The Pay to Play mayor
Pay-to-play politics is actually pretty funny -- until you realize it's your money that Hahn, Villaraigosa, Parks and the rest of the City Council are spending. Here are a few new examples of pay-to-play politics:
When You Remodeled Your Bathroom, Did You Give Five Grand To The Shriners?
Did you know that Hahn and the City Council are GIVING AWAY $500 million of YOUR money to the Nation of Islam and other such groups, for their "cooperation" in expanding the airport? Excuse me for asking, but since when does remodeling an airport require paying millions to the Nation of Islam, the Inglewood Democratic Club, AGENDA, Clergy and Laity for Economic Justice and a dozen other groups you never heard of? And did you notice that the price tag for Hahn's LAX boondoggle has grown yet again -- from $9 billion, to $11 billion, and now to $11.5 billion -- before construction's even begun? You can read the so-called "Cooperation Agreement" and the "Community Benefits Agreement" at the airport's website: www.laxmasterplan.org. You can replace the man who created the LAX fiasco by voting for Walter Moore for mayor on March 8.
Whose Hotel Is It, Anyway?
Hahn and the City Council claim there is an "affordable housing crisis" -- a crisis which, naturally, requires them to give hundreds of millions of your hard-earned tax dollars each year to "help" rich developers who, through a strange coincidence, just happen to contribute to their campaigns. Given the existence of this supposed housing crisis, you would expect City Hall to welcome news that hotel owners want to convert their hotels into condominiums at their own expense. After all, it's instant housing, at no cost to the taxpayer. Has to be good, right? No, of course not. The career politicians at City Hall routinely accept contributions from labor unions -- including hotel workers -- so they can't possibly allow the free enterprise system to create housing on its own. Instead, City Hall is considering "protecting" the hotel workers by making sure the hotels remain hotels -- regardless of what the owners of the buildings want, and regardless of the many people who would love to buy a condo. Apparently the term "private property" is nothing more than a quaint, anachronistic concept in this town. You can read more about this in an article by Roger Vincent entitled "Bill Targets Loss Of Hotels," published in the L.A. Times on December 15, 2004.
Protecting LAX From Portable Missile Attacks With "CLF" Technology.
Did you see the stories on TV the other day about how LAX has new safeguards against portable missile attacks? NBC's Channel 4, for example, reported, "Counterterrorism officials have quietly taken steps to protect jetliners at Los Angeles International Airport due to previous attacks against airliners." This may have left you with the impression that something impressive or newsworthy has been done to make the airport safer. Maybe a laser beam, for example, or a special type of radar, or electronic jamming. No such luck. Instead, LAX's security has been "modernized" using CLF technology. You say you're not familiar with CLF technology? Sure you are! It stands for "chain link fence." That's right: they put up a new chain link fence to replace the old one. Only in L.A. could routine maintenance of a fence be touted as "steps to protect jetliners" from missile attack. So we'll be safe from portable missile attacks -- provided the terrorist is stupid enough to stand right next to the fence before firing his missiles, which have a range of three miles. Hahn's "safety and security" for the airport is worse than smoke and mirrors: it's chain-link fencing and PR.
We can't just keep electing "pay-to-play" politicians. They spend all their time and our money getting contributions for their next campaign. We need a mayor whose only goal is to solve our problems. Walter Moore is that man.
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