When a business goes to hell, what usually happens is that the flummoxed big shots in charge chase the falling revenue numbers downhill in a spiral to bankruptcy and blame their underlings for the failure. It’s the Fall Guy Defense.
That’s exactly what’s happening at City Hall these days.
The ceremonial mayor and bumbling City Council have made a mess of things with sweetheart contracts to unions and contractors, giveaways to developers and an assortment of politically-favored groups even in the face of a swelling budget deficit.
So what do these big shots do?
They browbeat the department heads and other top officials into submissive obedience in public and private to force them to lie, obfuscate, double-talk or whatever it takes to cover up the failure of the city’s leadership.
The most talented can get other jobs and flee for their lives and self-respect. Those who can’t escape go along for ride, silently and sullenly obeying. Those who dare to speak truth to power get fired. Thus the exodus of general managers and other officials from LA’s city government.
The latest fall guy is Jeff Peltola, chief financial officer of the DWP, according to word leaking out of that muddled and confused department that is the city’s most valuable asset, its power system the prime target in a bankruptcy sale.
Peltola’s first crime was incurring the wrath of the ceremonial mayor and his henchmen by trying to tell them the truth. His second was obediently deceiving the Council and public on the state of the DWP’s financial situation while trying to protect the DWP’s credit rating as its costs soared because it was forced to hire nearly 1,500 extra workers and take on an added pension liability of more than half a billion dollars.
Ask yourself what you would do if you had nine general managers in 10 years, each inept or ignorant of running a utility, each a purely political appointee whose main mission was to use the DWP as an instrument of political manipulation — not the efficient management of the nation’s largest publicly-owned utility.
There are hundreds of Jeff Peltolas in city government, professionals who should be empowered to make decisions and manage their departments for the public benefit — not the benefit of a corrupt and incompetent political leadership — and held accountable for achieving clear goals and implementing policies in the public interest.
You have to wonder what shape the city would be in if we didn’t have a mayor and City Council at all or if there were a city manager and only a truly ceremonial mayor with 50 part-time Council members given modest salaries and small staffs and few perks.
Actually, there’s nothing to wonder about. The cost of the elected officials would be a lot lower, they would be ordinary people connected to their communities — not professional politicians who posture and preen like royalty and live high on the public dole.
At this point, we’ve got to live with the system we’ve got so the best we can do is get rid of the people responsible for this mess of libraries and parks closing, building code enforcement and community planning being gutted, tree trimming and sidewalk repair being eliminated and a vast array of core public services being slashed.
Seven Council seats are on the ballot next March — Krekorian, LaBonge, Cardenas, Parks, Wesson, Huizar and Smith’s open seat.
Credible candidates who have a lot more honesty and integrity are stepping forward to challenge them, some with the ability to raise enough money to defeat them.
The LA Clean Sweep campaign (lacleansweep.com) is political action committee that will launch on July 17 with a party at the Mayflower Club, 11110 Victory Blvd., North Hollywood.
It will organize and mobilize a grassroot army of citizens to work to elect a slate of candidates committed to financial responsibility, open and honest government, good planning for healthy and safe neighborhoods and a modern infrastructure that supports liivable communities and attracts good jobs.
If there’s another way to start to fix what they have broken, don’t keep it a secret, tell the world and we’ll all get in line and follow.
So who is on this “slate of candidates”, exactly?
Time is running out.
Politicians always set up layers of insulation between themselves and accountability. It is sophistry peddled by those same politicians to point the finger of blame at bureaucrats for enacting policy decisions that were concocted in City Hall.
In the wake of the 1992 riots, politicians called for “change” in the City Charter as a way of getting rid of the Police Chief. In 1999 Proposition “F”, Mayor Riorden’s City Charter ‘reform’ was passed by the voters. After ten years, the new charter has proven to be just more political sophistry. The new charter removed the remaining protections that department heads had from political influence and subjected them to ‘at-will’ employee status and the whim of the politicians. It also made it easier for politicians to plunder the operating fund of the so-called, “Proprietary Departments”.
