Nobody does know-it-all better than a know-nothing so when you get 15 know-nothings together in a semi-circle and empower them to set policy for four million people in the world’s most mythical city, it’s downright dangerous.
The ignorance of one compounds with the pretensions of another and the moral vacuum of a third on through the 15th power. The result is explosive.
The calculus of political failure at all levels is like a chain reaction that is engulfing the nation. I can’t do anything about the disasters in Washington or Sacramento but I believe I can do something about Los Angeles. That’s why I’m committed to the LA Clean Sweep Campaign (lacleansweep.com) to back a slate of candidates for the seven even-numbered City Council seats next March.
We have to change the people, or at least change their minds. The principles are simple: Financial responsibility, open and honest government, good planning for the future, safe communities with modern infrastructure.
I offer among the thousands of exhibits a piece of evidence for the need for change that came up Friday during a bizarre hour-long Council debate over the formal approval of the TRAN — Tax Revenue Anticipation Notes.
The TRAN this year is $1.2 billion, a 10 percent more than last year which followed several years of sharply rising short-term borrowing, loans that are needed because taxes come in sporadically while the bills for salary and operations come in day after day.
More than $700 million of this year’s TRAN goes for pensions, a figure that equals 17 percent of the entire general fund budget, a figure that is soaring because the Council as the policy-making body for the city spent the pension fund contribution in good years and now faces spectacular pension bills in these tough times.
Not a word was spoken about any of this during the hour-long debate on the TRAN.
What the Council was worried about was which banks would profit from underwriting the bond sale. As they crucified the bankers, they never got around to say which banks were the friendly ones that should be raking in the profits
It was clear enough who the bad guys were: JP Morgan-Citigroup and Bank of America which are among the 40 major banks that LA and many other cities sued two years ago for various nefarious practices.
Like junkies and their suppliers, they found lots of time and energy to blame the failures of the city on the bankers who took advantage of their desperation and stupidity and to berate the “little people,” the people who go to work in a stifling and undisciplined work environment despite the incompetence, and even corruption, of the elected officials who boss them around.
There was Bill Rosendahl sounding like Venezuela’s Hugo Chavez in his denunciation of capitalism. (Do the residents of LA’s richest district ever notice that their Councilman hates the system that has made them so well-to-do?)]
And the ever lovable Janice Hahn wanting to know why Goldman Sachs — the center of the nation’s financial scandal and facing possible criminal and civil charges — is the only major financial institution not considered for the TRAN sale.
Heaven help us all. She actually told the city’s financial experts, “You have to think like us.”
The CAO, CLA and City Attorney staffers came to the session murmuring to themselves and waiting to mutter, “Here it comes…”
It didn’t take long.
They were dressed down and shamed and abused because they chose the only firms on the Council-approved list of underwriters that could possibly sell, or buy themselves if they had to, the $1.2 billion in risky securities. Because of the city’s credit downgrades, serious questions about how it is dealing with the crisis and declining public support, they are the only firms willing to even give LA letters of credit.
It’s all part of an elaborate strategy to totally politicize the bureaucracy and strip it of all independence, a strategy that the mayor has taken the lead on..
The debate started out with Bernard Parks urging rejection of the TRAN plan. But that was never the goal because the $1.2 billion in bonds must go on sale next week and it would take a month to revise the deal, by which time the city would run out of cash.
It ended with unanimous approval of the TRAN but a commitment to eliminate BofA and Citigroup from getting any more deals out of LA except for the many already in the works like the parking lot sale and wastewater bonds and those that otherwise couldn’t go forward because they are the only lenders that will do business with the city.
I can’t do justice in a 5-minute video to the complexities of deceit used by the Council, to their ignorance of what they were talking about, to their indifference to the public interest they displayed.
Let it suffice to say that the only thing of significance they did Friday before adjourning to their lives of luxury filled with gifts from “friends” was to file into the oblivion of endless meaningless motions approval of four airborne LAPD officers to go to a conference in Arizona in defiance of their meaningless boycott in defense of illegal immigration.
Oh Ron, your boy Trutanich was given a convenient…..lifesaver by AEG. AEG will throw some crumbs to the City to cover the Jackson funeral expenses. But, I thought Trutanich with a loud mouth proclaimed he was on to ” criminal investigation “. Trutanich announced he is closing the case. What a crock of shit.
To June 19, 2010 6:43 PM:
That is typical for any legal challenge, threaten legal action and then settle.
No thanks to Jan Perry who opened her mouth after Michael Jackson’s death stating that the City would pay for all of it. It was taxpayer’s money, not hers to give away. Trutanich stated that AEG should pay for it and he would sue them. Now they are paying for it under political and legal pressure.
The City Council comes across as extremely corrupt with all their give-a-ways: Favors to AEG, direct money to CIM, etc.
Hey, leave Krekorian alone! We’re loving him here in CD2!
Trutanich is a grandstander.
So much for going after “corrupt development”, as Trutanich promised. If Leiweke is “a tremendous human being in terms of his caring for the city” then who are the bad guys.
