Politics

City Hall shorts

• Change is coming to the third floor press rooms. At the City News Service desk, Art Marroquin is coming up from San Diego to take over for Erin Park, who is moving on to the Los Angeles Daily Journal. For the Times, Jessica Garrison is weeks away from departing on maternity leave, and the word in the newsroom is that she won't be back in City Hall. When she returns to work, she hopes to take another assignment. (Garrison says it hasn't been decided, but she'd be "surprised" if she comes back to the beat.) Also, the months-long relationship between Noam Levey and Leslie Pollner, deputy to Councilmember Wendy Greuel, has been discussed by senior editors. Newsroom sources say it's likely he will shift off the City Hall beat. Levey's just back from vacation and confirmed to me that he has avoided covering Villaraigosa while Pollner has been been on loan to the transition team, but says no decision has been made about his future. (His editor, John Hoeffel, agrees.) Some Times reporters have been approached about going to City Hall, apparently among them the former beat stalwart Tina Daunt. Patrick McGreevy and Steve Hymon remain.

• Hymon profiles Martin Ludlow, who is expected to be confirmed today as secretary-treasurer of the County Federation of Labor. It's a more detailed story than Ludlow got as a councilmember. Best line: "To watch Ludlow in action brings to mind the phrase 'fully caffeinated.' Whatever Ludlow lacks in stature — he's 5 feet 7 — he makes up for in vigor." Ludlow is married to Kimberly Blake, daughter of Bishop Charles Blake of West Angeles Church of God in Christ. David Zahniser in the Breeze also had a weekend story on whether Ludlow will be free to lobby. The Ethics Commission staff says not for a year.

• Daunt profiled Corina Villaraigosa in Saturday's Calendar section. Excerpt: "The morning after her husband won the election, panic set in. 'I woke up, and that's when it hit,' she said. 'I remember thinking, 'Oh, my God!'' The shy schoolteacher — a sylph with huge brown eyes — wanted to stay in the shadow of her husband's glare. She quickly realized, however, that she was in the spotlight as well. 'When I started thinking about the impact it was going to have on me, it was a little daunting.'"

• Rick Orlov's column notes that former councilman Mike Feuer is holding an Assembly campaign fundraiser at Vitello's, Robert Blake's favorite Valley restaurant. Orlov also has items on Gov. Schwarzenegger visiting the Daily News and on this coming Saturday's Congress of Neighborhood Councils.

• An L.A. Business Journal story by Howard Fine and David Greenberg looks at Villaraigosa's brokerage of a settlement in the hotel lockout and says that while his deal favored workers, he won't be a pushover for labor as mayor.


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