Recently in Bruno Watchdog L.A. Category

The more Bruno reads about the MTA, the more he's convinced the Subway to the Sea might just end up at the Atlantic - if it gets built at all.

 

The Dog Trainer this morning had an uncharacteristically cogent editorial about the MTA's very screwed up pass system. 

 

The lede was so good I suspect they've got a new intern whose brain hasn't turned into mush .... yet:

 

"'Smart. Simple. Secure.' That's the slogan the Metropolitan Transportation Authority has adopted for its new Transit Access Pass system, but at this stage of its development, a more apt description would be "Dumb. Complicated. Insecure."

 

The editorial goes on to explain in detail that the pass system appears to have been designed by a bunch of drunken monkeys. The poor and the elderly get screwed the worst, of course, which sometimes seems like an official MTA policy.

 

But a Green Sheet story earlier in the week really had Bruno growling:

 

"After spending more than $154 million for a system of locking turnstiles and electronic payment cards for the county transit system, officials are discovering that at least a third of the money may have been wasted because they can't use the new devices as planned.

 

"The Metropolitan Transportation Authority placed the locking turnstiles at subway and light-rail stations to stop fare scofflaws and end what had previously been an honor-based system.

 

Installed under a $46 million contract, the turnstiles were predicted to save $13 a million a year in lost revenue and reduced fare inspector costs.

 

"But the turnstiles can't be configured to lock until Metro fully converts to a new electronic Transit Access Pass system - and that is proving nearly impossible."

 

Grrrrrrrrrrrrrr!

 

And I might think in dog years, but there is some history to this idiocy.

 

In 2008, the LAWeekly, detailed the lead up to installing the turnstiles.

 

One guy thought it was a really bad idea.

 

"Metro board member Richard Katz, who voted against the locking turnstile contract, felt from the beginning it was not worth the expense.

 

"I didn't think it would pencil out, which appears to still be true," said Katz, a former assemblyman for the San Fernando Valley. "They were trying to solve a problem that may not have existed, or is not nearly as great as the money spent for the solution."

 

He added that he doubts the system has lost enough money from fare evasions to make the expense worth it even if the turnstiles were operating."

 

Katz, who has ended up looking pretty smart, was the only board member to vote against the proposal.  The Weekly did a follow-up:

 

"Katz is either a stubborn fool or the smartest guy in the room. He believes the agency's long history of bad assumptions is repeating itself. He's unconvinced that the tiny percentage of riders who don't pay fares ever will. They could merely disappear.

 

"I can count the number of times on one hand that MTA has been right about construction costs, operating costs -- that doesn't even include technological costs," he says. "Any more money spent should go to Sheriff's [deputies] -- more eyes and ears on the platforms."

 

Katz might be alone on the MTA board, but he has company in many big cities around the world, where open rail systems -- like L.A.'s -- are popular and the low percentage of scofflaws are considered a small price to pay."

 

Katz is still on the MTA board - and the boards of Metrolink and The California High Speed Rail Commission.  He's become quite a train guy. He is also quarterbacking the mayor's 30-10 plan to spend all that Measure R money while most of us are still alive.

 

Let's hope if he buys the planners a compass so the sea it reaches is the Pacific, not the Atlantic..

 

Woof!

The horseshoe is beginning to smell like horseshit.

 

Only a couple weeks ago, Los Angeles City Councilman Richard Alarcon -- and his wife - were indicted for voter fraud and lying about where they lived. 

 

And since I've already used the somewhat offensive word, I'll say it: Alarcon swears he lives in that shithole of a house in his district, rather than the nicer home in Paul Kerkorian's district.

 

Bruno has seen pictures of the house Alarcon doesn't live in and heard his neighbors' complaints that it's an eyesore. Bruno thinks Alarcon is full of it.

 

OK, enough of that.  Ronnie will cut my kibble ration.

 

Today, Walter Moore has a terrific piece on his blog about Los Angeles City Councilman Tony Cardenas - and his sister!

