An Academy-worthy Performance

It’s annoying when young people are used as pawns or props or whatever political mischief the 50 uptight police recruits served on Tuesday morning.

Watching these 20-somethings stand nearly motionless for more than a half hour, any humanitarian bystander would have wanted to offer them some water and yell out, “Relax, take off the silly hats – and dream on about keeping your job in L.A. in six months.”

It seemed demeaning to make these young men and women march around like figures on a war map, but then, wait a minute, that is what’s going on at City Hall right now. The imagery and timing – translated, the phoniness and calculating nature – of the mayor’s press conference at the police academy in Elysian Park made for powerful theater for Los Angeles, teetering on the brink of financial disaster.

You might see your neighborhood library shut down, and the baseball program disbanded at your local park, but dammit, you’ll be safe when you go out at night with nothing to do. Maybe your favorite cop will organize a dominoes tournament at the donut shop.

Tuesday morning was a dark time to be having these thoughts. In 90 minutes, Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa would be attending the funeral of L.A. High School football star Jamiel Shaw. So who could blame him for seeking refuge in the largely make-believe world of the Police Academy field, where sound bites about making good on those better-times promises about hiring 1,000 cops by 2010 overshadowed specifics about where the heck the money would come from to hire hundreds of new cops.

And with the killing of 17-year-old Jamiel and a recent toll of other high-profile killings of children, including 6-year-old Lavareay Elzy, who was shot in the head in the Harbor Gateway area and 13-year-old Anthony Escobar, killed in Echo Park, the moment seemed right for the mayor to be reassuring about his plans to do whatever it takes to strong-arm any reluctant city council members to keep his police hiring program intact.

Councilman Bill Rosendahl, playing the good soldier, said he would support spending money on the new recruits and face whatever consequences that might mean for the city budget. He once again touted his proposal to raise money for the sinking city budget by jacking up parking rates on meters citywide from 25 cents to a buck. The mayor endorsed the idea. “That’s $100 million down and $400 million to go,” said the mayor, in response to Rosendahl’s now familiar theme: “There’s gold in the gutters.” Another idea for you to consider, Bill: Why not increase the fare on downtown DASH buses to $1 for well-to-do passengers and keep it a quarter for students and the downtrodden?

Councilmember Jack Weiss, who would walk backwards off a cliff if that’s what it took to keep the mayor’s support for his run for City Attorney, said he, too, would be willing to face whatever budget horrors await his commitment to stay the course on cops. Jack, maybe some extra bucks could be made by turning one-way Olympic and Pico into toll roads.

But those poor cadets. They’ll learn soon enough that the tough road ahead includes the obstacle course known as City Hall, and whether the mayor and his council allies can really keep intact their vow to hire 500 more police officers by 2010. It certainly is not a done deal. To get there, the mayor and City Council must come up with a realistic plan to cut $400 million or more from next year’s budget.

Layoffs – despite the mayor’s warnings to department heads Wednesday – are nearly impossible to pull off in L.A. because of the unwieldy rules that force out 88

workers with the least seniority, and then opens up lower-ranking jobs in other departments. It takes so long to invoke the complicated process that saner councilmembers avoid it and wait for the return of grander times. Can you imagine the outcry if 100 well-established city hall staffers got the boot to make room for cadets who had barely filled out their job applications? And, in an upcoming election year with the mayor and City Council fighting for survival?

Besides, if the killing slows, it will be much easier to slow the pace of police hiring, too.

Let’s just hope the real pawns Tuesday were not young Jamiel, Lavareay and Anthony. Political careers must not be built on their gravestones.

Mad Jenny vs. Go Away McCormack

The solution to Election Day hang-ups that disenfranchise thousands of voters is simple: Do away with single-day voting. It creates way too much strain on the Registrar of Voters, particularly in L.A. County, with its 4,012 precincts. Spread out voting over a week, and the more relaxed pace would help resolve the problems, most of which stem from overwork. An extra benefit: millions more people will vote.

