Judge cuts deep into controller's powers

Superior Court Judge Mark V. Mooney ruled that the City Charter does not give the elected controller the power to audit the elected city attorney's office or programs within the office of an elected official. This was the issue that the previous incumbents, Laura Chick and Rocky Delgadillo, went to court over. Chick said in a statement that today's ruling goes further:

I am extremely disappointed that the voters’ will has been thwarted. However, this is only round one. I am pleased that Controller Greuel will appeal the ruling on behalf of the taxpayers of Los Angeles. In fact this decision makes this worse than before. Not only does it preclude performance audits of programs in elected officials’ offices, it also bars them in all offices including Finance, Treasurer, City Clerk, Chief Legislative Analyst (CLA) and Chief Administrative Officer (CAO).

Mayor gets his own lawyer: Mayor Villaraigosa named Brian Currey as the new Counsel to the Mayor. The former counsel to the Christopher Commission is a partner at O'Melveny and Myers.