 

I won't repeat all of Walter's terrific post here -- but it seems Cardenas has spent an incredible amount of campaign funds for stationary at sis's store, while at the same time the city has directed tens of thousands of dollars to the same rather small establishment.

 

Maybe I should suggest to Ron he use the headline "All in the Family."

 

My pal Wally has been less than successful in his bids for elected office.

 

Of course, Wally shot pretty high. His first attempts were for mayor of the nation's second largest city. He ran twice and didn't do bad last time --- running second and coming within 4 percentage points of forcing a runoff with the mayor -- but of course he was helped by the fact Antonio isn't exactly beloved by those who decided to trudge to the polls.

 

I think Wally missed his calling (he's a lawyer by trade) and should become an investigative reporter -- especially since there are so few left at the Dog Trainer and Green Sheet.

 

I'll make room for him in my doghouse.

 

I'll even send him a free "Bruno LA's Watchdog" coffee mug if Ronnie ever gets off his butt and decides to sell them like he promised. After all, who do you love more him or me?

 

Woof!

Steve Cooley is not just another pretty face.

 

And he may be the cheapest date in town -- especially if you compare him to our mayor.

 

The San Francisco Chronicle, in a story Sunday that reads like it was written by Kamala Harris' campaign consultant, Ace Smith, details the gifts Cooley has received -- and reported as the law requires.

"Corruption fighting candidate took many gifts," the headline says. suggesting he's a crook and a hypocrite.

Good God! Lakers tickets!! Stop the presses!

 

Except in this case, while Antonio is courtside sitting beside Jeffrey Katzenberg, poor Steve is obviously in the nose-bleed section, drinking cheap wine the mayor wouldn't give Lu Parker's dog Monkey and sucking on an unlit $5 cigar.

 

Just so you don't get lost -- or fail to enjoy this as much as this dog -- Kamala Harris, the very attractive San Francisco DA, is running against the somewhat less attractive LA DA Steve Cooley to be state Attorney General -- California's Top Cop.

 

Antonio isn't running for anything at the moment. It's more like he's running from investigators from three agencies - including Cooley's! - looking at his attendance at dozens of concerts and sporting events, for which, as we all know by now, he was comped by lots of big shots doing business with the city.

 

And unlike Cooley, Antonio failed to report the gifts, saying he was there to perform "ceremonial" duties.

 

(I'm sorry. Bruno always has to roll on his back and laugh when he writes that. Rub my tummy.)

                                                                                                                                               

This is all so delicious.

 

In case you forget, Ace, who relishes the fact that he's a very mean guy when it comes to politics and will probably take the Chronicle story, roll it up and try to beat Cooley over the head with it from now until Election Day, also ran Antonio's last earth-shattering mayoral campaign. To help you remember, Antonio barely won re-election against a field of unknowns that he outspent close to 20 to 1.

 

Cooley bad.  Antonio good.  Maybe we should call him Deuce Smith.

 

After giving Kamala's spokeswoman lots of space to beat up Cooley for taking the cheap gifts -- which he reported! -- the Chron writer, or Deuce, added this graf:

 

"Harris, San Francisco's top prosecutor since 2004, has only declared a handful of gifts in the six years she has been district attorney, and most of it was travel funds related to an Aspen Institute fellowship, which is given to elected officials seen as emerging political leaders. "

 

Shameless!

 

Then there was a list of just about all Cooley's gifts, including - 20 $5 cigars from a very cheap judge,  $150 in tequila and cologne from Ghanem G&G Auto enterprises and $94 dress shirt and tie from Aimen Slaeb, of a Shell service station.

 

A Shell service Station?

 

Journalists have an expression for this kind of writing, but Bruno's far too polite to repeat it. It rhymes with "snow job."

 

To heck with how these two feel about the death penalty or other issues affect California.  I'll leave that to the real reporters.

 

I want to know why nobody's giving Kamala any presents and what the guy from the Shell Station is trying to buy with the shirt and tie from Walmart?

