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Morning Buzz: Thursday 11.9.06
Overbilling's other shoe
The Lee Andrews Group and politically connected owner Donna Andrews will repay $1 million to the Department of Water and Power for overbilling on consulting and PR services. Andrews was a subcontractor to Fleishman-Hillard.
Effect of LAX outage
49 Los Angeles-bound flights were delayed Tuesday night when construction crews sliced through a major electrical cable, blacking out one runway.
LAPD assault video
Copwatch.org has video it says shows a suspect being slugged in the face repeatedly while being held down by two LAPD cops in Hollywood last August.
AFTER THE JUMP: Links to Measure R and H reaction and election post-mortems, Gustavo Arellano's advice to LAT publisher David Hiller, Slate's advice to LAT editor-in-transit James O'Shea, a correction o' the day and much more.
Politics
Term limits consequences
The big victory for Measure R means that City Council incumbents can breath easy, Eric Garcetti is looking good again as president, Herb Wesson could stay until 2019, most others could stick until 2013, there will be fewer openings for termed-out state legislators, and in theory past members could run again to resume their time in office. Note also that R passed with 60% over the opposition of the Times editorial page and drumbeating by the Daily News. Slates and the League of Women Voters rule. LAT, DN, Copley
Emerging unscathed — and at the center of the maelstrom, as usual — is Villaraigosa, whose office was excluded from the limits-relaxing ballot measure at his request. He didn't want another term and privately thought term limits presented a needless political battle.
With newly reelected Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger subject to term limits as well, it is all but certain the governor's office will be vacant in 2010, opening the door for a Villaraigosa run.
Housing measure even more popular
Measure H gets 62% of the vote but needed 66.66%. DN
Nothing changes at City Hall
The day after Measure R passes, lobbyists arrive in full force at the City Council to delay consideration of the living wage issue at LAX hotels. David Zahniser at LA Weekly.
Mysterious Bing
Stephen Bing gave nearly $50 million to the losing side of the Prop. 87 campaign, prevailed on Bill Clinton and celebrities to help out, then did not attend the election night party. Times story by Carla Hall.
Black firefighter will get $2.7 million
City Council approves settlement with Tennie Pierce over being served dog food in his meal at the LAFD's Westchester station. LAT, DN
Defending AB 1381
The City Council agreed to pay $100,000 for outside lawyers to defend the mayor's LAUSD takeover plan in court, despite promises that it would cost the city nothing. LAT, DN
Voter turnout bad
Los Angeles County's 45.2% participation may be slightly ahead of the state's record low turnout for a year with a contested governor's race.
Media
David Hiller and the Mexicans
OC Weekly's Gustavo Arellano predicts the new L.A. Times publisher will dust off the paper's "Latino initiative" by recruiting more Spanish-surnamed reporters and urging more stories out of Latino communities. What he should do is give Agustin Gurza back his column and find a copy editor who knows how to apply tildes and accent marks:
Some words of advice from someone who has read the Times since the days of Malamud and Murray and occasionally writes for it: Latinos will never save your paper if you continue to hack away at the Times’ foundation of investigative journalism and wonderful writing. English-speaking Hispanic audiences are no different from English-speaking gabacho audiences. They want good stories; damn the subject or the author (unless there are pictures of sexy chicas, of course).
I don’t read most Latino-themed magazines because the writing is horrific; I read your paper’s sports section religiously (despite the lack of Latino-themed stories or bylines) because the writing in that section sings. Following the orders of your Chicago overlords to cut back on staff will just alienate more Latino readers–at least the ones that read the Times for something more than the Lakers’ box score.
Shafer on O'Shea
Slate's Jack Shafer thinks that new LAT editor James O'Shea might be more than just a place holder.
Marimow back to Philly
Recently ousted NPR editor Bill Marimow was named editor of the Philadelphia Inquirer, the paper where he was mentored by former L.A. Times editor John Carroll.
Correction o' the day
In the L.A. Times
"A recipe for green bean salad in Wednesday's Food section called for 1 1/4 cup plus two tablespoons of walnut oil for the vinaigrette. It should have been one-fourth cup plus two tablespoons of walnut oil. That changes the salad's nutritional breakdown: Each serving is 336 calories and has 29 grams of fat and 9 grams of saturated fat."
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| The promotion runs between now and June 3, which is typically a slow time in the theme park business - likely to be even slower this year.
| He was a regular at a Palm Beach shop called Trillion, where you could spend $7,500 on a sports jacket.
| The gel-filled wrist support I purchased from Amazon.com arrived today ... in a really, REALLY, big box.
| Eventually the meter-revenue claim becomes bureaucratic doublespeak for "meter-maid revenue."
| The MTA's Dorothy Peyton Gray Transportation Library and Archive jumps into Web 2.0 with enthusiasm, with Flickr photos and YouTube clips.
| Chuck Todd and his goatee
Peter Kaye's memoir, Contrarian, is both the story of his career as a political writer and the downward slide of the paper he worked for, the San Diego Union-Tribune
The inimitable Arthur as an entity on paper has just turned to dust in our memories. Jay Babcock moved the...
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