Politics

The Villaraigosa Hangover

Thanks to the mayor's $700 million union deal, L.A. faces a $216 million deficit next year. Here's what happened

Eric Garcetti Opens Mayor Campaign With Talk Of Jobs, Says Villaraigosa Staff Will Have To Reapply For Theirs

Councilman Eric Garcetti gave the first major speech of the L.A. mayoral campaign on Thursday night, vowing to nurture the city's tech sector and bring new accountability to City Hall.Garcetti spoke in broad themes, and offered relatively little in the way of concrete proposals. He did, however, sig ... More >>

Medical Weed's Stay of Execution in L.A.

LAPD could crack down before March ballot measure

Eric Garcetti Is A "Rising Star" At Democratic Convention, Says Eric Garcetti

Everybody knows who the Democrats will nominate for president this week. But who will they nominate in four years, or 12? Chances are those folks are in Charlotte, and party regulars are looking for them. Away from the TV cameras, a convention can resemble an NFL scouting combine, as everyone hunts ... More >>

L.A. Violates Your Due-Process Rights

How residents unearthed 200,000 words of phony findings City Hall used to illegally approve a skyscraper at Hollywood and Gower

10 Stupidest California Bills That Legislators Are Trying to Slam Through at Final Hour

The last possible moment for California's bumbling state senators and assemblymen to nudge their pet bills onto Governor Jerry Brown's desk is this Friday, August 31 at midnight. Needless to say, the state Capitol is in a state of fluttering papers/utter mayhem right now. It's hard enough to know ... More >>

West Hollywood Activists Take First Step in Placing Term Limits on City Council

West Hollywood community activists Elyse Eisenberg, Scott Schmidt, and Sheila Lightfoot made it official this week: They've filed the paperwork at City Hall to start the process of getting a term limits initiative placed on the March 2013 ballot. "We are asking the City Council to let the voters h ... More >>

Sandow Birk's Monument to the Constitution Includes Security Cameras

By Alexis Coe In 2007, Los Angeles-based artist Sandow Birk was a research fellow at the Smithsonian Institution. He was afforded a small studio within the Archives of American Art, but Birk spent much of the eight weeks outside of the world's largest museum, engrossed in all that Washington, D.C. ... More >>

West Hollywood Activists 'Fed Up,' Look to Pass Term Limits For City Council Members

In a town where City Council members are almost never voted out of office, West Hollywood community activists have reached a boiling point -- and they're pushing hard to place a term limits initiative on the March 2013 ballot. "It's very hard for a grassroots activist to raise over $100,000 and bea ... More >>

Gil Carrillo Fired as San Fernando Police Chief

When we heard last March that the city of San Fernando had appointed Night Stalker serial-murder investigator Gil Carrillo as its interim police chief, we though it was a smart move. After all, the city had been rocked by chaos and drama, not the least of which was an affair between its mayor, Mari ... More >>

Kevin Bleyer

Vernon Vote Count Flips; 10 Disputed Ballots Give Advantage To Chamber Foe

Update below, Wednesday afternoon: Councilman Bill Davis interrupts Italian vacation to make quorum, establish a contest procedure.The outcome of the hotly contested Vernon City Council election flipped today, after county officials opened and counted 10 ballots from voters whose residence has been ... More >>

Drug War Leads to More HIV?

Updated at the bottom with some of the report's findings. First posted on June 21. In L.A. your favorite outlaw drug, marijuana, is pretty much legit and widely available (for now). But what if it wasn't? What if you had to scrounge around dirty, dark alleys, buy your fix from shady drug dealers, ... More >>

The Daily Show Writer Kevin Bleyer Rewrote the Constitution

A new, improved Constitution? The Daily Show writer Kevin Bleyer took on the task with his new book Me the People: One Man's Selfless Quest to Rewrite the Constitution of the United States of America. He talks with Lawrence O'Donnell at a Writers Bloc event this Friday. Here's our interview with Bl ... More >>

Voter Suppression Efforts Could Take Out Barack Obama This Fall

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 >>

Prop. 28 Passes With Flying Colors: How California Legislators Tricked Voters Into Extending Their Term Limits

Update: Philip Blumel with the group U.S. Term Limits tells us Prop. 28 was "the most deceptive referendum that I've ever seen." More at the bottom. Like Big Oil-backed Prop. 26 in the 2010 election, another disastrous Trojan Horse made its way past California voters last night.

