John Chiang

Mike Gatto's Blogger Problem

The Assembly District 43 incumbent faces opponent Greg Krikorian, but a worse opponent is Mayor Sam

L.A. Community College Chose a Watch Dog, Christine Marez, With Ties to Construction Supervisor She Was Supposed to Watch

The hot mess that is the Los Angeles Community College District just got a little messier. An audit by L.A. city controller Wendy Greuel released today found a dumb if not outright shady selection process for an inspector general who happened to have ties to a construction firm accused of shoddy on ... More >>

'City of East L.A.' Incorporation Movement Pushes Forward, Despite Projected City Debt of $20 Million

East L.A. wants to secede from county control.​While Angelenos bicker over small matters of locational pride like who's westside (read: supersnob) and who's eastside (read: street), the unincorporated patch of L.A. County known as East L.A. -- boxed in by cities on all sides -- still goes iden ... More >>

The 5 Highest-Paid California State Employees All Work in the Prison System, Make Over $500,000 Per Year

Employer of the year​Updated after the jump: California Controller John Chiang won't list the names of state employees along with their salaries. When should privacy trump transparency? Originally posted July 5 at 3:05 p.m. While California's health and education budgets continue to landslid ... More >>

John Chiang Audit Hammers California Redevelopment Agencies: Millions of Dollars Gone from Affordable Housing Funds

Is this California's definition of "blight" if the neighbors are too sick or too fat?​Update: The Los Angeles City Council is deciding today whether to hide $1 billion in redevelopment cash from Governor Jerry Brown. Few overweight or sickly Californians ever knew that the Los Angeles City Co ... More >>

Four Manhattan Beach Police Officers Allegedly Involved in Drunk Hit-and-Run One Year Ago Finally Fired (But Still on Paid Leave)

grunionsmb.comJanuary 31, 2010: One expensive boys' night out for the City of Manhattan Beach​We're big fans of the whole "innocent until proven guilty" thing -- and certainly wish it had applied more thoroughly to cases like that of 18-year-old Jeremy Marks -- but in heel-dragging, money-wast ... More >>

California Controller John Chiang to Probe L.A. Redevelopment Agency, 17 Others

John Chiang takes on the L.A. CRA​Looks like we Angelenos may have raised enough of a ruckus about the last-minute $1 billion money transfer between the Los Angeles Community Redevelopment Agency and the L.A. City Council for a state official to get involved. Welcome to the shitshow, Controll ... More >>

Gov.-Elect Jerry Brown Brings Gloomy Budget Forecast To UCLA

​Gov.-Elect Jerry Brown brought his traveling budget seminar to UCLA today, sharing the stark realities that await him when he takes office on Jan. 3.Brown seems to have done some thinking about how to start to solve this, but not as much as you'd like. His eyes started to glaze over a bit while C ... More >>

California Election Results: Democrats Sweep Jobs You've Never Heard Of

"Bill" Lockyer, our once and future state treasurer​By Hillel Aron Hey, wasn't this was supposed to be a Republican tsunami/tidal wave/other oceanographic metaphor? Not in California, where Democrats are in the process of sweeping practically every important statewide race- and even most of ... More >>

L.A. County Vote 2010: Results for Propositions 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27 And California Governor, Attorney General, Etc.

Here's how Los Angeles County voters weighed in on November 2010 Election Day as of about 1:15 a.m. Wednesday morning, with 67% of precincts counted: Proposition 19 Legalize Marijuana: YES 582,228 45.39% NO 700,389 54.61% Proposition 20 End Gerrymandering: YES 693,803 57.25% NO 518,10 ... More >>

Latest Response To The Bell Scandal: CA Controller's Office Posts All Public Salaries Online, L.A. County Water-Board Officials Found To Pad Own Paychecks

California State Controller's Office​Holding public officials accountable is so hot right now. The state Controller's Office made its heroic contribution to the transparency trend today, unveiling a website it's been cooking up (on low heat) for the past three months. On August 3, Controller ... More >>

Bell's City Money Used 'Like A Petty Cash Drawer' By Officials, Says State Controller John Chiang

