Promises, promises

In his new TV spot, a gargantuan Bob Hertzberg strides like a giant through city streets, crouching to point out problems like traffic and poor schools. His promise to make the schools better by breaking up the LAUSD is the lead for a story in today's Times on the "unlikely scenarios, farfetched ideas, and flat-out impossibilities being floated by the candidates vying for the mayor's office." Actually, the story by Matea Gold only singles out Hertzberg, Jim Hahn and Richard Alarcon, and mocks only a few such ideas (despite five reporter credit lines.) Of the trio, Hertzberg is dissected the most.

Implausible promises are a mainstay of politics, of course, but the brazenness of some of this campaign's claims has struck some as startling.

[Supt. Ray] Romer, who has had a long-working relationship with Hertzberg, was "stunned" to hear the former Assembly speaker's claim that he would break up the school district, according to the superintendent's spokeswoman.

"I think most everyone — and that would include the superintendent — knows that this is a political ploy that would most likely appeal to a voter base in the San Fernando Valley," said [Stephanie] Brady, referring to Hertzberg's pitch for Valley conservatives.

Hertzberg spokesman Matt Szabo disputed the characterization, saying that his boss proposed the breakup because he believes it would create more governable school systems.