Check Out All The Great Stories at Mayor Sam's Sister City at http://mayorsam.blogspot.com/!
Check Out All The Great Stories at Mayor Sam's Sister City at http://mayorsam.blogspot.com/!
Recalling his abuelito and hoping for sunny days ahead Mayor Villaraigosa laid out massive jobs and budget cuts for the City in his annual State of the City address. The event was indeed somber; the Mayor only drawing applause when he made reference to historically low crime rates in the City. Villaraigosa also lambasted critics as "clucking pundits" who were proven wrong by voters who approved the controversial phone tax, Measure S. However Clucker-in-Chief Mulholland Terrace recalls a 2008 op-ed piece he authored for the Los Angeles Times clearly outlining the fraud that Measure S was and how the voters were duped by the grandson of Pedro Acosta.
Check Out All The Great Stories at Mayor Sam's Sister City at http://mayorsam.blogspot.com/!
Today's the day! Mayor Sam's Great Debate will be held this afternoon featuring candidates David Hernandez, Phil Jennerjahn, Walter Moore, Craig X. Rubin and David "Zuma Dogg" Saltsburg. Panelists include Moderator Ron Kaye, LA Weekly Deputy Editor Jill Stewart and blogger Debbie Lopez. Tune in hear to watch live streaming video of the event.
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Jon Regardie gets funny again and gets inside the head of Mayor Villaraigosa imagining what he might say as he departs on his latest junket, this time to Israel. In Regardie's piece, Villaraigosa might say that his trip "will establish both trade and symbolic ties between Los Angeles, the city of the 21st century, and Jerusalem, the city of the first century. Average them out and you have the city of the 11th century."
Check Out All The Great Stories at Mayor Sam's Sister City at http://mayorsam.blogspot.com/!
Those of you who worried about longtime Villaraigosa foot solider Mike Trujillo having to visit the Canoga Park office of the Employment Development Department following the withdrawl of Mrs. Bill Clinton from the Presidential sweepstakes likely need not worry. Tony Castro reports that insiders within presumptive Democratic nominee Barack Obama's campaign planning on sending the Villaraigosa machine in search of Latino votes in Texas, Colorado and Michigan. Pack your bags Mike.
Check Out All The Great Stories at Mayor Sam's Sister City at http://mayorsam.blogspot.com/!
Now that Hillary Clinton's dropped out of the Presidential race, Mayor Villaraigosa has jumped on the Barack Obama bandwagon. And maybe it's helping: a recent poll shows the Illinois Democrat capturing up to 62 percent of Latino vote over Senator John McCain.
Check Out All The Great Stories at Mayor Sam's Sister City at http://mayorsam.blogspot.com/!
Rick Orlov must be reading Mayor Sam and Street Hassle. First he mentions that Mayor Villaraigosa is taking heat for his junket to Israel. Next he mentions in light of the Israel trip, speculation is rife on the blogosphere that Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky is running for Mayor. The only question is - Joe and I have been talking about these things for weeks - why did Rick wait until now to report this?
Check Out All The Great Stories at Mayor Sam's Sister City at http://mayorsam.blogspot.com/!
Mayor Villaraigosa and Chief Bratton have unveiled their gang fighting plans. Part of the effort includes seizing vehicles from gang members and evicting them from their apartments.
Check Out All The Great Stories at Mayor Sam's Sister City at http://mayorsam.blogspot.com/!
Free food y'all! At a special event at the Chapman Market on 6th Avenue AnVil will introduce BongWater Kim as the new General Manager of the Department of Neighborhood Empowerment Friday morning. The public is invited and a light breakfast will be served.
Check Out All The Great Stories at Mayor Sam's Sister City at http://mayorsam.blogspot.com/!
Joe Mailander opines that AnVil's coming junket to the Holy Land could be aimed at raising his profile among the area's Jews with the prospect of a Zev Yaroslavsky mayoral run looming over the horizon. Despite what the spinners say, there's blood in the water and it will be a crowded field.
Check Out All The Great Stories at Mayor Sam's Sister City at http://mayorsam.blogspot.com/!
It's been a while since the last Mayor Villaraigosa junket so there's one on the schedule next month. Mayor V's Flight Crew is taking off for...Israel! And paid for by the ratepayers of the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power!
The Mayor will accompany Los Angeles City Councilmen Jack Weiss and Dennis Zine, Department of Water and Power General Manager David Naha, Water and Power Commission President Nick Patsaouras, Port of Los Angeles General Manager Geraldine Knatz, Harbor Commissioner Doug Krause, Los Angeles World Airports General Manager Gina Marie Lindsey and Airport Commission President Alan Rothenberg, The Simon Wiesenthal Center's Rabbi Marvin Hier and a number of business and civic leaders to "discuss" homeland security and make the LA River a "sister river" to a river in Tel Aviv. But it's okay, like the LA River the Yarkon River is also polluted.