Richard Alarcon: Good Riddance and Hello

Making history by incessantly running for office

Eric Bauman v. Gloria Romero in Assembly District 46

Gay Republican Fred Karger Wants Your Vote, Calls Mitt Romney 'Mechanical'

Gay Republican Fred Karger, who's based in Southern California, has been stirring things up on the campaign trail this year, seeking the Republican nomination for president. The uber-underdog Karger is not going to get it -- candidate Mitt Romney will get the nod. But he's still on the ballot for Ca ... More >>

Proposition 29 Cigarette Tax

Why it may fail in liberal California

L.A. Overspends by $27,378 an Hour

Two key perks: free gas and cars

Venice's Own 'Skid Rose' Homeless Camp at 3rd Slowly Being Flushed by City Officials

Ever since the LAPD started enforcing a strict curfew along the Venice boardwalk, the homeless hangout on 3rd street (located a few blocks inland) has blossomed into a bona fied bum party. The stretch of 3rd where they sleep, between Sunset and Rose, is mostly populated by businesses and warehouses ... More >>

Governor Jerry Brown Can't Seem to Get the Hang of the 'Brown Act'

Without the pressure of another campaign in his future (or at least we hope not), Jerry Brown was looking like a real hero in his first few months as governor. It was the Schwarzenegger cleanse -- economy-class flights on Southwest, sensible cuts to the state S.W.A.G. budget. But in the year-and-a- ... More >>

Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa Vows To Build Sepulveda Pass Rail Link, Complete Wilshire Subway 13 Years Early

Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa wants to build a rail link over the Sepulveda Pass -- part of a proposed expansion of the city's transit network that would form a key part of his legacy.The mayor is unveiling his plans in his annual State of the City speech. which is posted after the jump. The centerpiec ... More >>

Los Angeles Gadflies on Fire

City Hall politicians want them gone

Vernon Home With Nine Registered Voters Is Tied To Councilman's Car Wash

​The city of Vernon is continuing to look into allegations of voter fraud, as mail-in ballots are being distributed for the April 10 council election.John Van de Kamp, the city's ethics adviser, has sent investigators to interview the residents of a small, three-bedroom house where nine people are ... More >>

LAFD Response-Time Scandal

Chief Cummings' plummeting morale problem

Los Angles Mayor Zev Yaroslavsky? Time Running Out For Popular Pol To Announce Candidacy

So here's the deal... well-known, widely respected Los Angeles County Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky is the frontrunner of the 2013 Los Angeles mayoral race. Political pros think he'd win and do a solid job of fixing a broken city; wealthy liberal contributors would love to throw money at him; and nearl ... More >>

Angelenos Want City Hall to Spend Less on Politicians, More on Police

Another year, another budget deficit. As we head into summer L.A. City Hall will face a $200 million deficit. That said, revenues are improving, and the budget might be turning a corner for the better. Still, the mayor has been opening up the process to you, the citizen, and once again has asked wh ... More >>

L.A. Politicians Increase Amount of Money They Can Receive From Unions, Corporations

Smack dab in the middle of an election season, the L.A. City Ethics Commission decided yesterday afternoon to raise the cap on campaign contributions that municipal candidates can collect from their sponsors. In other words: L.A.'s election system just got a little less Democratic, a lot more bough ... More >>

Dustin Lance Black's Play 8, Starring George Clooney and Brad Pitt

Clooney, Pitt, Kevin Bacon and Martin Sheen power a fundraiser reading

Helen Kim Takes on L.A.'s Old Guard

Rising star of Koreatown's Generation K

L.A. Redistricting Commission's Final Map: Still a Mess of Gerrymandered Land Grabs

At an exasperating L.A. Redistricting Commission meeting last Wednesday night that lasted into the wee hours, commissioners tried to address a whopping 75 community complaints, re: their hilariously gerrymandered first try at new voting districts for Los Angeles. The "proposed list of adjustments" ... More >>