 

Woof!

EDITOR'S NOTE: Newspaper coverage of the indictment of Councilman Richard Alarcon and his wife on voter fraud and perjury charges have generated a lot of criticism. Walter Moore today tore apart the Daily News story headlined "Support for Alarcon Remains Strong" while the LA Times editorial upset Bruno, LA's Watchdog.

Bruno's favorite political operative is Rahm Emanuel.

He is so Brunoesque.  The White House chief of staff is better looking but definitely part pitbull like me.  Maybe it's because he's from very un-laidback Chicago.  Who knows?

In the new Vanity Fair magazine, Rahm, who apparently works 24-7 and never sleeps, describes Washington as "Fucknutsville."

Can you imagine what he'd call Los Angeles if this was his home base?

Case in point, this morning I sniffed at the Dog Trainer and couldn't help but notice this morning's editorial on the indictment of City Councilman Richard Alarcon for perjury and voter fraud

Talk about mealy-mouthed! I couldn't help but leave my scent all over the newspaper.

The lede (that's how us news hounds spell the lead sentence of articles) goes like this:

"Maybe it's finally time for Richard Alarcon to go home, if only he could figure out where that is."

Go home?  Maybe it's time for Richard Alarcon to go to jail! The guy is accused of lying about living outside Council District 7 that is supposed to represent.

It gets worse - much worse.

"If the councilman is convicted he should, at least, be booted from office."

That's it! 

This guy has been leveraging the system and laughing at the voters for his entire political career. 

And what's worse is that The Dog Trainer knows it!

"It's worth noting that Alarcon easily trounced his opponents when he returned to the council in 2007, and it's just as noteworthy that he ran only weeks after he had taken office in the Assembly -- an office he won without opposition. Even if no criminal liability is found, Alarcon's rather loose attachment to any particular office, much like his unclear connection with any particular residence, is troubling."

Troubling? Troubling?  Calm down, guys. You're going to spill your green tea.

Then they conclude with the coup de grace intended to end my suffering and put me out of my misery.

"Like various recent political scandals such as the one unfolding in Bell -- in which elected officials drew obscene salaries without the knowledge of their constituents -- it makes it all too easy to wonder whether our system is slowly being transformed from one in which knowledgeable voters select their representatives to one in which politicians use voters as a means to some other end."

Makes you wonder?  Who's wondering?

If these geniuses can't figure out that Alarcon, not to mention the crooks in Bell,- used voters as a mean to an end - the end being cushy,  incredibly well-paid, very powerful job, or jobs, in Alarcon's case - then they all ought to have their laptops smashed.

And if anybody hasn't noticed, the voters in Bell and Alarcon's district are largely immigrants, many here illegally, and poor  They are easy targets for this kind of crap. 

They thought they were coming to LA.  Instead they ended up in Fucknutsville West. Change the address on your checks.

The Dog Trainer's editorial writers might live in safer and richer neighborhoods, but what's going on here affects their lives, too. And if they don't get mad pretty damn soon, it's going to get a lot worse.

Rahm will have to come up with a new word.  After all, his brother lives here.

Woof!

Why is anybody surprised?

Richard Alarcon, the City Councilman who is charged with representing parts of the northwest San Fernando Valley without bothering to live there - and repeatedly lying about it!- has been dancing on the ethics line throughout his political career.

Looks like he got caught stepping over it this time.

Way over it.

In some respects, it's kind of sad.  Early on, Alarcon, as a young aide to Tom Bradley, seemed to epitomize the kind of idealism that part of the Valley desperately needed.

Then things got ugly -- really Brunoesque ugly!  You've got to screw up bad to be criticized by Cardinal Roger Mahony, but Richard Alarcon holds that distinction - and, in this dog's opinion, what he did to get slapped by the cardinal wasn't his worst sin.