But no one called L.A. Sniper to testify at last Friday’s legislative hearing convened by the Senate Select Committee on the Integrity of Elections at the Ronald Reagan state office building downtown.

The chair of the committee – State Sen. Jenny Oropeza (D-Redondo Beach) – showed up demanding the head of L.A. County’s ex-registrar Conny McCormack, who oversaw the office in the run-up to the election. In her opening remarks, she said her office was preoccupied with recertifying the InkaVote voting machine and overlooked the troubled, double-bubble ballot. The same ballot was given to people who registered as non-partisans, but wanted to vote in the Democratic or American Independent primaries.

For their ballot to count, these voters needed to fill in a bubble at the top, noting their party selection. A fair number of voters, Secretary of State Debra Bowen testified, don’t even know the difference between an independent, which the non-partisans are, and members of the American Independent Party.

In her cross-examination, Mad Jenny Oropeza would have none of Go Away McCormack’s excuses about running out of time.

Mad Jenny: “Did you go back to the county board of supervisors for additional assistance to get the other work done that you thought was necessary?”

Go Away: “Let me … .”

Mad Jenny: “Did you or did you not?”

Go Away: “We were all putting in 12-hour days.”

Mad Jenny: “I’m asking if you asked for additional support. I want to know where the buck stops. Did you go to the supervisors to ask them for help?”

Go Away: “Senator.”

Mad Jenny: “Yes or no?”

Go Away: “I would like to answer with more than a yes or no.”

Mad Jenny: “As long as yes or no is in the answer.”

Go Away: “The election process is extremely complex. It’s not like you go out on the street and get help and have 20 people come in who don’t know anything about the process. We have hundreds of people in the registrar’s office – all of whom were working very hard to make this February 5 election go off as well as it did. It’s not something where you can say, ‘Let me have some help,’ and in comes the cavalry. It doesn’t work that way in an election.”

Mad Jenny: “You said you were stretched thin, and therefore did not go through what you acknowledge now was a necessary evaluation? You’re saying only the people you have are qualified to evaluate that kind of change? Is that your testimony?”

Go Away: “I won’t have you do that to me. You’re trying to put words in my mouth.”

Mad Jenny: “I’m just asking you what the judgment of your department was.”

Go Away: “I just gave it to you.”

It got pretty heated, with the women talking over one another. At one point, state Sen. Ron Calderon, a Montebello Democrat, tried to restore calm, saying he thought Go Away McCormack had already answered Mad Jenny’s questions. He was ignored.

Showing he’s a fast learner, acting elections chief Dean Logan fared much better under the wilting crossfire of Oropeza. When asked if he would ask the Board of Supervisors for help if he runs into a similar problem with the June election, Logan, without hesitation, said yes.

Buying Access to the Metro board

Two weeks ago, transit advocate Bart Reed stood at his podium and chided board members of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority for refusing to meet with him to review the $80 million, 10-year contract to install turnstiles at Red Line subway stations and some light-rail stations.

Too bad Reed didn’t hire a lobbyist.

Lobbyist Barna Szabo rang up a tab of $7,500 in the final three months of 2007 schmoozing the Metro board on behalf of turnstile operator Cubic Transportation Systems, Inc. Not a huge amount of money, but considering Cubic was the only firm in the running and there was only one opponent of the plan from day one, board member Richard Katz, you’re left wondering what Szabo did to earn his keep.

Turns out, his biggest challenge didn’t crop up until the new year when former MetroLink honcho Richard Stanger unloaded on the turnstile project and questioned nearly every assumption made by Metro about its cost and safety. Then Szabo stepped in: “My hope was to see if we could calm the waters.” Unfortunately for opponents, his style centers on hard work and countering every argument.

His arsenal doesn’t include the sleazy tactics often associated with lobbyists. “No dinners, no gifts, no tickets,” says Szabo. “All they get from me is information, e-mails and faxes, and if that doesn’t do it, the heck with it.”

Good enough. But board members still should have given Reed and other opponents more of their time.

Send ammo or insults to BigAl@lasniper.com.