Austin Beutner, city Job Czar and general manager of the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power, this week entered the debate with an Arizona power commissioner over the L.A.'s boycott of the desert state. He invited conventions that are also avoiding Arizona over its controversial immigration law to come on down to L.A. instead.

” … As the City's Job Czar, I certainly would welcome any conventions or meetings that were going to be held in Arizona to come to Los Angeles,” he said. “We have fantastic facilities and incomparable weather and we'd welcome them to the city of Angels.”

Beutner made his statement in the wake of an Arizona politician's challenge to City Hall — first reported locally here — to give up L.A.'s Arizona-based power supply as part of the City Council's boycott of businesses in the desert state. Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa and boycott-ordinance author Janice Hahn both responded earlier on Wednesday.

The DWP chief admits that the city gets 20 to 25 percent of its juice from Arizona-based plants … that the city partially owns. ” … Nothing in the city's [boycott] resolution is inconsistent with our continuing to receive power from those LADWP-owned assets,” he said.

“I want to make clear that we support the city position regarding the recent law enacted in Arizona and the resolution adopted by the Los Angeles City Council,” Beutner said.

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