WTF??? Don’t you luv how these clowns all grandstand acting as if they give a shit, pretending to be mad. Give me a f–cking break. They all know what is going on and now thanks to blogs and certain reporters like John Schwada who goes after the truth these clowns have been exposed. Janice Hahn is a complete and utter mess. She’s iliterate, has no class, no brains, she has been the biggest embarrassement to the city and in line are her cohorts morons on council. Its so nice to see the national media also attack them for being lame asses.
Good catch on the stupidity of CD11′s far westside that they are fooled by Rosendahl’s populist persona into not realizing he is a socialist with more in common with Alarcon and always votes with them and Janice Hahn over business interests or the property owners of the westside. He opposes development at least out loud, though he wants more affordable housing and supports homeowners wanting more cops.
That would mean even less tax revenue and more debt on the backs of business and homeowenrs but since the dummie zero-development homeowner groups don’t have the ability to put 2 + 2 together, he’s perfect for them.
This makes him perfect for this council too, which bashes the only banks willing to do business with them – same with any other group. He co-sponsored with Hahn the law forcing living-wage on LAX area hotels even though it’s mired in lawsuits and has driven business out of town to Santa Monica and others with are just as near LAX and the ocean but are now at competitive advantage. None of them has demanded a cost accounting of how much it’s costing L A to tear up contracts with Arizona, replace them and from retaliation.
He’s ready to flip-flop at the first sign of opposition to whatever he committed to 2 minutes ago, so they seem to feel they can control him better than someone with a spine. He and Hahn are too happy to throw any colleague with a spine under the bus in front of their own constituents so THEY can play “good cop” to the other’s bad cop, where the other person is actually making sound public policy that can’t please everyone. This flip-flopper wants Diane Feinstein’s senate seat or other higher office after for years claiming he has no higher ambition and jumped into the political fray late in life “to make the world a better place.” What PART of that world is better, Rosendahl?
As for financial accounting, how much did Trutanich spend on his year-long investigation to prove the “criminal aspects” to the AEG – Jackson funeral, which he barged into Council to bellow about with such fanfare? Leiwike says he was demanding $6 million, a number he apparently pulled out of a hat. And his threatening to arrest him and Jan Perry over signage was part of a pattern of overlapping bullying and threats in the face of no laws to back him up.
All so now he can say he’s happy with the One Million and admit to the Times he found nothing illegal, because as the Times notes there was NO legal requirement with the city at the time period, and now beams that Leiwike is the finest person on earth who cares so deeply about L A.
Rosendahl and Trutanich are featured together at the West Hollywood gay rights parade last week, in another blog, looking ridiculous together – peas in a pod. They may pose as “progressive gay Democrat” and Republican (who became Decline to State to avoid the presumably harmful party affiliation to run) but they are peas in a pod.
To June 19, 2010 8:50 PM;
You and I probably agree on two things regarding Trutanich – he was grand standing in the beginning and he has put out a little double-talk regarding on the one hand representing the people and on the other hand invoking attorney client privilege and protection for his “clients” the City Council and City Departments.
That being said, Trutanich did aggressively go after AEG on making them pay and on preventing them from erecting outdoor advertising until he was neutered by Jan Perry and the gang at City Hall. Jan Perry should have shut-up and let all of us see if his legal theory would work.
Trutanich has also demonstrated a 180-degree difference from his predecessor – Trutanich has used in-house attorneys instead of private law firms that also represent developers and special interests. And unlike his predecessor, Trutanich has taken on cases and won instead of settling cases for millions of dollars. This has saved the City real money at time where the Council does nothing about the real budget crisis.
His position on AEG was populist and for the average Angeleno against the wealthy Billionaires – The two-face City Council members talk about the poor, but give away the hard earned working class taxpayers’ money to the rich. And the working class and small businesses are displaced or just move out.
I’m hearing and reading posts on several web sites and most are alarmed about Trutanich’s turnaround. I’d be interested to find out why spend so much time hard talking then coming out like a little mouse. There’s a piece of the puzzle we don’t have. Cooley isn’t my favorite DA but there’s also the ties with AEG. Steve Cooley had his campaign fundraiser guess where? AEG, LA Live where he raised thousands to campaign for Attorney General. Now Trutanich and Cooley seem to be in bed with Tim Lieweke. Sad many felt Trutanich was for the people and he’s lost a lot with this action. I hope he proves us wrong.
To June 20, 2010 1:50 PM,
Whether true or not, it is important to note two things:
1. His attack on AEG on billboards and the Michael Jackson funeral costs where overruled legislatively by Councilwoman Jan Perry (on the billboard issue) and put in jeopardy (on the Jackson funeral expenses) by Jan Perry with her big mouth promising on her own that the City would pay.
If Trutanich didn’t push this issue, AEG would have never paid the City a dime.
2. Trutanich has pointed out at the start of his administration that he his clients are the City Council and City Departments. Now he was double-talking on this since at the same meeting he said he represents the people – Of course that begs the question, what if the City Council or Departments act against the people – who side will you be on?
