On the news and opinion website American Reporter, San Pedro correspondent and activist Robert Gelfand gives Controller Laura Chick and the Times credit for putting pressure on the Hahn Administration. He writes:

In exposing a government scandal, it sure helps when a zealous public official and a big-city newspaper manage to find each other. Such is now the case in Los Angeles, where the Los Angeles Times and City Controller Laura Chick have been playing tag-team against Mayor James Hahn.

When Hahn took office as mayor of Los Angeles in 2001, it seemed like his term would be clean, even if a bit pedestrian. Now, questions about the mayor and several of his current and former appointees are beginning to build, and as they build, they are beginning to sting.

It has taken a while to come out. For the past year things have been as murky as the opening shots in a 1930s detective movie. We have witnessed the resignation of a vice-mayor, a grand jury investigation that somehow involves the Airport and the Harbor Department and the resignation of two politically-connected Airport Commission members.

The picture is beginning to become clear. It all seems to come down to that oldest story in politics, the use of influence by incumbents for the purpose of fundraising and their abuse of power in order to get reelected.

Earlier, Gelfand examined the KFI crusade to make a "political human sacrifice" of Republican congressman David Dreier and pronounced it all a big "so what."

More: Politics
© 2003-2009   •  About LA Observed  •  Email the editor
LA Biz Observed
4:03 PM Fri | CBS and ABC have far bigger fish to fry - namely whether their stations can get back the auto and retail advertising that fell off a cliff in 2009.
Native Intelligence
Jenny Price | Recycling!
Veronique de Turenne | And there's still time to take part!
Phil Wallace | Searching for answers after a third loss this year.
Deanne Stillman | Jihad and cash offers meet American soldiers during the Gulf War, and beyond.
Iris Schneider | After a tough year financially, the Museum of Contemporary Art put on a gala party to celebrate with 1,000 of its closest friends.
Jenny Burman
Thinking more about buying less.
Here in Malibu
Seriously -- turn out the lights.
Sponsors
Jewish Journal logo
The California Wellness Foundation
Playa Vista ad
Blogads

Blogads Los Angeles network

Get RSS Feeds
of LA Observed
LA Observed publishes several Real Simple Syndication feeds for easy scanning of headlines. If you wish to subscribe to a feed, most popular RSS readers will do it for you. You can also enter the web address from the XML button below or click on a specific feed. For more help with RSS, try here or here.




Add to Google