Of course, there are no figures on how much this trip will cost.
Check Out All The Great Stories at Mayor Sam's Sister City at http://mayorsam.blogspot.com/!
No matter what you think of Zuma Dogg; he hears things and no not just the voices in Bill Rosendahl's head. I've been telling you that Richard Riordan and Eli Broad are planning to throw Tony under the bus; looking for that pro-developer mayoral candidate that can get elected as the antidote to the Coming City Superstorm and the force of Hurricane Zev. Everyone from Bob Hertzberg to Rick Caruso has been mentioned. The challenge for Mssrs. Riordan and Broad is that they need someone who 1) they can work with 2) is pro-development and 3) can overcome #1 and #2 enough to dull the pitchforks and torches coming from Sunland-Tujunga, Studio City, West LA, Granada Hills, CD14, et al.
According to Zuma, that someone could very well be the individual that wore a number 32 for 13 years:ZUMA PREDICT NEXT MAYOR OF LOS ANGELES: AND SPEAKING OF LAKERS...looks like Los Angeles is going to have a former one for mayor in '09.
So while observant blogs play around with current Lakers who allegedly play around, visit Zuma Dogg's LA Daily Blog (and Mayor Sam too!) for more on who will replace Tony in the driver seat on Grandpa Dick's bus.
Check Out All The Great Stories at Mayor Sam's Sister City at http://mayorsam.blogspot.com/!
We reported yesterday that Mayor Villaraigosa appeared in the Canoga Park Memorial Day Parade. A columnist at the Ventura County Star reports that protestors showed up to shame the Mayor for his support of Special Order 40. Speaking of the Canoga Park Parade here are photos of future Mayoral candidate Zev riding in the parade.
Check Out All The Great Stories at Mayor Sam's Sister City at http://mayorsam.blogspot.com/!
The City gave mega-raises to municipal employees but there wasn't the money there to afford it. Walter Moore takes Mayor Villaraigosa to task for claiming "I didn't know that!"
Check Out All The Great Stories at Mayor Sam's Sister City at http://mayorsam.blogspot.com/!
Mayor Villaraigosa gets behind the wheel in the Canoga Park Memorial Day Parade Monday. One blogger forgave the mayor's "ineffectiveness" in handling the City's finances.
Check Out All The Great Stories at Mayor Sam's Sister City at http://mayorsam.blogspot.com/!
In a stunning blow to Presidential candidate Hillary Clinton - and her surrogate in Los Angeles, Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa - the Mexican American Political Association has endorsed Senator Barack Obama for the Democratic nomination for President.
On the heels of the endorsement of the Illinois Senator by labor leader Maria Elena Durazo Clinton's prospects of gaining significant support amongst California's Latinos appears to be fading.
Motivating the decision has been the campaign tactics of the Clintons in South Carolina and elsewhere that some have criticized as being race baiting.
MAPA's National President Nativo Lopez issued the following statement:
“Something nasty in the national campaigns reared its head over the past two weeks, which motivated us to consider another endorsement for a presidential candidate of the Democratic Party primary elections. We have observed with utter disgust the use of racially divisive and polarizing tactics employed by the Clintons, both Hillary and Bill, against Senator Barack Obama, not the first presidential candidate of African American origin. This is something that we would have expected from Republican candidates, but instead it surfaced from the bowels of the center-right institutional currents of the Democratic Party. The tactics are absolutely deplorable and clearly demonstrate what the Clintons think of all people of color."
Lopez' full statement can be viewed here.
Losing support of both the African American and Latino communities in Los Angeles could have a chilling effect on Clinton's prospects in California. It would have a greater impact and reflect poorly on politicians in the state such as Mayor Villaraigosa, Speaker of the Assembly Fabian Nunez and San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom who've been working hard on behalf of the Clintons.
Check Out All The Great Stories at Mayor Sam's Sister City at http://mayorsam.blogspot.com/!
Check Out All The Great Stories at Mayor Sam's Sister City at http://mayorsam.blogspot.com/!
Today, parents of Beckford Ave. Elementary school will be receiving their monthly newsletter. Inside, they'll find the following editorial by a PTA parent urging ALL PTA members to vote No on Measure S.
Rock the Vote Beckford!
By Debbie Lopez
It's another campaign year and another chance for Beckford parents to get involved in the future of not only our country, but locally as well. On February 5th, the Beckford Auditorium will once again be a polling place for the upcoming Presidential Primary election.
