Near the end of every City Council meeting, the clerk announces that there are “excuses on the desk,” meaning various members intend to be absent from future sessions.
Usually, the stated reason is “city business,” which “meets Council policy,” and the presiding officer says, “That’s approved.”
But sometimes like at the end of last Friday’s meeting where Tony Cardenas asked to be excused from the meetings of Sept. 6, 7, 13, 14, 16, 27, 28 and 30 “due to personal business. That meets Council policy.”
“That’s approved,” declared President Pro Tem Dennis Zine, who made a joke about the Valley Councilman planning to skip almost every meeting in September right after the Council has been on vacation for 17 days.
The nation’s highest paid municipal elected officials — $180,000 a year, plus lifetime pensions and health benefits, plus staffs of 20, plus cars, perks, officeholder accounts and freebies from influence peddlers and favor seekers — are almost never on duty all at the same time.
The Council meets three times a week when it’s not on vacation — which it is at least six to eight weeks a year — and it’s almost unheard of for all 15 members to be present.
In fact, only once in the past 10 weeks has there been as many as 14 members present. That was on June 1.
Records show they usually try to have 12 members present because they need that number to adopt ordinances on a single reading with a unanimous vote — something that the deliberative body that makes policy for a diverse and complex city of four million people achieves an astonishing 99.3 percent of the time. However, one-fifth of the meetings brought only 10 members to work.
In June and July, the Council’s AWOL King was Jose Huizar who missed 13 of 25 meetings with Herb Wesson a close second having missed 11, followed by Eric Garcetti and Ed Reyes with 7 each, Zine with 6 and Janice Hahn with 5 before being promoted to the Congress of the United States in July.
Mitch Englander was the only member present for all meetings but he only took office on July 1, succeeding Greig Smith who wrapped up a 30-year city career by missing six meetings in June.
Interestingly, six Council members missed four meetings each, suggesting that it is well understood everyone is entitled to skip out on people’s business twice a month without anyone looking askance. Paul Koretz missed only two meetings and Bill Rosendahl 3.
Attendance is as carefully orchestrated as what passes for debate at Council meetings where the comments and questions to staff are almost always intended to obscure rather than to enlighten.
Since the elections of Council members are themselves forgone conclusions thanks to the overwhelming influence of big money from business, labor and various special interests, it might be worth considering elimination of the Council entirely — a reform that would free up tens of millions of dollars that could fully restore library hours with trained librarians as well as parks programs and staff.
If they are going to make a mockery of democracy, maybe we all should join in on the joke and have a good laugh about it just like Dennis Zine.
$180,000 X 155, is $2,700,000 for these
“good for nothing” beings. I say, we need to go to the Supreme Court and send the whole crew
to jail. What else do we need to know about them. They are nothing more than thieves.
They are in it for themselves. Volunteeer activists would do it all for free without all the help these guys have in their opffices.
If we do not get this information out to our
families and friends, we deserve being cheated.
I beg your pardons, I multiplied 180,000 by 15 council seats and got 2,700,000 dollars.
Not by 155. That is definitely a typo./
OMG What is truly funny is no one is shocked by this. These clowns and bafoons are the most worthless group of city council we have seen in decades in the City. They were raised with parents who forgot to teach them about the right choice, having a conscience, having morals and ethics and doing good for people. I would be so embarrassed and ashamed to call these morons my father, mother, uncle, brother or son/daughter. Their parents should be beyond ashamed of them. Cardenas gives his sister City contracts then has the audacity to name a rec center after his parents for simply giving birth to 13 kids.
Speaking of something Councilmembers must consider as they meet monthy with LAHD and the Rent Control Board.
Of all the many things in finance that rose and fell during the financial crise, rent rose and rose and rose; and it’s still the same, very high. Despite record breaking profits for landlords the City of LA provided Capital Asset programs whereby tenants pay over a five or ten year period-as a rent increase. The fudiciary duty in this case would be to ensure tenants are not being asked to pay too much. Certainly anytime there is a housing bubble it’s time to look to protect tenants. Since that never happended lets discuss how we can level the playing field.
I’m sure $45, the SCEP and Registration fee per unit would be a welcome sum of money back into the pocket of the tenant; not the owner. $45 dollars per unit times 660,000. That money back into the economy; a win win proposition.
Rent Control is a two way street. We been down the path of high rents for over ten years and not one time did any Councilman say, HEY, this is a NO BRAINER, we need to level the playing field; lets give back the $45 dollary Annual Fee for SCEP & Registration because Rents have been at Market Rate, set by the OWNERS and ASSOCIATIONS.
The duty of City Council is to have due diligence. Hey, City Council: Tenants-Working Class LA Citizens, want the Rent Control Policy Enforced equally, fairly, and responsible without lobby interferece from developers or apartment associations.
I’d Pay them each $1,000 if they’d JUST LEAVE THE COUNTY AND NEVER RETURN! I’d get my money back in 1 day as property values would go up 10% the next day knowing these bastards would leave THE CITY AND BUSINESSES THE HELL ALONE!
By Wayne from Encino on August 8, 2011 11:08 PM
“I’d Pay them each $1,000 if they’d JUST LEAVE THE COUNTY AND NEVER RETURN! I’d get my money back in 1 day as property values would go up 10% the next day knowing these bastards would leave THE CITY AND BUSINESSES THE HELL ALONE”
Amen Wayne. I’ll chip in. Any chance we can make this happen before the next rate hike vote?
Jan Perry has pushed the NFL Stadium deal so hard for AEG even though everyone knows there’s huge issues with the numbers. But all the clowns today will vote for the MOU and give the biggest crook and developer in Los Angeles his way to move forward. But…..this is what the NFL is saying,
Officials have said not to expect an announcement by any team until after the Super Bowl next year.
Why will they attend boring Council meetings when they could be having fun visiting 70+ cities to study rivers as Ed Reyes revealed in a recent interview.
“During the long process of rehabilitation, Reyes has visited over seventy urban river settings around the country. He much admires Denver’s riverfront, where the long-neglected South Platte became part of the city’s much heralded greenbelt revolution in the 1990′s”.
This is Ed Reyes, pretending to be an environmentalist even as he covers every inch of vacant land with unsustainable high-density buildings. A man, more concerned about the LA river than the gang bangers in his community & the impoverished constituents who could have used the money he spent flying to 70 cities on the taxpayers dime.
The Council Members should not be paid for missed meetings or missed Committee meetings.
As for Ed Reyes, he has been very successful in raiding DWP’s cash coffers to pay for this “investment” in the LA River. Rumors put the number north of $5 million.
DWP has always been used as a piggy bank by the politicians for their pet projects & as a dumping ground for highly compensated friends at the expense of the taxpayer. As long as the dumb LA residents are willing to pay the high power & water rates this DWP ATM will remain open for our corrupt politicians.
Ron: laweekly just corrected your facts from this post. You gonna correct your facts or continue losing credibility?