Trutanich is a sold out. He is looking at the DA`s race and already licking AEG`s a……….
The mistake every politician makes is that due to a little name recognition, they are ready for the next job, without ever fulfilling the requirements of the current job. This is what the idiot Mayor thought, and the even bigger idiots in Council think. All of them have already reached the max of their skill levels, beyond which they will be a disaster. It is for the voters to discern that. Instead of blindly voting for the name they know, judge them on their current job rather than new promises that they will never fulfill.
12:42, there’s absolutely NO substantiation whatsoever that Trutanich has “saved” the city millions by prosecuting cases in-house instead of farming them out – those are just his claims.
To the contrary, private attorneys involved have vouched the opposite. trutanich admitted to the Times editorial review board that there was NO such financial analysis; such claims depending on IF he were allowed to rehire some 50-60 lawyers that Rocky let go by attrition respecting the budget crisis and need to cut 10% like everyone else.
Instead, he wants to rehire AND we know, refused to take any pay cut himself even though he also gets a huge expense account, free armored car with driver and private security (which he allegedly used to intimidate Leiwike and others). Because “I made more in the private sector” representing rich criminals in Long Beach. We know he peevishly threatened to sue the city if he had to take any cut, and got his cadre of hardcore loyalists to scream about it.
That’s another public dispute, calling the mayor incompetent to the media (the mayor never called him that even though he’s gone out of his way to undermine him in many ways), making the city look bad. Like he did dissing LAPD over their excellent handling of the AEG affair. A number of legal analysts, experts on the City Charter and media editorials have said he just plain doesn’t understand the parameters of his job OR chooses to do what he wants anyway, dare ‘ya, I’ve got the lawyers and you have to hire them – but WAIT, I forbid it cuz I’m YOUR lawyer too.
Trutanich has not allowed the Controller to audit his books at all, ONLY Rocky’s old, now obsolete worker’s comps.
AND he spent a fortune on this “investigation” turning up any pretext to “criminal aspects” that were never there. Your saying he should get a pat on the back for getting AEG to pony up anything is in fact a case where he misused his office to bully, even tying the Jackson issue to the signage dispute, far exceeded his authority as a city attorney by meddling in trying to create policy AND he made up the $6 million amount.
Bill Rosendahl by contrast is just weak-willed and confused because he doesn’t research issues before opening his mouth. And shoots it off in the direction of his old-leftie liberal training and then thinks later if there’s a big backlash.
3;55, yes, that’s where the Daily News/ Daily Breeze called out Trutanich, for abandoning before his first year was even well underway, the “little quality of life” issues which are in the domain of the City Attorney. The dumping of mattresses and junk behind alleys, graffiti, juvenile programs to reduce recidivism, gangbangers hanging out in parks making them unsafe for children and families, the mobile billboards on cars that clutter the streets and move around.
Instead he’s focused on a couple of high-profile issues like tossing the one rich guy in jail over his supergraphic, claiming he singled that out because it was likely to fall on people below.
He’s used our city’s strapped resources to fight the medical marijuana shops because that’s what Cooley needs for HIS Attorney General campaign and Trutanich is his made puppet, so we are facing millions in lawsuits, shops that aren’t closing anyway, chaos and confusion, sick people wondering where to turn, drug dealers salivating at getting back the pot trade illegally.
After Trutanich campaigned with the active help of the pro-medical marijuana advocates and happily posed for photos, took their money and promised them more compassion. He threw them under the bus harder even than Laura Chick once he didn’t need them.
But now he wants to replace Cooley as DA and yes, you think he’s looking at AEG for a handout? You think a guy who won’t take even a token salary cut because he admits he’s about money, misses the dough he made working for corporate polluters, the NRA and other rich criminals, was ever about “the little people?”
HElloooooo what happened to this bond dialogue. Maybe Jack or Paul can write a simple piece so those of us who are lost with all the numbers and bullshit could understand. All I can read is city council f–ked up AGAIN and acting as if they’re all pissed off. Didn’t they do the same scene with DWP all the time maing deals behind closed doors and not allowing neighborhood councils in the loop? They’re not fooling anyone. Huizar will be thrilled to know there is a good CD14 businessman who is already getting the votes lined up to get him out. This man has never been in politics but feels exactly like we do pissed off, frustrated and ready to jump in and fix Huizar’s mess of a district
“I reckon so….”
To June 20, 2010 4:15 PM,
You missed another point – Trutanich took on cases that his predecessor, Rocky Delgadillo was recommending settlement on. Instead, under Trutanich and STAFF attorney’s he won. This was well publicized.
You may have legitimate gripes against Trutanich, but you seemed to be pretty pissed off at his sucesses to ignore them.
I am waiting to hear from you that we would have been better off with Jack Weiss.
I am still baffled why the city is not considered a junk credit.
this morons are ignorant they try to talk as if they new what the hell they taking about
they need to go there have no interest on los angeles
we keep voting trash in to city hall
and this is what we get