Are you registered to vote yet?
The last day to register for the Feb. 5th election is January 22nd. Registering is easy! Just visit: http://www.sos.ca.gov/
"NO on Measure S"
PTAs may be asked to help secure the passage of a school bond or local parcel tax election or to participate in campaigns to pass or defeat other election ballot measures.
One of the Purposes of the PTA is "to secure adequate laws for the care and protection of children and youth." It is by educating its members — and through them, the general public — on the impact of issues affecting children and youth, that PTAs can best influence the course of action of those who make policy decisions, thereby achieving the Purposes of the PTA. Measure S (the "Cell Phone Tax 'Reduction'"), as written, applies an unfair tax to voters, as we will be charged 9%, while telemarketers (grrr… who call you as you sit down to dinner) will only be charged 5%.
This places an unfair burden on families who rely on cell phones to keep in touch with (and keep tabs on!) their children. The Northridge West Neighborhood Council voted to take a position AGAINST Measure S. The Neighborhood Council agreed with the COURT OF APPEAL OF CALIFORNIA, SECOND APPELLATE DISTRICT, DIVISION TWO, who ruled that the current cell phone tax the city is collecting is a violation of Prop. 218, passed by California voters in 1996. By voting NO, the current tax goes away. A YES vote enables City Hall to tax you for using the internet, wireless networks, text messaging, instant messaging, VoIP and similar services.
As a high-performing school, Beckford is not eligible to receive funding (such as Title 1 funds) that we so desperately need. Our Valley neighborhoods contribute a substantial amount in tax revenue each year to the City's General Fund. That is where the money from Prop S. will be going. There is nothing in the wording of Measure S. that specifically binds these funds to things like additional police and fire units. Voters can't ever really be sure exactly where and HOW those General Fund dollars are going to be spent. Unfortunately, we don't see too much of it coming back into the Valley in the way of help for our schools.
If it were not for the generosity, the hard work, the endless hours of volunteering, the commitment, the love and support of our Beckford families, we would not have the funding for many of the wonderful educational programs here at Beckford. Perhaps it's time to take a stand, Valley Families.
How about we just vote NO on Measure S, and instead make a donation to the Bell Fund, or take your sweetie on a date to our "Ace of Hearts" fundraising gala? Money wisely spent, and guaranteed to be used for the betterment of our school and our children's education. PLEASE COME TO OUR PTA ASSOCIATION MEETING ON JAN. 22 AND LEARN MORE!!
Beckford PTA will be encouraging ALL Valley PTAs to join us in voting NO on S. Additionally, in lieu of dumping tea into the L.A. River, we are also asking that at the same time members are voting NO, to send a donation to their PTAs instead of Measure S taxes to the City's General Fund. This way, members can be assured that their hard-earned dollars are going directly to schools instead of lining the coffers of the "Bermuda Triangle" that is the General Fund.
We wil be speaking at the montly PTA President's Meeting later this month, and asking our PTA Council to please circulate the above editorial to each of the schools in the area, and to send it home in their newsletters.
NO ON S AND SUPPORT OUR SCHOOLS! PLEASE VOTE NO AND SEND A DONATION TO YOUR LOCAL PTA. OUR SCHOOLS NEED THE MONEY MORE THAN THE CITY, AND WE'LL SPEND IT MORE WISELY, TOO!
Check Out All The Great Stories at Mayor Sam's Sister City at http://mayorsam.blogspot.com/!
The place to to read about Los Angeles Politics is Mayor Sam's Sister City. Mayor Sam blogs about Los Angeles Politics everyday along with Zuma Dogg, Joe Mailander and Red Spot.
Want to read about Mayor Villaraigosa? Check out Mayor Sam.
Is Mayor Villaraigosa having an affair? You can read about it at Mayor Sam.
Sometimes we talk about Presidential Politics including Ron Paul. Check us out at Mayor Sam's Sister City, the blog that covers Los Angeles Politics.
Check Out All The Great Stories at Mayor Sam's Sister City at http://mayorsam.blogspot.com/!
Lots of phone tax stuff here - and the battle to kill Measure S (for Shady!) is well underway.
First off can you kill a phone tax? Yes, the Federal Government did. And they found that the income lost from the phone tax was more than made up for by revenue increases as a result of the tax going back into the economy.
How about this - a liberal is opposed to the phone tax!
When is a Mayoral aide not campaigning for the phone tax on the City dime? When he's campaigning for the tax.
Pasadena also has a phony phone tax on the ballot, it's called Measure D. The good folks fighting that battle have a web site here.
The Daily News agrees - the phone tax "sucks!"
