Old News: SEIU? Serve yourself
By Steve Lowery
Monday, August 25
A woman named Lapriss Gilbert is kicked out of a federal building in Van Nuys because a security guard there found the T-shirt she was wearing a threat to national security. And what made the T-shirt so dangerous? Well, it was white and had “Lesbian.com” across the chest in relatively small lettering so, right there, you’re talking about a teal-level terror threat minimum, maybe with a dash of heather, that would be nice. Lesbian.com is a website devoted to the subversive notion that lesbians should have access to information that could help them and their families. That information includes stuff about finding a mate and what to do if you are a deaf or elderly lesbian. The site is sadly lacking, though, in any information about what to do when one encounters a minimum wage Barney Fife. That would be the security guard who worked for a private security firm hired by the Department of Homeland Security. He said he had every right to kick Gilbert out and that the right derived from something called the “Rules and Regulations Governing Conduct on Federal Property” and the fact that he’d been issued a uniform. The guard’s views on the matter were completely backed up by a Homeland Security official who said, “We believe the actions of the contract security guard were inappropriate and unacceptable.” Strong stuff. So strong, that the official said the government has acted swiftly and decisively and “notified his company.” Ooooh. The company is called Paragon, which just reinforces a feeling I get that we’re living in one of those early ’70s films like Rollerball or Soylent Green where corporations run everything and they have names like Paragon or Dictatortech or Blackwater.
Tuesday, August 26
Anxious.
Wednesday, August 27
And so another SEIU official steps aside amid charges of conflicts of interest and favorable treatment to family and/or significant others. These are serious, serious charges, also known as Wednesday around the SEIU. The organization that is supposed to protect the interests of working men and women has been watching leaders fall by the wayside with some regularity recently, and now comes Annelle Grajeda, the SEIU’s top California officer, who has taken a leave of absence because apparently she thought the “S” in SEIU stood for “serve yourself.” Grajeda’s departure comes amid charges her former boyfriend Alejandro Stephens was paid nearly $14,000 by the SEIU for “disbursements for official business,” and another $75,000 in consulting fees. This comes on the heels of Tyrone Freeman, head of the SEIU’s largest chapter, the United Long-Term Workers, stepping aside after it was reported by the L.A. Times that he had funneled more than $400,000 to businesses run by his wife and mother-in-law.
Thursday, August 28
UCLA political science professor Tim Groseclose resigns from the school’s Committee on Undergraduate Admissions and Relations with Schools because he says UCLA is covering up the fact that it is manipulating things to circumvent California’s ban on state colleges considering race in the admissions process. That ban came about in 1996 when California voters approved Prop. 209. Groseclose based his charges in part on a better than 100 percent rise in African-American admissions in a recent one-year period. In 2006, UCLA, the school where Jackie Robinson played football, admitted just 103 black freshmen. But by 2007, that number had jumped to a whopping 230 – in a freshman class of 4,889. Ward Connerly, the former UC regent who led the fight to pass Prop. 209, agreed with Groseclose, saying UCLA “caved under the pressure from the NAACP and others in Los Angeles who want to see an increase in the number of black students.” What next? Clean drinking water? Connerly said he might file suit against UCLA through his organization, the American Civil Rights Institute, which just goes to show that Ward Connerly is still a tool but, as his choice of organization name proves, appreciates the finer points of irony.
Friday, August 29
My fat dog is run over by SUV yet survives. Vet credits fat.
Saturday, August 30
John Sanford Todd died today. He was 89, and though you probably never heard of him, he did much to determine how and where Californians lived after World War II. Todd was city manager – a position he held for 50 years – of Lakewood, a city that like many smaller suburbs was in danger of being absorbed by bigger cities (in this case, Long Beach) because cities such as Lakewood found it difficult to raise and fund an ongoing police and fire department as well as other costly services. So Todd came up with what became known as the “Lakewood Plan.” The plan involved cities contracting with their counties for things like police and fire services. Today, more than 130 cities throughout California use some form of the “Lakewood Plan.” With the plan, Lakewood was able to avoid annexation by Long Beach in the early 1950s. Long Beach subsequently turned its attention to the Korean peninsula.
Sunday, August 31
The California legislature wraps up business for the evening having failed to agree on a state budget. Congratulations! Their failure marks the first time that the state, which has had legion and legendary budget standoffs, has gone into September without a spending plan. At the heart of the matter are Democrats and the Republican governor who believe that to avoid devastating cuts to services and programs, taxes will have to be raised. The Republicans in the legislature won’t agree to this and are led by their leader in the Assembly, Mike Villines (R-Clovis ... Clovis?), who says, “there is no doubt in my mind that the silent majority does not want taxes.” Apparently, Villines and his crew believe tax increases are irresponsible and part of a bygone, tax-and-spend liberal era, and what else would you expect from someone still invoking “the silent majority”? So what is the responsible Republican budget plan? They want to borrow against the state lottery. Uh huh. And if that doesn’t work, let it ride on red!
Published: 09/03/2008
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