Martinez-Huizar Numbers Game

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USC Alumna

Huizar's Planning Director Tara Devine claims she is a USC Alumna but there appears to be no one listing with the National Student Clearing House?

Martha Montelongo

I was laughing out loud and couldn't stop while reading about the frenemies list down toward the bottom of the article. If I lived in Huizar's district finding out my score on his list would be at the top of my list. And boy, would I be upset if it was a zero. I'd have to do something about that! I'd heard about this frenemies list of Huizar's but the story about this Ms Lois Lowrey from La Roda Ave in precinct 6331A really got my attention. I could just picture her talking. How absolutely indignant she must be after learning her score on his list. "Huizar made his staff keep this list, which tracked who liked him and graded them on whether they had influence." OH OH! A woman scorned! She was a zero! If it were me, I'd wonder what do have to do to earn a higher mark? Would he notice if I organized a march? Or if I organized a hunger strike to get some answers about cut services while his staff lives the lavish life? I'd vote the other guy who has got his attention so well, Lois has finally got his attention to. Hopefully, too late.

Nada Cityworker

Huizar's staff's salaries are now posted publicly. You should look them up rather than just believing lies about them living "lavish" lives and, as I've heard elsewhere, "earning six figures." It's just simply not true. Most field deputies earn in the $40-50K range, less than what people with similar educational credentials in private industry. Mid-levels who supervise 3-5 others staffers earn $60-70K, and a very few (people with many, many years of experience in city government), earn close to 6 figures; maybe right at.

Compare that to any other professional field, and these fall far short of being competitive.

It's very unfair and dishonest to keep claiming people who give 55-60 hours a week to serve district constituents, take a lot of abuse (sometimes even from me, and who live at a very average level for the district's householfd average, are getting rich off of it.

downtown vibe

Three staffers are making over $140,000.

Martha Montelongo

The council members all make more than a U.S. Senator, more than members of any other big city council members, even NY. $178,789 per year, plus benefits, perks, pension, cars, trips…This newsweekly reported in 2009 that, “Each council member enjoys a free car, maintenance and gas costing $6,000 to $15,000 annually; each gets a petty-cash fund of $5,000; and each receives a dubious $100,000 yearly taxpayer-financed slush fund, which amounts to walking-around money that they can dole out to anyone.

And there are those funds that are supposed to go to services being spent for taking a constituent to lunch and picking up the tab, unless of course, she or he is a "Huizar frenemy who scales a zero" in influence.

Martha Montelongo

I think its great to have a challenger to the top notch professionally staffed and funded career politician incumbent. I see Martinez as a David v Goliath. What is Martinez's $160,000 to the $1,000,000 plus slush fund or pass around kitty at Huizar's disposal? I don't know about my numbers. They're in the ballpark. Feel free to correct me and thank you.

It's reassuring that we have an intelligent and well financed challenger who may not have the mega bucks pouring in from all over outside the district, but he's got brains, and heart, and he's walked the walk in the community. He's done well. People like him.

The DUI and a bar fight when he was young? People see that and they see he's learned from his mistakes, makes no excuses, and kept growing.

He's not a career politician and he's been on the side of the counter asking for services and getting no response or poor response. He says "we can do better" and that's what he'll do.

Jill Stewart

Hi Martha, this is LA Weekly News Editor Jill Stewart. To correct and add to your numbers, here's the lavish spending per City Council Office: $178,780 salaries (more than Congress), 15 to 22 personal staffers costing $1.7 million on average THE MOST IN ANY UNITED STATES CITY. In San Francisco, a city 1/4 the size of LA, the city/county supervisors have TWO STAFF each. 8 free cars. gas each year for their 8 free cars. All staff get a roughly $11,000 healthcare perk annually to cover their exceedingly generous health plans. So add that to any salary you see cited. PLUS: The city council has $100,000 walking around money now reduced to $90,000 per yuear that they give to anyone they wish no strings.

Guest

You don't get healthcare where you work, Jill? How about an expense account? Reimbursed for mileage?

$1.7 million for about 20 people REALLY isn't a lot of money. I'd venture that if you picked 20 FT employees at random at most companies, you'd come somewhere near that. And when comparing L.A. to "any US City" as you do, do you factor in how many constituents are served by that staff of 14-22 "personal" staffers (an interesting choice of words, too... do these shine the councilman's shoes - or do they serve the needs of approx. 260,000 constituents)? In L.A., districts are very large compared to city council districts elsewhere in the U.S. L.A.'s District 14 is larger than most cities considered "mid-sized" - many of which have their own, multi-member Councils, as opposed to being served by one councilmember and staff. It it stood alone, it would rank somewhere between Irvine and Bakersfield in the roster of Calif. cities, but larger than Glendale, San Bernardino, or Ontario and nearly twice the size of Pasadena (which by the way has 7 city councilmembers, each with staff members of their own).

Comparing apples and oranges apparently isn't a problem for the journalists of the L.A. Weakly, especially when they have a partisan point to make.

Robert

Too bad this story just came """"""Sister of slain LAPD officer says councilman's use of badge 'hurtful,' 'disrespectful'...The sister of a LAPD officer killed in the line of duty 32 years ago said Thursday that she wanted City Councilman Jose Huizar to stop using her brother’s badge as an issue in his March 8 reelection campaign.Karen Kubly, a retired LAPD officer herself, sent an e-mail Wednesday to Huizar saying it was “hurtful and most disrespectful” for him to use the badge in his campaign against businessman Rudy Martinez without notifying her family first."

They're both clowns for embarrassing Latinos and behaving like school children. There's too many serious issue in CD14 they both should be focusing on and grow the hell up. CD14 deserves so much better for these two. For Huizar being the incumbent shows he's running scared the way he's behaving. He hasn't accomplished a thing and is lying on his mailers. He's not responsible for the new police station and he didn't have anything to do with more cops on streets. In fact we have less cops on streets cause Huizar and the clowns on council cut LAPD budget $100 million. The people deseve so much better.

Delsback90065

Generally, to "oust" an incumbent, the local voting population has to be dissatisfied with that office holder's performance. If the Weekly understood the Eastside (at all), they'd also understand that the vast majority of voters here don't believe Jose Huizar is doing a bad job. In fact, they understand and have proof of just the opposite. Agitate from the West - or in Rudy Martinez's case - from the North (from where he lived in Glendale until just a few months ago before carpetbagging into the district), but don't expect wholesale conversions, and don't be surprised when the incumbent is once again returned. It's because that's what the people who watch his perfomance most closely actually want. (It's called "democracy" . . . it's a very cool concept).

Guest

Wow, a whole story about how campaign consultants focus on regular voters. Now THAT's news. What would we do without the LA Weekly revealing this INCREDIBLE insight to us.