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See our 9-18-02 candidate forum | Public money spent to oppose secession |

Reminder about our meeting this Wednesday September 18th

The Northridge Community Council will meet on September 18, 7:30 pm, at Northridge Hospital in the basement classrooms 2 and 3 in the main building. Park in the parking structure on Etiwanda, south of Roscoe.  Direction signs to the classrooms will be posted. Here is a drawing to the elevators

The MTA will make a brief presentation on the North-South bus way.

The primary meeting will be a candidate’s forum for the first Council District of the new city.

 The Northridge Committee Council’s area is in both District 1 and 3. We are having the candidates for District 1 (portions of Northridge, North Hills and Granada Hills) speak at this meeting, and for District 3 (portions of Northridge, Chatsworth and Porter ranch) at the next meeting.

We intend to use the following format:

Each candidate will have two minutes to present an overview of their positions.

Then each candidate will be asked to answer the following questions regarding what they intend to do if elected:

1. Public safety issues

2. Traffic issues

3. Education (we know that the new city council does not control LAUSD but has considerable influence in deciding the future of LAUSD or it’s breakup)

4. Will they sign a pledge not to have illegal signs placed. Go here for the sign law:

http://www.sf-valley.org/election/lacode.htm

5. Why they are running for office and their position on secession.

And if time

6. Van Nuys airport issues.

If you have other questions you feel we should ask the candidates, please e-mail them to us. If there is time, we will ask for questions from the audience and I'm sure the candidates will stay around to answer personal questions after the meeting. For information go to :

http://www.sf-valley.org/election/Index.htm

Please come and bring your friends to this important meeting. Please make copies of this update for your neighbors and ask your neighbors to join our E-mails. Please forward this E-mail to your private E-mail lists.

As you may have read, Hahn "convinced" the nonprofit Entertainment Industry Development Corp, which gets money from issuing permits to shoot TV and films that previously went to the government, to "give" $10,000 to the anti secession group. This is money that could have been spent on services in Los Angeles. The State has opined that these funds are public money. Hahn demanded this public money be spent to "keep LA together". He has made the same "requests" for funds from the unions and other downtown power brokers. No one knows what he has agreed to do in trade for the contributions.

We thought you would find this editorial from the 9-16-02 Daily News interesting. Click here for the full original

Oops, they did it again

Local pols plead ignorance of EIDC scandal.

Caught red-handed in a political scandal, members of the Los Angeles City Council, the county Board of Supervisors, Mayor James Hahn and other elected city officials have all responded with a defense that can be summed up in one word:

Oops. Yes, oops.

Or, to expand: Oops, we didn't know that the Entertainment Industry Development Corp., on whose very board we sit, was using public funds to bankroll our political campaigns.

Oops, indeed.

County Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky says, "None of us have a clue to what is going on.' Councilman Dennis Zine offers a variation of the same line: "I discovered in the news that I'm a member of the EIDC board, and I've never been informed of board meetings and any activities of the board.'

In other words, we're not corrupt, just incompetent.

It doesn't do much to inspire confidence in local government when its leaders' best defense is to claim massive ignorance. But with District Attorney Steve Cooley conducting a criminal investigation, the elected officials aren't so much looking to inspire confidence, but to save their hides.

The defense they've put forth is as unbelievable as it is pathetic.

It was city and county officials who created the EIDC in the first place for the purpose of combating the problem of runaway productions. They're the ones who authorized the nonprofit corporation to collect the fees for local movie shoots, and they're the ones charged - by themselves - with overseeing the EIDC's operations.

Besides, even if local politicians shirked their duty to manage the EIDC, it's well known that they pay close attention to their campaign coffers. If they weren't around when the EIDC was cutting campaign checks, they certainly were there to cash those checks later, and that should have raised plenty of red flags.

Ignorance is never an excuse for breaking the law, especially for lawmakers, and most especially for the highest-paid lawmakers in the country.

If oops is their best defense, let them tell it to the jury.

Copyright © 2002 Los Angeles Daily News Los Angeles Newspaper Group

We thought you would find this story editorial from letter to the 10-12-02 Daily News interesting. Click here for the full original

Hahn defends movie group's contribution

By Harrison Sheppard Staff Writer

Mayor James Hahn defended his anti-secession campaign's soliciting of a $10,000 contribution from a city-county TV and film permit agency under criminal investigation by the district attorney.

Hahn said he believes the nonprofit Entertainment Industry Development Corp. is a private organization, not governmental, so therefore was justified in making contributions to the anti-secession effort as well as his own political campaign and those of other local elected officials.

The mayor, the City Council and the county Board of Supervisors sit on the board of the agency that was created in 1995 to help stop runaway production.

Hahn, who sits on the EIDC executive committee that meets quarterly, added to questions about his role by saying the money for L.A. United was solicited by the campaign, not him.

"The EIDC has made contributions to candidates for some years and there hasn't been any question raised about it,' Hahn said. "They are a private corporation that contracts to help expedite film permits in the city.'

State officials issued an opinion when the EIDC was formed that it was in fact a public agency since its board was made up of public officials and it took over a governmental function, using funds that previously went to government agencies.

District Attorney Steve Cooley launched a criminal investigation into the EIDC spending hundreds of thousands of dollars on political contributions and personal expenses of its president, Cody Cluff. The EIDC gets money from issuing permits to shoot TV and films in the area, funds that previously went to the city and county directly.

Last week, investigators working for District Attorney Steve Cooley seized dozens of documents under search warrants from EIDC offices and two homes belonging to Cluff. He did not return phone calls. Other EIDC officials have denied wrongdoing.

The mayor had no role in the decision to make the contribution, according to Hahn and Kam Kuwata, a consultant to the mayor's anti-secession campaign. At one point last week, Kuwata was quoted as saying the mayor solicited the contribution. At another point, he denied that.

Sources said last week's raids were part of an investigation that began last year after a complaint was made that board members had received campaign contributions. Since then, the probe was broadened to include a review of expense accounts.

At the heart of the issue is whether the EIDC is classified as a public agency, which is prohibited from making political contributions, or a private corporation, which can make contributions.

"Certainly I think they should cooperate fully with the district attorney's investigation,' Hahn said.

"If there's anything that needs to be clarified, I'm certainly willing to hear our city attorney and our Ethics Commission views on the matter. But at this point in time I haven't seen anything improper about it.'

Copyright © 2002 Los Angeles Daily News Los Angeles Newspaper Group