. Raza rising, take your pick, don’t take the generalization too seriously, but argue it if you must.
But the emphasis on getting what you have coming to you…not BACK to you from what you’ve earned, but getting a share of the pie, because the OTHER guy has been taking advantage of people in the past.
Well, first of all, for those of us of us who share a daily dose of reading Good Books, may have happened on 2 Samuel this week, where King David immediately regrets instigating a census, because its intent was really about taxation and the draft. Goodness knows, it would be irresponsible to counter the party line which emphasizes the importance of having an accurate census, but it would be refreshing to at least instill a sense of fairness as a motivation, as opposed to getting something out of it.
Father Peter was just saying today, with all the deceit going on in society today, from the sub-prime mess to Enron, Wall Street to Main Street. Instead of sugar coating it as we justify the behavior to our children, let’s call it what it really is…STEALING!
OMG Jan Perry announced she is definitely running for Mayor to the Jewish Journal. She has to be out of her mind. What will she campaign on being a team player on destroying our city? If this city is in the worst deficit in its history and Parks is Chair of Budget and Finance Committee why is he still spending money on events in the sum of $50,000 for Heritage Month Celebration listed on next week’s agenda???
Can citizens file a class-action lawsuit against the city for their malfeasance, mismanagement and bankrupting the city. I’d be happy to throw in my share.
I start by saying that being a minority, the last thing on my mind is racism. However, seeing the current leaders in the city of primarly Latino Mayor and Council with three African Americans, I’m not surprised at how they created this fiasco, and how they have handled it. Most of them are sons of gardners and maids, who now want to fix LAUSD composed of the same. A school can only teach you the ABCs, the rest comes from your family. Further, getting these high positions for them are an end unto itself. They are so thrilled to have made it, to date Miss Americas two-foot taller than them, to be able to indulge in fine wines and dining, and have white developers and billionares willing to spend time with them that the last thing on their minds is the welfare of the city.
We have the Mayor live in Hancock Park, as remote in every respect from the rest of the city, and the reason why this house should be taken from under him and restored for general public use. This idiot believes he actually earned it. Most of the current crop earned their degrees through Affirmative Action into colleges they would not have gotten into. As an example, Ed Reyes has a degree in English Literature, and the man can’t articulate two sentences of english. I rest my case.
Wake up folks. We can’t allow these charaltans to ruin the city for us and the future generation.
Another wrench in the layoffs from your Man of the year Carlos Trutanich. The Times reports that his perpetual hatchet man Bill Carter has advised the staff of their dept. that the mayor does not have the authority to order layoffs “on his own,” so unless the City Council orders them laid off, no employees in his dept. OR ANYWHERE ELSE need obey. (The lawyers being unionized could have their own take, and set precedent for other city employees.) Carter says that the Mayor’s authority to fire and hire dept. heads at will starts and stops with them. Then it’s upto the dept. heads to cooperate or not.
Tony V’s own lawyer disagrees and says that no one else has objected, that the other dept. heads have been willing to cooperate but seems to back off of just that one dept. the CA to avoid litigation. Ha-ha. Well if any other dept. heads wanted to, as would be required for legal consistency or they could accuse Carlos I mean Carmen of self-favoritism, they could refuse to obey the mayor too and put the council on notice that it – under Garcetti and Hahn, Rosendahl, La Bonge and Alarcon, Zine and Perry – who are now hiding behind the mayor, that they’d have to order the layoffs in their own name. What’s involved here is a precedent and a central challenge with much broader ramifications.
The department heads are lackeys of the Mayor, at-will employees who will whore themselves to do his bidding. The City Attorney was elected by the people, not appointed by Mayor Moron. Don’t know what the problem is in understanding this.
By the way this latest scuffle from the City Attorney’s office is of course in response to CAO Santana “the grownup in the room” as he’s called, wanting 100 staff cut from the City Attorney’s office because it’s bleeding $6.5 Million/MONTH, almost all of it on payroll. Trutanich/Carter’s claims that he’s exempt from any layoffs because he’s saving money with the more employees he’s got (and wants to add 60 lawyers and 200 secret police) have of course not been verified because he won’t let Greuel audit his books, only Rocky’s old ones irrelevant to the budget (that’s just a political bonus for his buddy Steve Cooley in his run against Rocky for AG) – he’s conveniently got Wendy tied up in court indefinitely, litigating and having refused to settle with Woocher for pennies on the dollar despite his solemn promise to Laura Chick, Doug McIntyre etc. (As Hatfield reports, although he’s been backed into a corner to at least put the issue on the ballot, he’s arguing against it.)
So the ball is lobbed back in the court of the same council which didn’t have the guts to carry out any cuts in the first place.
Unless the mayor’s counsel, who disagrees with this legal opinion (which eviscerates the mayor’s authority) chooses to fight it. More likely they will cave in this one case, but it will set a legal precedent that will come back to haunt the city, sooner than they think, since Carter says that ANY dept. head can simply choose to ignore the mayor on hiring or termination matters. (He can then fire THEM, but if this is the basis, they’d doubtless sue the city. Thanks to Carmen the fiscally conservative Republican, who may have intended this to apply only to HIM but Carter makes it clear that if they’re correct, ANY dept. head can simply choose to declare all employees “essential” and exempt from being laid off.)
Unless the Mayor cuts his unnecessary bloated staff that is a drain on city resources,and sets an example, he will be known for the thug and liar he is.
Hey Bruno, I’d like to take a bite out of them, too. Give ‘em a dose of reality, which may come sooner than they think at the ballot box, if only your dad and Walter Moore can get a few good people to run. Grrrr!
S.L.’s poll may have been a silly no-brainer, but people live in the moment; their memories are very short term, not long like ours.
While Richard Ramirez and Charles Manson did horrid things to a few people a long time ago, these guys are killing us in their own way here and now.
Your Pal,
G
G. Shepard. You are right about the Mayor and City Council killing this City and its civic pride by a thousand cuts of ethical winking.
This Mayor only thinks about himself. When the courts stopped his naked power grab for the LAUSD, he began a campaign to dismantle the schools under the guise of charter schools. He is now in the process to handing our schools (and I mean the title to the buildings) over to a bunch of amateur charter school operators. Charter schools are the new “boom industry” in this town. And with any boom, there are scammers and con artists. Many of them are whispering in the Mayor’s ear while refilling his wine glass.
So he will preside over legally questionable efforts to hand the buildings over to charters and guess what? Things will not improve academically. Sad, but true. Our Mayor wanted LAUSD to control the multi-billion contracting of the bond program.
QUE??? arf arf!
Laci Haught