Don't Be Fueled By Greuel: Pot Calling Kettle Black

Wannabe mayor, City Controller Wendy Greuel, is trying to dupe voters into thinking she's some kind of crusader against waste at City Hall, when in fact she is indistinguishable from the rest of her fellow insiders. The latest example is in the Los Angeles Times: 

Los Angeles City Controller Wendy Greuel on Thursday accused Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa and the City Council of being "asleep at the switch" when it comes to monitoring fuel usage by city employees.

Greuel made the remark at a news conference where she released an audit showing that more than $7 million in gasoline and other fuel has gone missing from the city in recent years. According to the audit, millions of gallons of fuel were pumped at dozens of city fueling sites without any record of where the fuel went, despite a $12-million tracking system put in place more than a decade ago.

See what she's doing?  She's blaming the Mayor and the City Council for failing to keep track of money spent for gas, so you'll think she would do something about it if only she could.


Here's the problem:  back when Greuel was on the City Council for nine years, she didn't do jack about any of the audits issued by the previous City Controllers. You think Wendy Greuel was the first City Controller to look into gas money? Hay-ell no!


On January 22, 2009, when Greuel was on the City Council, Laura Chick, the City Controller at the time, was so exasperated after years of having Gruel and the rest of the City Council ignore her audits that she penned the following cover letter for her audit on -- you guessed it -- FUEL USAGE:

January 22, 2009

The Honorable Antonio Villaraigosa

The Honorable Rockard J. Delgadillo

The Honorable Members of the City Council

Of the 167 audits completed since I took office as Controller, the two I release today are the most stunning testament to how the City does business in an un-businesslike way.

These audits spotlight serious issues which require immediate action. Every day, multiple conversations occur in City Hall about how to squeeze more money out of the taxpayers ... more fees for parking meters, increased trash collection fees, higher DWP rates, a parcel tax for anti gang programs. Before we ask for one more penny from the public, we must get our own house in order.

We are supposed to be leading and setting an example. This is not the example we want the public to follow.

Sincerely,

LAURA N. CHICK

City Controller

Nor was failure to account for fuel anything new. Remember Rick Tuttle? Me, neither. But he was the City Controller way back in 2000, and he, too, issued an audit expressing concern about fraud and waste in the way the City accounted for gasoline purchases. Remember anything about Greuel taking action on that? Of course not.  


Bottom line: don't let Greuel fool you. She is, and has always been, part of the problem at City Hall. She is not the solution. You want something different at City Hall? You need to elect someone new: Kevin James.