Koreatown Roars Against Gerrymander

Sleeping tiger says no more splitting

L.A. Redistricting: Bernard Parks' District 8 Looks Like a U.S. Army Tank

This is the second chapter in a (badly Photoshopped) series on the L.A. Redistricting Commission's gerrymandered new voting districts. Previously: "Eric Garcetti's District 13 Looks Like an Evil Squirrel." It's one of the most blatant land grabs in L.A. redistricting history: Westchester, an up-and ... More >>

L.A. Redistricting: Eric Garcetti's District 13 Looks Like an Evil Squirrel

Simone Wilson​While gazing at the recently proposed boundaries for L.A.'s 15 voting districts -- which is clearly what we like to do in our spare time -- we realized that the gerrymandered City Council District 13 is the spitting image of an evil squirrel. And so begins our (badly Photoshoppe ... More >>

The Five Most Furious Reactions to the Redistricting of Los Angeles

As insanely boring -- and incomprehensible to the average voter -- as the redistricting of Los Angeles may be, it's kind of a big deal. We understand the apathy. In a city where only a little over 10 percent of eligible voters turn out for municipal elections at all, they can hardly be expected to ... More >>

America Wants Marijuana Reform, Former LAPD Leader Tells Obama Via YouTube: Will He Respond?

Updated at the bottom with Obama's response. First posted at 7:01 a.m. The people who want to decriminalize marijuana are bringing the issue to President Obama this morning. A retired LAPD deputy chief, Stephen Downing, submitted a video to the White House in which he asks what the president would ... More >>

L.A. County Halts Section 8 Crackdown In Antelope Valley

Lancaster Mayor Rex Parris​Update below: Rex Parris pulls no punches in response. Lancaster and Palmdale have been at war with the Section 8 housing program for the last several years, fighting off what they see as an "inundation" of the urban poor into the Antelope Valley.But today they've lost t ... More >>

Joe Buscaino Beats Warren Furutani for Los Angeles City Council District 15: A Humiliating 2012 Thumping of the Party Establishment

By Hillel Aron It seemed as if half of San Pedro packed the Crowne Plaza Hotel ballroom late last night for a blowout victory party for local boy Joe Buscaino who won the Los Angeles City Council District 15 race. Things got wild as newcomer Buscaino beat dull lifer politician Warren Furutani. Furu ... More >>

Assemblyman Mike Davis, Running for L.A. City Council, Will Fit Right in: He Voted 'No' on 0.01% of Assembly Bills

Few voting bodies are as creepily hive-minded as the Los Angeles City Council. In 2011, under the leadership of former City Council President Eric Garcetti (now running for mayor), the group of 15 local politicians, who also happen to be the highest-paid councilmembers in the country, voted unanimo ... More >>

Illegal-Immigrant Impound Policy Elevates Into Political War: Mayor, LAPD Chief vs. City Council, Police Union

It's common knowledge, by now, that DUI checkpoints around L.A. County double as illegal-immigrant crackdowns. It works like this: Illegals aren't allowed to hold driver's licenses in California (a public-safety outrage for another day), so when they're asked to show their licenses at a DUI checkp ... More >>

Buscaino vs. Furutani

L.A. City Council race is about preserving lifer politicians

Eric Garcetti Wrote Measure H, Now He's Working Its Loopholes

Stupidest Things Said by Los Angeles Civic Figures in 2011

Eric Bauman, L.A. Democratic Party Kingmaker

Elevates the ossified, keeps out L.A. talent

Kinde Durkee Fallout: L.A. Councilman Paul Krekorian Seeks Relief From City Campaign Finance Rules

Councilman Paul Krekorian​Update below: L.A. Ethics Commission staff recommends four-month extension on debt window for Durkee clients.Politicians are still trying to dig out from the Kinde Durkee campaign finance scandal, two three months after the Democratic treasurer was arrested and accused of ... More >>

Joe Buscaino vs. Warren Furutani for L.A. City Council: Police Union's New 'Public Safety First' Yard Signs Could Sway Election

lapd.comNow on 6,500 lawns across L.A.​Like in national elections, it takes a democracy-numbing amount of time and money to win a political post in Los Angeles. Just ask Ron Kaye, LA Daily News editor turned City Hall watchdog. (If you ever feel like witnessing a city official burned at the ... More >>

$100 Billion Bullet Train

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