Before you can stop the “fall guy syndrome” it will be necessary to restore autonomy and true accountability to General Managers of the kind provided under the old City Charter. Otherwise the City will continue to have a revolving door of deparment heads any time a new crisis is discovered, whether that crisis is real or manufactured by the politicians and power brokers. The same people who brought you Charter ‘reform’.
Beutner is out of control! He is running the City like he was operating in Wall Street. Screw the process, get rich and take care the few ” chosen”. He appoints General Managers and Commissioners who report to him. Who,in his or her right mind,of substance, will take the job of GM at DWP, having been hand picked by Beutner, reporting to him and not the Commissioners, and above all after Beutner publicly stating “I`m going to continue running the Dpt after I step down as Interim GM”?
Rudy Martinez, successful businessman has come out to floor Huizar in CD 14. You think these politicians are corrupt I hear there is so much baggage that will come out on all the council members wanting to be re elected it will be hard for them to campaign on anything. Thanks to blogs like this people can post the truth and facts of their campaigns. Let’s see who starts with the first lies to the people. They all are guilty of lying about DWP rate hike, guilty of lying about Measure R, guilty of lying about trash fee hike, and so on
Politicans BEWARE BECAUSE COOLEY IS COMING AFTER YOU. It was posted here Cooley maybe leary of going after corruption because of Latino vote. Not in the media today but Cooley had Immigrant-rights activist Nativo Lopez arrested yesterday for 8 felonies after being indicted by the grand jury. He’s the President of Mexican American Political Association. YEAH!!!! Get them all Cooley.
Cooley better also be serious about going after Villaraigosa for Ticket-Gate, not that that’s the worst of his offenses, but it’s a start.
Rudy Martinez is a crook in my book. He would be worse than Huizar if that is possible.
1:46pm Sure Huizar staffer. Huizar is such toast in CD14 anyone but Huizar would be better. Word is the even seats council members already have staffers campaigning on our dime. I wish Jane Usher would change her mind and run for CD4 Tommy Boy LaBonge’s seat. She a great advocate for the people and a really smart woman. That’s what the district needs. Although I hear there’s two successful businessmen also who haven’t come out running.
I agree with Ms Sand, Cooley couldn’t find a better time or target!
From LA Times “Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa has nominated a real estate executive to sit on the five-member board that oversees the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power, the nation’s largest municipally owned utility.
Christina Noonan, 38, a longtime commercial real estate executive and businesswoman, is the mayor’s choice for the Board of Water and Power Commissioners, which sets policy for a massive department that has a $4-billion annual budget and 9,000 employees.
The mayor has said one of his top priorities is to reform the DWP and make it more effective and accountable to its ratepayers. The city is currently engaged in a nationwide search for a new general manager for the utility.
“Drawing from her corporate experience, she will help transform the DWP into a more efficient, transparent and business-friendly organization,” said Villaraigosa.
Noonan previously served as the mayor’s appointee on the Los Angeles Convention Center board.
If the Mayor was serious, he’d not appoint the same revoving chairs. How about appointing Jack Humpreville to this post. Back up your words with action.
There are more qualified indidivuals who are far more intelligent then the morons we now have. Money is their main concern why they are leary of jumping in. I want to know if the loser LA politicians with Jerry Brown yesterday campaigning at Cal State LA were on CITY TIME??Gracetti, Reyes, Huizar, Padilla, Becerra, De Leon. Did these clowns have an excuse to be out campaigning for Brown instead of doing their damn job? How can we find out?
Here’s a great picture of a politician given the axe. It’s Detroit’s former Mayor doing the Perp Walk.
It’s exactly the way I want to see Villaraigosa and the rest of them.
Dreams can come true.
http://detnews.com/article/20100711/METRO/7110307/Kilpatrick-s-federal-arraignment-Tuesday-escalates-legal-woes