District Attorney's Double Standard For Villaraigosa's Violations

Can someone explain this to me? The Los Angeles County District Attorney seems to be serving different sauces for the goose and gander.

Start with the goose, aka Ticketgate:

Villaraigosa accepted over $100,000 worth of "gifts" illegally from companies that receive subsidies and tax breaks from the City.  He gets caught.  He pleads guilty, and a $42,000 fine is imposed. He then starts asking for contributions from others to pay the fines. Net impact on Villaraigosa for breaking the ethics laws:  zero.

No indictment, no jail time, no further investigation to see what quid Villaraigosa gave for the quo.  No nothin'. Just "have a nice day."

Now turn to the gander:

The District Attorney has indicted a 62-year-old real estate developer named Alexander Hugh for reimbursing employees who contributed to Villaraigosa's campaign, in the amount of about $26,000.

Hat Day

Remember, Saturday, April 30, 2011 is Hat Day.  Wear a hat, a real hat, not a baseball hat, okay? Why? Because it's Hat Day.

Take THAT, Princess Beatrice!

Ode To Tang

Tang.  Remember Tang? Man, you are SO old!

If you remember Tang, you remember Americans landing on the moon, which brings us to the gratuitous Tang and moon video:

Villaraigosa And Trutanich Flouting Ethics For Fun And Profit

I'd love to hear a philosophy professor deliver a lecture on ethics discussing the most recent activities of Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa and City Attorney Carmen Trutanich.


Have you heard the latest twists in their sordid stories? About the fund-raising to pay the Ticketgate fines, and the phony "Draft Carmen" campaign?


If not, let me bring you up to speed.  We'll start with Tony V:

Villaraigosa Wants To Give City Employees 12% Raise

Villaraigosa wants to give the City of L.A.'s employees a big fat 12% raise, notwithstanding the City's "budget crisis," the recession, and the city's double-digit unemployment rate. So says the San Francisco Chronicle.

No further comment is really required, is it?

Villaraigosa's Proposed Budget For 2011-2012: Source Documents

In coming weeks and months, you will probably here all kinds of claims about the City of L.A.'s budget.

When you do, you can come to this page to find links to Mayor Villaraigosa's actual budget documents.

Me, I'm not planning to scrutinize them, because, frankly, I think the City is politically brain-dead and terminally ill. Plus, I'm super busy.

But be my guest.  Here's your link to my public iDisk, where you can find the documents in PDF format:

L.A. Budget Documents for 2011-2012 

If you find something interesting -- and I'm sure you can -- let me know, and I'll post it.

Dodgers Show Taxpayers Can Lose Their Shirt On AEG Stadium Deal

Wanna buy a shirt? Give you good deal.

Villaraigosa, Beutner and the rest of the Spring Street Gang tell you not to worry about the fact that you, the taxpayer, will be on the hook for decades to repay the money AEG wants to borrow to build a football stadium. After all, they say, AEG will guarantee repayment.

The problem is, companies go bankrupt all the time.

Today's takeover of the Los Angeles Dodgers, moreover, illustrates that even professional sports franchises can fail. The media are reporting that the team's owner had to borrow $30 million just to make payroll.

You've been warned.

American Culture Update For My Foreign Friends

Sorry for your loss.  How about a Shamrock Shake?

For some reason, people from France, Germany, the Netherlands, Sweden, the Philippines, Singapore, Spain, the United Kingdom, Switzerland, Eastern Europe, Canada and even Mexico visit my website with some regularity.

I am honored. Puzzled, but honored.

So today, especially for my guests from other countries, I want to share the latest distinctive bit of American culture:  drive-through funerals.

Or, as most people would spell it, because Americans don't have the time or patience for silent letters, "drive-thru funerals."

City Attorney Trutanich Shows He's Just Another Creepy Wanna Be Career Politician

Pot throwing stone at kettle in glass house.

Just two years ago, Carmen Trutanich was elected to a four-year term as City Attorney of Los Angeles. In his campaign, as the Los Angeles Times reported, he made an issue of politicians who run for one office while holding another:

During the campaign, Trutanich called on then-City Councilman Jack Weiss to join him in swearing to seek a second term should he become city attorney and to promise not to run for another office, including district attorney, while serving in the post. The pledge called on the election winner to donate $100,000 to an afterschool program and to take out full-page newspaper ads declaring "I AM A LIAR" if he violated the terms.

Now, however, Trutanich has officially filed the paperwork needed to run for District Attorney of the County of Los Angeles in 2012.

Talk about stabbing voters in the back!

Who Will Run For City Attorney In 2013? City Controller?

Several people have formed committees to raise money to run for Mayor of L.A. in the March 2013, including -- unless you rely on the Los Angeles Times for your information -- attorney and radio talk-show host Kevin James.

No one, however, has formed a committee to run for City Attorney or City Controller.  How about it, people?

Don't look at me. I already tried running for office twice. Why don't you try it at least once: run for office. If you win, you get to fix the city. If you lose, you earn the right to complain.

State Of The City: Villaraigosa, Beutner And The City Council Cost 88,341 People Their Jobs

You know how, when the President delivers his State of the Union address, the opposing party is allowed to present a counter-statement?

Well, here in Los Angeles, when the Mayor delivers his so-called "State of the City" address, the media don't bother to present another point of view.

Had they bothered to ask, say, the guy who finished second in the Mayoral election, here's one point that guy would have made:

Thanks to Mayor Villaraigosa, America's second-biggest city is far above average -- but not in a good way.

In February 2011, the national unemployment rate was 8.95%.

Thanks to the policies of Villaraigosa, his right-hand man Beutner, and the City Council, however, the rate here in L.A. that month wasn't 8.95%, or 9.95%, or 10%, or 11% or even 12%.