Alarcon stole an election by smearing a guy as a racist. He didn't get charged for that crime - even though he later confessed.  And the guy who got hurt did the right thing and let the matter drop when it threatened to destroy relations between Latinos and Jews in Los Angeles.

The only thing uglier than Bruno is race baiting - and Alarcon won an election that way.

The year was 1998.  Here's how The Dog Trainer summed it up back then:

"Perhaps no local race turned out nastier this year than the June primary battle in which Alarcon eventually defeated Richard Katz for the Democratic nomination for the 20th District seat.

"The contest was marred by accusations of race-baiting, quarrels at the county clerk's office and lawsuits.

The day of the primary, Los Angeles Cardinal Roger M. Mahony took the unprecedented step of publicly criticizing Alarcon for sending literature featuring a photo of Mahony administering Holy Communion to him.

"At the time, Mahony said the mailer incorrectly implied that he endorsed Alarcon, and he asked Alarcon to never use his photo in future campaign literature.

"Alarcon won the primary by 29 votes and advanced to become the Democratic candidate ...

"But it's a win that came at a still-untallied price."

Anybody ready to start a tally?

The Dog Trainer went on to describe why Alarcon won what might have been the nastiest race in recent LA history.

"Most notable was a mailer issued by Alarcon's biggest supporter, state Sen. Richard Polanco (D--Los Angeles), and written by Alarcon campaign consultant Richie Ross.

"The mailer falsely linked Katz to a 1988 incident in Orange County in which Republican candidates posted guards around voting booths to intimidate Latinos."

Katz was actually on the opposite side of that dispute.  In a part of Los Angeles that was going through a historic demographic shift, there really wasn't a more damaging slur.

The race baiting managed to dwarf an earlier controversy in the race that centered on Alarcon taking a home improvement loan from the wife of a developer.

Now, a dozen years later, a man who people thought could be a new kind of leader in a changing LA, is facing prison.

And Katz?  He's the guy Antonio --- first Latino elected mayor of LA -- trusts most to guide his transportation policies, from Metrolink to the MTA's 30-10 plan.  Kind of ironic, huh?  The reasons are painfully obvious.  

But you gotta laugh, too.  Katz once got a lot of crap when he ran for mayor in 1993 for suggesting we turn the LA River into a freeway.  He didn't see its scenic qualities, and, well, the traffic was really bad.  Now he may be happy it's still got water.

Sun Tzu's Art of War: "If you stand by the river long enough, you will see the bodies of your enemies float by."

Woof!.

It wasn't that long ago that Bruno declared Janice Hahn the dumbest person on the Los Angeles City Council for a stupid stunt she pulled using her city website to promote her campaign for lieutenant governor.

Now she's up to something even dumber - and this time she's got company.

The LA Weekly reported last week that Tony Cardenas was set to hold a fund-raiser to kick off his re-election campaign at a restaurant owned by a company that is partnering in a bid for a $600 million food concession contract at LAX.

Showing how much respect he has for the city's ethics laws and concern for what voters might think, Tony was holding the event on the same day as he was sitting in judgment on who gets that contract and seven others at the airport. He insisted he doesn't take money from airport concessionaires but he doesn't mind taking as much as he can get from the restaurant lobbyist's other clients.

City Hall is such an ethical sewer that the concessions issue wound up in the hands of the Board of Referred Powers chaired by Tony because the Airport Commission could not vote on staff recommendations for the contracts because its president owns a chunk of one of the bidders.

Clearly displeased that his pals were not on the staff list of recommendations, Cardenas -- supported by Janice -- found fault with what was recommended and demanded answers to a long list of petty questions.

Is it any wonder that the Airport GM Gina Marie Lindsey is looking for a healthier working environment as far from LA as she can get?

For her part, the Queen of San Pedro has her own conflict of interest, having taken $40,000 from airport concessionaires for her failed lieutenant governor campaign.

This kind of conduct ought to have every dog lover in town howling in outrage, especially the top-dog Dog Trainer..

