KRLA Forum: Round Two

Kevin James announced that Paul Krekorian could not participate because he was on the floor of the Assembly where the final bills of the session were being considered. 

Later in the program, Kevin stated he had heard that the session had actually ended prior to the start of the show.  However, he did not believe Krekorian was attempting to duck the broadcast.

He did eventually reach the Assemblyman off the air. Other interview arrangements would be made for another day.

The opening comments were fairly typical with little new information.

Zuma Dogg did say he would allow the Neighborhood Councils to select a staff member and bring in an investigator with media experience to look for corruption.

Augusto Bisani stated the need to bring jobs back to Los Angeles; despite Krekorian’s claim to that effect, there have been no results.

Michael McCue blamed the Democratic Party controlled City Council for the city’s problems and said clean campaign money is the only way to rectify the situation.

The three candidates were presented with the same question regarding infrastructure as was asked last night:  in view of the fires and water main failures, what would you do to start solving the city’s infrastructure problems?

McCue emphasized the need to fund infrastructure before anything else.  It is a matter of safety.  He implied that a 50% cut in Council Member pay would be a gesture, something that Krekorian is not willing to do.

Bisani said the city needs to have a system to inspect infrastructure.  He also claimed the city did not institute evacuations until after 50,000 acres had burned in the Station Fire.

Zuma Dogg indicated that priorities are not properly evaluated.  He used Measure B as an example –why was the Council concerned with solar panels when the infrastructure was aging?

Kevin then asked specific questions of each candidate.

How should a DWP Ratepayer Advocate be funded and under whose authority?

McCue said the position could be funded by the DWP or the City Attorney.  It did not matter to him.

He asked Augusto Bisani if he could be more specific about his claim, as stated in his website, that radical change is needed.

Augusto said restructuring of the budget is needed, but it would take a long time.

Kevin asked Zuma Dogg how he would select and fund the investigator he pledged to hire.

ZD replied he would use his own staff budget to fund the position.  The person would not investigate people, but processes.

There was a general question regarding whether the firefighting budget be exempt from cuts.  All agreed that no cuts should be made.  Augusto made an observation: how can the City Council afford to spend $5 million on an ethnic heritage event when the firefighting budget was stretched?

McCue said it takes civilian deaths before the City Council pays attention to safety.

The next subject involved the ongoing saga of whether the City Controller has the right to audit the offices of elected officials and whether the City Council should press to have the outstanding case settled out of court.

All three agreed that the Controller should have the authority, but with reservations. 

McCue stressed that the autonomy of the City Attorney must be preserved.

Zuma Dogg was concerned that an audit could be used as a retaliatory tool.  He noted that the Controller has the power to perform a financial audit of electeds.  However, it takes a performance audit to determine if the city is receiving value for the money.

This was an astute observation by ZD. However, I am of the opinion that a well designed financial audit could shed light on efficiency and value.  That’s another article for another day.

Kevin recycled his question from the previous night about who each candidate would hire as his chief of staff if the pool were limited to the other nine candidates.

Zuma Dogg went with Augusto, but he did thank Tamar for selecting him.

Augusto picked Zuma Dogg.

McCue thought Benson would be the right person because she had a “get the job done” attitude.

The remaining questions were from callers.

They were asked how we could be sure a Rate Payer Advocate position would have teeth.

Both Augusto and Zuma Dogg said they would select someone from the community.  Augusto added it would be critical to provide the position with legal powers.

McCue said it was important that the person be independent of the unions and government.

All were against moving public comments at the City Council to the end of the session.

It would be unfair to citizens who must take personal time to attend sessions, according to McCue. 

Bisani was concerned that many of the Council members would leave before the end of the session.

Zuma Dogg claimed that a grand jury might already be investigating the legality of the change based on a complaint filed through the ACLU.

Phil Jennerjahn, who is a poster for some other blog, called in and asked if they thought Paul Krekorian was a “budget destroying socialist?”

McCue described Krekorian as a “budget destroying Democrat.”

Bisani, who described himself as a conservative Democrat, said that he did not know much about him but thought he was probably “on the road to socialism.”

ZD implied that Krekorian is subservient to Speaker Bass and he was interested in protecting the unions.  He will spend us into bankruptcy.

A caller asked why he had not seen any financial reports filed by ZD on the Ethics site.  He replied that it was not until recently that he had received enough money to require disclosure.

All three criticized poor response from Council staffs.

McCue had the best closing statement.  He noted that all of the polls indicated dissatisfaction with the major candidates.  None of them had anything close to a majority.