Final Vote Count Leaves Solar Measure B defeated. Runoff election coming.

The final vote is in from the March 3rd election and it's final- Solar Measure B is dead, just over 2,000 votes difference decided "No" on this DWP Union-crafted proposal. It would have limited work to only the IBEW union and included a DWP job training program for prospective workers to add to the union ranks, along with an unknown cost that consumers would have to bear. This hastily passed proposal also would have changed the City Charter to give more spending authority to the Mayor- a provision that's a disaster standing all on its own.

The additional ballots amounted to 49,000 more besides the ones cast on March 3rd, including Absentee ballots and provision ballots that were because of damaged ballots, absentee ballots not received, and voters registered but not listed.

The runoff election will be Tuesday, May 19, 2009 to settle the CD-5 council seat between David Vahedi and Paul Koretz. Another position in the runoff is the City Attorney spot. The race is between Carmen Trutanich and Jack Weiss. Weiss really has no business running for this office if you know his history. He is running because Mayor Tony needs more support in government and Jack is a his loyal "Yes-Man" that he can control.

Trutanich is the more experienced lawyer and did not have his attorney practice stopped for 7-1/2 years like Weiss did while serving as Council Member for CD-5, being vacated by Weiss under term limits. Chief Bratton, another official beholden to Tony for his position, naturally support Weiss, so that should be ignored as a hollow endorsement.

Currently, Weiss is on his best behavior, in attendance at Council meetings and speaking up on matters to be more visible as the election nears. He was often absent or disengaged during meetings, and he behavior pushed Zine to say, "Vote for ANYBODY but Jack Weiss. Jack Weiss would be a disaster for the City." I whole-heartedly agree.

LAUSD can help inform young voters- at least that there is an Election Day

LAUSD was given a respite from criticism while the city elections took the spotlight- and a dim spotlight at that, if you consider how poorly it was covered by the television, radio and newspapers, generally.

A radio interview on March 3rd of some young female voters on KFWB or KNX went like this:

Question: "Who did you vote for?"

Answers: Young woman: "Obama", other young woman, "Obama"

Question: "No, I mean for the election today."

Anwers: "Is there an election today?"

I do not know if these young women were LAUSD alumni. I think that this kind of answer was all too common among the younger voters with a 15% turnout at the polls. Voter eligibility at 18 years old does not mean that they are automatically informed. I think the District might consider including at least some familiarity with civic affairs to avoid the situation illustrated above and work to instill some awareness of the value of voting at every election.

As of today, there are about 43,000 votes still not counted- some are provisional ballots, used where there are problems like Absentee Ballots that were not received or a name not showing up on the voter list, and then the regular Absentee Ballots, all that still have to be counted. There is a potential for a run-off election for the the Mayor's office if Villaraigosa's current 55% of the vote drops to 50% or less after all the votes are counted.

The runoff election is coming in May, and Jack Weiss will be running against Carmen Trutanich for the City Attorney- and Jack Weiss IS NOT anywhere near being the right candidate for that office. Trutanich is the guy to vote for so that we can begin to get the city on the right track after two terms of derailment with Rocky Delgadillo's hit-and-miss history of running of that office, lately being "miss."

Mayor's Race and Death Threat charged; Where's Tony?

MAYOR’S RACE- PART 1:
The mayor candidates are coming down the home stretch for Tuesday’s election and my choice, David “Zuma Dogg” Saltsburg, was pulled away from a mayoral forum event on Thursday after another of the 10 running for mayor, Craig X. Rubin, complained to the police. The other candidate’s charge: Rubin said that Zuma Dogg had called him and made a death threat. The news reports say it was "recorded on an answering machine." Then, it wasn’t recorded, said Rubin, among the events claimed to have happened.

Zuma Dogg will speak his mind, very clearly and sometimes very loudly. Sometimes people just don’t like what they hear, especially if it is about them and if it is bad. Rubin is an advocate for marijuana legalization and his complaints of being hassled by the DEA just have others saying he’s a paranoid. There is a lot to say bad about him, rightly or wrongly, but he’s become very sensitive, judging from his past behavior and may over-react, I’d say.