But in what must be the most lily-livered editorial in the history of the newspaper, if that's possible, the Dog Trainer worked itself into a lather over the possibility Tony and Janice might queer contracts recommended for such "acclaimed L.A. chefs such as Susan Feniger, Mary Sue Milliken and Joachim Splichal, and a bakery from Homeboy Industries."

Ethics issues, who cares? Gourmet food is what matters.

Tony moved his event for this Thursday to a neutral location so it's not a problem, opines the Dog Trainer.

Then the editorial really lets Janice have it.

"There's no evidence of anything illegal going on at the board -- just politics as usual. "

Here's the hammer that has the two one of them looking over their shoulders: "As carefully as Cardenas and Hahn are scrutinizing the contracts, voters will be scrutinizing their actions."

Grrrrrrrrrrr!

Maybe the Dog Trainer doesn't know it, but Janice's vote would be illegal at the MTA, where board members aren't allowed to vote on any contract if they've taken money from an interested party in the past four years.

I'm just a dog, and an ugly one at that, but I think this highlights what's wrong in this town: Tony and Janice don't give a damn about looking conflicted and the Dog Trainer has become so emasculated in it's attempt to cozy up to the ruling class that's it's become toothless. (A mixed metaphor, I know, but a fun one, nonetheless.)

The Dog Trainer should have ripped them both a new one for creating at the leasat the appearance that influence peddlers and campaign cash are at the heart of how City Hall does business.

But why should they care?  The Dog Trainer - the only media outlet they seem to care about - soft-pedaled what they are doing (hat tip to those scrappy folks at the Weekly) and the only folks outraged are the rabble who has been complaining about this kind of behavior forever.

Oh, and me.  But I'm just a dog.

Woof!

Nothing - absolutely nothing! - pisses people off more in LA than traffic. 

 

It's our collective hate.

 

Traffic makes us late for work.  It prevents us to picking up our kids from school on time.  It boosts our heart rate, takes years off our lives and often locks us behind a steering wheel when we have to pee.

 

We hate it so much that we passed Measure R to boost transit spending even though we clearly don't trust Antonio and our other leaders to spend it on the right projects.  (Bill "I Love NY" Bratton fronted the campaign and it squeaked by.  Then he took off for a city where you can take a train to a Yankees game.)

 

Because we loathe traffic, we understand when we're delayed by improvements - like the project at Sunset Boulevard and the San Diego Freeway.  Those guys are working hard to replace that incredibly busy overpass in the middle of the night to reduce the chance of grid locking all of Southern California and most of Tijuana.

 

What we don't appreciate is when two government agencies don't talk and their lack of coordination makes a situation worse.

 

Guess what agency is doing work in the same area and making matters worse?  Yep! It's the DWP!

 

Buried in a Dog Trainer story this morning by Westside correspondent Martha Groves about the work at the Sunset and 405 is the following paragraph:

 

"Complicating matters, Church Lane, which runs parallel to the freeway just to the west, has been closed to all but local traffic because of a Los Angeles Department of Water and Power project."

 

Grrrrrrrrrrrrrr!

 

I'm not sure what interim DWP GM and Master City Hall Multi-tasker Austin Beutner is doing today, but Groves might want to track him down and ask why the DWP needed to rip up Church Lane at the same time Caltrans was ripping up Sunset Boulevard?

 

Or better yet, find the guy who is supposed to be running LA.  It shouldn't be hard.  As Ronnie pointed out this morning, Antonio's at a news conference celebrating the 20^th anniversary of Metro Rail - the trains that don't come near the intersection of Church Lane and the 405 - or Dodger Stadium, for that matter.

 

Woof!

If it wasn't for the fact that he's made a series of really dumb decisions, you could almost feel sorry for Antonio.

 

The poor guy is stuck in the middle of a City Hall melodrama that could be titled, "The New Guard, the Old Guard and the Point Guard."

 

Actually, it's more like a dog fight. And it's getting really freaking nasty, which is something I love next to eating.

