Nominee For "Bad Timing" Award Of 2011

Today -- the day the Los Angeles Dodgers baseball team filed for bankruptcy -- the billionaire developers of AEG want you, the taxpayers of L.A., to co-sign a loan for nearly $300 million, to build a football stadium.  But see, they call it "less than $300 million," to make it sound like a bargain.

If everything works as hoped, then an NFL team will appear and generate sufficient profits, and you'll be just fine, supposedly. But if this "investment" of tax dollars instead goes the way of the Dodgers, guess who gets to repay the "less than $300 million" to the bond-holders.  Hint: it rhymes with "schmou."

Hey, AEG, tell me this, would you: If this is such a great investment opportunity, why can't you get people in the private sector to pay for it? After all, we taxpayers have higher priorities -- like sending L.A.'s artists on European vacations.

Must . . . stop . . . paying . . . attention . . . .

Lunch With A Lawyer

Your business or civic group needs a good speaker for its next lunch. I'm a terrific speaker, and lunch is the high point of my day.

Are you seeing the win-win here? 

How about I give a delightfully informative presentation, including a slide-show, to your group at its next lunch meeting, with practical legal tips, and you can give me, say, a Reuben and a diet Coke?

Details at my legal website, now known as LunchWithALawyer.com -- or, for you early birds, BreakfastWithABarrister.com.

Fox 11 Exposes City Hall Boondoggle: You're Paying For Artists' European Vacations

LA Cultural Affairs Program Under Fire: MyFoxLA.com

Three cheers for Fox 11 and John Schwada for their serious investigative reporting on L.A. politics!

Calling All City Hall Insiders: Know Of Any Nepotism?

Do you know of any instances of nepotism at City Hall?

Inquiring minds what to know how many people with cushy jobs, dreamy grants and other sweetheart deals just happen to be the cousin, brother, nephew or sister-in-law of people holding elected office in L.A.

You can post a comment below or click here to email me.

Gracias in advance.

TV ALERT: FOX 11 NEWS TONIGHT ON CITY HALL'S BOONDOGGLES

Tonight, on Fox 11 News during the 10:00 p.m. show, they're broadcasting the first of what may become a series of reports on City Hall's parade of boondoggles.

They interviewed me about a program where you and I foot the bill to send performance artists to the Netherlands and other delightful venues, and we don't even get a crummy t-shirt.

Hey, for $12,000, I'll do an interpretive dance among the tulips by the windmill in wooden shoes. Why am I paying for somebody else's European vacation?

Did Safeco Tell Insureds It Was Slashing Their Policy Limits?

Usually I don't write about the lawsuits I handle, to protect clients' privacy.  Right now, however, I'm handling a lawsuit that deals with the rights of thousands -- tens of thousands?  hundreds of thousands? -- of consumers, and I'm both the lawyer and the client, so it's okay.

The lawsuit is against Safeco Insurance Company for bad faith and unfair competition concerning a homeowners policy. 

There's an important hearing this week on a motion.  The issue is whether Safeco violated California law by failing to give its insureds conspicuous, plain and clear notice that the company was slashing coverage for certain types of covered claims from hundreds of thousands of dollars down to just $10,000 total.  Good luck re-building your house with $10,000.

Safeco's practice, in my opinion, is like selling empty fire extinguishers:  most customers will never even discover they have been cheated; only the few who wind up needing protection find they've been sold something empty and useless.

Anyhow, to read all about it, and see how the Court rules, visit my new website:  SafecoLitigation.com.

David Goldstein Kicks Ass At City Hall

David Goldstein, a terrific reporter with CBS Channel 2, has demonstrated dramatically the power and potential of local TV channels to clean up corruption at City Hall.

Remember how, back in February, he caught the Housing Commissioners going on those pointless boondoggle trips to luxury hotels, and how they double-billed for their meals, by getting reimbursed for same while also collecting a per diem?  Later, he reported on how the sons of a Housing Commissioner seemed to be getting preferential treatment.  Well, Goldstein's tenacious professionalism has forced a major change of personnel downtown:  THREE commissioners, gone.  Here's his latest report:

Way to go, David Goldstein! You've done more to fight waste and corruption in three months than every member of the City Council has done. . . well, EVER.

Imagine how great this City could be if other stations followed the stellar examples of David Goldstein of CBS 2, and John Schwada of Fox 11 (who broke the Ticketgate story), and consistently exposed the corruption at City Hall. That coverage could start to wake up and shake up the 88% of registered voters who skip local elections.

Bottom line:  If L.A.'s local TV stations will get serious about covering the on-going crime scene that is City Hall, they can help fix this city -- and probably increase their viewing audience, to boot.

Facebook Blurb Edition

I'm too busy to blog today, so here's some of my Facebook blurbology, in case you're bored out of your wits: