John Perez

Mayor's Race: Eric Garcetti And Wendy Greuel Both Fall Short In Bid For Democratic Endorsement

Eric Garcetti and Wendy Greuel campaigned their hearts out, but in the end the L.A. County Democratic Party decided not to endorse either one in the race for L.A. mayor.At tonight's endorsement meeting, neither candidate could muster the 60% of delegates required to secure the endorsement.Both sides ... More >>

Mayor's Race: L.A. County Federation Of Labor Can't Decide Between Eric Garcetti and Wendy Greuel

The L.A. County Federation of Labor, one of the biggest sources of power in L.A. elections, has decided not to endorse in the first round of the L.A. mayor's race, according to multiple sources.Eric Garcetti and Wendy Greuel are the two candidates with the strongest labor support. But neither could ... More >>

L.A. Effect Of Healthcare Ruling: 1.7 Million County Residents Will Have Access to Insurance

The Supreme Court's ruling today upholding the healthcare reform law will have a major effect close to home. In Los Angeles County, some 2.2 million people do not have health insurance. Thanks to the ruling, 1.7 million of them will have access to coverage, according to a statement from Mitchell Kat ... More >>

Assembly District 50 Results: Richard Bloom To Face Betsy Butler in November, Upsets Torie Osborn

In the hotly contested race for California Assembly District 50, Santa Monica Mayor Richard Bloom ran strong in a close, four-way battle that included Democratic Assemblywoman Betsy Butler, Democratic candidate Torie Osborn, and gay Republican Brad Torgan. At 2:58 a.m., with 100 percent of the tota ... More >>

Comments: Race to the Finish

Democratic War for L.A.'s Richest

Betsy Butler and Torie Osborn woo the carbon-counting strata of Assembly District 50

Lalo Alcaraz: Most Mexcellent

One of the fascinating Angelenos featured in L.A. Weekly's People 2012 issue. Check out our entire People 2012 issue here. Shortly after it was revealed that Mitt Romney's father was born in Mexico, a mysterious alter ego cropped up on Twitter: Mexican Mitt Romney (@MexicanMitt), who wears a huge s ... More >>

Kelli Sager: Who's on First?

One of the fascinating Angelenos featured in L.A. Weekly's People 2012 issue. Check out our entire People 2012 issue here. Kelli L. Sager doesn't seem intimidating. With her face framed by soft brown bangs, her warm manner evokes her small-town upbringing in Wenatchee, Wash. But some magnolias ca ... More >>

Labor Groups Want MTA To Buy American On $900 Million Rail Car Contract

Update: MTA Board defies labor and votes to award the contract to Kinkisharyo. More below.The state's most powerful labor leaders are urging the MTA not to award a $890 million rail-car contract to a Japanese company, arguing that the money should instead be pumped into the U.S. economy.Labor leader ... More >>

$100 Billion Bullet Train

Democrats fray as cost skyrockets, feds bail, and Amtrak starts to look good

Sen. Kevin De Leon Scolds Vernon For Improper Hiring Of City Attorney Michael Montgomery

Michael Montgomery: Time to wake up​Pressure is building on the Vernon City Council to rescind the hiring of Michael B. Montgomery as the full-time city attorney.Last week, the Vernon Chamber of Commerce and ethics adviser John Van de Kamp criticized the hire, noting that the council voted without ... More >>

Farmers Field Roadside Billboard Risks

Expect a big jump in distracted, dangerous drivers, expert says

Farmers Field 'Fast Track' Bill Passes California Assembly

Charger Girls. Hint hint.​Updated at the bottom: This thing could go all the way. Read about how the stadium could cause more traffic than you think, here. And see our piece on how it could create a sea of billboards, here. First posted at 4:11 p.m. on Wednesday. The forces behind downtown L. ... More >>

Portantino's Passion Ploy

An upstart suburban legislator outfoxes California Speaker John Perez

Farmers Field or Blade Runner Stadium?

The downtown NFL arena deal allows a sea of billboards, congestion and millions in public costs

Speaker John Pérez Hits A Snag, As L.A. County Balks At Taking Over Vernon

Speaker John Pérez​For the last eight months, Speaker John Pérez has been trying to shut down the city of Vernon and turn it over lock, stock and barrel to the county of L.A.You'd think he might check with the county first to see if they want it.But apparently not. The Times reports that at a Bo ... More >>

Assembly Candidate Torie Osborn Enlists Gay Activists In Fight Against Gay Speaker John Pérez

Torie Osborn​Torie Osborn, a veteran gay activist, is campaigning for a new Assembly district that stretches from West Hollywood to Malibu. She's been lining up big endorsements, including Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa.But Osborn is facing powerful opposition from an unexpected source: Assembly Speak ... More >>

Speaker John Pérez vs. Vernon: Who's More Transparent?

​Friday update: L.A. Times and Sac Bee sue the Legislature seeking release of budget records. More below...Speaker John Pérez has been making the case for the better part of a year that the city of Vernon is too corrupt to exist.And true enough, the city has been run for decades by a clique of se ... More >>

California Redevelopment Agencies' Demise

Speaker John Pérez Changes Course in Battle Against Vernon

Speaker John Pérez​Speaker John Pérez is changing his strategy in the battle to shut down the small industrial city of Vernon.Pérez has been at war with Vernon for six months, arguing that disincorporating the city is the only way to end its long history of corruption and excessive salaries. Th ... More >>

Speaker John Pérez, Cousin of Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, Denounces Nepotism in Vernon

John Perez says no to nepotism​Speaker John Pérez is taking a strong stand against nepotism.Yes, you read that right. The cousin of Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa has decided that it's a bad thing for people in power to get jobs for their relatives. Can't have that. Well, at least not in Vernon.This ... More >>

City of Vernon in Fight to Death With Assembly Speaker John Perez

Vernon City Council Votes For Reforms In a Bid To Stave Off Elimination

​The Vernon City Council, facing the threat of elimination, voted this morning to slash their own salaries by $43,000. Without debate, the council also voted for a package of other reforms, including term limits and a housing authority to oversee city-owned rental units. The city is trying to conv ... More >>

Vernon Offers To Cut City Council Salaries to $25,000

​Update below: Perez is not impressed. Speaker John Perez has made it a top priority this year to put an end to corruption in the industrial city of Vernon by disincorporating it.In response, the city has offered to make a series of reforms in a last, desperate bid to stay alive. Today, Vernon mad ... More >>

City of Vernon, Targeted For Extinction by State Leader John Perez, Spent $5,900 Per Resident on Lobbying So Far This Year

zorcaA collector's item?​You might not even know you're in Vernon, the tiny industrial town just southeast of downtown L.A., as you're driving through. But apparently the city, which the state assembly recently voted to dissolve, carries a big stick in Sacramento -- bigger that a little burg ... More >>

City of Vernon Tells Speaker John Perez Public Records Request Will Cost $3 Million

John Perez​The industrial city of Vernon (pop. 90) is in a battle for survival against Speaker John Perez, who is trying to disincorporate the city in response to its long history of corruption.To bolster his case, Perez sent Vernon a voluminous public records request, seeking everything from minu ... More >>

The 42 Most Powerful People in Los Angeles*, According to the Downtown News

AEG CEO Tim Leiweke: He's got downtown Los Angeles in his hands​*Well, technically just in downtown Los Angeles, but that's where all the big players make all their big decisions anyway, right? Just ask a pissed-off Daily News outsider in the Valley. Jon Regardie at the LA Downtown News knows ... More >>

Debra Bowen Will Run For Congress

Debra Bowen​Updated at 3 p.m. with interview of Bowen.Secretary of State Debra Bowen announced today that she is running for Congress to fill the seat held by retiring Rep. Jane Harman.Bowen will face off against L.A. Councilwoman Janice Hahn, who launched her campaign last week. In an interview t ... More >>

The Weirdest Lottery of All

14 people will win the chance to un-gerrymander California

Welcome Home, Jerry Brown

But really, what were you thinking? This state is a mess

Barack Obama Rally At USC Runs Long

Ozomatli: Is this who we came to see?​More than an hour into today's presidential rally at USC, actor Jamie Foxx led the crowd chant of "We're not exhausted."It's not much of a rallying cry. But for much of the crowd of 37,500, it wasn't even true. Attendees were made to stand in line for hours be ... More >>

Dr. Keith Richman near death: respected San Fernando Valley Jewish Republican formed rare bipartisan effort to force reform in Sacramento

Los Angeles Daily NewsKeith Richman ​ UPDATED: Keith Richman died Friday night at Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center, according to an extensive obituary by Kevin Modesti in the Los Angeles Daily News. This post is updated throughout. Dr. Keith Richman, a fascinating mix of Jewish doctor, Repub ... More >>

Cooley-O

The Chosen One

How the labor-Latino political machine decides who serves in Sacramento

Proposition 14, the Open Primary

What happens to ossified Sacramento if California voters get to shop around?

Robot Sent From the Future to Eliminate Welfare

​Bill Clinton used to talk about ending welfare as we know it. Today, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger proposed ending it, full stop."We now have to use the ax to eliminate some of those programs," he said today.About 1.3 million Californians -- including 1 million children -- rely on the state's CalWOR ... More >>

Amid State Budget Crisis, New Assembly Speaker Gives Raises To Staff

Assembly Speaker John A. Perez.​The state of California is facing a $20 billion deficit. And, during his first days as speaker of the state assembly, Los Angeles Democrat John Perez got to work ... giving more of your money to his staff. That's right, one of Perez's first orders of business w ... More >>

Report: Villaraigosa Held Back-Room Confab For Assembly Speaker Job Over Bottle Of Wine

Assemblyman Kevin De Leon represents Silver Lake, Echo Park and nearby communities.​It's been years since Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa worked as a Sacramento power player, but that hasn't stopped him from throwing his weight around in statehouse politics. The Los Angeles Times on Monday reported ... More >>

Next California Speaker: John Perez, Villaraigosa's cousin, a neophyte with one year under his belt

Proving that you can skyrocket from relative obscurity to big-time power if you play your cards just right, neophyte politician John Perez, Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa's first cousin, is widely expected to be chosen by the Democratic majority in Sacramento as the next California Assembly Speaker, KQE ... More >>

Arnold vetoes initiative ban: Sleazy effort by California legislature to hamstring signature-gathering

One of the sleaziest bills vetoed by Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger over the weekend was a law written by the California State Legislature to quietly but decisively wipe out the citizen ballot-initiative movement in California.Under the false guise of "reform", the bill was a blatant effort by legis ... More >>

Mushroom Season in Poisonous Sacramento

Assemblyman John Perez wants to make Phil Anschutz richer with a favor to Nokia Live

City Hall's E-Mail War on the Poor

Is DOJ probing the Alexandria? Or is it a ruse by the powerful to slime the powerless?

Los Angeles City Hall as Slumlord

Council members Perry and Cardenas pressured the CRA to hand Ruben Islas public money. But a federal judge called it like it was.

Local Election Results: Ghostly L.A. Voters Deliver Surprises

... and mixed messages for Parks, Ridley-Thomas and Villaraigosa's cousin

Villaraigosa's Mini-Me, John Perez

Who needs voters? The fix was in on the Eastside last night By Max Taves Waiting for a full vote count didn’t get in the way of a good time at the John Perez for Assembly HQ late last night. After the polls closed, the party—al estilo Mexicano—began: There was an eight-man mariachi band play ... More >>

The Election That Wasn't

With Tuesday's expected turnout at historic lows, electors are being treated like superdelegates, and missing out on the juicy infighting.

The Reformers Are Dead, Long Live the Reformers

L.A.’s teachers union upends the Riordan Revolution in midstream

Los Lobos

Antonio "The Heartthrob" Villaraigosa vs. Nick "The Choirboy" Pacheco for the welterweight championship of the city