 

By now, everybody knows a bunch of kids didn't put together a talent show in a garage in LA over the last few years without Antonio showing up, more than 3,000 such events during his time as mayor. His problem isn't with those self-promotional appearances but with taking gifts of free tickets, some worth thousands of dollars, to sporting and entertainment events - not mention the find food and wine he lets others pick up the tab for..

 

The guy loves the spotlight, the adoration, the love - and is now under investigation by three different agencies for taking and not disclosing to authorities all the freebies he's taken. Even worse, many of the gifts coming from folks with business before the city, people who are freeloaders like Antonio looking for gifts from taxpayers.

 

Those kinds of conflicts of interest could be an even bigger problem than merely ignoring all local and state disclosure laws

 

How many times have we seen the picture of Antonio sitting next to big shot Jeffery Katzenberg courtside at the Lakers?  According to the mayor, he was performing ceremonial duties.

 

Grrrrrrrr!

Chief Financial Officer Jeff Peltola was on vacation when he got a call to attend a special Wednesday morning meeting of top DWP officials.

When he got to the DWP headquarters, he was told to go see Chief Operating Officer Raman Raj, the No. 2 to Austin Beutner and one of the most controversial figures ever to hold a top job in the nation's largest municipal utility.

It wasn't a good meeting for Peltola, who for months has been rumored to have his head on the chopping block for refusing to tell the mayor and his staff what they wanted to hear.

After meeting with Raj, Peltola called his top people into a conference room and announced he was being "reassigned"; and that Mario Ignacio, his underling. would be interim CFO.  Peltola then packed up his stuff and went back to enjoying his vacation.

Here's what Raj told the staff in a memo headlined "CHIEF OPERATING OFFICER BULLETIN"

"Jeffery l. Peltola has stepped down from his position as Chief Financial Officer (CFO). He is doing so for health reasons and his resignation as CFO has been accepted. Jeff has been a valued member of our senior management team for the last 18 months and it has been a pleasure working with him.

"Mr. Peltola will serve as manager of the Power System's External Division, an area where major decisions are being made on the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power's long-term procurement of renewable energy projects and management of major plants (Intermountain Power Plant, Navajo, Mojave, and Palo Verde).among others. This requires a deep knowledge of the issues as well as business and financial expertise which Jeff brings to the table."

In other words, Peltola was demoted because of what in the heyday of the Soviet Union's Politburo was known as the "Russian Flu." He's lucky he wasn't killed, sent to the gulag or booted out entirely.

Now the word coming out of the DWP Kremlin is that Interim GM Austin Beutner will replace Peltola as CFO with Brett Messing, who is listed as "senior managing partner" for "economic and business policy" under Beutner in his other life as first deputy mayor or for all intents and purposes de facto of mayor of Los Angeles.

Messing, a 44-year-old avid skier and contributor of $13,000 to Jerry Brown's campaign for governor, comes out of the world of high finance, including a stint as co-head of Goldman Sachs' restricted equities group.

Googling him, you will find he was a partner in Oscar Capital Management LLC, a registered investment adviser based in New York and Los Angeles with approximately $1 billion in assets. He began his career with the private client services division of Goldman Sachs and from 1997 to 1999 was a senior vice president at Merrill Lynch in charge of investing more than $3 billion in assets. He later became CEO of InterPacket Networks, which he sold to American Tower Corp. in December 2000.

Welcome to the DWP Monkey House, Mr. Messing!

Would Bruno, LA's Watchdog, be alive today if Brenda Barnette, nominated to run the embattled city Animal Services Department, had gotten her hands on him?

Probably not.

According to several animal rights advocates and rescue workers, Barnette -- head of the Seattle Humane Society Shelter, AKC leader and sometimes lobbyist for dog breeders -- has a thing about pit bulls, pit bull mixes and suspected pit bull mixes. She doesn't like their temperament.