How Exhibitionist Politicians Can Change The Course Of History

Here's your compare-and-contrast essay assignment.

Candaules, aka Myrsilos, was a king of the ancient Kingdom of Lydia from 735 BC to 718 BC. His wife was good-looking, and he wanted his aide, Gyges, to see her naked. Weird, huh? So the wife caught Gyges looking, was horrified, and said either you kill my husband or I'll have you killed, you peeping Tom, you.  Gyges opted for the former, and the course of history was changed.

(That, at least, was apparently Gyges's story.  Candaules didn't really get to tell his side, now, did he?)

Anyway, fast forward about 2690 years.  There was an American politician in the 1990s named Jack Ryan.  No, not the Tom Clancy character; a real person.

There Is No Male-Female Wage Gap

Read about it in the Wall Street Journal. According to the author, Carrie Lukas, the pay disparity is a result of men taking jobs where they work longer hours, with greater risks and less job security (e.g., construction vs. teaching).

Guess How Many People Get Government Aid

How many people in the U.S. get checks -- not including paychecks -- from the federal government? Today's Washington Post has an article with a link to the following spreadsheet from the Census Bureau. Would you believe over 136 million people, over 46% of America? Yikes. Something is seriously out of whack. We need more whack.

Dodger Stadium Troop Surge Shows "Anti-Gang" Programs Are BS

You know why the Mayor and the Chief of Police are sending an army of armed police to the next L.A. Dodgers game?

Because armed police are the best way to protect public safety, and because Mr. and Mrs. McCourt are politically active billionaires who throw down the free tickets and receive special treatment from the City (e.g., a taxpayer-subsidized "free" shuttle for customers).

If, by contrast, you're just some poor schlub taxpayer, in a neighborhood over-run by gangs, you know what you get instead? You get unlicensed, unregulated, so-called "anti-gang" programs run by ex-cons who are cronies of the former gang-member Mayor -- and who keep getting arrested even while riding the taxpayer gravy train.

Don't Fight Global Warming, Embrace It

Why does no one ever discuss the benefits of global warming? We don't need "green" energy. We just need to adjust our attitude about latitude.

You say it'll get all hot, sticky and wet unless the government subsidizes solar technology and windmills? Hello, McFly?! We have a seventh continent just sitting there, unused by anyone but birds in tuxedos. Turn up the thermostat a few degrees, and you will have essentially created a huge new parcel of real estate. There's enough room in Antarctica for everyone to have a beachfront condo.

You Arrest Building Inspectors But Not The Tickegate Five?

Explain to me why two lowly building inspectors who take bribes to "fast track" building permits get arrested, but the Mayor and four City Council Members who receive "gifts" from companies to who which they give fee waivers, subsidies, bonds, etc., merely have to pay minor fines.

Why are there no celebrity mugshots of Antonio Villagraigosa, Eric Garcetti, Jose Huizar, Tony Cardenas, and Herb Wesson? Anti-corruption laws should be enforced against those at the top, not just those at the bottom. Arrest the Ticketgate Five.

Ticketgate Sequel: City Council Members Plead Guilty And Pay Fines

Ticketgate isn't just for Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa any more.  As reported in the Los Angeles Times, four City Council Members have now copped pleas for accepting tickets as "gifts" illegally:

• City Councilman Tony Cardenas:  GUILTY, $2,500 fine.
• City Councilman Jose Huizar:  GUILTY, $2,100 fine.
• City Councilman Eric Garcetti:  GUILTY, $4,800 fine.
• City Councilman Herb Wesson:  GUILTY, $3,900 fine.

Not only are Los Angeles career politicians are corrupt, but they seem . . . what is the word? . . . embarrassingly cheap. Actually, we can't jump to that conclusion, can we? After all, who knows what they're really getting away with. We only know they got caught for this.

Way More Money Than An NPR Pledge Drive, And He's Not Even Giving Away Tote Bags!

See, her name is Nina Totenberg, so it's a Nina Totin' Bag.

People who are serious about fixing this City have pledged over $500,000 to a candidate the Los Angeles Times is pretending does not exist, namely, Kevin James.

How about you help make it a million? I know this recession is brutal, but every $25 helps. You've heard the expression, "there's strength in numbers?" Well, if half of the 72,000 people who voted for me contributed just $25 to Kevin's campaign, that would be $900,000 right there.

How To Cure The L.A. Times's Terminal Groupthink

You probably already know the L.A. Times is up to its old tricks again:  concealing from voters the identity of Mayoral candidates of whom it does not approve.

The paper published an op-ed entitled, "Who Will Be L.A.'s Next Mayor?" Omitted from the list of actual and potential candidates was attorney and talk radio host Kevin James.

Instead, the newspaper purported to draw distinctions between the fungible members of the status quo, namely, various City Council Members, a Deputy Mayor, and one of the developers whom they serve.

To paraphrase Dorothy Parker, the Times's list of candidates runs the gamut from "A" to "B."

If that ticks you off, do NOT write a letter to the editor.  The editor doesn't give a damn about you.

Instead, if you want results, write a check to Kevin James for Mayor 2013.  Better yet, just click here to charge it -- and maybe get some frequent flyer miles to boot.

Villaraigosa's Guilty Plea In Ticketgate Should Be Start Of Criminal Investigation, Not End

The Mayor of America's second-biggest city has effectively pleaded guilty to violating state and city anti-corruption laws.  Villaraigosa has agreed to pay a $42,000 fine. Why? For accepting valuable consideration -- in the form of tickets -- that it was illegal for him to accept at all, and, separately, for failing to report same. One of the things that made this consideration illegal is that it came from people and companies doing business with the City of which Villaraigosa is the Mayor.