Make sure you email, fax or snail mail all the Mayor Sam blog reports about the phone tax to your friends. They need to know and they need to know to not be deceived by the "reduction" title.
Labels: mayor antonio villaraigosa, Measure S, phone tax
latinopoliticsblog.com questions the strategic wisdom of the Hillary Clinton campaign having Mayor Villaraigosa tag along in New Hampshire. More importantly - the blog drives home - why isn't the Mayor at home solving problems instead of playing Presidential politics out of state?
Like many LA denizens, bloger Los Angelista finds lot of reasons to hate LA - including gangs, traffic and Mayor Villaraigosa - but every reason to love her own neighborhood.
The Police Protective League has decided to join with and not fight the Mayor in efforts to stick it to the taxpayers and support the phone tax increase. A whopping $250,000 donation is coming to the Mayor's Yes on S campaign from the union. Wonder what kind of backslapping secured this support?
There was a time when the League was one of the no-nonsense public employee unions in Los Angeles back in the day when our favorite former motorcycle cop turned Clowncilman ran the show. But hey - he's descended into liberalism himself so why bother. Maybe Mayor Sam isn't going to be so likely to support the PPL in their fight against the Police Commissions mandate for certain officers to turn over financial records or their battle with Bitter Bernie on work schedules.
Mayor Villaraigosa and his "WILLING TAX AND SPEND, FELLOW TRAVELERS" are in discussions regarding options to saving the city tax on phones. One option that has the attention of Times reporter David Zahnizer, is declaring a fiscal emergency. this would pave the way for putting a revised Phone Tax on the February ballot. Most important, by declaring an "emergency", passage of the tax would require only a simple majority.
Coming on the heals of proposed tax hikes on properties for gang programs, trash fees for Police, rate hikes for IBEW, err, infrastructure improvements at the DWP. One can see that the current city leadership will stop at nothing to find "streams of new revenues" to waste on dubious programs. Plus, lets not forget the "OTHER TAX" that is still in the planning stage. A tax on your personal income.
Simple solution to this "ORGY OF SPENDING AND TAXING" ?
JUST SAY NO!!!
Just say No, when your city leaders will not crack down on "ILLEGAL MERCHANTS".
Just say No, when gang programs put current members of the "MEXICAN MAFIA" on city payroll.
Just say No, when your city leaders sell out our fine LAPD officers for the May 1 rally at MacArthur Park.
Just say No, when you city leaders give the "BANK" to dubious "Non-Profits".
Just say No, when a "PRANSTER" gets $1.5 million for hurt feelings.
I can go on and on, but I will let you add to the list.
Mayor maneuvers to get phone tax on Feb. 5 ballot - Los Angeles Times
Once there was a girl who achieved her dream of being a big time television reporter.
First she banged Alex Padilla, Fabian Nunez and probably a few others.
But then she upgraded to the married, sitting Mayor of the second largest city in America. Indeed, she even reported on television that the Mayor was splitting up with his wife because of an affair with another woman. But she forgot to mention she was the other woman.
She was then suspended. And then transfered to the fabulous metropolis of Riverside.
But she failed to show up for her first day of work. And shortly after, her employer said she was no longer with the television station.
And in the meantime, the Mayor is probably looking for a new squeeze in time for the holidays.
Man, that really sucks. Just like that woman and this one and this one, anyone who dares screw around with a married elected official is bound to become the butt of many jokes and only a footnote in history. But hey maybe she can sell the movie rights!
The Mayor wanted to plant a million trees (the non-shady shady plan we told you about before) but so far its only about 110,000 and no one knows where they are. Yet another example of stupid grandstanding by a politician that solves absolutely no problem.
If you're a philandering politician who do you to turn to for advice? The wife of another philandering politician of course! Especially when she's running for President and you're her National Campaign Chairman.
Despite his troubles, Hispanic Business Magazine has named Mayor V one of the 100 most influential Hispanics in America. Hey the Mayor needed SOME good news right?
John and Ken check this out: Walter Moore has a video blog with some photo ops of the Mayor wasting his time tossing out old mattresses. That Mayor V sure knows how to keep busy!
Latinas in Los Angeles are reportedly dropping their support for the Mayor in droves. Many of them who supported Villaraigosa in the past are saying never again. One woman interviewed by the Whittier Daily News prays and lights candles for the Mayor and his estranged wife as a way of "handling her anger and disillusionment."
Reports are that Mayor V plans to begin a major rehabilitation effort starting Monday including an all out assault on potholes and alleged spiritual counseling from Cardinal Roger Mahoney.