Frankly, I don't like Bruno's temperament much either a lot of the time. Being a mix of pit bull and Chinese Shar Pei, both fighting dogs, Bruno was dumped on the streets and wandered around until my wife adopted him and spent a fortune cleaning him up and trying to teach him self-control. He still goes berserk from time to time and needs to be managed closely.

Barnett's view of animals like Bruno is very dark indeed, according to many in the animal rights community who have been excluded from meeting and questioning Barnette by the mayor's team and pro-Barnette animal lovers.

Here's the way one activist who questions Barnette's credentials and the process put it:

"What's wrong with asking how a dog breeder and dog breeding supporter can be in charge of a department that is supposed to save lives and enforce spay/neuter laws? 

"How will Ms. Barnette save LAAS' (LA Animal Services) 6,500 pit bulls a year (and thousands more pit bull mixes) when she has a policy of rejecting many pit bulls, pit bull mixes and possible pit bulls, and then killing many others for failing her temperament test? 

"How can Ms. Barnette correct L.A.'s animal cruelty, Santee Alley, pit and cock fighting, and other endemic problems when she doesn't have any background in any of those things?"

The heart of the controversy over Barnette's appointment is how running a tiny shelter in Seattle where she boasts a 90 percent record of finding new homes for stray dogs and unwanted dogs that dropped off with the owner paying a $200 fee qualifies her to run the nation's largest animal shelter program with thousands of unwanted dogs.

In Seattle, Barnette could be selective about which dogs she took in and which she sought to place in new homes so she didn't have to face the euthanasia problem that exists in LA where a third or more of dogs aren't even registered. The same is true of spaying-neutering -- a massive issue in LA -- a problem exacerbated by Barnette's personal and professional roles as a dog breeder and advocate.

The people I've connected to are not writing Barnette off entirely, just asking a lot of questions.

Others like the Animal Defense League-LA have been able to meet with Barnette and speak extensively with people who worked with her. The group is gushing in its praise.

"We have basically put Brenda Barnette under our microscope," says a post on their website.

"So with all the humility we can muster, we have to say that even though ADL-LA members personally scorn (Deputy Mayor) Jim Bickhart, the Mayor, (Deputy Mayor) Jimmy Blackman and others who have for years been complicit in the slaughter of animal inside LAAS, we must now give credit where credit is due. They were absolutely correct in their choice for the new General Manager and their choice seems to imply that they are ready and willing for major positive change and a new vision, a LIFE SAVING VISION, for the homeless and lost animals of Los Angeles."

Last weekend, Barnette met with some segment of the upper crust of the animal rights world at what was described as a wine-and-cheese event in Beverly Hills, one of several meetings she has held with supporters in a carefully stage-managed presentation of her.

Critics won't get the chance to ask her questions until July 11, the day before her nomination goes before a City Council committee.

Given the ugly decade-long controversies that have engulfed Animal Services, sharp divisions in the animal rights community and the Council's new policy of getting all the facts before making decisions, it's in the interest of all of us that Barnette address the questions of everyone from rescue volunteers, activists, shelter workers.

Ed Boks, whose appointment as general manager was bought for him by a billionaire's handsome donation to the mayor's political causes, proved to be a disaster in all regards in no small part because so little attention was paid to his past record.

Given the high sensitivity and the intense passions involved in animal issues, a full and complete vetting of Barnette in public is needed.

The questions about Barnette range from her personal finances to her limited experience
as the head of an animal rescue service that operates by appointment only and cherry picks dogs for rescue, even importing dogs from LA and elsewhere to meet the demand in Seattle.

The most serious questions revolve around her roles as legislative liaison for the American Kennel Club and with a political action committee funded by breeders who waged a vigorous fight against mandatory spay/neuter laws in California -- information she has taken down from her Facebook page since her nomination.

The animal rights community has been engaged in a furious debate over this nomination. But we all have a stake in not repeating the mistakes of the past, in getting all dogs registered, in reducing the number of animals euthanized, in stopping puppy mills and getting more dogs and cats spayed or neutered to reduce the unwanted pet population.