L.A. councilman dates lobbyist whose client protested LAX contract

It's Dennis Zine, whose lady friend, Veronica Becerra, tells the LA Weekly that "It's a dating situation. It's not like we're living together." Oh, all right - for a minute there I thought that an elected official who dates a lobbyist for Tutor-Perini - and then questions why Tutor-Perini didn't win an LAX contract without telling anyone about his connection to the lobbyist - might have done something wrong. Becerra says it's "a well-known fact" that Zine dates "quite a few young ladies in downtown Los Angeles. It's not like it's an exclusive relationship" (guess I missed the memo). She says she didn't have to bring up the issue with the councilman because Ron Tutor had called Zine personally. Tutor, whose bid was $30 million lower than the winning award, didn't get the contract because it was thrown out (something about the proposal not complying with the airport's specs). The Weekly's post follows up on a story in the Daily Breeze that first identified the potential conflict.