Robert Rizzo.​ Updated after the jump with postponement of arraignment for defendants. First posted at 10:51 a.m. Those eight arrests of Bell city officials Tuesday weren't for nothing, if you ask the state's top budget man, John Chiang. The state controller released an audit of Bell's financ ... More >>

Rogue's Gallery: Mug Shots Of Robert Rizzo And 'The Bell Eight' For Your Next Dart Game

Ted Soqui​They're quickly becoming known as the "Bell Eight" -- those illustrious officials from that working-class, Los Angeles suburb accused of misappropriating public funds and, as state controller John Chiang put it Wednesday, using public money "like a petty cash drawer." On Tuesday they we ... More >>

Robert Rizzo Took Out $95,000 Loan From Bell, Repaid It Through City, According To Forthcoming Audit

Robert Rizzo.​More shenanigans from the Bell salary scandal emerged late Monday as the Los Angeles Times reported that former city manager Robert Rizzo lent himself $95,000 against his retirement account and then authorized repayment by the city. We're not sure what's more ballsy, the fact t ... More >>

Bell Businesses Overcharged By $2.1 Million In Taxes

John Chiang.​State Controller John Chiang on Thursday sent a letter to the city manager of Bell informing him that the city has been been gauging more than 1,000 business owners in the community when it comes to taxes, which Chiang said have increased 50 percent since the year 2000. He said t ... More >>

Bell City Council Agrees To Roll Back Property Taxes After $3 Million In Overcharges Revealed

John Chiang.​The Bell City Council early Tuesday voted to roll-back its property tax rate after state controller John Chiang discovered that the municipality had overcharged residents by $3 million over the last three years. The vote came in the a.m. after the council met for a marathon Monda ... More >>

Bell City Council To Consider Roll Back Of Illegal Tax Rate After $3 Million In Overcharges Revealed

John Chiang.​The Bell City Council on Monday will consider rolling back its property tax rate after state Controller John Chiang announced the city had overcharged residents by nearly $3 million since 2007. In a letter sent Friday (PDF) Chiang asked the Los Angeles County Auditor-Controller ... More >>

CalPers Knew About Bell Salaries In 2006?

​ As we predicted last week, the fiasco in Bell, where the city manager and his assistant and the police chief were making exorbitant salaries, is like a political vortex of anti-government fervor, with flying debris hitting more than just Bell. This morning The Times reports that CalPERS, t ... More >>

California Controller John Chiang: City, County Salaries Statewide To Be Published On Website

John Chiang.​A day after Los Angeles City Controller Wendy Greuel announced she would post the salaries of city workers and officials online, state controller John Chiang said he would do the same for all municipalities and counties in California. In a statement Chiang ordered all cities and ... More >>

California Controller In Bell To Look At Embattled City's Finances

Responding to a request by the city of Bell's interim city manager, state Controller John Chiang was in the small Los Angeles County municipality Tuesday to take a look at its books. The move follows revelations of six-figure salaries for the City Council, which on Monday reduced its own pay 90 perc ... More >>

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger Takes Controller John Chiang To Court To Force Him To Pay State Workers Minimum Wage

California State Controller John Chiang​Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger sued state Controller John Chiang Tuesday, seeking an injunction that would force Chiang to slash the pay of almost 200,000 state workers to minimum wage until a budget is passed. Schwarzenegger issued the pay cut order J ... More >>

Centrist Dems stand up for Abel Maldonado

​In a case of Sacramento centrists hanging together, Assemblyman Ted Lieu, D-Torrance, and Sen. Alan Lowenthal, D-Long Beach, have penned an editorial calling for the confirmation of Sen. Abel Maldonado as lieutenant governor.Maldonado is perhaps the strongest Republican in this year's race for li ... More >>

Schwarzenegger's Budget Veto Drama

Dems threaten an override, Arnold says back: I'll veto hundreds of your new laws

An Autumn's Long Nap

Phil’s in trouble, but so are you if a New York developer gets his way on Proposition 90

Wake Up and Vote

L.A. Weekly endorsements for next Tuesday’s primary

Phil and the Cavity

How the media have misunderstood the Democratic race for governor

Voting Guide

Beginning at the Beginning

It’s time for new thinking at the old Pueblo

Our selections in Tuesday's General Election

Endorsements 98