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All those competitors who have been taking potshots at Fleishman-Hillard for its city contracts may rue the day. Mayor Hahn today called for all outside public relations deals with the city to be cancelled or allowed to lapse. He didn't cite the ethics investigations swirling around City Hall, but linked the move to budget constraints.
With the ethics probes, upcoming mayoral campaign and fights brewing over hot buttons from expanding LAX to tax reform, the City Hall atmosphere keeps getting more heated. Consider the turnout for today's address by council member Wendy Greuel at the Los Angeles Current Affairs Forum, an exclusive invite-only lunch gathering hosted by public affairs consultant Emma Schafer. Four political reporters, the chief of staff to councilman Antonio Villaraigosa, aides to council members Bernard Parks and Cindy Miscikowski, and several senior City Hall staffers were in the audience just in case Greuel made news.
She was introduced by George Kieffer, the chairman of the L.A. area chamber of commerce, and opened with a joke that she was there to announce her candidacy for mayor. She noted, "Laura Chick has made my audits committee very popular." The next Current Affairs Forum lunches are scheduled with council members Janice Hahn and Villaraigosa. Parks and mayoral candidate Richard Alarcon have spoken to the forum recently, as has City Attorney Rocky Delgadillo.