UNCONVENTIONAL WISDOM


Marc Cooper writes in “Post-Convention Blues” [Dissonance, August 6–12] that the “undecided want . . . just a little straight talk.” I heard plenty of straight talk from the convention on pundit-free C-SPAN. Kerry’s priorities are health care, jobs, the economy, security, education, the environment, national security and building shattered alliances in the world, including fixing the mess in Iraq. Yes, Iraq is a huge issue but, regardless of Mr. Cooper’s apparent obsession, not the only issue.


Bush’s results? Let’s review. Jobs lost — 1.8 million, and the Labor Department reports that new jobs pay far less; 43 million people without health insurance, up 4 million from 2001; education — the unfunded No Child Left Behind is vying for most ironically titled act among a list of many; a record-high deficit mortgaging our children’s future; foreign relations, environment, civil liberties — all trashed; and, oh yeah, Bush lied and started a war.


I marched against the war, I’m ever more pissed about the war, and, yes, Kerry voted for the war. But I don’t need him to explain it any more than he has repeatedly. Does Mr. Cooper want Kerry to call him to explain it personally? Bush promises to exhaust diplomacy, Cheney still links Iraq to 9/11, and then there’s the WMDs. Lies. Lies. Lies. Kerry has the credibility and experience to fix the war, along with our critical domestic issues, better than Bush. It’s not just sugar. Hope is on the way. It arrives November 2.


—Emily Stevens
Los Angeles


Whereas I applaud the Weekly’s wonderful coverage of the Democratic National Convention, especially from correspondent Marc Cooper and cartoonist Tom Tomorrow, why hasn’t there been more reporting on how many millions of dollars this masturbatory party cost — especially this year? We all knew that Kerry and Edwards would be the Democratic candidates, as do we know that Bush and Cheney are going to be the Republican candidates. Hosting the conventions puts a strain on Boston’s and Manhattan’s finances and makes the cities terrorist targets. Both parties obviously don’t care about the economy, the people or the future. It’s enough to turn me to Nader. Go, Ralph!


—Kevin Dooley
Granada Hills


WHISTLEBLOWING


Jeffrey Anderson’s article “The Black Avenger” [July 23–29] cites the City Attorney’s Office’s use of secret settlements and confidentiality clauses to hide systemic discrimination, harassment and retaliation as an alternative to management reform at the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power (LADWP). LADWP Assistant General Manager Thomas Hokinson was unable to recall burying mismanagement allegations while he was chief assistant city attorney — no surprise considering workplace bullying has gotten sophisticated and management retaliation is the leading claim at the utility.


The LADWP plays musical chairs to mask these increasing claims. Although responsibility over Human Resources and Labor Relations passed from Raman Raj to Thomas Hokinson, and then to Hal D. Lindsey (retired from Edison) — all of whom were eventually promoted to assistant general managers — tactics to thwart employee claims remain paramount.


Without exposure and widespread public support, the culture at the LADWP will not change. Sure, laws protect individual employees, but individuals do not stand a chance against the juggernaut of attorney-trained bureaucrats, unlimited time and access to the City Attorney’s Office, PR spin masters, contracted legal services, fact-finding committees, and union stalwarts — all accomplished defenders of the status quo. Consequently, employees are highly motivated to compromise their responsibility to act in the public’s best interest to avoid repercussion and loss of promotional opportunity.


Since 1981, every grievance, arbitration, lawsuit and contract for legal services, including every one of the high-dollar settlements covered in “The Black Avenger,” has crossed the Board of Water and Power Commissioners for approval. The Board, having recently mandated “Mutual Respect” and “Workplace Violence” seminars for each employee, cannot claim to be unaware of the rift between enlisted cronies and career civil servants. The real question is: Did they turn a blind eye to it or did they mandate these seminars in an effort to re-frame executive-orchestrated retaliation and bullying as a supervisory issue?


Charter reform and manipulation of civil-service classification and selection processes have exacerbated the problem by increasing the latitude and number of non-civil-service employees serving at the pleasure of management and beholden to their closely held personal and political agendas.


Is the situation out of control? Civil service is characterized by low turnover designed to prevent spoils-system graft and corruption. A monopoly, too, is characterized by low turnover. The LADWP is both a civil-service organization and a monopoly. But the high turnover at the management level indicates that the organizational focus has shifted from public service to opportunists jockeying for personal power. Strife in the workplace, reduced output and higher costs are a result of a preoccupied, self-serving leadership.


By their rhetoric, city administrators lay blame on contractors and understudies. City leaders and their blindly following minions seem to have forgotten that they are charged with a higher standard of behavior, embodied in the city oath, to provide and ensure continuous, ethical, uncompromised, cost-effective service to the citizens of Los Angeles. For their public service, Angelenos entrust them with uncompromised authority, good salaries, benefits and civic honors.


There is a consequence to violating and spinning away the public trust. Therein lies the crux of the problem. The regulatory agencies of this administration — the Board, Controller’s Office, Ethics Commission, Civil Service Commission, City Attorney’s Office and Mayor’s Office — continue to support the status quo, a derelict and dysfunctional culture. Consequently, these internal policing agencies must be the first priority for reform.


I hope that the recent exposure and awareness of widespread city mismanagement, specifically at the LADWP, will result in a recall of the public’s trust.


—Daniel N. Shrader
Fleet Service Manager,
Los Angeles Department
of Water and Power
Los Angeles

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