A reader reports that "strings were pulled" in order to get a female police officer allegedly favored by Mayor Villaraigosa transferred to the LAPD's elite Metro Division and his security detail.
Yet another print journalist can't stand how blogs and other parts of the new digital media have reshaped how political reporting is done. Tim Rutten bitches about blogs saying "Clearly, the mayor would not be in the fix he's in — and it's quite a fix — without the emergence of a vigorous online media that is reshaping the city's political landscape." I think we here at the Sister City take that as a compliment. In a related post on Newsbusters Dave Pierre says Rutten's article exposes a double standard about the Times' coverage of Republican and Democratic philanderers.
Radar Online reports that Mayor Villaraigosa's situation definitely presents a big problem for Presidential candidate Hillary Clinton.
Luke Ford enumerates the number of entries on the growing list of Antonio's alleged girls starting with Mirthala, the latest one and many others. He also puts a number of you in the spotlight posting your comments on his well known blog. Luke also wonders aloud if getting on that list gets you a plum city position. No proof to that yet, let's hope we don't find it.
Writing in the Daily News Earl Ofari Hutchinson says that the Mayor's relationship with Mirthala Salinas "crosses the line" and raises troubling questions when an elected official has an affair with a journalist.
Newsbusters points out that he LA Times makes quite a dumb point in an editorial claiming that Republicans seem to get away with affairs more than Democrats. I guess they forgot about Bill Clinton avoiding conviction on impeachment. The more I think about it I don't see the point of the Times' logic.
The Inland Valley Daily Bulletin is living in some kind of fantasy world. The paper editorializes that these sex scandals won't hurt the Mayor and that he has some kind of "potential."
The Times has video of Mirthala reporting the Mayor's divorce on air (scroll down the page).
Lonewacko's hope has been it would be his radical ways that would lead Tony Villar to lead his political campaign down the tubes but if a sex scandal is what does, he's cool with it.
The LA Times Dana Parsons has discovered the "anti-Villaraigosa:" Laguna Woods Mayor Milt Robbins, 86 years old, married for 63 years to Marilyn and whose biggest guilty pleasure is his occasional weekend nine holes of golf.
Flap the Blogging Dentist has lots of tidbits and photos of the Mayor's alleged new girlfriend.
Here's what readers say about the Mayor and his recent troubles:
An interesting flyer fell out of my copy of this week's LA Weekly. And in light of the Mayor's recent troubles maybe it's timely.
A weekly seminar at the Sportsmen's Lodge Hotel (by the pool no less) will teach you a "total new concept on how to pick up girls and have them call you." For $69 (cash only) you can learn how to get a a girl to call you, how to have girls love you without having to blow a lot of money taking them out to dinner; even how to get strippers to go home with you.
On the other hand you could just listen to Tom Leykis on KLSX and get more or less the same material for free. Or you could get elected Mayor of LA.
THE DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE
Today we mark the 231th anniversary of the signing of the greatest document ever written on Earth. It was so important and the men who signed it believed in it so much they mutually pledged "to each other our Lives, our Fortunes and our sacred Honor."
When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.
We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness. That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed. That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness.
Read the full text of the Declaration of Independence.
This is not news despite what some westside bloggers and news sites may think. We had it here first. Looks like Mirthala has a thing for rising star Latino politicians.
I think its time NBC considered getting rid of this "journalist" before they become a laughing stock.
NBC did however fire married reporter Kyung Lah for "gross misconduct" who had an affair with a producer at the station. The situation was so scandalous it apparently warranted the firing of two additional staffers.
As one of our readers asked, is it not gross misconduct if you are a reporter covering a political beat to sleep with at least two of the politicians you are charged with covering?
I would suspect the people who were fired may feel the same way.
And the consequences Mirthala has to face for her decision are numerous. No matter how great a reporter she is, no matter that she won "Women of the Year" in 1999, forget that she once worked on an NBC news network program - she will be a permanent butt to jokes, snickers and giggles and always been known as Antonio Villaraigosa's girlfriend.
For new readers here are our past stories on Mirthala:
Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, who is in the midst of divorce proceedings with his wife, acknowledged he is in a relationship with a Spanish-language television reporter, according to a statement published Tuesday.
Villaraigosa issued a statement, published Tuesday by the Los Angeles Daily News, acknowledging his involvement with Telemundo newswoman Mirthala Salinas, after the paper told the mayor it was set to publish a story about their relationship.
"It is true that I have a relationship with Ms. Mirthala Salinas. As I've said I take full responsibility for my actions, and I once again ask that people respect my family's privacy. For my part, I intend to stay focused on my job, and to work as hard as I can every day to be the best mayor I can be," Villaraigosa said.
