In today's papers, city controller Laura Chick pulls further away from her early endorsement of Jim Hahn for reelection. She accuses the mayor of poor leadership and gets into a pissing match with deputy mayor Doane Liu, who calls her a sideline player. Chick has been wavering in her endorsement of Hahn almost since she made it, and once Antonio Villaraigosa gets in, I suspect that's it for her dance with the current mayor. She backed Villaraigosa last time, but also has close ties to Bob Hertzberg, whose picture hangs in her outer office and who conducted her swearing-in as controller in 2001. Hertzberg, meanwhile, merits a story in today's Times on his fundraising lead over the other challengers. Today is the day that campaign money reports are filed. Chick story in Times, Daily News, Daily Breeze.

* Also: Dan Carvin was an investigator in Chick's office until, he says, he asked the wrong questions. Then he was fired, and now he's suing. (LA Weekly)