Well, Zuma Dogg was met by the police at the event Thursday as the Rubin “death threat” complaint had to be checked out. Lots of people don’t like Zuma Dogg for revealing lots of behind-the-scenes stories or for pushing for changes to the history of sweet deals between the politicians and developers who build non-stop around the city, making some big money on it all, and moving on to another deal..

People around city hall especially don’t’ like other people to “rock the boat,” especially if it can affect their paydays. The LAPD released Zuma Dogg after doing their investigation and were satisfied that he was not a threat to Rubin or anyone else. They are done. If the D.A. wants to charge him with something, they might need a few things; one being a “credible witness” and some evidence might help. For now, it looks like an overly sensitive candidate making a big deal of something he imagined.

MAYOR’S RACE- PART 2:
There is another mayoral forum set for today at the Henry Fonda Theater in Hollywood, and Craig X. Rubin is claimed to have made a request that David “Zuma Dogg” Saltsburg not be allowed to participate in further mayoral forums. He’s asking another candidate, Walter Moore, to join him. That was reported in Mayor Sam’s city politics blog this afternoon. http://mayorsam.blogspot.com/ , “Saltsburg Responds to Rubin and Moore Debate Threats.” An audio clip lasting just under 2 minutes that contains the recorded response from Zuma Dogg is attached, where he says he’s not stopping his campaign and they do not control that, and he denies that any of the charges made by Rubin are true, and that’s why the police investigation is finished.

And that’s what you might have heard on the news- “death threats made by Zuma Dogg” that really is all the T.V. news does, looking for “sensational” things to get better ratings. You don’t hear them telling you where the candidates will be holding their events, or rolling any tape to show you what happened in debates. They usually don't even follow up to say nothing more came out of the story. They don’t report something unless it’s a big deal- and that’s why I say television news is not your best source of news.

Mayor Villaraigosa still keeps his smug, arrogant and take-your-vote-for-granted position unchanged. He’s making a tour of spots to get his face in your face, but they are carefully planned so that he doesn’t get challenged with questions that he cannot answer truthfully.

Tony has over 2 million dollars-nearly 2 million dollars- to throw around to be sure there’s that party atmosphere for everyone to “feel good” about Antonio. Do you think he wants the voters to read on the measures? Then they would know more than he does about what’s going on.

Villaraigosa is still the guy puling strings, though and he’s the one who’s getting all his things in order to head to a Governor’s race in 2010. He will spend most of his days on NON-City business until that election, like he did with the Presidential election. THAT is his plan, THAT is his priority.

A story in the L.A. TIMES today shows that the budget deficit is much worse than earlier thought, "L.A. budget gap could hit $1 billion," By Phil Willon, February 28, 2009, http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-la-budget28-2009feb28,0,4878373.story and Tony is looking for drastic steps such as selling off city parking lot rights for a lump sum- leaving HIM high and dry and YOU AND I will be left with parking fees rising HIGHER. Meanwhile, he’s gone to the next political office and we are stuck with the bill. He doesn't care about that and you need to see it before it happens.

VOTE TUESDAY but NOT for Villaraigosa

I say Zuma Dogg would be better, but you have some choices. David Hernandez is among the civic minded group who's also worth considering. Walter Moore if you are so inclined, and he is smart. Phil Janerjahn is just not very deep into what's needed, but then, Neither is TONY- he needs notes from assistants to tell him about what each city item is about, he's gone that much. Phil is too kind to Tony, though and there's no reason for such forgiveness.

A runoff election will likely be the best outcome, so vote for ANY OF THE CHALLENGERS to Tony and FORCE A RUN-OFF election. If the Mayor does not get OVER 50% of all votes cast, there will be a runoff. That's why voting for ANY one of the challengers will be A GOOD THING. Those votes take us to a run-off - or maybe even enough to defeat TONY there without a run-off election.

REMEMBER, A LOW-TURNOUT MAKES EACH VOTE THAT IS CAST THAT MUCH MORE SIGNIFICANT- come out to vote Tuesday. My guess is 5 minutes of your time, no lines, no waiting if you mark your sample ballot first.